BIBLE TIMES AND CHARACTERS
FROM JOSEPH TO THE EXODUS
TO MY BROTHER ASHER
BY LOUIS GINZBERG
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN MANUSCRIPT BY HENRIETTA SZOLD
THE LEGENDS OF THE JEWS
VOLUME II
PREFACE
The arrangement and presentation of the material in this volume are the same as in Volume I. In both my efforts have been directed to bringing together as full as possible a collection of Jewish legends that deal with Biblical personages and events. The sources of those legends and explanations of some of them will be given in the last volume of the entire work, and the numbers throughout the work refer to the notes in the concluding volume.
My original intention was to continue Volume II up to the death of Moses, but the legendary material clustering around the life and death of Moses is so abundant that practical considerations demanded the division of this material, in order not to make the second volume too bulky. The division chosen is a natural one. This volume closes with the Exodus, and contains the deeds of Moses in Egypt, while the following volume will deal with Moses in the desert.
The fact that Job is placed between Jacob's sons and Moses may appear strange to some readers, since in the Bible Job is one of the last books; but "legend is above time and space," and I have, therefore, given Job the place which legend has ascribed to him.
LOUIS GINZBERG.
NEW YORK, March 28, 1910.
CONTENTS
I JOSEPH
The Favorite Son
Joseph Hated by His Brethren
Joseph Cast into the Pit
The Sale
Joseph's Three Masters
Joseph's Coat Brought to His Father
Judah and His Sons
The Wives of the Sons of Jacob
Joseph the Slave of Potiphar
Joseph and Zuleika
Joseph Resists Temptation
Joseph in Prison
Pharaoh's Dreams
Joseph before Pharaoh
The Ruler of Egypt
Joseph's Brethren in Egypt
Joseph Meets His Brethren
The Second journey to Egypt
Joseph and Benjamin
The Thief Caught
Judah Pleads and Threatens
Joseph Makes Himself Known
Jacob Receives the Glad Tidings
Jacob Arrives in Egypt
Joseph's Kindness and Generosity~Jacob's Last Wish
The Blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh
The Blessing of the Twelve Tribes
The Death of Jacob
The Sons of Jacob at War with the Sons of Esau
Zepho King of Kittim
The Nations at War
Joseph's Magnanimity
Asenath
The Marriage of Joseph
Kind and Unkind Brethren
Treachery Punished
The Death and Burial of Joseph.
II THE SONS OF JACOB
Significant Names
Reuben's Testament
Simon's Admonition against Envy~The Ascension of Levi
Judah Warns against Greed and Unchastity
Issachar's Singleness of Heart
Zebulon Exhorts unto Compassion
Dan's Confession
Naphtali's Dreams of the Division of the Tribes
Gad's Hatred
Asher's Last Words
Benjamin Extols Joseph.
III JOB
Job and the Patriarchs
Job's Wealth and Benefactions
Satan and Job
Job's Suffering
The Four Friends
Job Restored.
IV MOSES IN EGYPT
The Beginning of the Egyptian Bondage
Pharaoh's Cunning
The Pious Midwives
The Three Counsellors
The Slaughter of the Innocents
The Parents of Moses
The Birth of Moses
Moses Rescued from the Water
The Infancy of Moses
Moses Rescued by Gabriel
The Youth of Moses
The Flight
The King of Ethiopia
Jethro
Moses Marries Zipporah
A Bloody Remedy
The Faithful Shepherd
The Burning Thorn
bush
The Ascension of Moses
Moses Visits Paradise and Hell
Moses Declines the Mission
Moses Punished for His Stubbornness
The Return to Egypt
Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh
The Suffering In
creases
Measure for Measure
The Plagues Brought through Aaron
The Plagues Brought through Moses
The First Passover
The Smiting of the First born
The Redemption of Israel from Egyptian Bondage
The Exodus
Volume I | Volume II | Volume III | Volume IV
