 Chapter 4. Moses in Egypt. Part 8 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. Moses visits Paradise and Hell. When Moses was on the point of departing from heaven, a celestial voice announced, Moses, thou camest hither, and thou didst see the throne of my glory. Now thou shalt see also Paradise and Hell. And God dispatched Gabriel on the errand of showing Hell to him. Terrified by its fires, when he caught sight of them as he entered the portals of Hell, Moses refused to go farther. But the angel encouraged him, saying, There is a fire that not only burns, but also consumes, and that fire will protect thee against Hellfire, so that thou canst step upon it, and yet thou wilt not be seared. As Moses entered Hell, the fire withdrew a distance of 500 parisangs, and the angel of Hell, Nassargiel, asked him, Who art thou? And he answered, I am Moses, the son of Amram. Nassargiel, this is not thy place. Thou belongest in Paradise. Moses, I came hither to see the manifestation of the power of God. Then God said to the angel of Hell, Go and show Hell unto Moses, and how the wicked are treated there. Immediately he went with Moses, walking before him like a pupil before his master, and thus they entered Hell together, and Moses saw men undergoing torture by the angels of destruction. Some of the sinners were suspended by their eyelids, some by their ears, some by their hands, and some by their tongues, and they cried bitterly. Women were suspended by their hair, and by their breasts, and in other ways, all on chains of fire. Nassargiel explained, These hang by their eyes because they looked lustfully upon the wives of their neighbors, and with a covetous eye upon the possessions of their fellow men. These hang by their ears because they listened to empty and vain speech, and turned their ear away from hearing the Torah. These hang by their tongues because they talked slander and accustomed their tongue to foolish babbling. These hang by their feet because they walked with them in order to spy upon their fellow men, but they walked not to the synagogue to offer prayer unto their Creator. These hang by their hands because with them they robbed their neighbors of their possessions and committed murder. These women hang by their hair and their breasts because they uncovered them in the presence of young men so that they conceived desire unto them and fell into sin. Moses heard Hell cry with a loud and a bitter cry, saying to Nassargiel, Give me something to eat, I am hungry. Nassargiel, what shall I give thee? Hell, give me the souls of the pious. Nassargiel, the holy one, blessed be he, will not deliver the souls of the pious unto thee. Moses saw the place called Elluca, where sinners were suspended by their feet, their heads downward, and their bodies covered with black worms each 500 parisangs long. They lamented and cried, Woe unto us for the punishment of Hell! Give us death that we may die! Nassargiel explained, These are the sinners that swore falsely, profane the Sabbath and the holy days, despise the sages, called their neighbors by unseemly nicknames, wrong the orphan and the widow, and bore false witness. Therefore hath God delivered them to these worms. Moses went thence to another place, and there he saw sinners prone on their faces with 2,000 scorpions lashing, stinging and tormenting them, while the tortured victims cried bitterly. Each of the scorpions had 70,000 heads, each head 70,000 mouths, each mouth 70,000 stings, and each sting 70,000 pouches of poison and venom, which the sinners are forced to drink down, although the anguish is so racking that their eyes melt in their sockets. Nassargiel explained, These are the sinners who caused the Israelites to lose their money, who exalted themselves above the community, who put their neighbors to shame in public, who delivered their fellow Israelites into the hands of the Gentiles, who denied the Torah of Moses, and who maintained that God is not the creator of the world. Then Moses saw the place called Titbayaun, in which the sinners stand in mud up to their navels while the angels of destruction lash them with fiery chains and break their teeth with fiery stones from morning till evening, and during the night they make their teeth grow again to the length of a parasang only to break them anew the next morning. Nassargiel explained, These are the sinners who ate carrion and forbidden flesh, who lent their money at usury, who wrote the name of God on amulets for Gentiles, who used false weights, who stole money from their fellow Israelites, who ate on the day of atonement, who ate forbidden fat, and animals and reptiles that are in abomination, and who drank blood. Then Nassargiel said to Moses, Come and see how the sinners are burnt in hell. And Moses answered, I cannot go there. But Nassargiel replied, Let the light of the Shekinah precede thee, and the fire of hell will have no power over thee. Moses yielded, and he saw how the sinners were burnt, one half of their bodies being immersed in fire and the other half in snow, while worms bred in their own flesh crawled over them, and the angels of destruction beat them incessantly. Nassargiel explained, These are the sinners who committed incest, murder, and idolatry, who cursed their parents and their teachers, and who, like Nimrod and others, called themselves gods. In this place, which is called Abaddon, he saw the sinners taking snow by stealth and putting it in their armpits to relieve the pain inflicted by the scorching fire, and he was convinced that the saying was true, the wicked men not their ways even at the gate of hell. As Moses departed from hell, he prayed to God, May it be thy will, O Lord my God, and God of my fathers, to save me and the people of Israel from the places I have seen in hell. But God answered him and said, Moses, before me there is no respecting of persons and no taking of gifts. Whoever doth good deeds entereth paradise, and he that doeth evil must go to hell. At the command of God, Gabriel now led Moses to paradise. As he entered, two angels came toward him and they said to him, Thy time is not yet arrived to leave the world, and Moses made answer, What ye say is true, but I have come to see the reward of the pious in paradise. Then the angels extolled Moses saying, Hail Moses, servant of God, Hail Moses, born of woman that hest been found worthy to ascend to the seven heavens, Hail to the nation to which thou belongest. Under the tree of life Moses saw the angel Shamshil, the prince of paradise, who led him through it and showed him all there is therein. He saw seventy thrones made of precious stones standing on feet of fine gold, each throne surrounded by seventy angels. But one of them was larger than all the others, and it was encircled by one hundred and twenty angels. This was the throne of Abraham, and when Abraham beheld Moses and heard who he was and what his purpose was in visiting paradise, he exclaimed, Praise ye the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Moses asked Shamshil about the size of paradise, but not even he who is the prince thereof could answer the question, for there is none that can gauge it. It can neither be measured nor fathomed nor numbered, but Shamshil explained to Moses about the thrones, that they were different one from the other, one being of silver, some of gold, some of precious stones and pearls and rubies and carbuncles. The thrones made of pearls are for the scholars that studied the Torah day and night for her own sake. Those of precious stones are for the pious, those of rubies for the just, those of gold for the repentant sinners, and those of silver for the righteous proselytes. The greatest of them all, continued Shamshil, is the throne of Abraham, the next in size, the thrones of Isaac and Jacob, then come the thrones of the prophets, the saints, and the righteous, each in accordance with a man's worth and his rank and the good deeds he has performed in his lifetime. Moses asked then for whom the throne of copper was intended, and the angel answered, for the sinner that has a pious son, through the merits of his son he receives it as his share. Again Moses looked, and he beheld a spring of living water welling up from under the tree of life and dividing into four streams which passed under the throne of glory and thence encompassed paradise from end to end. He also saw four rivers flowing under each of the thrones of the pious, one of honey, the second of milk, the third of wine, and the fourth of pure balsam. Beholding all these desirable and pleasant things, Moses felt great joy, and he said, Oh, how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast wrought for them that has put their trust in thee before the sons of men. And Moses left paradise and returned to the earth. At the moment of his departure, a heavenly voice cried aloud, Moses, servant of the Lord, thou that art faithful in his house, even as thou hast seen the reward that has laid up for the pious in the world to come, so also thou wilt be worthy of seeing the life of the world that shall be in the future time. Thou and all Israel, ye shall see the rebuilding of the temple and the advent of the Messiah, behold the beauty of the Lord, and meditate in his temple. In the world to come, Moses, besides sharing the joys of Israel, will continue his activity as the teacher of Israel, for the people will go before Abraham and request him to instruct them in the Torah. He will send them to Isaac saying, go to Isaac, he hath studied more of the Torah than ever I studied, but Isaac in turn will send them to Jacob saying, go to Jacob, he hath had more converse with the sages than ever I had, and Jacob will send them to Moses saying, go to Moses, he was instructed in the Torah by God himself. In the messianic time, Moses will be one of the seven shepherds that shall be the leaders of Israel with the Messiah. Moses declines the mission. When Moses turned aside to see the great sight that the bush was not consumed, he heard a voice calling to him, draw not nigh hither. These words were to convey that the dignity to be conferred upon him God intended for Moses personally, not for his descendants, and further he was warned not to arrogate honors appointed for others as the priesthood, which was belonging to Aaron and Aaron's descendants, or royalty, which was to appertain to David and the house of David. Again the voice spake, put off thy shoes from off thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. These words conveyed the desire of God that he cut asunder every bond uniting him with earthly concerns. He was even to give up his conjugal life. Hereupon the angel Michael spoke to God, O Lord of the world, can it be thy purpose to destroy mankind? Blessing can prevail only if male and female are united, and yet thou biddest Moses separate from his wife? God answered, saying, Moses has begot children, he has done his duty toward the world. I desire him to unite himself now with the Shekinah, that she may descend upon the earth for his sake. God spake furthermore addressing Moses, thou seest only what is to happen in the near future that Israel is to receive the Torah on Mount Sinai. But I behold what cometh after, how the people will worship the stear, the figure of which they will see upon my chariot even while my revelation will be made on Sinai. Thus they will excite my wrath. Nevertheless, though I know all the perverseness of their hearts, wherein they will rebel against me in the desert, I will redeem them now, for I accord unto man the treatment he merits for his present actions, not what he will deserve in the future. I promise their father, Jacob, I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will also surely bring thee up again. And now I will be take myself thither to bring Israel up in accordance with my words unto Jacob and bear them to the land I swore unto their fathers that their seed should inherit it. So long as the time of affliction had appointed unto his seed in my revelation to Abraham, was not past, I hearkened not to the supplication and the groaning of his children, but now the end hath come. Therefore go before Pharaoh, that he dismiss my people, if thou dost not bring about the redemption, none other will, for there is none other that can do it. In thee doth Israel hope, and upon thee doth Israel wait, the matter lieth in thine hands alone. Moses, however, refused to take the mission upon himself. He said to God, thy promise unto Jacob was, I will surely bring thee up again out of Egypt. Thou dost undertake to do it thyself, and now it is thy purpose to send me thither, and how indeed were it possible for me to accomplish this great matter to bring the children of Israel up out of Egypt. How could I provide them with food and drink? Many are the women and childbirth among them. Many are the pregnant women and the little children. Whence shall I procure dainties for those who have borne babes? Whence sweetmeats for the pregnant and whence tidbits for the little ones? And how may I venture to go among the Egyptian brigands and murderers? For thou art bidding me to go to mine enemies to those who lie and wait to take my life. Why should I risk the safety of my person, seeing that I know not whether Israel possesses merits making them worthy of redemption? I have reckoned up the years with care, and I have found that but 210 have elapsed since the covenants of the pieces made with Abraham. And at that time, thou didst ordain 400 years of oppression for his seed. But God overturned all his objections. He spake to Moses saying, I will be with thee. Whatever thou desirest, I will do, so that the redemption will in very truth be realized through me. In accordance with my promise to Jacob, the little ones that Israel will carry up out of Egypt, I will provide with food for 30 days that shall prove to thee in what manner I will supply the needs for all. And as I will be at thy side, thou hast no need to fear any man. Respecting thy doubt whether Israel deserves to be redeemed, this is my answer. They will be permitted to go forth from Egypt on account of the merits they will acquire at this mountain, whereon they will receive the Torah through thee. And thy reckoning of the end is not correct, for the 400 years of bondage began with the birth of Isaac, not with the going down of Jacob into Egypt. Therefore the appointed end hath come. Persuaded now of God's unalterable resolve to use him as his instrument in the redemption of Israel from Egypt, Moses entreated God to impart to him the knowledge of his great name, that he be not confounded if the children of Israel ask for it. God answered, saying, Thou desirest to know my name. My name is according to my acts. When I judge my creatures, I am called Elohim, judge. When I rise up to do battle against the sinners, I am Lord Zebeat, the Lord of hosts. When I wait with long-suffering patience for the improvement of the sinner, my name is El Shaddai. When I have mercy upon the world, I am Adonai. But unto the children of Israel shalt thou say that I am he that was, that is, and that ever will be. And I am he that is with them in their bondage now, and he that shall be with them in the bondage of the time to come. In reply to the latter words of God, Moses said, Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof, and God assented there too. He admitted that it was not proper to force the knowledge of a future suffering upon Israel in a present that was itself full of evil and sorrow. And the Lord said to Moses, My words about the future were meant for thee alone, not also for them. Tell the children of Israel besides that at my behest an angel can stretch his hand from heaven and touch the earth with it, and three angels can find room under one tree, and my majesty can fill the whole world, for when it was my will it appeared to Job in his hair, and again when I willed otherwise, it appeared in a thorn-bush. But the most important communication from God to Moses concerning the divine names were the words to follow. In mercy I created the world, in mercy I guided, and with mercies I will return to Jerusalem. But unto the children of Israel thou shalt say that my mercy upon them is for the sake of the merits of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When Moses heard these words he spoke to God saying, Are there men that transgress after death? And when God assured him that it was not possible for the dead to sin, Moses asked again, Why then is it that thou didst reveal thyself to me the first as the God of my Father? And now thou passest him over? Whereupon God said, In the beginning it was my purpose to address thee with flattering words, but now thou hearest the whole and exact truth. I am only the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Moses prayed to God in treating him to reveal his great and holy name unto him, so that he might call upon him with it and secure the fulfillment of all his wishes. The Lord granted the prayer of Moses, and when the Celestials knew that he had revealed the secret of the ineffable name, they cried out, Blessed art thou, O Lord gracious giver of knowledge. God is always regardful of the honor of the elders of a people, and he bade Moses assemble those of Israel and announced the approaching redemption to them. And as God knew beforehand how Pharaoh's abduracy would display itself, he made it known to Moses at once, lest he reproach God later with the Egyptian king's forwardness. End of chapter 4 part 8 Chapter 4 part 9 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 The Legends of the Jews volume 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg Moses punished for his stubbornness. In spite of all these safeguards, Moses was not yet ready to accept the mission God wished to impose upon him. He persisted in urging his fears, saying, But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice, for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And the Lord said, Thou deservedest to be castigated with it. If thou didst not intend to take my mission upon thyself, thou shouldst have said so in the beginning. Instead thou didst hold back with thy refusal, until I revealed to thee the great secret of the ineffable name that thou mightest know it if the children of Israel should ask thee concerning it. And now thou sayest, I will not go. Now therefore, if thou wilt not execute my charge to thee, it will be executed by this rod. It was my wish to distinguish thee and make thee my instrument for doing many miracles. But thou deservedest a punishment for having suspected my children of lack of faith. The children of Israel are believers and sons of believers, but thou wilt show thyself of little faith in thy career, and as thou followest the example of the slanderous serpent, so shall thou be punished with leprosy, wherewith the serpent was punished. The Lord now bade Moses put his hand into his bosom and take it out again. And when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow. And God bade him put his hand into his bosom again, and it turned again as his other flesh. Beside being a chastisement for his hasty words, the plague on his hand was to teach him that as the leopard defiles, so the Egyptians defiled Israel, and as Moses was healed of his uncleanness, so God would cleanse the children of Israel of the pollution the Egyptians had brought upon them. The second wonder connected with the rod of Moses likewise conveyed a double meaning in that it pointed to the coming redemption of Israel and taught Moses a specific lesson. At the bidding of God, Moses cast his rod on the ground, and it became a serpent to show him that when he traduced Israel, he was following the example of the abusive serpent, and also to show him that the great dragon that lieth in the midst of the rivers of Egypt, though he was now hacking into Israel with his teeth, would be rendered harmless like the rod of wood, which has no power to bite. And again, through the third miracle he was bidden to perform, God conveyed to Moses what would happen in the latter years of his own life. The sign he gave him was to make known to him that before the water came, the rock at Meribah, when Moses should strike it after uttering the hasty, impatient words that were destined to bring death down upon him. For seven days God urged Moses to undertake the mission he desired him to execute. He resorted to persuasion that the heathen might not say that he abused his power as the ruler of the world, forcing men to do his service against their will. But Moses remained obdurate. He could not be won over. He said, Thou doest a wrong unto me in sending me to Pharaoh. In the palace of the Egyptian king, there are persons that know how to speak the seventy languages of the world. No matter what language a man may use, there is someone that understands him. If I should come as thy representative, and they should discover that I am not able to converse in the seventy languages, they will mock at me and say, Behold this man! He pretends to be the ambassador of the creator of the world, and he cannot speak the seventy languages. To this God made reply as follows. Adam, who was taught by none, could give names to the beasts in the seventy languages. Was it not I that made him to speak? Moses was not yet satisfied. He continued to urge objections, and he said, O Lord of the world, thou wits charge me with the task of chastising Egypt and redeeming Israel, and I am ready to be thy messenger. But is it seemly that a man should execute two errands at once? Nay, my Lord, for this two men are needed. God made answer and said, Moses, I know well whom thou hast in mind with thy request to be thy companion in the mission I assigned to thee. Know therefore that the Holy Spirit hath already come upon thy brother Aaron, and even now he is awaiting thee on the way of Egypt, and when his eyes rest upon thee he will rejoice. Furthermore God spake to Moses, saying, When I appeared unto thee the first time, thou wasst meek, and itst hide thy face not to see the vision. Whence cometh now this effrontery of thine that thou addressst me as a servant to his master? Thou speakest too many words by far. Perchance thou thinkest I have no messengers, hosts, seraphim, ophanim, ministering angels, and Merkaba wheels to send to Egypt to bring my children thence that thou sayest, send by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. In sooth thou deservedest severe chastisement. But what can I do, seeing that I am the master of mercy? If thou escapist unpunished, thou oest it to thy father Amrum, who rendered great services in behalf of the preservation of the Israelidish people in Egypt. But Moses replied, O Lord of the world, I, a prophet, and the son of a prophet, obeyed thy words only after much hesitation, and I cannot expect Pharaoh, a wicked man, and the son of a wicked man, and the Egyptians, a disobedient people, and the sons of a disobedient people, to give ear to my words. O Lord of the world, thou dost send me to Egypt to redeem sixty myriads of thy people from the oppression of the Egyptians. If it were a question of delivering a couple of hundred men, it were a sufficiently difficult enterprise. How much severer is the task of freeing sixty myriads from the dominion of Pharaoh? If thou hast called upon the Egyptians to give up their evil ways over Israel, they might have heeded thy admonitions. But if I should go and speak to them now, after they have been ruling over Israel these two hundred and ten years, Pharaoh would say, If a slave has served his master for ten years and no protest has made itself heard from any quarter, how can a man conceive the idea suddenly of having him set at liberty? Verily, O Lord of the world, the task thou puttest upon me is too heavy for my strength. I am not an eloquent man, nor can I see of what a veil words can be in this matter. Thou art sending me to one that is himself a slave to Pharaoh of the tribe of Ham, and a slave will not be corrected by words. I consent to go on thy errand only if thou wilt invest me with the power of chastising Pharaoh with brute force. To these words spoken by Moses, God made reply, Let it not fret thee that thou art it is I that made the mouth of all that speak, and I that made men dumb. One I make to see, another I make blind, one I make to hear, another I make deaf. Had I willed it so, thou hest been a man of ready speech, but I desired to show a wonder through thee. Whenever I will it, the words I cast into thy mouth shall come forth without hesitation. But what thou sayest about a slave that he cannot be corrected by words is true, and therefore I give thee my rod for Pharaoh's castigation. But Moses still stood his ground. He raised other objections. His grandchild, he said, is closer to a man than his nephew. Nevertheless, when Lot was taken captive, thou didst send angels to the aid of Abraham's nephew. But now when the life of sixty myriads of Abraham's lineal descendants is at stake, thou sendest me and not the angels. When the Egyptian bondswoman Hagar was in distress, thou didst dispatch five angels to stand by her, and to redeem sixty myriads of the children of Sarah thou dost dispatch me. O Lord, send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send in days to come. To this God answered, saying, I said not that I would send thee to Israel, but to Pharaoh, and that one whom thou madeest mention of I will send to Israel at the end of days. Elijah appeared to them before the great and terrible day. If Moses refused to do the errand of the Lord, there was a reason. God had revealed to him the treasures of the Torah, of wisdom and of knowledge, and the whole world's future. Now he beheld in the inner chamber of God rows of scholars and judges interpreting the Torah in forty-nine different ways as they sat in the court of hewn stones, and he saw besides Rabbi Akiba explaining the meaning of the crowns upon the letters. Then said Moses, I do not care to be God's messenger, let him rather send one of these great scholars. Then God ordered the angel of wisdom to carry Moses to a place of myriads of scholars all interpreting the Torah and all making use of the formula. This is a halakha revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai. Now Moses recognized that even the greatest scholars of future generations would be dependent upon him, and then at last he was ready to execute the mission God desired to lay upon him. But Moses had to pay dear for having hesitated in the execution of the divine bidding. God said to him, It was appointed that thou shouldst be priest and Aaron should be the Levite. Because thou hast refused to execute my will, thou shall be the Levite and Aaron shall be priest. A punishment that did not fall upon Moses personally, but only upon his descendants, all of whom are Levites. As for himself he performed a priest's service in the tabernacle. Moses had said to God, Thou hast been speaking to me now these many days, nevertheless I am still slow of speech and of a slow tongue. For this he received another punishment. God said to him, I might change thee into a new man and heal thee of thy imperfect speech, but because thou hast uttered such words, I refrain from curing thee. The Legends of the Jews Volume 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg The Return to Egypt When Moses finally gave in and declared himself ready to go to Egypt as God's messenger, his acceptance was still conditional upon the promise of God to fulfill all his wishes. And God granted whatsoever he desired except immortality and entering the Holy Land. God also elayed his fears regarding the danger that threatened him from his Hualam enemies, Dathan and Abiram on account of whom he had had to flee to Egypt. He told him that they had sunk to the estate of poor and insignificant men bereft of the power of doing him harm. Moses was loyal to the oath he had given his father-in-law Jethro never to return to Egypt without securing his consent. His first concern therefore was to go back to Midian and obtain his permission, which Jethro gave freely. Then Moses could set out on his journey. He tarried only to take his wife and his children with him, which made Dathan and Abiram in law say, Those who are in Egypt are to leave it and thou desirest to take more thither? Moses replied, Very soon the slaves held in bondage in Egypt will be redeemed, and they will go forth from the land and gather at Mount Sinai and hear the words I and the Lord thy God and should my sons not be present there? Jethro acknowledged the justice of Moses' words and he said to him Go in peace, enter Egypt in peace, and leave the land in peace. At last Moses sallied forth upon his journey to Egypt, accompanied by his wife and his children. He was mounted upon the very ass that had borne Abraham to the Akhita on Mount Moriah, the ass upon which the Messiah will appear riding at the end of days. Even now, his journey begun, Moses was but half hearted about his mission. He traveled leisurely, thinking, When I arrive in Egypt and announce to the children of Israel that the end of the Egyptian slavery has come, they will say, We know very well that our bondage must last 400 years, and the end is not yet. But if I were to put this objection before God, he would break out in wrath against me. It is best for me to consume as much time as possible on the way thither. God was ill-pleased with Moses for this artifice, and he spake to him saying, Joseph prophesied long ago that the oppression of Egypt would endure only 10 years. For his lack of faith, Moses was punished while he was on the road to Egypt. The angels Ath and Hema appeared and swallowed his whole body down to his feet, and they gave him up only after Zipporah, nimble as a bird, circumcised her son Gershom, and touched the feet of her husband with the blood of the circumcision. The reason why their son had remained uncircumcised until then was that Jethro had made the condition, when he consented to the marriage of his daughter with Moses, the son of their union should be brought up as a Gentile. When Moses was released by the angels, he attacked them, and he slew Hema, whose host of angels, however, held their own before the assailant. The divine voice heard by Moses in Midian, telling him to return to his brethren in Egypt, fell at the same time upon the ear of Aaron, dwelling in Egypt, and it baited him go into the wilderness to meet Moses. God speaketh marvelously with his voice, and the Christian could be understood one way in Midian, and another way in Egypt. The greeting of the two brothers was very cordial. In being jealousy had no place between them. Aaron was rejoiced that God had chosen his younger brother to be the redeemer of Israel, and Moses was rejoiced that his older brother had been divinely appointed the high priest in Israel. God knew their hearts, for at the time when he charged him with the Egyptian mission, Moses had said, all these years Aaron was a prophet in Israel, and should I now encroach upon his province and cause him vexation? But God reassured him, saying, Moses, thy brother Aaron will surely not be vexed. He will rather rejoice at thy mission. Yea, he will come forth and meet thee. Aaron showed his joy freely at seeing his brother once more, after their separation of many years. As for his joy in the distinction accorded to Moses, it was too great to be expressed in all its depth and content. For his kind, generous spirit he received a reward from God in that he was permitted to bear the Urim and Thumim upon his heart. For, God said, the heart that rejoiced at the exalting of a brother shall wear the Urim and Thumim. Aaron ran to meet his brother and embraced him and asked where he had spent all the years of their separation. When he was told in Midian he continued to question him, saying, who are these that are traveling with thee? Moses. My wife and my sons. Aaron, whither goest thou with them? Moses. To Egypt. Aaron. What? Great enough is our sorrow through those who have been in Egypt from the beginning and thou takeest more to the land? Moses recognized that Aaron was right and he sent his wife and his sons back to his father-in-law, Jethro. He was no less magnanimous than Aaron. If the elder brother felt no envy on account of the younger brother's dignity, the younger brother did not withhold from the other the teachings and revelations he had received. Immediately after meeting with Aaron Moses told him all that God had taught him, even the awful secret of the ineffable name communicated to him on Mount Horib. In obedience to the command of God the elders of the people were assembled and before them Moses performed the wonders that were to be his credentials as the Redeemer sent to deliver the people. Nevertheless the deeds he did were not so potent in convincing them of the reality of the mission as the words wherein God had announced the approaching redemption to him, which he repeated in their ears. The elders knew that Jacob had imparted to Joseph the secret mark designating the Redeemer and Joseph had in turn compited it to his brethren before his death. The last surviving one of the brethren, Asher, had revealed it to his daughter Sira in the following words He that will come and proclaim the redemption with the words of God I have surely visited you and seen that which is done to you in Egypt He is the true Redeemer Sira was still alive at Moses' return and the elders but took themselves to her and told her the words of Moses announcing the redemption When she heard that his words had been the same as those Asher had quoted she knew that he was the promised Redeemer and all the people believed in him Thereupon Moses invited the elders to go to Pharaoh with him but they lacked the courage to appear with the king. Though they started out with Moses they dropped off stealthily on the way, one by one and when Moses and Aaron stood in the presence of the king they found themselves alone, deserted by all the others The elders did not go out free. Their punishment was that God did not permit them to ascend the holy mountain with Moses They durst accompany him on the way to God only as far as they had accompanied him on the way to Pharaoh and then they had to tarry until again. End Chapter 4 Part 9 Chapter 4 Part 10 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 Larry Ann Walden The Legends of the Jews Volume 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh The day Moses and Aaron made their appearance before Pharaoh happened to be the anniversary of his birth and he was surrounded by many kings for he was the ruler of the whole world and this was the occasion on which the kings of the earth came to do him homage. When the attendance announced Moses and Aaron Pharaoh inquired whether the two old men had brought him crowns and receiving a negative reply he ordered that they were not to be admitted to his presence until he had seen and dismissed all the others in their respects. Pharaoh's palace was surrounded by a vast army. It was built with four hundred entrances one hundred on each side and each of them guarded by sixty thousand soldiers. Moses and Aaron were overawed by this display of power and they were afraid but the angel Gabriel appeared and he led them into the palace observed by none of the guards and Pharaoh decreed severe punishment upon the inattentive sentinels of the old men without his permission. They were dismissed and others put in their places but the same thing happened the next day. Moses and Aaron were within the palace and the new guard had not been able to hinder their passing. Pharaoh questioned his servants how it had been possible for the two old men to enter and they said we know it not through the doors they did not come. Surely they must be magicians. Not enough that the palace guarded by a host at each entrance two lions were stationed and in terror of being torn to pieces none dared approach the doors and none could go within until the lion tamer came and led the beasts away. Now Balaam and all the other sacred scribes of Egypt advised that the keepers loose the lions at the approach of Moses and Aaron but their advice availed not. Moses had but to raise his rod and the lions bounded toward him joyously and followed at his feet gambling like dogs before their master on his return home. Within the palace Moses and Aaron found 70 secretaries busy with Pharaoh's correspondence which was carried on in 70 languages. At the side of the messengers of Israel they started up in great awe for the two men resembled angels. In stature they were as the cedars of Lebanon their countenances radiated splendor like the sun. The pupils of their eyes were like the sphere of the morning star. Their beards like palm branches and their mouths emitted flames when they opened them for speech. In their terror the secretaries flung down pen and paper and prostrated themselves before Moses and Aaron. Now the two representatives of the children of Israel stepped before Pharaoh and they spake the God of the Hebrews hath met with us. Let us go we pray thee three days journey into the wilderness where we fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword. But Pharaoh answered saying what is the name of your God wherein doth his strength consist and his power. How many countries how many provinces how many cities hath he under his dominion and how many campaigns was he victorious how many lands did he make subject to himself how many cities did he capture when he goeth to war how many warriors writers chariots charioteers doth he lead forth. Where too Moses and Aaron replied his strength and his power fill the whole world his voice hewith out flames of fire his words break mountains and pieces the heaven is his throne and the earth his footstool his bow is fire his arrows or flames his spears torches his shield clouds and his sword lightning flashes he created the mountains and the valleys he brought forth spirits and souls he stretched out the earth by a word he made the mountains with his wisdom he forms the embryo in the womb of the mother he covers the heavens with the clouds at his word the dew and the rain descent earthward he causes plants to grow from the ground he nourishes and sustains the whole world from the horns upon the ram down to the eggs of vermin every day he causes men to die and every day he calls men into life. Pharaoh answered and said I have no need of him I have created myself and if ye say that he causes dew and rain to descend I have the Nile the river that hath its source under the tree of life and the ground impregnated by its waters bears fruit so huge that it takes two asses to carry it and it is palatable beyond description for it has three hundred different tastes then Pharaoh sent to fetch the books of the chronicles of the archives wherein are recorded the names of the gods of all the nations to see whether the name of the god of the Hebrews was among them he read off the gods of Moab the gods of Ammon the gods of Zidon I do not find your god inscribed in the archives Moses and Aaron exclaimed oh thou fool thou seekest the living in the graves of the dead these which thou didst read are the names of dumb idols but our god of life and the king of eternal life when Pharaoh said the words I know not the lord God himself made answer saying oh thou rascal thou sayest to my ambassadors I know not the strength and the power of your god lo I will make thee to stand for to show thee my power and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth having searched his list of the gods of the nations in vain for a mention of the god of the Hebrews Pharaoh cited before him the wise men of Egypt and he said to them have he ever heard the name of the god of these people they replied we have been told that he is a son of the wise the son of ancient kings then spake god saying oh ye fools you call yourselves wise men but me you call only the son of the wise verily I will set it not all your wisdom and your understanding Pharaoh persisted in his obduracy even after Moses and Aaron had performed the miracle of the rod at the time when the two Hebrews succeeded in entering the palace guarded as it was by lions Pharaoh had sent for his magicians at their head Balaam and his two sons Janus and Jambres and when they appeared before him he told them of the extraordinary incident how the lions had followed the two old men like dogs and fawned upon them it was Balaam's opinion that they were themselves and his companions and he prayed the king to have them come before him together with themselves to test who were the master magicians the Egyptians or the Hebrews Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and he said to them who will believe you when you say that you are the ambassadors of god as you pretend to be if you do not convince men by performing wonders thereupon Aaron cast his rod to the ground and it became a serpent he laughed aloud what he exclaimed is this all your god can do it is the way of merchants to carry merchandise to a place if there is none of it there but would anyone take brine to Spain or fish to Aco it seems you do not know that I am an adept in all sorts of magic he ordered little school children to be brought and they repeated the wonder done by Moses and Aaron indeed Pharaoh's own wife performed it Janus and Jambres the sons of Balaam derided Moses saying ye carry straw to Ephraim where to Moses answered to the place of many vegetables thither carry vegetables to show the Egyptians that Aaron could do something with his rod that their magicians could not imitate God caused the serpent into which his rod had been changed to swallow up all the rods of the magicians but Balaam and his associates said there is nothing marvelous or astonishing your serpent has but devoured our serpent which is in accordance with the law of nature one living being devours another if thou wishest us to acknowledge that the spirit of God worketh in thee then cast thy rod to the earth and if being wood it swells up our rods of wood then we shall acknowledge that the spirit of God is in thee Aaron stood the test after his rod had resumed his original form it swallowed up the rods of the Egyptians and yet its bulk showed no increase this caused Pharaoh to reflect whether this wonderful rod of Aaron might not swallow up also him and his throne nevertheless he refused to obey the behest of God to let Israel go saying had I Jacob Israel himself hear before me I should put trowel in bucket on his shoulder and to Moses and Aaron he said because ye like all the rest of the tribe of Levi are not compelled to labor therefore do ye speak let us go and sacrifice to the Lord if you had asked for a thousand people or two thousand I should have fulfilled your request but never will I consent to let six hundred thousand men go away the legends of the Jews volume two by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg the suffering increases beside refusing to dismiss the children of Israel he ordered on the very day of Moses and Aaron's audience with him that the people be required to deliver the prescribed tale of bricks though the task masters were not as here to four to give them straw to make brick another decree was that the children of Israel were not to be permitted to rest on the Sabbath for Pharaoh knew that they used the leisure for reading the roles that described their redemption all this was a part of God's plan the oppression of Israel was to be increased the closer the end approached as they wandered up and down and needed for the due tale of bricks they were maltreated by the Egyptians if they caught them on their fields such unkind acts perpetrated by the whole people made it impossible for them to cast the entire blame for the bondage of Israel upon Pharaoh all the Egyptians showed cruelty to the Israelites on their straw foraging expeditions and therefore the divine punishment descended upon all alike this frightful time of Israel's extreme suffering lasted six months meantime Moses went to Midian leaving Aaron alone in Egypt when Moses returned at the end of the reign of terror two of the Israelite officers accosted him and Aaron and heaped abuse upon them for having increased the woes of their people rather than diminished them they spake saying if you are truly the ambassadors of God then may he judge between us and Pharaoh but if you are seeking to bring about the redemption of Israel on your own account between you and Israel you are responsible for the widespread stench now issuing from the Israelite corpses used as bricks for building when our tale was not complete the Egyptians had but a faint suspicion that we were waiting for our redemption it is your fault if they are fully conscious of it now we are in the quandary of the poor sheep that has been dragged away by a wolf the shepherd pursues the robber catches up with him and tries to snatch the sheep from his jaws and the wretched victim pulled this way by the wolf and that way by the shepherd is torn to pieces thus Israel fares between you and Pharaoh the two officers that spake these stinging words were Dathan and Abiram and it was neither the first nor the last time they inflicted an injury upon Moses the other Israelite officers were gentle and kind they permitted themselves to be beaten by the taskmasters rather than prod the laborers of their own people under their surveillance the cruel suffering to which his people was exposed caused Moses to speak to God thus I have read the book of Genesis through and I found the doom in it pronounced upon the generation of the Deluge it was a just judgment I found also the punishments decreed against the generation of the confusion of tongues and against the inhabitants of Sodom these two were just but what hath this nation of Israel done unto thee that it is oppressed more than any other nation in history is it because Abraham said whereby shall I know that I shall inherit the land and thou didst rebuke him for his small faith saying know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs why then are not the descendants of Esau and Ishmael held in bondage to are they not likewise of the seed of Abraham but if thou wilt say what concern is it of mine then I ask thee it's thou send me hither as thy messenger thy great exalted and terrible name is feared in all the earth yet Pharaoh heard me pronounce it and he refuses obedience I know thou wilt redeem Israel in thine own good time and it is of little moment to thee that now they are emuring living Israelites in these buildings were he a God of justice only the Lord would have slain Moses for the audacity of his last words but in view of his having spoken as he had only out of compassion with Israel the Lord dealt graciously with him he answered Moses saying thou shalt see what I will do to Pharaoh words conveying to Moses that although he would be witnessed to the chastisement of Pharaoh he would not be present at that of the 31 kings of Canaan thus he was rebuke for the unbecoming language he had used in addressing God at the same time God's words were a rejoinder to another speech by Moses he had said O Lord of the world I know well that thou wilt bring thy children forth from Egypt O that thou wilt make use of another instrument for I am not worthy of being the redeemer of thy children God made answer there too yes Moses thou art worthy thereof through thee my children will be brought forth out of Egypt thou shalt see what I will do to Pharaoh at the same time God called him to account for having so little faith he said O for the departed their light cannot be found any more I appeared unto Abraham Isaac and Jacob as El Shaddai God Almighty but I was not known to them by my name Adonai God all merciful as I appeared unto thee nevertheless they did not cast dispersions upon my acts I spake to Abraham unto thee will I give the land but when he was about to bury Sarah he had to pay out silver for her body and yet he did not find fault with me I spake to Isaac unto thee and unto thy seed I will give all these lands but when he desired water to drink he had to strive with the herdsmen of Girar and yet he did not find fault with me I spake to Jacob the land whereon thou liest to thee will I give it and to thy seed but when he wanted to spread his tent he had to acquire a parcel of ground and yet he did not find fault with me none of them asked to know my name but thou didst demand to know it at the very first when I desired to send thee down into Egypt and after I revealed it to thee thou didst speak saying thou didst tell me that thou art called compassionate and gracious long-suffering and merciful but as soon as I pronounced this name before Pharaoh misfortune descended upon the people of Israel now I desire to fulfill my covenant with the three patriarchs and give their posterity the promised land as a reward for the unquestioning faith of the fathers and also as a reward to the people who in spite of their suffering did not find fault with my deeds for this will I give them the land which they do not deserve to possess for other reasons I swear that I will do thus God pronounced this oath to banish all fear from the mind of Moses that he might act only in accordance with his attribute of justice and thus delay the redemption of Israel for a time on account of the sins of the people now the redemption of Israel was a settled fact but before Moses and Aaron could start on the work of delivering their people God called various points to their attention which he bade them consider in their undertaking he spake to them saying my children are perverse, passionate and troublesome you must be prepared to stand their abuse to the length of being pelted with stones by them I send you to Pharaoh and although I will punish him according to his desserts yet you must not fail in the respect due to him as a ruler furthermore be careful to take the elders of the people into your council and let your first step toward redemption be to make the people give up the worship of idols the last was a most difficult task and the words of God concerning it rung the exclamation from Moses see the children of Israel will not hearken unto me how then should Pharaoh hearken unto me it was the third time Moses declined to go on the errand of God now the divine patience was exhausted and Moses was subjected to punishment at first God had revealed himself only to Moses and the original intention had been that he alone was to perform all the miracles but henceforth the word of God was addressed to Aaron as well and he was given a share in doing the wonders End of chapter 4 part 10 chapter 4 part 11 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 Lorraine Walden the legends of the Jews volume 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg measure for measure God divided the 10 punishments decreed for Egypt into four parts three of the plagues he committed to Aaron three to Moses one to the two brothers together and three he reserved for himself Aaron was charged with those that preceded from the earth and the water the elements that are composed of more or less solid parts from which are fashioned all the corporeal distinctive entities while the three entrusted to Moses were those that preceded from the air and the fire the elements that are most prolific of life the Lord is a man of war and as a king of flesh and blood devises various stratagems against his enemy so God attacked the Egyptians in various ways he brought ten plagues down upon them when a province rises up in rebellion its sovereign lord first sends his army against it to surround it and cut off the water supply if the people are contrite well and good if not he brings noisemakers into the field against them if the people are contrite well and good if not he orders darts to be discharged against them if the people are contrite well and good if not he orders his legions to assault them if the people are contrite well and good if not he causes bloodshed and carnage among them if the people are contrite well and good if not he directs a stream of hot naphtha upon them if the people are contrite well and good if not he hurls projectiles at them from his balustay. If the people are contrite, well and good. If not, he has scaling ladders set up against their walls. If the people are contrite, well and good. If not, he casts them into dungeons. If the people are contrite, well and good. If not, he slays their magnates. Thus did God proceed against the Egyptians. First he cut off their water supply by turning their rivers into blood. They refused to let the Israelites go, and he sent the noisy, croaking frogs into their entrails. They refused to let the Israelites go, and he brought lice against them, which pierced their flesh like darts. They refused to let the Israelites go, and he sent barbarian legions against them, mixed hordes of wild beasts. They refused to let the Israelites go, and he brought slaughter upon them of very grievous pestilence. They refused to let the Israelites go, and he poured out naphtha over them, burning blains. They refused to let the Israelites go, and he calls his projectiles the hail to descend upon them. They refused to let the Israelites go, and he placed scaling ladders against the wall for the locusts, which climbed them like men of war. They refused to let the Israelites go, and he cast them into dungeon darkness. They refused to let the Israelites go, and he slew their magnates, their first-born sons. The plagues that God sent upon the Egyptians corresponded to the deeds they had perpetrated against the children of Israel. Because they forced the Israelites to draw water for them and also hindered them from the use of the ritual baths, he changed their water into blood. Because they had said to the Israelites, go and catch fish for us, he brought frogs up against them, making them to swarm in their kneading troughs in their bed chambers and hop around croaking in their entrails. It was the severest of all the ten plagues. Because they had said to the Israelites, go and sweep and clean our houses, our courtyards, and our streets, he changed the dust of the air into lice so that the vermin lay piled up in heaps and L high, and when the Egyptians put on fresh garments, they were at once infested with the insects. The fourth plague was an invasion of the land by hordes of all sorts of wild animals, lions, wolves, panthers, bears, and others. They overran the houses of the Egyptians, and when they closed their doors to keep them out, God caused a little animal to come forth from the ground, and it got in through the windows and split open the doors, and made a way for the bears, panthers, lions, and wolves, which swarmed in and devoured the people down to the infants in their cradles. If an Egyptian entrusted his ten children to an Israelite to take a walk with them, a lion would come and snatch away one of the children, a bear would carry off the second, a serpent the third, and so on, and in the end the Israelite returned home alone. This plague was brought upon them because they were in the habit of bidding the Israelites go and catch wolves and lions for their circuses, and they sent them on such errands to make them take up their abode in distant deserts, where they would be separated from their wives and could not propagate their race. Then God brought a grievous murrin upon their cattle, because they had pressed the Israelites into their service as shepherds, and assigned remote pastoring places to them to keep them away from their wives. Therefore the murrin came and carried off all the cattle in the flocks the Israelites were tending. The sixth plague was a boil breaking forth with blanes upon man and upon beast. This was the punishment of the Egyptians because they would say to the children of Israel, go and prepare a bath for us unto the delight of our flesh and our bones. Therefore they were doomed to suffer with boils that inflamed their flesh, and on account of the itch they could not leave off scratching. While the Egyptians suffered thus the children of Israel used their baths. Because they had sent the Israelites forth into the fields to plow and sow, hail was sent down upon them, and their trees and crops were destroyed. They had been in the habit of saying to the Israelites, go forth, plant ye trees for us and guard the fruit thereon. Therefore God brought the locusts into the Egyptian border to eat the residue of that which was escaped, which remained unto them from the hail, for the teeth of the locust are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the jaw teeth of a great lion. Because they would throw the Israelites into dungeons, God brought darkness upon them, the darkness of hell, so that they had to grope their way. He that sat could not rise up on his feet, and he that stood could not sit down. The infliction of darkness served another purpose. Among the Israelites there were many wicked men who refused to leave Egypt, and God determined to put them out of the way. But that the Egyptians might not say they had succumbed to the plague like themselves, God slew them under cover of the darkness, and in the darkness they were buried by their fellow Israelites, and the Egyptians knew nothing of what had happened. But the number of these wicked men had been very great, and the children of Israel spared to leave Egypt were but a small fraction of the original Israeliteish population. The tenth plague was the slaying of the firstborn, and it came upon the Egyptians because of their intention to murder the men children of the Israelites at their birth, and finally Pharaoh and his host were drowned in the Red Sea, because the Egyptians had caused the men children of the Israelites to be exposed in the water. Each of the plagues inflicted upon Egypt had another parallel in the cruel treatment according to the Israelites. The first was a punishment for the arrogant word spoken by Pharaoh. My Nile River is my own, and I have made it for myself. The plague of the frogs God brought down upon the Egyptians, because, he said, the frogs which sometimes inhabit the water shall take vengeance upon the Egyptians for having desired to destroy the nation destined to be the bearers of the Torah, and the Torah is likened unto water. God sent vermin upon them, saying, Let the lice made of the dust of the earth take vengeance upon the Egyptians for having desired to destroy the nation whose seed is likened to the dust of the earth. Hordes of beasts, lions, and wolves, and swarms of serpents came down upon them. Because, God said, these animals shall take vengeance upon the Egyptians for having desired to destroy the nation that is likened unto lions, wolves, and serpents. A fatal pestilence was brought upon them, because, God said, death shall take vengeance upon the Egyptians for having desired to destroy the nation that faces death for the glorification of the name of God. They were made to suffer with burning blames, because, God said, the boils coming from the ashes of the furnace shall take vengeance upon the Egyptians for having desired to destroy the nation whose ancestor Abraham walked into the fiery furnace for the glorification of the name of God. He made hail to descend upon them, because, he said, the white hail shall take vengeance upon the Egyptians for having desired to destroy a nation whose sins shall be white. The locusts came upon them, because, God said, the locusts which are my great army shall take vengeance upon the Egyptians for having desired to destroy the nation that is called my hosts. Darkness, said God, which is divided from the light, shall come and take vengeance upon the Egyptians for desiring to destroy the nation upon which shineth the light of the Lord while gross darkness covers the other peoples. The tenth plague, the slaying of the firstborn, God inflicted, saying, I will take vengeance upon the Egyptians for having desired to destroy the nation that is my firstborn, as the night divided itself for Abraham that his enemies might be vanquished, so I will pass through Egypt in the middle of the night, and as Abraham was proved by ten temptations, so I will send ten plagues upon Egypt, the enemy of his children. The legends of the Jews, volume two, by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg. The plagues brought through Aaron. From the inflection of the first of the plagues until the passing of the last, after which the Egyptians yielded all that Moses and Aaron demanded, there elapsed a whole year, for twelve months is the term set by God for the expiation of sins. The deluge lasted one year, Job suffered one year, sinners must endure hell tortures for one year, and the judgment upon Gog at the end of time will be executed for the length of one year. Moses announced the first plague to Pharaoh one morning when the king was walking by the river's brink. This morning walk enabled him to practice a deception. He called himself a god, and pretended that he felt no human needs. To keep up the illusion he would repair to the edge of the river every morning, and ease nature there while alone and unobserved. At such a time it was that Moses appeared before him, and called out to him, Is there a god that hath human needs? Verily I am no god, replied Pharaoh. I only pretend to be one before the Egyptians, who are such idiots one should consider them asses rather than human beings. Then Moses made known to him that God would turn the water into blood if he refused to let Israel go. In the warning we can discern the difference between God and man. When a mortal harbors the intention to do an injury to an enemy, he lies in wait for the moment when he can strike an unexpected blow. But God is outspoken. He warned Pharaoh and the Egyptians in public whenever a plague was about to descend, and each warning was repeated by Moses for a period of three weeks, although the plague itself endured but a single week. As Pharaoh would not lay the warning to heart, the plague announced by Moses was let loose upon him and his people. The waters were turned into blood. It is a well-known proverb, beat the idols, and the priests are in terror. God smote the river Nile, which the Egyptians worshipped as their God, in order to terrify Pharaoh and his people and force them to do the divine will. To produce the plague, Aaron took his rod and stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt. Moses had no part in performing the miracle, for God had said to him, The water that watched over thy safety when thou wast exposed in the Nile shall not suffer harm through thee. Aaron had scarcely executed the divine bidding when all the water of Egypt became blood, even such as was kept in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone. The very spittle of an Egyptian turned into blood no sooner had he ejected it from his mouth, and blood dripped also from the idols of the Egyptians. The transformation of the waters into blood was intended mainly as a punishment for the oppressors, but it was at the same time a source of profit for the oppressed. It gave the Israelites the opportunity of amassing great wealth. The Egyptians paid them large sums for their water, for if an Egyptian and an Israelite drew water from the same trough, the portion carried off by the Egyptian was bound to be useless. It turned into blood. To be sure, nothing helped the Egyptians in their distress, for though they drank water from the same cup as an Israelite, it became blood in their mouth. However, this plague did not impress Pharaoh as a punishment inflicted in the name of God, because with the help of the angels of destruction, the magicians of Egypt produced the same phenomenon of changing water into blood. Therefore he hearkened not unto the words of Moses. The next was the plague of the frogs, and again it was Aaron that performed the wonder. He stretched forth his hand with his rod over the rivers and caused frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. Moses, whose life had been preserved by the water, was kept from poisoning his savior with the reptiles. At first only a single frog appeared, but he began to croak, summoning so many companions that the whole land of Egypt swarmed with them. Whenever an Egyptian took up his stand, frogs appeared, and in some mysterious way they were able to pierce the hardest of metals, and even the marble palaces of the Egyptian nobles afforded no protection against them. If a frog came close to them, the walls split asunder immediately. Make way, the frogs would call out to the stone, that I may do the will of my creator, and at once the marble showed a rift through which the frogs entered, and then they attacked the Egyptians bodily and mutilated and overwhelmed them. In their ardor to fulfill the behest of God, the frogs cast themselves into the red-hot flames of the bake ovens and devoured the bread. Centuries later the three holy children, Hananiah, Michiel, and Azariah, were ordered by Nebuchadnezzar to pay worship to his idols on penalty of death in the burning furnace, and they said, if the frogs, which were under no obligation to glorify the name of God, nevertheless threw themselves into the fire in order to execute the divine will concerning the punishment of the Egyptians, how much more should we be ready to expose our lives to the fire for the greater glory of his name? And the zealous frogs were not permitted to go unrewarded. While the others were destroyed from Pharaoh and the Egyptian houses at the moment appointed as the last of the plague, God saved those in the bake ovens alive. The fire had no power to do them the least harm. Now although the Egyptian magicians also brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt through the help of demons, Pharaoh nevertheless declared himself ready to let the people go to sacrifice unto the Lord. The difference between this plague and the first was that water turned into blood had not caused him any personal inconvenience while the swarms of frogs inflicted physical suffering, and he gave the promise to Moses to let Israel go in the hope of ridding himself of the pain he experienced, and Moses in turn promised to entreat God for him on the following day. It could not be done at once because the seven days term had not yet elapsed. The prayer offered by Moses in behalf of Pharaoh was granted, all the frogs perished and their destruction was too swift for them to retire to the water. Consequently the whole land was filled with the stench from the decaying frogs, for they had been so numerous that every man of the Egyptians gathered together four heaps of them. Although the frogs had filled all the marketplaces and stables and dwellings, they were treated before the Hebrews as if they had been able to distinguish between the two nations and had known which of them it was proper to abuse and which to treat with consideration. Besides sparing the Hebrews and the land of Egypt, the frogs kept within the limits of the land and no was trenching upon the territory of the neighboring nations. Indeed they were the means of settling peaceably an old boundary dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia. Wherever they appeared, so far extended the Egyptian domain. All beyond their line belonged to Ethiopia. Pharaoh was like the wicked that cried to God in their distress, and when their fortunes prosper, slide back into their old empious ways. No sinner had the frogs departed from him, his houses, his servants and his people, then he hardened his heart again and refused to let Israel go. Thereupon God sent the plague of the Lice, the last of those brought upon Egypt through the mediation of Aaron. Moses could have no part in it. For, said God, the earth that afforded the protection when she permitted thee to hide the slain Egyptian shall not suffer through thine hand. The Egyptian magicians, having boasted that they were able to produce the first two plagues, an empty boast it was, for they did not bring them about with their enchantments, but only because Moses willed them to do it. God put them to shame with the third plague. They tried in vain to imitate it. The demons could not aid them, for their power is limited to the production of things larger than a barley grain, and lice are smaller. The magicians had to admit, this is the finger of God. Their failure put an end, once for all, to their attempts to do as Moses did. But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and God spake to Moses saying, This wicked fellow remains heart of heart, in spite of the three plagues. The fourth shall be much worse than those which have preceded it. Go to him, therefore, and warn him. It would be well for him to let my people go, that the plague come not upon him. The fourth plague was also announced to the king early in the morning by the river's brink. Pharaoh went thither regularly, for he was one of the magi who needed water for their enchantments. Moses' daily morning visits were beginning to annoy him, and he left the house early in the hope of circumventing his monitor. But God, who knows the thoughts of man, sent Moses to Pharaoh at the very moment of his going forth. The warning of the plague that was eminent, not having had any effect on Pharaoh, God sent the fourth plague upon Egypt, a mix toward of wild animals, lions, bears, wolves, and panthers, and so many birds of prey of different kinds, that the light of the sun and the moon was darkened as they circled through the air. These beasts came upon the Egyptians as a punishment for desiring to force the seed of Abraham to amalgamate with the other nations. God retaliated by bringing a mixture upon them that cost them their life. As Pharaoh had been the first of the Egyptians to lay evil plans against the children of Israel, so he was the first upon whom descended punishment. Into his house the mix toward of beasts came first of all, and then into the houses of the rest of the Egyptians. Goshen, the land inhabited by the Israelites, was spared entirely, for God put a division between the two peoples. It is true the Israelites had committed sins enough to deserve punishment, but the Holy One, blessed be He, permitted the Egyptians to act as a ransom for Israel. Again Pharaoh expressed his willingness to let the children of Israel sacrifice unto their God, but they were to stay in the land and do it, not go outside into the wilderness. Moses pointed out to Pharaoh how unbecoming it would be for the Israelites to sacrifice, before the very eyes of his people, the animals that the Egyptians worshiped as gods. Then Pharaoh consented to let them go beyond the borders of his land, only they were not to go very far away, and Moses, to mislead him, asked for a three-days journey into the wilderness. But again, when Moses had entreated God on Pharaoh's behalf, and the horde of wild beasts had vanished, the king hardened his heart, and he did not let the people go. The cessation of the fourth plague was as miraculous as the plague itself. The very animals that had been slain by the Egyptians in self-defense returned to life and departed from the land with the rest. This was ordained to prevent the wicked oppressors from profiting by the punishment, even so much as the value of the hides and the flesh of the dead animals. It had not been so with the useless frogs, they had died on the spot, and their carcasses had remained where they fell. The fifth plague inflicted by God upon the Egyptians was a grievous pestilence, which mowed down the cattle and beasts chiefly, yet it did not spare men altogether. This pestilence was a distinct plague, but it also accompanied all the other plagues, and the death of many Egyptians was due to it. The Israelites again came off unscathed. Indeed, if an Israelite had a just claim upon a beast held by an Egyptian, it, too, was spared, and the same good fortune weighted upon such cattle as was the common property of Israelites and Egyptians. The sixth plague, the plague of boils, was produced by Moses and Aaron together in a miraculous way. Each took a handful of ashes of the furnace, then Moses held the contents of the two heaps in the hollow of one of his hands, and sprinkled the ashes tipped toward the heaven, and it flew so high that it reached the divine throne. Returning earthward, it scattered over the whole land of Egypt, a space equal to four hundred square parasungs. The small dust of the ashes produced leprosy upon the skin of the Egyptians, and blanes of a peculiar kind soft within and dry on top. The first five plagues the magicians had tried to imitate, and partly they had succeeded. But in this sixth plague they could not stand before Moses, and thus forth they gave up the attempt to do as he did. Their craft had all along been harmful to themselves. Although they could produce the plagues, they could not imitate Moses in causing them to disappear. They would put their hands into their bosom and draw out white with leprosy exactly like Moses, but their flesh remained leprous until the end of their death. And the same happened with all the other plagues that they imitated, until their dying day they were afflicted with the ills they produced. As Pharaoh had wittingly hardened his heart with each of the five plagues, and refused to turn from his sinful purpose, God punished him thereafter in such wise that he could not mend his ways if he would. God said, even though he should desire to do penance now, I will harden his heart until he pays off the whole of his debt. Pharaoh had observed that whenever he walked on the brink of the Nile, Moses would intercept him. He therefore gave up his morning walk. But God bade Moses to seek the king in the palace in the early hours of the day, and urge him to repent of his evil ways. Therefore Moses spake unto him as follows, in the name of God, O thou villain, thou thinkest that I cannot destroy thee from the world. Consider, had I desired it, instead of smiting the cattle, I might have smitten thee and thy people with the pestilence. And thou wouldst have been cut off from the earth. I inflicted the plague only in such degree as was necessary to show thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. But thou dost not leave off treading my people under foot. Behold, tomorrow when the sun passes this point, where at Moses made a stroke upon the wall, I will cause a very grievous hail to pour down, such as will be only once more when I annihilate Gog with hail, fire, and brimstone. But God's loving kindness is so great that even in his wrath he has mercy upon the wicked, and as his chief object was not to injure men and beasts, but to damage the vegetation in the fields of the Egyptians, he bade Moses admonish Pharaoh to send and hasten in his cattle and all that he had in the field. But the warning fell on heedless ears. Job was the only one to take it to heart, while Pharaoh and his people regarded not the word of the Lord. Therefore the Lord let the hail smite both man and beast, instead of confining it to the herbs and trees of the field, as he had intended from the first. As a rule fire and water are elements at war with each other, but in the hailstones that smote the land of Egypt they were reconciled. A fire rested in the hailstones as the burning whip swims in the oil of a lamp. The surrounding fluid cannot extinguish the flame. The Egyptians were smitten either by the hail or by the fire. In the one case as the other their flesh was seared, and the bodies of the many that were slain by the hail were consumed by the fire. The hailstones heaped themselves up like a wall, so that the carcasses of the slain beasts could not be removed, and if the people succeeded in dividing the dead animals and carrying their flesh off, the birds of prey would attack them on their way home and snatch their prize away. But the vegetation in the field suffered even more than man and beast, for the hail came down like an axe upon the trees and broke them. That in the wheat and the spelt were not crushed was a miracle. Now at last Farrow acknowledged and said, The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. He was righteous when he bade us hasten in our cattle from before the hail, and I and my people were wicked, for we heeded not his warning, and men and beasts were found in the field by the hail and slain. Again he begged Moses to supplicate God in his behalf, that he turn the plague away, and he promise to let the children of Israel go. Moses consented to do his will, saying, however, Think not that I do not know what will happen after the plague has stayed. I know that thou and thy servants ye will fear the Lord God once his punishment is removed, as little as she feared him before. But to show his greatness I will pray to him to make the hail cease at once. Moses went to short distance out of the city from Farrow, and spread abroad his hands unto the Lord, for he did not desire to pray to God within, where there were many idols and images. At once the hail remained suspended in the air. Part of it dropped down while Joshua was engaged in the battle with the Amorites, and the rest God will send down in his fury against Gog. Also the thunders ceased at Moses' intercession, and were stored up for a later time, for they were the noise which the Lord had made the host of Syrians to hear at the siege of Samaria, wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight. As Moses had foreseen so it happened, no sooner had the hail stopped than Farrow abandoned his resolve and refused to let Israel go. Moses lost no time in announcing the eighth plague to him, the plague of the locusts. Observing that his words had made an impression upon the king's counselors, he turned and went out from Farrow to give them the opportunity of discussing the matter among themselves. And indeed his servants urged Farrow to let the Israelites go and serve the Lord their God. But again when Moses insisted that the whole people must go, the young and the old, the sons and the daughters, Farrow demured, saying, I know it to be customary for young men and old men to take part in sacrifices, but surely not little children, and when you demand their presence, too, you betray your evil purpose. It is but a pretense. You are saying that you will go a three-days journey into the wilderness and then return. You mean to escape and never come back. I will have nothing more to do with the matter. My God, Baal Zephan, will oppose you in the way and hinder you on your journey. Farrow's last words were a dim presentiment. As a magician he foresaw that on their going forth from Egypt the children of Israel would find themselves in desperate straits before the sanctuary of Baal Zephan. Farrow was not content with merely denying the request preferred by Moses and Aaron. He ordered them to be forcibly expelled from the palace. Then God sent the plague of locusts announced by Moses before. They ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hill had left, and there remained not any green thing. And again Farrow sent for Moses and Aaron to ask their forgiveness, both for his sin against the Lord God in not harkening under his word, and for his sin against them in having chased them forth and intending to curse them. Moses, as before, prayed to God in Farrow's behalf, and his petition was granted. The plague was taken away and in a rather surprising manner. When the swarms of locusts began to darken the land, the Egyptians caught them and preserved them in brine as a dainty to be eaten. Now the Lord turned an exceeding strong west wind which took up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Even those they were keeping in their pots flew up and away, and they had none of the expected profit. The last plague but one, like those which had preceded it, endured seven days. All the time the land was enveloped in darkness, only it was not always of the same degree of density. During the first three days it was not so thick but that the Egyptians could change their posture when they desired to do so. If they were sitting down they could rise up, and if they were standing they could sit down. On the fourth, fifth, and sixth days the darkness was so dense that they could not stir from their place. They either sat the whole time or stood as they were at the beginning, so they remained until the end. The last day of darkness overtook the Egyptians not in their own land but at the Red Sea on the pursuit of Israel. The darkness was not of the ordinary earthly kind, it came from hell, and it could be felt. It was as thick as a dinar and all the time it prevailed a celestial light brought in the dwellings of the children of Israel, whereby they could see what the Egyptians were doing under cover of the darkness. This was of great advantage to them, for when they were about to go forth from the land and they asked their neighbors to lend them raiment, and jewels of gold and jewels of silver for the journey the Egyptians tried to deny having any in their possession. But the children of Israel, having spied out all their treasures during the days of darkness, could describe the objects they needed with accuracy and designate their hiding places. The Egyptians reasoned that the words of the Israelites could be taken implicitly as they spoke them, for if they had any idea of deceiving them, asked for a loan when they intended to keep what they laid hands on, they might have taken unobserved during the days of darkness whatever they desired. Hence the Egyptians felt no hesitation in lending the children of Israel all the treasures they asked for. The darkness was of such a nature that it could not be dispelled by artificial means. The light of the fire kindled for household uses was either extinguished by the violence of the storm, or else it was made invisible and swallowed up in the density of the darkness. Sight that most indispensable of all the external senses, though unimpaired, was deprived of its office, for nothing could be discerned, and all the other senses were overthrown like subjects whose leader has fallen. None was able to speak or hear, nor could anyone venture to take food, but they lay themselves down in quiet and hunger, their outward senses in a trance. Thus they remained overwhelmed by the affliction until Moses had compassion on them again, and besought God in their behalf, who granted him the power of restoring fine weather, light instead of darkness, and day instead of night. Intimidated by this affliction, Pharaoh permitted the people to go, the little ones as well as the men and the women, only he asked that they let their flocks and their herds be stayed. But Moses said, as thou livest, our cattle also shall go with us. Yea, if but the hoof of an animal belongs to an Israelite, the beech shall not be left behind in Egypt. This speech exasperated Pharaoh to such a degree that he threatened Moses with death in the day he should see his face again. At this very moment the Lord appeared unto Moses, and bade him inform Pharaoh of the inflection of the last plague, the slaying of the firstborn. It was the first and the last time that God revealed himself in the royal palace. He chose the residents of Pharaoh on this occasion that Moses might not be branded as a liar, for he had replied to Pharaoh's threat of killing him, if he saw his face again, with the words, Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more. With a loud voice Moses proclaimed the last plague, closing his announcements with the words, and all these thy servants shall come down unto me and bow themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee, and after that I will go out. Moses knew well enough that Pharaoh himself would come and urge him to lead Israel forth, with as great haste as possible, but he mentioned only the servants of the king and not the king himself, because he never forgot the respect due to a ruler. End of Chapter 4 Part 12 Chapter 4 Moses in Egypt Part 13 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 The Legends of the Jews Volume 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg The First Passover When the time approached in which, according to the promise made to Abraham, his children would be redeemed, it was seen that they had no pious deeds to their credit for the sake of which they deserved to be released from bondage. God therefore gave them two commandments, one bidding them to sacrifice the partial lamb, and one to circumcise their sons. Along with the first they received the calendar in use among the Jews, for the Passover feast is to be celebrated on the fifteenth day of the month of Nisan, and with this month the year is to begin. But the computations for the calendar are so involved that Moses could not understand them until God showed him the movements of the moon plainly. There were three other things equally difficult, which Moses could comprehend only after God made him to see them plainly. They were the compounding of the holy anointing oil, the construction of the candlestick in the tabernacle, and the animals of the flesh of which is to be permitted or prohibited. Also the determination of the new moon was the subject of a special divine teaching. That Moses might know the exact procedure, God appeared to him in a garment with fringes upon its corners, bad Moses stand at his right hand and air in at his left, and then, citing Michael and Gabriel's witnesses, he addressed searching questions to the angels as to how the new moon had seemed to them. Then the Lord addressed Moses and Aaron, saying, Thus shall my children proclaim the new moon on the testimony of two witnesses and through the president of the court. When Moses appeared before the children of Israel and delivered the divine message to them, telling them that their redemption would come about in this month of Nisan, they said, How is it possible that we should be redeemed? It is not the whole of Egypt full of our idols, and we have no pious deeds to show making us worthy of redemption. Moses made reply and said, As God desires your redemption, he pays no heed to your idols, he passes them by, nor does he look upon your evil deeds, but only upon the good deeds of the pious among you. God would not indeed have delivered Israel if they had not abandoned their idol worship. Unto this purpose he commanded them to sacrifice the partial lamb. Thus they were to show that they had given up the idolatry of the Egyptians, consisting in the worship of the ram. The early law was different from the practice of later times, for they were bidden to select their sacrificial animal four days before the day appointed for the offering, and to designate it publicly as such to show that they did not stand in awe of the Egyptians. With a heavy heart the Egyptians watched the preparations of the Israelites for sacrificing the animals they worshiped. Yet they did not dare interpose an objection, and when the time came for the offering to be made, the children of Israel could perform the ceremonies without a tremor, seeing that they knew, through many days' experience, that the Egyptians feared to approach them with hostile intent. There was another practice connected with the slaughter of the partial lamb that was to show the Egyptians how little the Israelites feared them. They took of the blood of the animal, and openly put it on the two side posts and on the lintels of the doors of their houses. Moses communicated the laws regarding the Passover sacrifice to the elders, and they in turn made them known to the people at large. The elders were commended for having supported the leader in his first appearance, for their faith in Moses caused the whole people to adhere to him at once. Therefore God spake, saying, I will reward the elders for inspiring the people with confidence in Moses. They shall have the honor of delivering Israel. They shall lead the people to the Passover sacrifice, and through this the redemption will be brought about. The ceremonies connected with the Passover sacrifice had the purpose of conveying instructions to Israel about the past and the future alike. The blood put on the two side posts and on the lintel of their doors was to remind them of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the bunch of hyssop for sprinkling the blood on the doors was to imply that, although Israel's position among the peoples of the earth is as slowly as that of a hyssop among the plants, yet this little nation is bound together like the bunch of hyssop, for it is God's peculiar treasure. The partial sacrifice afforded Moses the opportunity for inducing the children of Israel to submit themselves to circumcision, which many had refused to do until then in spite of his urgent appeals. But God has means of persuasion. He caused a wind to blow that waffed the sweet sense of paradise towards Moses's partial lamb, and the fragments penetrated to all parts of Egypt, to the distance of a forty days journey. The people were attracted in crowds to Moses's lamb and desired to partake of it. But he said, this is the command of God. No uncircumcised persons shall eat thereof, and they all decided to undergo circumcision. When the Lord passed through the land of Egypt, he blessed every Israelite for his fulfillment of the two commands, the command of the partial sacrifice and the command regarding circumcision. The Lord performed a great miracle for the Israelites, as no sacrifice may be eaten beyond the boundaries of the holy land, all the children of Israel were transported dither on clouds, and after they had eaten of the sacrifice they were carried back to Egypt in the same way. THE SMITING OF THE FIRST BORN When Moses announced the slaying of the firstborn, the designated victims all repaired to their fathers, and said, Whatever Moses hath foretold has been fulfilled, let the Hebrews go, else we shall all die. But the fathers replied, It is better for one of every ten of us to die than the Hebrews should execute their purpose. Then the firstborn repaired to Pharaoh to induce him to dismiss the children of Israel. So far from granting their wish he ordered his servants to fall upon the firstborn and beat them, to punish them for their presumptuous demand. Seeing that they could not accomplish their end by gentle means they attempted to bring it about by force. Pharaoh and all that opposed the wishes of the firstborn were of the opinion that the loss of so inconsiderable a percentage of the population was a matter of small moment. They were mistaken in their calculation for the divine decree included not only the firstborn sons, but also the firstborn daughters, and not only the firstborn of the marriages then existing, but also the firstborn issuing from previous alliances of the fathers and the mothers. And as the Egyptians led desolate lives, it happened not rarely that each of the ten children of one woman was the firstborn of its father. Finally God decreed that death should smite the oldest member of every household, whether or not he was the firstborn of his parents. What God resolves is executed. At the exact instant marking the middle of the night, so precise that only God himself could determine and discern it, he appeared in Egypt, attended by nine thousand myriads of the angels of destruction who are fashioned some of hail and some of flames, and whose glances drive terror and trembling to the heart of the beholder. These angels were about to precipitate themselves into the work of annihilation, but God restrained them, saying, My wrath will not be appeared until I myself execute vengeance upon the enemies of Israel. Those among the Egyptians who gave credence to Moses' words and tried to shield their firstborn children from death, sent them to their Hebrew neighbors to spend the fateful night with them in the hope that God would exempt the houses of the children of Israel from the plague. But in the morning, when the Israelites arose from their sleep, they found the corpses of the Egyptian fugitives next to them. That was the night in which the Israelites prayed before lying down to sleep, cause us, O Lord our God, to lie down in peace, remove Satan from before us and from behind us, and guard our going out and our coming in to life and unto peace, for it was Satan that had caused frightful bloodshed among the Egyptians. Among the slain there were, besides the Egyptian firstborn, also the firstborn of other nationalities residing in Egypt, as well as the Egyptian firstborn dwelling outside of their own land. Even the long dead of the firstborn were not spared. The dogs dragged their corpses out of their graves in the houses, for it was the Egyptian custom to enter the dead at home. At the appalling sight the Egyptians mourned as though the bereavement had befallen them but recently. The very monuments and statues erected to the memory of the firstborn dead were changed into dust, which was scattered and flew out of sight. Moreover their slaves had to share the fate of the Egyptians, and no less than the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon, for none was so low but he hated the Hebrews and rejoiced when the Egyptians decreed their persecution. The female slaves that ground corn between millstones were in the habit of saying, We do not regret our servitude if only the Israelites are gagged, too. In dealing out punishment to those aliens in the land of Egypt God showed that he was at once the master of the land and the Lord over all the gods of the nations, for if the slaves in the captives of war had not been smitten they would have said, Mighty is our God who helped us in this plague. For the same reason all the idols of the Egyptians were swept out of existence in that night. The stone idols were ground into dust, the wooden idols rotted, and those made of metal melted away, and so the Egyptians were kept from ascribing their chastisement to the wrath of their own gods. Likewise the Lord God slew the firstborn of the cattle, for the Egyptians paid worship to animals, and they would have attributed their misfortunes to them. In all these ways the Lord showed them that their gods were but vanity. Redemption of Israel from Egyptian bondage Pharaoh rose up in the night after the smiting of the firstborn. He waited not for the third hour of the morning when kings usually arise, nor did he wait to be awakened, but he himself roused his slaves from their slumber and all the other Egyptians, and together they went forth to seek Moses and Aaron. He knew that Moses had never spoken an untruth, and as he had said, I will see thy face again no more, he could not count upon Moses's coming to him. There remained nothing for him to do but to go in search of the Israeliteish leader. He did not know where Moses lived, and he had great difficulty and lost much time in looking for his house, for the Hebrew lads of whom he made inquiries when he met them in the street played practical jokes on him, misdirected him, and led him astray. Thus he wandered about a long time. All the while weeping and crying out, O my friend Moses, pray for me to God. Meanwhile Moses and Aaron and all the Israel beside were at the partial meal, drinking wine as they sat and leaned to one side, and singing songs in praise of God, the halal, which they were the first to recite. When Pharaoh finally reached the door of the house wherein Moses abode, he called to him, and from Moses the question came back, Who art thou and what is thy name? I am Pharaoh who stands here humiliated. Moses asked again, Why doth thou come to me thyself? Is it the custom of kings to linger at the doors of common folk? I pray thee, my Lord, returned Pharaoh, come forth and intercede for us, else there will not remain a single being in Egypt. I may not come forth, for God hath commanded us. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. But Pharaoh continued to plead, Do but step to the window and speak to me, and when Moses yielded to his importunities and appeared at the window, the king addressed these words to them. Thou didst say yesterday, All the first born in the land of Egypt will die, but now as many as nine-tenths of the inhabitants have perished. Pharaoh was accompanied by his daughter, Bithya, Moses' foster mother. She reproached him with ingratitude in having brought down evil upon her and her countrymen. And Moses answered and said, Ten plagues the Lord brought upon Egypt. Hath evil accrued to thee from any of them? Did one of them affect thee? And when Bithya acknowledged that no harm had touched her, Moses continued to speak. Although thou art thy mother's first born, thou shalt not die, and no evil shall reach thee in the midst of Egypt. But Bithya said, Of what advantage is my security to me, when I see the king, my brother, and all his household, and his servants in this evil plight, and look upon their first born perishing with all the first born of Egypt? And Moses returned, Verily thy brother and his household and the other Egyptians would not harken to the words of the Lord, and therefore did this evil come upon them. Turning to Pharaoh Moses said, In spite of all that hath happened, I will teach thee something. If thou desireest to learn, and thou wilt be spared, and thou wilt not die. Raise thy voice and say, Ye children of Israel, ye are your own masters. Prepare for your journey and depart from among my people. Hitherto ye were the slaves of Pharaoh, but henceforward ye are under the authority of God. Serve the Lord your God. Moses made him say these words three times, and God caused Pharaoh's voice to be heard throughout the land of Egypt, so that all the inhabitants, the home-born and the aliens, knew that Pharaoh had released the children of Israel from the bondage in which they had languished. And all Israel sang, Hallelujah! Praise, O ye servants of the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord, for they belong to the Lord, and no more were they the servants of Pharaoh. Now the king of Egypt insisted upon their leaving the land without delay. But Moses subjected and said, Are we thieves, that we should slink away into the cover of the night? Wait until morning. Pharaoh, however, urged and begged Moses to depart, confessing that he was anxious about his own person, for he was a first-born son, and he was terrified that death would strike him down too. Moses dissipated his alarm, though he substituted a new horror with the words, Fear not, there is worse in store for thee. Dread seized upon the whole people, every one of the Egyptians was afraid of losing his life, and they all united their prayers with Pharaohs, and begged Moses to take the Israelites hence. And God spake, ye shall all find your end, not here but in the Red Sea. The Exodus Pharaoh and the Egyptians left their dead lie unburied, while they hastened to help the Israelites load their possessions on wagons, to get them out of the land with as little delay as possible. When they left they took with them, besides their own cattle, the sheep and the oxen that Pharaoh had ordered his nobles to give them his presence. The king also forced his magnets to beg pardon of the Israelites for all they had suffered, knowing as he did that God forgives an injury done by man to his fellow only after the wrongdoer has recovered the good will of his victim by confessing and regretting his fault. Now depart, said Pharaoh to the Israelites, I want nothing from you but that you should pray to God for me, that I may be saved from death. The hatred of the Egyptians toward the Israelites changed now into its opposite. They conceived affection and friendship for them, and fairly forced raiment upon them, and jewels of silver and jewels of gold, to take along with them on their journey, although the children of Israel had not yet returned the articles they had borrowed from their neighbors at an earlier time. This action is in part to be explained by the vanity of Pharaoh and his people. They desired to pretend before the world that they were vastly rich, as everybody would conclude when this wealth of their mere slaves was displayed to observers. Indeed, the Israelites bore so much away from Egypt that one of them alone might have defrayed the expense of building and furnishing the tabernacle. On their leaving the land only the private wealth of the Egyptians was in their hand, but when they arrived at the Red Sea they came into possession of the public treasure, too, for Pharaoh, like all kings, carried the monies of the state with him on his campaigns in order to be prepared to hire a relay of mercenaries in case of defeat. Greatest the other treasure was, the booty captured at the sea far exceeded it. But if the Israelites loaded themselves down with goods and jewels and money, it was not to gratify love of riches, or, as any user might say, because they coveted their neighbor's possessions. In the first place they could look upon the plunder as wages due to them from those they had long served, and secondly they were entitled to retaliate on those at whose hands they had suffered wrong. Even then they were requiting them with an affliction far slider than any one of all they had endured themselves. The plagues did not stay the cruelty of the Egyptian oppressors towards the Hebrews. It continued unabated until the very end of their sojourn in the land. On the day of the Exodus, Rachel, the daughter of Shetheleth, gave birth to a child, while she and her husband together were treading the clay for bricks. The babe dropped from her womb into the clay and sank out of sight. Gabriel appeared, molded a brick out of the clay containing the child, and carried it to the highest of the heavens, where he made it a footstool before the divine throne. In that night it was that God looked upon the suffering of Israel and smote the first born of the Egyptians, and it is one of the four nights that God has inscribed in the Book of Memorial. The first of the four is that in which God appeared to create the world, all was waste in void, and darkness brooded over the abyss until the Lord came and spread light round about him by his word. The second night is that in which God appeared unto Abraham at the covenant of the pieces. In the third night he appeared in Egypt, slaying the first born of the Egyptians with his right hand, and protecting the first born of the Israelites with his left. The fourth night recorded will be that in which the end of the redemption will be accomplished, when the iron yoke of the wicked kingdom will be broken, and the evil doers will be destroyed. Then will Moses come from the desert, and the Messiah from Rome, each at the head of his flock, and the word of God will mediate between them, causing both to walk with one accord in the same direction. Israel's redemption in future days will happen on the fifteenth of Nisan, the night of Israel's redemption from Egypt, for thus did Moses say, in this night God protected Israel against the angels of destruction, and in this night he will also redeem the generations of the future. Though the actual deliverance from Egypt took place in that night, the Hebrews did not leave the land until the following day. During the same night God requited the Egyptians for their evil deeds in the sight of all the people, the night being as bright as day at the time of the summer solstice. Not one could escape the general chastisement, for by divine dispensation none was absent from home at the time, so that none could fail to see the chastisement. The angels in heaven learned what was happening on earth. When they were about to begin their song of praise to God, he silenced them with the words, My children on earth are singing now, and the celestial hosts set to stop and listen to the song of Israel. Great as the joy of the Hebrews was that their deliverance from the Egyptian bondage, it was exceeded by that of Pharaoh's people at seeing their slaves depart, for with them went the dread of death that had obsessed them. They were like the portly gentleman riding an ass. The rider feels uncomfortable and longs for the moment of alighting, but his longing cannot compare in intensity with that of the ass groaning under the corpulent burden, and when their journey's end is reached the ass rejoices more than his master. So the Egyptians were happier to be rid of the Hebrews than these were to be free. In general the Israelites were not in a joyous mood. The strength of men is readily exhausted, mentally and physically, by the strain of a sudden change from slavery to freedom. They did not recover vigor and force until they heard the angels' hosts singing songs of praise and joy over the redemption of Israel and their redemption of the shekenna, for so long as the chosen people is in exile, the shekenna who dwells among Israel is also, as it were, in exile. At the same time God caused the earth to exhale and send aloft a healing fragrance, which cured them of all their diseases. The exodus of the Israelites began at Ramesses, and although the distance from there to the city of Mizrem, where Moses abode, was a forty-day's journey, yet they heard the voice of their leader urging them to leave the land. They covered the distance from Ramesses to Sukkoth at three days March in an instant. In Sukkoth God enveloped them in seven clouds of glory, four hovering in front, behind, and at two the sides of them, one suspended above them to keep off rain, hail, and the rays of the sun, and one under them to protect against thorns and snakes. The seventh cloud preceded them and prepared the way for them, exalting the valleys and making low every mountain and hill. Thus they wandered through the wilderness for forty years. In all that time no artificial lighting was needed. A beam from the celestial cloud followed them into the darkest of chambers, and if one of the people had to go outside of the camp, even thither he was accompanied by a fold of the cloud, covering and protecting him. Only, that a difference might be made between night and day, a pillar of fire took the place of the cloud in the evening. Never for an instant were the people without one or the other to guide them. The pillar of fire glowed in front of them before the pillar of cloud retired, and in the morning the cloud was there before the fire vanished. The clouds of glory and the pillar of fire were sent for the protection of Israel alone, for none beside, not for the heathen and for the mixed multitude that went up with them, these had to walk outside of the cloud enclosure. The cavalcade consisted of six hundred thousand heads of families afoot, each accompanied by five children on horseback, and to these must be added the mixed multitude exceeding the Hebrews vastly in number. So profound was Israel's trust in the Lord that they followed Moses unmermeringly into the wilderness without supplying themselves with provisions. The only edibles they took were the remains of the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs, and these not to satisfy their hunger, but because they were unwilling to separate themselves from what they had prepared lovingly at the command of God. These possessions were so dear to them that they would not entrust them to the beasts of burden they carried them on their own shoulders. End of Chapter 4, Moses in Egypt. End of The Legend of the Jews, Volume 2 by Rabbi Louis Ginsburg.