 Chapter 4. Moses in Egypt. Part 2 of the Legends of the Jews. Volume 2. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Rhonda Federman. The Legends of the Jews. Volume 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg. The Three Counselors In the 130th year after Israel's going down to Egypt, Pharaoh dreamed that he was sitting upon his throne, and he lifted up his eyes and he beheld an old man before him with a balance in his hand. And he saw him taking all the elders, nobles, and great men of Egypt, tying them together and laying them in one scale of the balance, while he put a tender kid into the other. The kid bore down the pan in which it lay until it hung lower than the other with the bound Egyptians. Pharaoh arose early in the morning and called together all his servants and his wise men to interpret his dream, and the men were greatly afraid on account of his vision. Balaam, the son of Beor, then spake and said, This means nothing but that a great evil will spring up against Egypt, for a son will be born unto Israel, who will destroy the whole of our land and all its inhabitants, and he will bring forth the Israelites from Egypt with a mighty hand. Now therefore, O King, take counsel as to this matter, that the hope of Israel be frustrated before this evil arise against Egypt. The king said unto Balaam, What shall we do unto Israel? We have tried several devices against this people, but we could not prevail over it. Now let me hear thy opinion. At Balaam's instance, the king sent for his two counselors, Ruel, the Midianite, and Job, the Uzite, to hear their advice. Ruel spoke, If it seemeth good to the king, let him desist from the Hebrews, and let him not stretch forth his hand against them, for the Lord chose them in the days of old, and took them as the lot of his inheritance from amongst all the nations of the earth, and who is there that hath dared stretch forth his hand against them with impunity, but that their God avenged the evil done unto them? Ruel then proceeded to enumerate some of the mighty things God had performed for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he closed his admonition with the words, Verily thy grandfather, the Pharaoh of former days, raised Joseph the son of Jacob above all the princes of Egypt, because he discerned his wisdom. For through his wisdom he rescued all the inhabitants of the land from the famine, after which he invited Jacob and his sons to come down to Egypt, that the land of Egypt and the land of Goshen be delivered from the famine through their virtues. Now therefore if it seem good in thine eyes, leave off from destroying the children of Israel, and if it not be thy will that thy dwell in Egypt, send them forth from here, that they may go to the land of Canaan, the land wherein their ancestors sojourned. When Pharaoh heard the words of Jethro Ruel, he was exceedingly wroth with him, and he was dismissed in disgrace from before the king, and he went to Midian. The king then spoke to Job and said, What sayest you, Job, and what is thy advice respecting the Hebrews? Job replied, Behold, all the inhabitants of the land are in thy power. Let the king do as seemeth good in his eyes. Balaam was the last to speak at the behest of the king, and he said, From all that the king may devise against the Hebrews, they will be delivered. If you thinkest to diminish them by the flaming fire, thou wilt not prevail over them, for their God delivered Abraham their father from the furnace in which the Chaldeans cast him. Perhaps you thinkest to destroy them with a sword, but their father Isaac was delivered from being slaughtered by the sword. And if thou thinkest to reduce them through hard and rigorous labor, thou wilt also not prevail, for their father Jacob served Laban in all manner of hard work, and yet he prospered. If it please the king, let him order all the male children that shall be born in Israel from this day forward to be thrown into the water. Thereby canst thou wipe out their name, for neither of any of them nor any of their fathers was tried in this way. The Legends of the Jews, Volume 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg The Slaughter of the Innocence Balaam's advice was accepted by Pharaoh and the Egyptians. They knew that God pays measure for measure, therefore they believed that the drowning of the men children would be the safest means of exterminating the Hebrews, without incurring harm themselves, for the Lord had sworn unto Noah never again to destroy the world by water. Thus they assumed they would be exempt from punishment, wherein they were wrong, however. In the first place, though the Lord had sworn not to bring a flood upon men, there was nothing in the way of bringing men into a flood. Furthermore, the oath of God applied to the whole of mankind, not to a single nation. The end of the Egyptians was that they met their death in the billows of the Red Sea. Measure for measure, as they had drowned the men children of the Israelites, so they were drowned. Pharaoh now took steps looking to the faithful execution of his decree. He sent his bailiffs into the houses of the Israelites to discover all newborn children, wherever they might be. To make sure that the Hebrews should not succeed in keeping the children hidden, the Egyptians hatched a devilish plan. Their women were to take their little ones to the houses of the Israelite women that were suspected of having infants. When the Egyptian children began to cry or coo, the Hebrew children that were kept in hiding would join in, after the manner of babies, and betray their presence whereupon the Egyptians would seize them and bear them off. Furthermore, Pharaoh commanded that the Israeli-Tish women employ none but the Egyptian midwives, who were to secure precise information as to the time of their delivery, and were to exercise great care and let no male child escape their vigilance alive. If there should be parents that evaded the command and preserved a newborn boy in secret, they and all belonging to them were to be killed. Is it to be wondered at, then, that many of the Hebrews kept themselves away from their wives? Nevertheless, those who put trust in God were not forsaken by him. The women that remained united with their husbands would go out into the field when their time of delivery arrived and give birth to their children and leave them there while they were themselves returned home. The Lord, who had sworn unto their ancestors to multiply them, sent one of his angels to wash the babes, anoint them, stretch their limbs, and swab them. Then he would give them two smooth pebbles, from one of which they sucked milk, and from the other, honey. And God caused the hair of the infants to grow down to their knees and serve them as a protecting garment. And then he ordered the earth to receive the babes that they be sheltered therein until the time of their growing up. When it would open its mouth and vomit forth the children, and they would sprout up like the herb of the field and the grass of the forest, thereafter each would return to his family and the house of his father. When the Egyptians saw this, they went forth, every man to his field, with his yoke of oxen, and they plowed up the earth as one plows it at seed time. Yet they were unable to do harm to the infants of the children of Israel that had been swallowed up and lay in the bosom of the earth. Thus the people of Israel increased and waxed exceedingly, and Pharaoh ordered his officers to go to Goshen to look for the male babes of the children of Israel. And when they discovered one, they tore him from his mother's breast by force and thrust him into the river. But no one is so valiant as to be able to foil God's purposes, though he contrived ten thousand subtle devices unto that end. The child foretold by Pharaoh's dreams and by his astrologers was brought up and kept concealed from the king's spies. It came to pass after the following manner. The Legends of the Jews Vol. 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg The Parents of Moses When Pharaoh's proclamation was issued, decreeing that the men children of the Hebrews were to be cast into the river, Amram, who was the president of the Sanhedrin, decided that in the circumstances it was best for husbands to live altogether separate from their wives. He set the example. He divorced his wife and all the men of Israel did likewise, for he occupied a place of great consideration among his people, one reason being that he belonged to the tribe of Levi, the tribe that was faithful to its God even in the land of Egypt, though the other tribes wavered in their allegiance and attempted to ally themselves with the Egyptians, going so far as to give up Abraham's sign of the covenant. To chastise the Hebrews for their impiety, God turned the love of the Egyptians for them into hatred, so that they resolved upon their destruction. Mindful of all that he and his people owed to Joseph's wise rule, Pharaoh refused at first to entertain the malicious plans proposed by the Egyptians against the Hebrews. He spoke to his people. You fools, we are indebted to these Hebrews for whatever we enjoy, and you desire now to rise up against them? But the Egyptians could not be turned aside from their purpose of ruining Israel. They deposed their king and incarcerated him for three months until he declared himself ready to execute with determination what they had resolved upon, and he sought to bring about the ruin of the children of Israel by every conceivable means. Such was the retribution they had drawn down upon themselves by their own acts. As for Abraham, not only did he belong to the tribe of Levi, distinguished for its piety, but by reason of his extraordinary piety he was prominent even among the pious of the tribe. He was one of the four who were immaculate, untainted by sin, over whom death would have had no power, had mortality not been decreed against every single human being on account of the fall of the first man and woman. The other three that led the same sinless life was Benjamin, Jesse, the father of David, and Chileb, the son of David. If the shekinah was drawn close again to the dwelling place of mortals it was due to Abraham's piety. Originally the real residence of the shekinah was among men. But when Adam committed his sin she withdrew to heaven, at first the lowest of the seven heavens. Thence she was banished by Cain's crime and she retired to the second heaven. The sins of the generation of Enoch removed her still father off of men. She took up her abode in the third heaven. Then successively in the fourth on account of the malefactors in the generation of the deluge in the fifth during the building of the Tower of Babel and the confusion of the tongues in the sixth by reason of the wicked Egyptians at the time of Abraham and finally in the seventh in consequence of the abominations of the inhabitants of Sodom. Six righteous men Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Levi, Kohath and Amram drew the shekinah back one by one from the seventh to the first heaven and through the seventh righteous man, Moses. She was made to descend to the earth and abide among men as a foretime. Amram's sagacity kept pace with his piety and his learning. The Egyptians succeeded in enslaving the Hebrews by seductive promises. At first they gave them a shekel for every brick they made tempting them to superhuman efforts by the prospect of earning much money. Later when the Egyptians forced them to work without wages they insisted upon having as many bricks as the Hebrews had made when their labor was paid for but they could demand only a single brick daily from Amram for he had been the only one whom they had not led astray by their artifice. He had been satisfied with a single shekel daily and had therefore made only a single brick daily which they had to accept afterward as the measure of his day's work. As his life partner, Amram chose his aunt, Yokoved who was born the same day with him. She was the daughter of Levi and she owed her name Divine Splendor to the celestial light that radiated from her countenance. She was worthy of being her husband's help-meet for she was one of the midwives that had imperiled their own lives to rescue the little Hebrew babes. Indeed, if God had not allowed a miracle to happen she and her daughter Miriam would have been killed by Pharaoh for having resisted his orders and saved the Hebrew children alive. When the king sent his hangmen for the two women God caused them to become invisible and the Baeliphs had to return without accomplishing their errand. The first child of the union between Amram and Yokoved, his wife who was 126 years old at the time of her marriage, was a girl and the mother called her Miriam. Bitterness. For it was at the time of her birth that the Egyptians began to invent them the lives of the Hebrews. The second child was a boy called Aaron which means woe to this pregnancy because Pharaoh's instructions to the midwives to kill the male children of the Hebrews was proclaimed during the months before Aaron's birth. End of Chapter 4, Part 2 Chapter 4, Moses in Egypt Part 3 of the Legends of the Jews, Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Rhonda Fetterman The Legends of the Jews, Volume 2 The Birth of Moses When Amram separated from his wife on account of the edict published against the male children of the Hebrews and his example was followed by all the Israelites his daughter Miriam said to him Father, thy decree is worse than Pharaoh's decree. The Egyptians aimed to destroy only the male children but thou includest the girls as well. Pharaoh deprives his victims of life in this world but thou preventest children from being born and thus deprives them of the future life too. He resolves destruction but who knows whether the intention of the wicked can persist. Thou are a righteous man and the enactments of the righteous are executed by God hence thy decree will be upheld. Amram recognized the justice of her plea and he repaired to the Sanhedrin and put the matter before this body. The members of the court spoke and said It was thou that did separate husbands and wives and from thee should go forth the permission for remarriage. Amram then made the proposition that each of the members of the Sanhedrin would return to his wife and wed her clandestinely but his colleagues repudiated the plan saying and who will make it known unto the whole of Israel. Accordingly, Amram stood publicly under the wedding canopy with his divorced wife Yocobit while Aaron and Miriam danced about it and the angels proclaimed let the mother of children be joyful. His remarriage was solemnized with great ceremony to the end that the men that Bade followed his example in divorcing their wives might imitate him now in taking them again unto themselves and so it happened. Old as Yocobit was she regained her youth her skin became soft the wrinkles in her face disappeared the warm tints of maiden beauty returned and in a short time she became pregnant. Amram was very uneasy about his wife's being with child. He knew not what to do. He turned to God in prayer and entreated him to have compassion upon those who had in no wise transgressed the laws of his worship and afford them deliverance from the misery they endured while he rendered a board of the hope of their enemies who yearned for the destruction of their nation. God had mercy on him and he stood by him in his sleep and exhorted him not to despair of his future favors. He said further that he did not forget their piety and he would always reward them for it as he had granted his favor in other days unto their forefathers. Know therefore the Lord continued to speak that I shall provide for you all together what is for your good and for thee in particular that which shall make thee celebrated for the child out of dread of whose nativity the Egyptians have doomed the Israelite children to destruction shall be this child of thine and be shall remain concealed from those who watch to destroy him and when he has been bred up in a miraculous way he shall deliver the Hebrew nation from the distress they are under by reason of the Egyptians. His memory shall be celebrated while the world lasts and not only among the Hebrews but among strangers also and all this shall be the effect of my favor toward thee and thy posterity. Also his brother shall be such that he shall obtain my priesthood for himself and for his posterity after him unto the end of the world. After he had been informed of these things by the vision Amram awoke and told all unto his wife Yehubed. His daughter Miriam likewise had a prophetic dream and she related it unto her parents saying In this night I saw a man clothed in fine linen Tell thy father and thy mother, he said He who shall be born unto them shall be cast into the waters and through him the water shall become dry and wonders and miracles shall be performed through him and he shall save my people Israel and be their leader for ever. During her pregnancy Yehubed observed that the child in her womb was destined for great things all the time she suffered no pain and also she suffered none in giving birth to her son for pious women are not included in the curse pronounced upon Eve decreeing sorrow and conception and in childbearing. At the moment of the child's appearance the whole house was filled with radiance equal to the splendor of the sun and the moon a still greater miracle followed the infant was not yet a day old when he began to walk and speak with his parents and as though he were an adult he refused to drink milk from his mother's breast Yehubed gave birth to the child six months after conception the Egyptian balliffs who kept strict watch over all pregnant women in order to be on the spot in time to carry off the newborn boys had not expected her delivery for three months more These three months the parents succeeded in keeping the babe concealed though every Israeli-tish house was guarded by two Egyptian women one stationed within and one without at the end of this time they determined to expose the child for Amram was afraid that both he and his son would be devoted to death if the secret leaked out and he thought it would be better to entrust the child's fate to divine providence he was convinced that God would protect the boy and fulfill his word in truth The Legends of the Jews Vol. 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg Moses rescued from the water Yehubed accordingly took an arc fashioned of bullrushes doused it with pitch on the outside and lined it with clay within the reason she used bullrushes was because they float on the surface of the water and she put pitch only on the outside to protect the child as much as possible against the annoyance of a disagreeable odor Over the child as it lay in the arc she spread a tiny canopy to shade the babe with the words Perhaps I shall not live to see him under the marriage canopy and then she abandoned the arc on the shores of the Red Sea Yet it was not left unguarded Her daughter Miriam stayed nearby to discover whether a prophecy she had uttered would be fulfilled Before the child's birth his sister had foretold that her mother would bring forth a son that should redeem Israel When he was born and the house was filled with a brilliant light Amram kissed her on her head But when he was forced into the expedient of exposing the child he beat her on her head saying, My daughter, what has become of thy prophecy? Therefore Miriam stayed and strolled along the shore to observe what would be the fate of the babe and what would come of her prophecy concerning him The day the child was exposed was the 21st of the month of Nisan the same on which the children of Israel later, under the leadership of Moses sang the song of praise and gratitude to God for the redemption from the waters of the sea The angels appeared before God and spoke O Lord of the world, shall he that is appointed to sing a song of praise unto thee on this day of Nisan to thank thee for rescuing him and his people from the sea shall he find his death in the sea today? The Lord replied Ye know well that I see all things The contriving of man can do not to change what hath been resolved in my counsel Those do not attain their end who use cunning and malice to secure their own safety and endeavor to bring ruin upon their fellow men But he who trusts me in his peril will be conveyed from profoundest distress to unlooked for happiness Thus my omnipotence will reveal itself in the fortunes of this babe At the time of the child's abandonment God sent scorching heat to plague the Egyptians and they all suffered with leprosy and smarting boils Thermatists, the daughter of Pharaoh sought relief from the burning pain in a bath in the waters of the Nile but physical discomfort was not her only reason for leaving her father's palace She was determined to cleanse herself as well of the impurity of the idle worship that prevailed there When she saw the little ark floating among the flags on the surface of the water she supposed to contain one of the little children exposed at her father's orders and she commanded her handmaids to fetch it But they protested saying Oh, our mistress, it happens sometimes that a decree issued by a king is unheeded yet it is observed at least by his children and the members of his household and thus thou desire to transgress thy father's edict Fourth with the angel Gabriel appeared seized all the maids except one whom he permitted the princess to retain for her service and buried them in the bowels of the earth Pharaoh's daughter now proceeded to do her own will She stretched forth her arm and although the ark was swimming at a distance of 60 l's she succeeded in grasping it because her arm was lengthened miraculously No sooner had she touched it than the leprosy afflicting her departed from her Her sudden restoration led her to examine the contents of the ark and when she opened it her amazement was great She beheld an exquisitely beautiful boy for God had fashioned the Hebrew babe's body with peculiar care and beside it she perceived the shekinah Noticing that the boy bore the sign of the Abrahamic covenant she knew that he was one of the Hebrew children and mindful of her father's decree concerning the male children of the Israelites she was about to abandon the babe to his fate At that moment the angel Gabriel came and gave the child a vigorous blow and he began to cry aloud with a voice like a young man's His vehement weeping and the weeping of Aaron who was lying beside him touched the princess and in her pity she resolved to save him She ordered an Egyptian woman to be brought to nurse the child but the little one refused to take milk from her breast he refused to take it from one after the other of the Egyptian women fetched thither Thus it had been ordained by God that none of them might boast later on and say I suckled him that holds converse now with the shekinah Nor was it the mouth destined to speak with God to draw a nourishment from the unclean body of an Egyptian woman Now Miriam stepped into the presence of Thermatis though she had been standing there by chance to look at the child and she spoke to the princess saying It is vain for thee, oh queen, to call for nurses that are in no wise of kin to the child but if thou wilt order a woman of the Hebrews to be brought he may accept her breast, seeing that she is of his own nation Thermatis therefore bade Miriam fetch a Hebrew woman and with winged steps, speeding like a vigorous youth she hastened and brought back her own mother the child's mother for she knew that none present was acquainted with her The babe unresisting took his mother's breast and clutched it tightly The princess committed the child to Yokoved's care saying these words which contained an unconscious divination Here is what is thine Nurse the boy henceforth and I will give thee two silver pieces as thy wages The return of her son safe and sound after she had exposed him was Yokoved's reward from God for her services as one of the midwives that had bidden defiance to Pharaoh's command and saved the Hebrew children alive By exposing their son to danger Miriam and Yokoved had affected the withdrawal of Pharaoh's command and joining the extermination of the Hebrew men children The day Moses was set adrift in the little ark the astrologers had come to Pharaoh and told him the glad tidings that the danger threatening the Egyptians on account of one boy whose doom lay in the water, had now been averted Thereupon Pharaoh cried a halt to the drowning of the boys of his empire The astrologers had seen something, but they knew not what and they had announced a message, the import of which they did not comprehend Water was indeed the doom of Moses but that did not mean that he would perish in the water of the Nile It had referenced the waters of Mirabah, the waters of strife and how they would cause his death in the desert Before he had completed his task of leading the people into the promised land Pharaoh, misled by the obscure vision of his astrologers thought that the future redeemer of Israel was to lose his life by drowning and to make sure that the boy whose appearance was foretold by the astrologers might not escape his fate He had ordered all boys, even the children of the Egyptians to be born during a period of nine months to be cast into the water On account of the merits of Moses the 600,000 men, children of the Hebrews, begotten in the same night with him and thrown into the water on the same day were rescued miraculously together with him and it was therefore not an idle boast if he said later The people that went forth out of the water on account of my merits are 600,000 men The Legends of the Jews, Volume 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg The Infancy of Moses For two years the child rescued by Pharaoh's daughter stayed with his parents and kindred They gave him various names His father called him Heber because it was for this child's sake that he had been reunited with his wife His mother's name for him was Jakuthiel because she said I set my hope upon God and he gave him back to me To his sister Miriam he was Jared because he had descended to the stream to ascertain his fate His brother Aaron called him Abbe Zenoa because his father who had cast off his mother had taken her back for the sake of the child to be born His grandfather, Kohath, knew him as Abbey Ghidor because the Heavenly Father had built up the breach in Israel when he rescued him and thus restrained the Egyptians from throwing the Hebrew men children into the water His nurse called him Abbey Soko because he had been kept concealed in a tent for three months escaping the pursuit of the Egyptians and Israel called him Shemaiya Ben Nathanel because in his day God would hear the size of the people and deliver them from their oppressors and through him he would give them his own law His kindred and all Israel knew that the child was destined for great things for he was barely four months old when he began to prophecy saying, In days to come I shall receive the Torah from the flaming torch When Yoko Bed took the child to the palace at the end of two years Pharaoh's daughter called him Moses because she had drawn him out of the water and because he would draw the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt in a day to come and this was the only name whereby God called the son of Amram and then conferred upon him by Pharaoh's daughter he said to the princess Moses was not thy child yet thou didst treat him as such for this I will call thee my daughter though thou art not my daughter and therefore the princess the daughter of Pharaoh bears the name Bithya the daughter of God she married Caleb later on and he was a suitable husband for her as she stood up against her father's wicked counsels so Caleb stood up against the counsel of his fellow messengers sent to spy out the land of Canaan for rescuing Moses and for her other pious deeds she was permitted to enter paradise alive that Moses might receive the treatment at court usually accorded to a prince Bithya pretended that she was with child for some time before she had him fetched away from his parents house his royal foster mother caressed and kissed him constantly and on account of his extraordinary beauty she would not permit him ever to quit the palace whoever said eyes on him could not leave off from looking at him wherefore Bithya feared to allow him out of her sight Moses' understanding was far beyond his years his instructors observed that he disclosed keener comprehension than as usual at his age all his actions in his infancy promised greater ones after he should come to man's estate and when he was but three years old God granted him remarkable size as for his beauty it was so attractive that frequently those meeting him as he was carried along on the road were obliged to turn and stare at him he would leave what they were about and stand still a great while looking after him for the loveliness of the child was so wondrous that it held the gaze of the spectator the daughter of Pharaoh, perceiving Moses to be an extraordinary lad adopted him as her son for she had no child of her own she informed her father of her intention concerning him in these words I have brought up a child who is divine in form and of an excellent mind and as I received him through the bounty of the river in a wonderful way I have thought it proper to adopt him as my son and as the heir of Thy kingdom and when she had spoken thus she put the infant between her father's hands and he took him and hugged him close to his breast End of Chapter 4 Part 3 Chapter 4 Moses in Egypt Part 4 of the Legends of the Jews Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Rhonda Fetterman The Legends of the Jews Volume 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg Moses Rescued by Gabriel When Moses was in his third year Pharaoh was dining one day with the Queen Al-Far'anit at his right hand his daughter Bithya with the infant Moses upon her lap at his left and Valam, the son of Bior together with his two sons and all the princes of the realm sitting at table in the king's presence It happened that the infant took the crown from off the king's head and placed it on his own When the king and the princes saw this they were terrified and each one in turn expressed his astonishment The king said unto the princes What speak you and what say you, O ye princes, on this matter and what is to be done to this Hebrew boy on account of this act Valam spoke, saying Remember now, O my lord and king the dream which thou didst dream many days ago and how thy servant interpreted it unto thee Now this is a child of the Hebrews in whom is the spirit of God Let not my lord the king imagine in his heart that being a child he did the thing without knowledge for he is a Hebrew boy and wisdom and understanding are with him Although he is yet a child and with wisdom he has done this and chosen unto himself the kingdom of Egypt For this is the manner of all the Hebrews to deceive kings and their magnates to do all things cunningly in order to make the kings of the earth and their men to stumble Surely thou knowest that Abraham their father acted thus Who made the armies of Nimrod king of Babel and of Abimelech king of Gerar to stumble and he possessed himself of the land of the children of Heth and the whole realm of Canaan Their father Abraham went down into Egypt and said of Sarah his wife She is my sister in order to make Egypt and its king to stumble His son Isaac did likewise when he went to Gerar and he dwelt there and his strength prevailed over the army of Abimelech and he intended to make the king of the Philistines to stumble by saying that Rebekah his wife was his sister Jacob also dealt treacherously with his brother and took his birthright and his blessings from him Then he went to Pataneram to Laban his mother's brother and he obtained his daughters from him cunningly and also his cattle and all his belongings and he fled away and returned to the land of Canaan to his father His sons sold their brother Joseph and he went down into Egypt and became a slave and he was put into prison for twelve years until the former pharaoh delivered him from the prison had magnified him above the princes of Egypt on account of his interpreting the king's dreams When God caused a famine to descend upon the whole world Joseph sent for his father and he brought him down into Egypt his father, his brethren and all his father's household and he supplied them with food without pay or reward while he acquired Egypt and made slaves of all its inhabitants Now therefore my Lord King behold, this child has risen up in their stead in Egypt to do according to their deeds and make sport of every man be he king, prince or judge If it pleased the king let us now spill his blood upon the ground lest he grow up and snatch the government from thine hand and the hope of Egypt be cut off after he reigns Let us moreover call for all the judges and the wise men of Egypt that we may know whether the judgment of death be due to this child as I have said and then we will slay him Pharaoh sent and called for all the wise men of Egypt and they came and the angel Gabriel was disguised as one of them When they were asked their opinion in the matter Gabriel spoke up and said if it pleased the king let him place an onyx stone before the child and a coal of fire and if he stretches out his hand and grasps the onyx stone then shall we know that the child hath done with wisdom all that he hath done and we will slay him but if he stretches out his hand and grasps the coal of fire then shall we know that it was not with consciousness that he did the thing that he shall live The council seemed good in the eyes of the king and when they had placed the stone and the coal before the child Moses stretched forth his hand towards the onyx stone and attempted to seize it but the angel Gabriel guided his hand away from it and placed it upon the live coal and the coal burnt the child's hand and he lifted it up and touched it to his mouth and burnt part of his lips and part of his tongue and for all his life he became slow of speech and of a slow tongue Seeing this the king and the princes knew that Moses had not acted with knowledge in taking the crown from off the king's head and they refrained from slaying him God himself who protected Moses turned the king's mind to grace and his foster mother snatched him away and she had him educated with great care so that the Hebrews depended upon him and cherished the hope that great things would be done by him but the Egyptians were suspicious of what would follow from such an education as his At great cost teachers were invited to come to Egypt from neighboring lands to educate the child Moses some came of their own accord to instruct him in the sciences and the liberal arts by reason of his admirable endowments of mind he soon excelled his teachers in knowledge his learning seemed a process of mere recollecting and when there was a difference of opinion among scholars he selected the correct one instinctively for his mind refused to store up anything that was false but he deserves more praise for his unusual strength of will than for his natural capacity for he succeeded in transforming an originally evil disposition into a noble exalted character a change that was farther aided by his resolution as he himself acknowledged later after the wonderful exodus of the Israelites from Egypt the king of Arabia sent an artist to Moses to paint his portrait that he might always have the likeness of the divine man before him the painter returned with his handiwork and the king assembled his wise men those in particular who were conversant with the science of physiognomy he displayed the portrait before them and invited their judgment upon it the unanimous opinion was that it represented a man covetous, haughty, sensual, in short disfigured by all possible ugly traits the king was indignant that they should pretend to be masters in physiognomy seeing that they declared the picture of Moses the holy, divine man to be the picture of a villain they defended themselves by accusing the painter in turn of not having produced a true portrait of Moses else they would not have fallen into the erroneous judgment they had expressed but the artist insisted that his work resembled the original closely unable to decide who was right the Arabian king went to see Moses and he could not but admit that the portrait painted for him was a masterpiece Moses as he beheld him in the flesh was the Moses upon the canvas there could be no doubt but that the highly extolled knowledge of his physiognomy experts was empty twaddle he told Moses what had happened and what he thought of it he replied thy artist and thy experts alike are masters each in his line if my fine qualities were a product of nature I were no better than a log of wood this remains forever as nature produced it at the first unashamed I make the confession to thee that by nature I possessed all the reprehensible traits thy wise men read in my picture and ascribed to me perhaps to a greater degree even than they think but I mastered my evil impulses with my strong will and the character I acquired through severe discipline has become the opposite of the disposition with which I was born through this change wrought in me by my own efforts I have earned honor and commendation upon earth as well as in heaven The Legends of the Jews Vol. 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg The Youth of Moses one day it was after he was grown up and had passed beyond the years of childhood Moses went to the land of Goshen in which lived the children of Israel there he saw the burdens under which his people were groaning and he inquired why the heavy service had been put upon them the Israelites told him all that had befallen told him of the cruel edict Pharaoh had issued shortly before his birth and told him of the wicked counsels given by Balim against themselves as well as his person when he was but a little boy and had set Pharaoh's crown upon his head the wrath of Moses was kindled against the spiteful advisor and he tried to think out means of rendering him harmless but Balim, getting wind of his ill feeling fled from Egypt with his two sons and betook himself to the courts of Qicanos, king of Ethiopia the sight of his enslaved people touched Moses unto tears and he spoke saying, woe unto me for your anguish rather would I die than see you suffer so grievously he did not disdain to help his unfortunate brethren at their heavy tasks as much as lay in his power he dismissed all thought of his high station at court shouldered a share of the burdens put upon the Israelites and toiled in their place the result was that he not only gave relief to the heavily laden workmen but he also gained the favor of Pharaoh who believed that Moses was taking part in the labor in order to promote the execution of the royal order and God said unto Moses thou didst relinquish all thy other occupations didst join thyself unto the children of Israel whom thou dost treat as brethren therefore will I too put aside now all heavenly and earthly affairs and hold converse with thee Moses continued to do all he could to alleviate the suffering of his brethren to the best of his ability he addressed encouraging words to them saying, my dear brethren bear your lot with fortitude do not lose courage and let not your spirit grow weary with the weariness of your body better times will come when tribulation shall be changed into joy clouds are followed by sunshine storms by calm all things in the world tend towards their opposites and nothing is more inconstant than the fortunes of man the royal favor which the king accorded him in ever increasing measure he made use of to lighten the burden laid upon the children of Israel one day he came into the presence of Pharaoh and said oh my lord, I have a request to make of thee and my hope is that thou wilt not deny it speak, replied the king it is an admitted fact, said Moses that if a slave is not afforded rest at least one day in the week he will die of overexertion thy Hebrew slaves will surely perish unless thou accordest them a day of cessation from work Pharaoh fulfilled the petition preferred by Moses and the king's edict was published in the whole of Egypt and in Goshen as follows to the sons of Israel thus saith the king do your work and perform your service for six days but on the seventh day you shall rest and on it ye shall do no labor thus shall ye do unto all times according to the command of the king and the command of Moses, the son of Bithya and the day appointed by Moses as the day of rest was Saturday later given by God to the Israelites as the Sabbath day while Moses abode in Goshen an incident of great importance occurred to superintend the service of the children of Israel an officer from among them was set over every ten and ten such officers were under the surveillance of an Egyptian taskmaster one of these Hebrew officers, Dathan by name had a wife, Shalometh, the daughter of Dubri of the tribe of Dan who was of extraordinary beauty but inclined to be very loquacious whenever the Egyptian taskmaster set over her husband came to their house on business connected with his office she would approach him pleasantly and enter into conversation with him the beautiful Israelidish woman and kindled a mad passion in his breast he sought and found a cunning way of satisfying his lustful desire one day he appeared at break of dawn at the house of Dathan roused him from his sleep and ordered him to hurry his detachment of men to their work the husband scarcely out of sight he executed the villainy he had planned and dishonored the woman and the fruit of this illicit relation was the blasphemer of the name Moses ordered to execution on the march through the desert at the moment when the Egyptians slipped out of Shalometh's chamber Dathan returned home vexed that his crime had come to the knowledge of the injured husband the taskmaster goaded him on to work with excessive vigor and dealt him blow after blow with the intention to kill him young Moses happened to visit the place at which the much abused and tortured Hebrew was at work Dathan hastened toward him and complained of all the wrong and suffering the Egyptian had inflicted upon him full of wrath Moses whom the Holy Spirit had acquainted with the injury done the Hebrew officer by the Egyptian taskmaster cried out to the latter saying not enough that thou hast dishonored this man's wife thou aimest to kill him too and turning to God he spoke further what will become of thy promise to Abraham that his posterity shall be as numerous as the stars if his children are given over to death and what will become of the revelation on Sinai if the children of Israel are exterminated Moses wanted to see if someone would step forward and impelled by zeal for the cause of God and for God's law would declare himself ready to avenge the outrage he waited in vain then he determined to act himself naturally enough he hesitated to take the life of a human being he did not know whether the evildoer might not be brought to repentance and then lead a life of pious endeavor he also considered that there would perhaps be some among the descendants to spring from the Egyptian for whose sake their wicked ancestor might rightfully lay claim to clemency the Holy Spirit allayed all his doubts he was made to see that not the slightest hope existed that good would come either from the malefactor himself or from any of his offspring then Moses was willing to requite him for his evil deeds nevertheless he first consulted the angels to hear what they had to say and they agreed that the Egyptians deserved death and Moses acted according to their opinion neither physical strength nor a weapon was needed to carry out his purpose he merely pronounced the name of God and the Egyptian was a corpse to the bystanders, the Israelites, Moses said the Lord compared you to the sound of the seashore and as the sound moves noiselessly from place to place so I pray you to keep the knowledge of what has happened a secret within yourselves let nothing be heard concerning it the wish expressed by Moses was not honored the slaying of the Egyptian remained no secret and those who betrayed it were Israelites Dathan and Eberim the sons of Palau of the tribe of Rubin notorious for their effrontery and contentiousness the day after the thing with the Egyptian happened the two brothers began of malice of forethought to scuffle with each other only in order to draw Moses into the quarrel and create an occasion for his betrayal the plan succeeded admirably seeing Dathan raise his hands against Eberim to deal him a blow, Moses exclaimed Oh thou art a villain to lift up thy hand against an Israelite even if he is no better than thou Dathan replied young man, who hath made thee to be a judge over us thou that hath not yet attained to years of maturity we know very well that thou art the son of Yochubed though people call thee the son of Princess Bithya and if thou should attempt to play the part of our master and judge we will publish abroad the thing thou didst unto the Egyptian or per adventure thou harbors the intention to slay us as thou didst slay him by pronouncing the name of God not satisfied with these taunts the noble pair of brothers betook themselves to Pharaoh and spoke before him Moses dishonoreth thy royal mantle and thy crown to which Pharaoh returned saying much good may it do him but they pursued the subject he helped thine enemies Pharaoh they continued whereupon he replied as before much good may it do him still they went on he is not the son of thy daughter these last words did not fail of making an impression upon Pharaoh a royal command was issued for the arrest of Moses and he was condemned to death by the sword the angels came to God and said Moses the familiar of thine house is held under restraint and God replied I will espouse his cause but the angels urged his verdict of death has been pronounced yes they are leading him to execution and again God made reply as before I will espouse his cause Moses mounted the scaffold and a sword sharp beyond compare was set upon his neck ten times but it always slipped away because his neck was as hard as ivory and a still greater miracle came to pass God sent down the angel Michael in the guise of a hangman and the human hangman charged by Pharaoh with the execution was changed into the form of Moses this burious Moses the angel killed with the very sword with which the executioner had proposed to slay the intended victim meantime Moses took to flight Pharaoh ordered his pursuit but it was in vain the king's troops were partly stricken with blindness partly with dumbness the dumb could give no information about the abiding place of Moses and the blind though they knew where it was could not get to it End of Chapter 4 Part 4 Chapter 4 Moses in Egypt Part 5 of the legends of the Jews Volume 2 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Rhonda Federman the legends of the Jews Volume 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg the flight an angel of God took Moses to a spot removed 40 days journey from Egypt so far off that all fear was banished from his mind indeed his anxiety had never been for his own person but only on account of the future of Israel the subjugation of his people had always been an unsolved enigma to him why should Israel he would ask himself suffer more than all the other nations but when his personal straits initiated him in the tail-bearing and back-biting that prevailed among the Israelites then he asked himself does this people deserve to be redeemed? the religious conditions among the children of Israel were of such kind at the time as not to permit them to hope for divine assistance they refused to give ear to Aaron and the five sons of Zira who worked among them as prophets and admonished them unto the fear of God it was on account of their impiety that the heavy hand of Pharaoh rested upon them more and more oppressively until God had mercy upon them and sent Moses to deliver them from the slavery of Egypt when he succeeded in affecting his escape from the hands of the hangman Moses had no idea that a royal throne awaited him it was nevertheless so a war broke out at this time between Ethiopia and the nations of the east that had been subject to it until then Kikhanos, the king, advanced against the enemy with a great army he left Balaam and Balaam's two sons Jannes and Jambres behind to keep guard over his capital and take charge of the people remaining at home the absence of the king gave Balaam the opportunity of winning his subjects over to his side and he was put upon the throne and his two sons were set over the armies as generals to cut Kikhanos off from his capital Balaam and his sons invested the city so that none could enter it against their will on two sides they made the walls higher on the third they dug a network of canals into which they conducted the waters of the river girding the whole land of Ethiopia and on the fourth side their magic arts collected a large swarm of snakes and scorpions thus none could depart and none could enter meantime Kikhanos succeeded in subjugating the rebellious nations when he returned at the head of his victorious army and aspired the high city wall from afar he and his men said the inhabitants of the city seeing that the war detained us abroad for a long time have raised the walls and fortified them that the kings of Canaan may not be able to enter on approaching the city gates which were barred they cried out to the guards to open them but by Balaam's instructions they were not permitted to pass through a skirmish ensued in which Kikhanos lost 130 men on the morrow the combat was continued the king with his troops being stationed on the thither bank of the river this day he lost his 30 riders who mounted on their steeds had attempted to swim the stream then the king ordered rafts to be constructed for the transporting of his men when the vessels reached the canals they were submerged and the waters swirling round and round as though driven by mill wheels swept away 200 men 20 from each raft on the third day they set about assaulting the city from the side on which the snakes and scorpions swarmed but they failed to reach it and the reptiles killed 170 men the king desisted from attacking the city but for the space of nine years he surrounded it so that none could come out or go in while the siege was in progress Moses appeared in the king's camp on his flight before Pharaoh and at once found favour with Kikhanos and his whole army he exercised an attraction upon all that saw him for he was slender like a palm tree his countenance shone as the morning sun and his strength was equal to a lion's so deep was the king's affection for him that he appointed him to be commander in chief of his forces at the end of the nine years Kikhanos fell prey to a mortal disease and he died on the seventh day of his illness his servants and bombed him buried him opposite to the city gate towards the land of Egypt and over his grave they erected a magnificent structure strong and high upon the walls whereof they engraved all the mighty deeds and battles of the dead king now after the death of Kikhanos his men were greatly grieved on account of the war one said unto the other council us, what shall we do at this time? we have been abiding in the wilderness away from our homes for nine years if we fight against the city many of us will fall dead and if we remain here besieging it we shall also die for now all the princes of Arem and the children of the east will hear that our king is dead and they will attack us suddenly and they will fight with us until not a remnant will be left now therefore let us go and set a king over us and we will remain here besieging the city until it surrenders unto us the legends of the Jews, volume 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg the king of Ethiopia they could find none except Moses fit to be their king they hastened and stripped off each man his upper garment and cast them all in a heap upon the ground making a high place on top of which they set Moses then they blew with trumpets and called out before him long live the king long live the king and all the people and the nobles swore unto him to give him Adoniah for wife the Ethiopian queen the widow of Kikhanos and they made Moses king over them on that day they also issued a proclamation commanding every man to give Moses of what he possessed and upon the high place they spread a sheet wherein each one cast something this one a gold nose ring that one a coin and onyx stones bedelium, pearls, gold and silver in great abundance Moses was 27 years old when he became king over Ethiopia and he reigned for 40 years on the seventh day of his reign all the people assembled and came before him to ask his council as to what was to be done to the city they were besieging the king answered them and said if you will hearken to my words the city will be delivered into our hands proclaim with a loud voice throughout the whole camp unto all the people saying thus saith the king go to the forest and fetch hither of the young of the stork each man one fledgling in his hand and if there be any man that transgresseth the word of the king not to bring a bird he shall die and the king shall take all belonging to him and when you have brought them they shall be in your keeping you shall rear them until they grow up and you shall teach them to fly as the hawk flyeth all the people did according to the word of Moses and after the young storks had grown to full size he ordered them to be starved for three days on the third day the king said unto them let every man put on his armor and gird his sword upon him each one shall mount his horse and each shall set his stork upon his hand and we will rise up and fight against the city opposite to the place of the serpents when they came to the appointed spot the king said to them let each man send forth his young stork to descend upon the serpents thus they did and the birds swooped down and devoured all the reptiles and destroyed them after the serpents were removed in this way the men fought against the city subdued it and killed all its inhabitants but of the people besieging it there died not one when Balim saw that the city had fallen into the hands of the besiegers he exercised his magic arts which enabled him to fly through the air and he carried with him his two sons Janes and Jambrius and his eight brothers and they all took refuge in Egypt seeing that they had been saved by the king and the city had been taken by his good council the people became more than ever attached to him they set the royal crown upon his head and gave him Adonaiya, the widow of Kikhanos, to wife but Moses feared the stern god of his fathers and he went not in unto Adonaiya nor did he turn his eyes toward her he remembered how Abraham had made his servant Eliezer swear, saying unto him thou shalt not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell he also remembered what Isaac did when Jacob fled before his brother Esau how he commanded his son, saying thou shalt not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan nor ally thy self by marriage with any of the children of Ham for the Lord our God gave Ham the son of Noah and all his seed as slaves to the children of Shem and Japheth forever at that time Aram and the children of the east heard that Kikhanos, the king of Ethiopia, had died and they rose up against the Ethiopians but Moses went forth with a mighty army to fight against the rebellious nations and he subdued them first the children of the east and then Aram Moses continued to prosper in his kingdom he conducted the government in justice, righteousness and integrity and his people loved and feared him in the 40th year of his reign while he was sitting upon his throne one day surrounded by all the nobles Adoniah the queen who was seated before him rose up and spake what is this thing which you, the people of Ethiopia have done these many days surely you know that during the 40 years this man hath reigned over you he hath not approached me nor hath he worshipped the gods of Ethiopia now therefore let this man reign over you no more for he is not of our flesh behold, Menarchos my son is grown up let him reign over you it is better for you to serve the son of your lord than a stranger a slave of the king of Egypt the whole day the people and the nobles contended with one another whether to pay heed to the words of the queen the officers of the army remained faithful to Moses but the people of the cities were in favor of crowning the son of their former lord as king the following morning they rose up and made Menarchos, the son of Kikanos king over them but they were afraid to stretch forth their hand against Moses for the lord was with him they also remembered the oath they had sworn unto Moses and therefore they did him no harm moreover they gave many presents to him and dismissed him with great honor when Moses left Ethiopia in the 67th year of his age it was the time appointed by God in the days of old to bring Israel forth from the affliction of the children of Ham but fearing to return to Egypt on account of Pharaoh Moses journeyed to Midian The Legends of the Jews Volume 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg Jethro in the city of Midian named thus for a son of Abraham by Kutura the man Jethro had lived for many years doing a priest service before the idols as time went on he grew more and more convinced of the vanity of idol worship his priesthood became repugnant to him and he resolved to give up his charge he stood before his townsmen and said until now I performed your service before the idols but I have grown too old for the duties of the office choose therefore whomever you would choose in my place speaking thus he delivered to the people all the paraphernalia appertaining to the idol worship and bade them transfer them to the one to whom in their discretion they should entrust his position suspecting Jethro's hidden motives the people put him under the ban and none might venture to do him the slightest service not even would the shepherds pastor his flocks and there was nothing for him to do but impose this work upon his seven daughters Jethro's transformation from an idolatrous priest into a God-fearing man is conveyed by his seven names he was called Jether because the Torah contained an additional section about him Jethro, he overflowed with good deeds Hobab, the beloved son of God Ryul, the friend of God Heber, the associate of God Putiel, he that hath renounced idolatry and Kenai, he that was zealous for God and acquired the Torah in consequence of the hostile relation between Jethro and the inhabitants of the city his daughters were in the habit of making their appearance at the watering troughs before the other shepherds came thither but the ruse was not successful the shepherds would drive them away and water their own flocks at the troughs that the maidens had filled when Moses arrived in Midian it was at the well that he made halt and his experience was the same as Isaac's and Jacob's like them he found his help meet there Rebecca had been selected by Eliezer as the wife of Isaac while she was busy drawing water for him Jacob had seen Rachel first while she was watering her sheep and at this well in Midian Moses met his future wife, Zipporah the rudeness of the shepherds reached its climax the very day of Moses' arrival first they deprived the maidens of the water they had drawn for themselves and attempted to do violence to them and then they threw them into the water with intent to kill them at this moment Moses appeared dragged the maidens out of the water and gave the flocks to drink first Jethro's and then the flocks of the shepherds though the latter did not deserve his good offices true he did them the service with but little trouble to himself for he had only to draw a bucketful and the water flowed so copiously that it sufficed for all the herds and it did not cease to flow until Moses withdrew from the well the same well at which Jacob had met Rachel his future wife and the same well that God created at the beginning of the world the opening of which he made in the twilight on the first Sabbath Eve Jethro's daughters thanked Moses for the assistance he had afforded them but Moses warded off their gratitude saying your thanks are due to the Egyptian I killed on account of whom I had to flee from Egypt had it not been for him I should not be here now End of Chapter 4 Part 5 Chapter 4 Moses in Egypt Part 6 of the Legends of the Jews Volume 2 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recorded by Kirsten Ferrari The Legends of the Jews Volume 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg Moses Marries Zipporah One of the seven maidens whom Moses sought the well attracted his notice in particular on account of her modest demeanor and he made her a proposal of marriage but Zipporah repulsed him saying my father has a tree in his garden with which he tests every man that expresses a desire to marry one of his daughters and as soon as the suitor touches the tree he is devoured by it Moses when says he the tree Zipporah It is the rod that the Holy One blessed be he created in the twilight of the first Sabbath Eve and gave to Adam He transmitted it to Enoch from him and descended to Noah then to Shem and Abraham and Isaac and finally to Jacob who brought it with him to Egypt and gave it to his son Joseph When Joseph died the Egyptians pillaged his house and the rod which was in their booty they brought to Pharaoh's palace At that time my father was one of the most prominent of the king's sacred scribes and as such he had the opportunity of seeing the rod He felt a great desire to possess it and he stole it and took it to his house On this rod the ineffable name is Graven and also the ten plagues that God will cause to visit the Egyptians in a future day For many years it lay in my father's house One day he was walking in his garden carrying it and he stuck it in the ground When he attempted to draw it out again he found that it had sprouted and was putting forth blossoms That is the rod with which he tries any that desire to marry his daughters He insists that our suitors shall attempt to pull it out of the ground but as soon as they touch it it devours them Having given him this account of her father's rod Zipporah went home, accompanied by her sisters and Moses followed them Jethro was not a little amazed to see his daughters return so soon from the watering troughs As a rule the Chicanery they had to suffer from the shepherds detained them until late No sooner had he heard their report about the wonder-working Egyptian than he exclaimed may have he is one of the descendants of Abraham from whom issue with blessing for the whole world He rebuked his daughters for not having invited the stranger that had done them so valuable a service to come into their house and he ordered them to fetch him in the hope that he would take one of his daughters to wife Moses had been standing without all this time and had allowed Jethro's daughters to describe him as an Egyptian without protesting and asserting his Hebrew birth For this God punished him and caused him to die outside of the promised land Joseph who had proclaimed in public that he was a Hebrew last resting place in the land of the Hebrews and Moses who apparently had no objection to being considered an Egyptian had to live and die outside of that land Zipporah hastened forth to execute her father's wish and no sooner had she ushered him in than Moses requested her hand in marriage Jethro replied If thou can spring me the rod in my garden I will give her to thee Moses went out found the sapphire rod that God had bestowed on Adam when he was driven forth from Paradise the rod that had reached Jethro after manifold vicissitudes and which he had planted in the garden Moses uprooted it and carried it to Jethro who conceived the idea at once that he was the prophet in Israel concerning whom all the wise men of Egypt had foretold that he would destroy their land and its inhabitants As soon as the thought struck him he seized Moses and threw him into a pit in the expectation that he would meet with death there and indeed he would have perished Zipporah had not devised a stratagem to save his life She said to her father Would it were thy will to harken under my counsel Thou hast no wife, but only seven daughters Thus thou desire my six sisters to preside over thy household Then I shall go with the sheep If not, let my sisters tend the flocks and I shall take care of the house Her father said, Thou hast spoken well The six sisters shall go forth with the sheep and thou shalt abide in the house and take care of it and all that belongeth to me therein Now Zipporah could provide Moses with all sorts of dainties as he lay in the pit and she did it for the space of seven years At the end of this period she said to her father I recollect that once upon a time thou didst cast into yonder pit a man that had fetched thy rod from the garden for thee and thou didst commit a great trespass thereby If it seemeth well to the uncover the pit and look into it If the man is dead throw his corpse away lest it fill the house with stench But should he be alive then now ought us to be convinced that he is one of those who are holy pious else he had died of hunger The reply of Jethro was Thou hast spoken wisely Thus thou remember his name And Zipporah rejoined I remember he called himself Moses, the son of Amram Jethro lost no time He opened the pit and called out Moses! Moses! Moses replied and said Here am I! Jethro drew him up out of the pit kissed him and said Blessed be God who guarded thee for seven years in the pit I acknowledge that he slayeth and reviveeth that thou art one of the holy pious that through thee God will destroy Egypt in the time to come lead his people out of the land and drown Pharaoh and his whole army in the sea Thereupon Jethro gave much money to Moses and he bestowed his daughter Zipporah on him as a wife giving her to him on condition that the children born of the marriage in Jethro's house be divided in two equal classes the one to be Israeliteish, the other Egyptian When Pharaoh bore him a son, Moses circumcised him and called him Gershom as a memorial of the wonder God had done for him for although he lived in a strange land the Lord had not refused him aid even there Zipporah nursed her first child for two years and in the third year she bore a second son Remembering his compact with Jethro Moses realized that his father-in-law would not permit him to circumcise this one too and he determined to return to Egypt that he might have the opportunity of bringing up his second son as an Israelite On the journey thither Satan appeared to him in the guise of a serpent and swallowed Moses down to his extremities Zipporah knew by this token that the thing had happened because her second son had not been circumcised and she hastened to make good the emission As soon as she sprinkled the blood of the circumcision on her husband's feet a heavenly voice was heard to cry out to the serpent commanding him, spew him out and Moses came forth and stood upon his feet Thus Zipporah saved Moses's life twice first from the pit and then from the serpent When Moses arrived in Egypt he was approached by Dithon and Nubiram the leaders of the Israelites and they spake Come as thou hither to slay us or does thou purpose to do the same with us as thou didst with the Egyptian This drove Moses straightway back to Midian and there he remained two years more God revealed himself at Horeb and said to him Go and bring forth my children out of the land of Egypt The legends of the Jews volume 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg A bloody remedy The latter years of Israel's bondage in Egypt were the worst To punish Pharaoh for his cruelty toward the children of Israel God afflicted him with a plague of leprosy which covered his whole body from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet Instead of being chastened by his disease Pharaoh remained stiff-necked and he tried to restore his health by murdering Israelite's children He took counsel with his three advisors Belom, Jethro and Job how he might be healed of the awful malady that had seized upon him Belom spoke, saying Thou canst reignite health only if thou wilt slaughter Israelite's children in bay night blood Jethro, averse from having a share in such an atrocity, left the king and fled to Midian Job, on the other hand and in no wise protested against it wherefore God punished him with a year's suffering But afterward he loaded him down with all the felicities of this life and granted him many years so that this pious gentile might be rewarded in this world for his good deeds and not have the right to urge a claim upon the beatitude of the future life In pursuance of the sanguinary advice given by Belom Pharaoh had his bailiffs snatch Israelite's babes from their mother's breasts and the babe of these innocents he bathed His disease afflicted him for ten years and every day an Israelite's child was killed for him It was all in vain, indeed at the end of this time his leprosy changed into boils and he suffered more than before While he was in this agony the report was brought to him that the children of Israel and Goshen were gaerless and idle in their forced labor The news aggravated his suffering and he said, now that I am ill they turn and scoff at me I take myself to Goshen and see the derision wherewith the children of Israel deride me and they took and put him upon a horse for he was not able to mount it himself When he and his men had come to the border between Egypt and Goshen the king's steed passed into a narrow place the other horses running rapidly through the pass pressed upon each other until the king's horse fell while he sat upon it and when it fell the chariot turned over on his face and also the horse lay upon him The king's flesh was torn from him for this thing was from the Lord He had heard the cries of his people in their affliction The king's servants carried him upon their shoulders brought him back to Egypt and placed him on his bed He knew that his end was come to die and the queen, Al-Far'anit and his nobles gathered around his bed and they wept a great weeping with him The princes and his counsellors advised the king to make choice of his successor to reign in his stead whomsoever he would choose from among his sons He had three sons and two daughters by the queen Al-Far'anit beside children from concubines The name of his first born was Atro the name of the second Adikam and of the third Morayan The name of the older daughter was Bessiah and of the other Akuzit The first born of the sons of the king was an idiot precipitated and heedless in all his actions Adikam the second son was a cunning and clever man and versed in all the wisdom of Egypt but ungainly in appearance fleshy and short of stature Al-Far'anit was a cubit in a space and his beard flowed down to his ankles The king resolved that Adikam should reign in his stead after his death When the second son of his was but ten years old he had given him Qaddaida the daughter of Avila to wife and she bore him four sons Afterward Adikam went and took three other wives and begot eight sons and three daughters The king's malady increased upon him greatly and his flesh emitted a stench like a carcass cast into the field in the heat of the sun When he saw that his disorder bad seized upon him with a strong grip he commanded his son Adikam to be brought to him and they made him king over the land in his place At the end of three years the old king died in shame and disgrace a loathing to all that saw him and they buried him in the sepulchre of the kings of Egypt and so on but they did not embalm him as was usual with kings for his flesh was putrid and they could not approach his body on account of the stench Thus the Lord requited him with evil for the evil he had done in his days to Israel and he died in terror and shame after having reigned ninety-four years Adikam was twenty years old when he succeeded his father and he reigned four years The people of Egypt called him Pharaoh as was their custom with all their kings but his wise men called him Akkuz for Akkuz is the word for short in the Egyptian language and Adikam was exceedingly awkward The new Pharaoh surpassed his father Malol and all the former kings in wickedness and he made heavier the yoke upon the children of Israel He went to Goshen with his servants and increased their labour and he said unto them complete your work each day's task and let not your hands slacken from the work from this day forward as you did in the days of my father He placed officers over them from amongst the children of Israel and over these officers he placed taskmasters from among his servants He put before them a measure for bricks according to the number they were to make day by day and whenever any deficiency was discovered in the measure of their daily bricks the taskmasters of Pharaoh would go to the women of the children of Israel and take their infant from them as many as the number of bricks lacking in the measure and these babes they put into the building instead of the missing bricks The taskmasters forged each man of the Israelites to put his own child in the building The father would place his son in the wall over him over with mortar all the while weeping his tears running down upon his child The children of Israel sighed every day on the count of their dire suffering for they had thought that after Pharaoh's death his son would lighten their toil but the new king was worse than his father and God saw the burden of the children of Israel and their heavy work and he determined to deliver them However it was not for their own sake that God resolved upon the deliverance of the children of Israel of good deeds and the Lord foreknew that once they were redeemed they would rise up against him and even worship the golden calf yet he took mercy upon them for he remembered his covenant with the fathers and he looked upon their repentance for their sins and accepted their promise to fulfill the word of God after they're going forth from Egypt even before they should hear it After all the children of Israel were not holy without merits In a high degree they possessed qualities of extraordinary excellence there were no incestuous relations among them they were not evil-tongued they did not change their names they clung to the Hebrew language never giving it up and great fraternal affection prevailed among them if one happened to finish the tale of his bricks before his neighbors he was in the habit of helping the others therefore God spake they deserve that I should have mercy upon them for if a man shows mercy unto another I have mercy upon him End of chapter 4 part 6 of the Jews volume 2 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Rhonda Fetterman the legends of the Jews volume 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg the faithful shepherd when Jethro bestowed his daughter Sephora upon Moses as his wife he said to his future son-in-law I know that thy father Jacob took his wives the daughters of Laban and went away with them against their father's will now take an oath that thou wilt not do the same unto me and Moses swore not to leave him without his consent and he remained with Jethro who made him the shepherd of his flocks by the way he tended the sheep God saw his fitness to be the shepherd of his people for God never gives an exalted office to a man until he has tested him in little things thus Moses and David were tried as shepherds of flocks and only after they had proved their ability as such he gave them dominion over men Moses watched over the flocks with loving care he led the young animals to pasture first that they might have the tender juicy grass for their food the somewhat older animals he led forth next and allowed them to graze off the herbs suitable for them and finally came the vigorous ones that had attained their full growth and to them he gave the hard grass that was left which the others could not eat but which afforded good food for them then spake God he that understandeth how to pasture sheep providing for each what is good for it he shall pasture my people once a kid escaped from the flock and when Moses followed it he saw how it stopped at all the water courses and he said to it poor kid I knew not that thou was thirsty and was running after water thou art weary Iween and he carried it back to the herd on his shoulder God thou hast compassion with a flock belonging to a man of flesh and blood as thou livest thou shall pasture Israel my flock not only did Moses take heed that no harm should come to the herds under his charge but he was also careful that they cause no injury to men he always chose an open meadow as his pasturing place to prevent his sheep from grazing in the states Jethro had no reason to be dissatisfied with the services rendered to him by his son-in-law during the forty years Moses acted as his shepherd not one sheep was attacked by wild beasts and the herds multiplied to an incredible degree once he drove the sheep about in the desert for forty days without finding a pasturing place for them nevertheless he did not lose his sheep Moses' longing for the desert was irresistible his prophetic spirit caused him to foresee that his own greatness and the greatness of Israel would manifest themselves there in the desert God's wonders would appear though it would be at the same time the grave of the human herd to be entrusted to him in the future and also his own last resting place thus he had a pre-sentiment at the very beginning of his career that the desert would be the scene of his activity which not only came true in the present order of things but also will be true in the latter days when he will appear in the desert again to lead into the promised land the generation arisen from their graves that he brought forth from Egyptian bondage wandering through the desert he reached Mount Horeb which is called by six names each conveying one of its distinctions it is the mountain of God wherein the Lord revealed his law Bazban, for God came there a mountain of humps for the Lord declared all the other mountains unfit for the revelation as crooked-backed animals are declared unfit for sacrifices mountain of abode because it is the mountain that God desired for his abode Sinai, because the hatred of God against the heathen began at the time when Israel received the law thereon and Horeb sword, because there the sword of the law was drawn upon the sinners the burning thornbush when Moses drew near to Mount Horeb at once that it was a holy place for he noticed that passing birds did not alight upon it at his approach the mountain began to move as though to go forward and meet him and it settled back into quietude only when his foot rested upon it the first thing Moses noticed was the wonderful burning bush the upper part of which was a blazing flame neither consuming the bush nor preventing it from bearing blossoms as it burnt for the celestial fire has three peculiar qualities it produces blossoms it does not consume the object around which it plays and it is black of color the fire that Moses saw in the bush was the appearance of the angel Michael who had descended as the forerunner of the Shekinah herself to come down presently it was the wish of God with Moses who however was not inclined to permit any interruption of the work under his charge therefore God startled him with the wonderful phenomenon of the burning thorn bush that brought Moses to a stop and then God spoke with him there were good reasons for selecting the thorn bush as the vessel for a divine vision it was clean for the heathen to make idols God's choosing to dwell in this stunted thorn bush conveyed the knowledge to Moses that he suffers along with Israel furthermore Moses was taught that there is nothing in nature not even the insignificant thorn bush that can exist without the presence of the Shekinah besides the thorn bush may be taken as the symbol for Israel in several respects as the thorn bush is the lowliest of all species of trees so the condition of Israel in the exile is the lowliest as compared with that of all the other nations but as the thorn bush releases no bird that elights upon it without lacerating its wings so the nations that subjugate Israel will be punished also as a garden hedge is made of the thorn bush so Israel forms the hedge of the world the garden of God for without Israel the world could not endure furthermore as the thorn bush bears thorns and roses alike so Israel has pious and envious members and as the thorn bush requires ample water for its growth so Israel can prosper only through the Torah the celestial water and the thorn bush the purpose of five leaflets was to indicate to Moses that God had resolved to redeem Israel only for the sake of the merits of five pious men Abraham Isaac Jacob Aaron and Moses the numbers represented by the letters composing the Hebrew word for thorn bush Sena add up to 120 to convey that Moses would reach the age of 120 years and that the Shekinah would rest on Mount Horab for 120 days finally in order to give Moses an illustration of his modesty God descended from the exalted heavens and spake to him from a lowly thorn bush instead of the summit of a lofty mountain or the top of a stately cedar tree the ascension of Moses the vision of the burning bush appeared to Moses alone the other shepherds with him saw nothing of it he took five steps in the direction of the bush to view it at close range and when God beheld the countenance of Moses distorted by grief and anxiety over Israel's suffering he spake this one is worthy of the office of pastoring my people Moses was still a novice in prophecy therefore God said to himself if I reveal myself to him in loud tones I shall alarm him but if I reveal myself with a subdued voice he will hold prophecy in low esteem whereupon he addressed him in his father Amram's voice Moses was overjoyed to hear his father speak for it gave him the assurance that he was still alive the voice called his name twice and he answered here I am what is my father's wish God replied saying I am not thy father I but desire to refrain from terrifying thee therefore I spoke with thy father's voice I am the God of thy father the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob these words rejoiced Moses greatly for not only was his father Amram's name pronounced in the same breath with the names of the three patriarchs but it came before theirs as though he rang tire than may Moses said not a word in silent reverence before the divine vision he covered his face and when God disclosed the mission with which he charged him of bringing the Israelites forth from the land of Egypt he answered with humility that I should go unto Pharaoh and bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt there upon spake God Moses thou art meek and I will reward thee for thy modesty I will deliver the whole land of Egypt into thine hand and besides I will let thee ascend unto the throne of my glory and look upon all the angels of the heavens when God commanded Metatron the angel of the face to conduct Moses to the celestial regions amid the sound of music and song and he commanded him furthermore to summon 30,000 angels to serve as his bodyguard 15,000 to the right of him and 15,000 to left of him in abject terror Moses asked Metatron who art thou replied I am Enoch the son of Jared thy ancestor and God has charged me to accompany thee to his throne but Moses demured saying I am but flesh and blood and I cannot look upon the countenance of an angel where upon Metatron changed Moses' flesh into torches of fire his eyes into Merkaba wheels his strength into an angels into a flame and he took him to heaven with a retinue of 30,000 angels one half moving to right of them and one half to left of them in the first heaven Moses saw streams upon streams of water and he observed that the whole heaven consisted of windows at each of which angels were stationed Metatron named and pointed out all the windows of heaven to him the window of prayer and the window of supplication of weeping and of joy plenitude and starvation wealth and poverty war and peace conception and birth showers and soft rains sin and repentance life and death pestilence and healing sickness and health and many windows more in the second heaven Moses saw the angel Nuriel standing 300 parisangs high with his retinue of 50 myriad of angels all fashioned out of water and fire and all keeping their faces turned toward the Shekinah while they sang a song of praise to God Metatron explained to Moses that these were the angels set over the clouds the winds and the rains who returned speedily as soon as they have executed their creator to their station in the second of the heavens there to proclaim the praise of God in the third heaven Moses saw an angel so tall it would take a human being 500 years to climb to his height he had 70,000 heads each head having as many mouths each mouth as many tongues and each tongue as many sayings he together with his sweet of 70,000 myriad of angels made of white fire praised and extolled the Lord these said Metatron to Moses are called Erilim and they are appointed over the grass the trees the fruits and the grain but as soon as they have done the will of their creator they return to the place assigned to them and praise God in the fourth heaven Moses saw a temple the pillars thereof made of red fire the staves of green fire the thresholds of white fire the boards and clasps of flaming fire the gates of carbuncles and the pinnacles of rubies angels were entering the temple and giving praise to God there in response to a question from Moses Metatron told him that they presided over the earth the sun, the moon, the stars and the other celestial bodies and all of them in toned songs before God in this heaven Moses noticed also the two great planets Venus and Mars each as large as the whole earth and concerning these he asked unto what purpose they had been created Metatron explained there upon that Venus lies upon the sun to cool him off in summer else he would scorch the earth and Mars lies upon the moon to impart warmth to her lest she freeze the earth arrived in the fifth heaven Moses saw hosts of angels whose nether parts were of snow and their upper parts of fire and yet the snow did not melt nor was the fire extinguished for God had established perfect harmony between the two elements these angels, called Ishim have had nothing to do since the day of their creation but praise and extol the Lord in the sixth of the heavens were millions and myriads of angels praising God they were called Iran and Kadishim Watchers and Holy Ones and their chief was made of hell and he was so tall it would take 500 years to walk a distance equal to his height in the last heaven Moses saw two angels each 500 parasangs in height forged out of chains of black fire and red fire the angels Ath Anger and Hema Rath whom God created at the beginning of the world to execute his will Moses was disquieted when he looked upon them but Metatron embraced him and said Moses, Moses thou favorite of God fear not and be not terrified and Moses became calm there was another angel in the seventh heaven different in appearance from all the others and of frightful mane his height was so great it would have taken 500 years to cover a distance equal to it and from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet he was studded with glaring eyes at the sight of which the beholder fell prostrate in awe this one, said Metatron addressing Moses is Samael who takes the soul away from man with her goes he now asked Moses and Metatron replied to fetch the soul of Job the pious there upon Moses prayed to God in these words O may it be thy will my God and the God of my fathers not to let me fall into the hands of this angel here in the highest heaven he saw also the Seraphim with their six wings with two they cover their face that they gaze not upon the Shekinah and with two their feet which being like a calves feet they hide to keep secret Israel's transgression of the golden calf with the third pair of wings they fly and do the service of the Lord all the while exclaiming Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory the wings of these angels are of prodigious size it would take a man five hundred years to traverse their length and their breath to the earth to the other and Moses saw in the seventh heaven the Holy Hayat which support the throne of God and he beheld also the angel Zagsagel the prince of the Torah and of Wisdom who teaches the Torah in seventy languages to the souls of men and thereafter they cherish the precepts contained therein as laws revealed by God to Moses on Sinai from this angel with the horns of glory Moses himself learned all the ten mysteries having seen what there is in the seven heavens he spoke to God saying I will not leave the heavens unless thou grantest me a gift and God replied I will give thee the Torah and men shall call it the law of Moses End of chapter 4 part 7