Part 1

The Legends of the Jews

by Louis Ginzberg

TRANSLATED PROM THE GERMAN MANUSCRIPT BY PAUL RADIN

VOLUME III BIBLE TIMES AND CHARACTERS FROM THE EXODUS TO THE DEATH OF MOSES

To MY MOTHER ON THE OCCASION OF HER SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY

PREFACE

"When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a People of strange language, Jacob was His sanctuary and Israel His dominion. Jewish legend attempts to describe how God's sanctuary, the religion of Israel and His dominion, the beginnings of Israel as a nation, arose in the time between the Exodus from Egypt and the entrance into the Holy Land.

Moses is regarded not only as the greatest religious guide of Israel, but also as its first national leader; he is "the wisest (If the wise, the father of the prophets," as well as " king in Jeshiurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel gathered together." hence his unique position in Jewish legend, neither Abraham, the friend of God, nor Solomon, the wisest of all men, nor Elijah, the helper in time of need. can lay claim to such a position.

Great religious and national institutions like the Sabbath, the sanctuary, and many other " commandments of God revealed to Moses " stand in a special relation to his life and work. The sanctification of the Sabbath became quite a living thing to him through the miracle of the Manna, and the first sanctuary was actually erected by Moses. The life of Moses ceased, therefore, to be a thing of the past and became closely interwoven with the every-day life of the nation.

The most natural way for the popular mind to connect existing conditions with the past is the symbolic method. The present volume contains, therefore, a number of symbolic explanations of certain laws, as, for instance, the symbolical significance of the Tabernacle, which, properly speaking, do not belong to the domain of legend. The life of Moses, as conceived by Jewish legend, would, however, have been in complete if the lines between Legend and Symbolism had been kept too strictly. With this exception the arrangement and presentation of the material in the third volume is the same as that in the two preceding ones.

LOUIS G1NZBERG. NEW YORK, March 2, 1911

CONTENTS

PREFACE

MOSES IN THE WILDERNESS THE LONG ROUTE PHARAOH PURSUES THE HEBREWS THE SEA DIVIDED THE PASSAGE THROUGH THE RED SEA THE DESTRUCTION OF THE EGYPTIANS THE SONG AT THE SEA THE AWFUL DESERT THE HEAVENLY FOOD THE GATHERING OF THE MANNA MIRIAM'S WELL AMALEK' WAR AGAINST ISRAEL AMALEK DEFEATED JETHRO INSTALLATION OF ELDERS JETHRO REWARDED THE TIME IS AT HAND THE GENTILES REFUSE THE TORAH THE CONTEST OF THE MOUNTAINS THE TORAH OFFERED TO ISRAEL ISRAEL PREPARES FOR THE REVELATION THE REVELATION ON MOUNT SINAI THE FIRST COMMANDMENT THE OTHER COMMANDMENTS REVEALED ON SINAI THE UNITY OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS MOSES CHOSEN AS INTERMEDIATOR MOSES AND THE ANGELS STRIVE FOR THE TORAH MOSES RECEIVES THE TORAH THE GOLDEN CALF MOSES BLAMED FOR ISRAEL'S SIN THE PUNISHMENT OF THE SINNERS MOSES INTERCEDES FOR THE PEOPLE THE INSCRUTABLE WAYS OF THE LORD THE THIRTEEN ATTRIBUTES OF GOD THE SECOND TABLES THE CENSUS OF THE PEOPLE THE ERECTION OF THE TABERNACLE COMMANDED THE MATERIALS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE TABERNACLE BEZALEL THE ARK WITH THE CHERUBIM THE TABLE AND THE CANDLESTICK THE ALTAR THE SYMBOLICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TABERNACLE THE PRIESTLY ROBES THE STONES IN THE BREASTPLATE THE COMPLETION OF THE TABERNACLE THE SETTING UP OF THE TABERNACLE THE CONSECRATION OF THE PRIESTS THE DAY OF THE TEN CROWNS THE INTERRUPTED JOY THE GIFTS OF THE PRINCES THE REVELATIONS IN THE TABERNACLE THE CLEANSING OF THE CAMP THE LIGHTING OF THE CANDLESTICK THE TWELVE PRINCES OF THE TRIBES THE CENSUS OF THE LEVITES THE FOUR DIVISIONS OF THE LEVITES THE FOUR STANDARDS THE CAMP THE BLASPHEMER AND THE SABBATH-BREAKER THE UNGRATEFUL MULTITUDE THE FLESH-POTS OF EGYPT THE APPOINTMENT OF THE SEVENTY ELDERS ELDAD AND MEDAD THE QUAILS AARON AND MIRIAM SLANDER MOSES MIRIAM'S PUNISHMENT THE SENDING OF THE SPIES SIGNIFICANT NAMES THE SPIES IN PALESTINE THE SLANDEROUS REPORT THE NIGHT OF TEARS INGRATITUDE PUNISHED THE YEARS OF DISFAVOR THE REBELLION OF KORAH KORAH ABUSES MOSES AND THE TORAH MOSES PLEADS IN VAIN WITH KORAH KORAH AND HIS HORDE PUNISHED ON AND THE THE THREE SONS OF KORAH SAVED ISRAEL CONVINCED OF AARON'S PRIESTHOOD THE WATERS OF MERIBAH MOSES' ANGER CAUSES HIS DOOM EDOM'S UNBROTHERLY ATTITUDE. TOWARD ISRAEL THE THREE SHEPHERDS PREPARING AARON FOR IMPENDING DEATH AARON'S DEATH THE GENERAL MOURNING FOR AARON THE FALSE FRIENDS THE BRAZEN SERPENT AT ARNON SIHON, THE KING OF THE AMORITES THE GIANT OG MOSES' SPEECH OF ADMONITION BALAK, KING OF MOAB BALAAM, THE HEATHEN PROPHET BALAK'S MESSENGERS TO BALAAM BALAAM ACCEPTS BALAK'S INVITATION BALAAM'S ASS BALAAM RUNS INTO HIS OWN DESTRUCTION BALAAM WITH BALAK BALAAM'S SACRIFICES REFUSED BALAAM EXTOLS ISRAEL BALAAM'S HOPES DISAPPOINTED CURSES TURNED TO BLESSINGS BALAAM'S WICKED COUNSEL PHINEHAS, ZEALOUS FOR GOD TWELVE MIRACLES PHINEHAS REWARDED THE DAUGHTERS OF ZELOPHEHAD THE APPOINTMENT OF JOSHUA MOSES' LEGACY TO JOSHUA MOSES' LAST CAMPAIGN THE COMPLETE ANNIHILATION OF MIDIAN THE GRUESOME END OF BALAAM THE VICTORIOUS RETURN FROM THE WAR WEALTH THAT BRINGETH DESTRUCTION MOSES' DEATH IRREVOCABLY DOOMED MOSES' PRAYER FOR SUSPENSION OF JUDGMENT GOD TRIES TO COMFORT MOSES CONCERNING HIS DEATH THE INTERCESSIONS FOR MOSES MOSES SERVES JOSHUA THE LAST DAY OF MOSES' LIFE MOSES BEHOLDS THE FUTURE MOSES MEETS THE MESSIAH IN HEAVEN THE LAST HOURS OF MOSES THE BLESSING OF MOSES MOSES PRAYS FOR DEATH SAMAEL CHASTISED BY MOSES GOD KISSES MOSES' SOUL THE MOURNING FOR MOSES SAMAEL'S VAIN SEARCH MOSES EXCELS ALL PIOUS MEN

MOSES IN THE WILDERNESS

THE LONG ROUTE

The exodus would have been impossible if Joseph's bones had remained behind. Therefore Moses made it his concern to seek their resting-place, while the people had but the one thought of gathering in the treasures of the Egyptians. But it was not an easy matter to find Joseph's body. Moses knew that he had been interred in the mausoleum of the Egyptian kings, but there were so many other bodies there that it was impossible to identify it. Moses' mother Jochebed came to his aid. She led him to the very spot where Joseph's bones lay. As soon as he came near them, he knew them to be what he was seeking, by the fragrance they exhaled and spread around. But his difficulties were not at an end. The question arose, how he was to secure possession of the remains. Joseph's coffin had been sunk far down into the ground, and he knew not how to raise it from the depths. Standing at the edge of the grave, he spoke these words. "Joseph, the time hath come whereof thou didst say, 'God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.'" No sooner had this reminder dropped from his lips than the coffin stirred and rose to the surface.

And even yet the difficulties in Moses' way were not removed wholly. The Egyptian magicians had stationed two golden dogs at Joseph's coffin, to keep watch,. and they barked vehemently if anyone ventured close to it. The noise they made was so loud it could be heard throughout the land, from end to end, a distance equal to a forty day's journey. When Moses came near the coffin, the dogs emitted their warning sound, but he silenced them at once with words, "Come, ye people, and behold the miracle! The real, live dogs did not bark, and these counterfeit dogs produced by magic attempt it!" What he said about real, live dogs and their refraining from barking had reference to the fact that the dogs of the Egyptians did not move their tongues against any of the children of Israel, through they had barked all the time the people were engaged in burying the bodies of their smitten first-born. As a reward God gave the Israelites the law, to cast to the dogs the flesh they themselves are forbidden to eat, for the Lord withholds due recompense from none of His creatures. Indeed, the dogs received a double reward, for their excrements are used in tanning the hides from which the Torah scrolls are made, as well as the Mezuzot and the phylacteries.

Joseph's coffin in the possession of Moses, the march of the Israelites could begin. The Egyptians put no manner of obstacle in their way. Pharaoh himself accompanied them, to make sure that they were actually leaving the land, and now he was so angry at his counselors for having advised against letting the Israelites depart that he slew them.

For several reasons God did not permit the Israelites to travel along the straight route to the promised land. He desired them to go to Sinai first and take the law upon themselves there, and, besides, the time divinely appointed for the occupation of the land by the Gentiles had not yet elapsed. Over and above all this, the long sojourn in the wilderness was fraught with profit for the Israelites, spiritually and materially. If they had reached Palestine directly after leaving Egypt, they would have devoted themselves entirely each to the cultivation of his allotted parcel of ground, and no time would have been left for the study of the Torah. In the wilderness they were relieved of the necessity of providing for their daily wants, and they would give all their efforts to acquiring the law. On the whole, it would not have been advantageous to process at once to the Holy Land and take possession thereof, for when the Canaanites heard that the Israelites were making for Palestine, they burnt the crops, felled the trees, destroyed the buildings, and choked the water springs, all in order to render the land uninhabitable. Hereupon God spake, and said: "I did not promise their fathers to give a devastated land unto their see, but a land full of all good things. I will lead them about in the wilderness for forty years, and meanwhile the Canaanites will have time to repair the damage they have done." Moreover, the many miracles preformed for the Israelites during the journey through the wilderness had made their terror to fall upon the other nations, and their hearts melted, and there remained no more spirit in any man. They did not venture to attack the Israelites, and the conquest of the land was all the easier.

Nor does this exhaust the list of reasons for preferring the longer route through the desert. Abraham had sworn a solemn oath to live at peace with the Philistines during a certain period, and the end of the term had not yet arrived. Besides, there was the fear that the sight of the land of the Philistines would awaken sad recollections in the Israelites, and drive them back into Egypt speedily, for once upon a time it had been the scene of a bitter disappointment to them. they had spent one hundred and eighty years in Egypt, in peace and prosperity, not in the least molested by the people. Suddenly Ganon came, a descendant of Joseph, of the tribe of Ephraim, and he spake, "The Lord hat appeared unto me, and He bade me lead you forth out of Egypt." The Ephraimites were the only ones to heed his words. Proud of their royal lineage as direct descendants of Joseph, and confident to their valor in war, for they were great heroes, they left the land and betook themselves to Palestine. They Carried only weapons and gold and silver. They had taken no provisions, because they expected to buy food and drink on the way or capture them by force if the owners would not part with them for money.

After a day's march they found themselves in the neighborhood of Gath, at the place where the shepherds employed by the residents of the city gathered with the flocks. the Ephraimites asked them to sell them some sheep, which they expected to slaughter in order to satisfy their hunger with them, but the shepherds refused to have business dealings with them, saying, "Are the sheep ours, or does the cattle belong to us, that we could part with them for money?" Seeing that they could not gain their point by kindness, the Ephraimites used force. The outcries of the shepherds brought the people of Gath to their aid. A violent encounter, lasting a whole day, took place between the Israelites and the Philistines. The people of Gath realized that alone they would not be able to offer successful resistance to the Ephraimites, and they summoned the people of the other Philistine cities to join them. The following day an army of forty thousand stood ready to oppose the Ephraimites. Reduced in strength, as they were, by their three days' fast, they were exterminated root and branch. Only ten of them escaped with their bare life, and returned to Egypt, to bring Ephraim word of the disaster that had overtaken his posterity, and he mourned many days.

This abortive attempt of the Ephraimites to leave Egypt was the first occasion for oppressing Israel. Thereafter the Egyptians exercised force and vigilance to keep them in their land. As for the disaster of the Ephraimites, it was well-merited punishment, because they had paid no heed to the wish of the father Joseph, who had adjured his descendants solemnly on his deathbed not to think of quitting the land until the redeemer should appear. Their death was followed by disgrace, for their bodies lay unburied for many years on the battlefield near Gath, and the purpose of God in directing the Israelites to choose the longer route from Egypt to Canaan, was to spare them the sight of those dishonored corpses. Their courage might have deserted them, and out of apprehension of sharing the fate of their brethren they might have hastened back to the land of slavery.

PHARAOH PURSUES THE HEBREWS

When Pharaoh permitted Israel to depart, he was under the impression that they were going only a three days' journey into the wilderness for the purpose of offering sacrifices. He sent officers with them, whose duty was to bring them back at the appointed time. The exodus took place on a Thursday. On the following Sunday the king's watchers noticed that the Israelites, so far from preparing for a return, were making arrangements looking to a long sojourn in the desert. They remonstrated and urged them to go back. The Israelites maintained that Pharaoh had dismissed them for good, but the officers would not be put off with their mere assertions. They said, "Willy-nilly, you will have to do as the powers that be command." To such arrogance the Israelites would not submit, and they fell upon the officers, slaying some and wounding others. The maimed survivors went back to Egypt, and report the contumacy of the Israelites to Pharaoh. Meantime Moses, who did not desire the departure of his people to have the appearance of flight before the Egyptians, gave the signal to turn back to Pi-hahiroth. Those of little faith among the Israelites tore their hair and their garments in desperation, though Moses assured them that by the word of God they were free men, and no longer slaves to Pharaoh. Accordingly, they retraced their steps to Pi-hahiroth, where two rectangular rocks form an opening, within which the great sanctuary of Baal-zephon was situated. The rocks are shaped like human figures, the one a man and the other a woman, and they were not chiseled by human hands, but by the Creator Himself. The place had been called Pithom in earlier times, but later, on account of the idols set up there, it received the name Hahiroth. Of set purpose God had left Baal-zephon uninjured, alone of all the Egyptian idols. He wanted the Egyptian people to think that this idol was possessed of exceeding might, which it exercised to prevent the Israelites from journeying on. To confirm them in their illusory belief, God caused wild beasts to obstruct the road to the wilderness, and they took it for granted that their idol Baal-zephon had ordained their appearance.

Pi-hahiroth was famous, besides, on account of the treasures heaped up there. The wealth of the world which Joseph had acquired through the sale of corn he had stored up during the seven years of plenty, he had divided into three parts. The first part he surrendered to Pharaoh. The second part he concealed in the wilderness, where it was found by Korah, though it disappeared again, not to come to view until the Messianic time, and then it will be for the benefit of the pious. The third part Joseph hid in the sanctuary of Baal-zephon, whence the Hebrews carried it off as booty.

When Amalek and the magicians brought the information to Pharaoh, that the Israelites had resolved not to return to Egypt, his heart and the heart of his whole people turned against them. The very counselors that had persuaded him to dismiss the children of Israel spake now as follows: " If we had only been smitten with the plaques, we could have resigned ourselves to our fate. Or if, besides being smitten with the plagues, we had been compelled to let the Hebrews depart from the land, that, too, we could have been borne with patience. But to be smitten with the plagues, to be compelled to let our slaves depart from us, and to sit by and see them go off with our riches, that is more than we can endure."

Now that the children of Israel had gone from them the Egyptians recognized how valuable an element they had been in their country. In general, the time of the exodus of Israel was disastrous for their former masters. In addition to losing their dominion over the Israelites, the Egyptians had to deal with mutinies that broke out among many other nations tributary to them, for hitherto Pharaoh had been the ruler of the whole world. The king resorted to blandishments and promises, to induce the people to make war against the Israelites, saying, "As a rule the army marches forth first, and the king follows in security, but I will precede you; and as a rule the king has the first choice of the booty, and as much of it as he desires, but I will take no more than any one of you, and on my return from the war I will divide my treasures of silver, gold, and precious stones among you."