Hebraic Literature 27

Hebraic Literature 27

Rabbi Yoshua, the son of Korcha, relates: "An aged inhabitant of

Jerusalem once told me that in this valley two hundred and eleven

thousand myriads were massacred by Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard,

and in Jerusalem itself he slaughtered upon one stone ninety-four

myriads, so that the blood flowed till it touched the blood of

Zachariah, that it might be fulfilled which is said (Hos. ii. 4), 'And

blood toucheth blood.' When he saw the blood of Zachariah, and noticed

that it was boiling and agitated, he asked, 'What is this?' and he was

told that it was the spilled blood of the sacrifices. Then he ordered

blood from the sacrifices to be brought and compared it with the blood

of the murdered prophet, when, finding the one unlike the other, he

said, 'If ye tell me the truth, well and good; if not, I will comb your

flesh with iron currycombs!' Upon this they confessed, 'He was a

prophet, and because he rebuked us on matters of religion, we arose and

killed him, and it is now some years since his blood has been in the

restless condition in which thou seest it.' 'Well,' said he, 'I will

pacify him.' He then brought the greater and lesser Sanhedrin and

slaughtered them, but the blood of the prophet did not rest. He next

slaughtered young men and maidens, but the blood continued restless as

before. He finally brought school-children and slaughtered them, but the

blood being still unpacified, he exclaimed, 'Zachariah! Zachariah! I

have for thy sake killed the best among them; will it please thee if I

kill them all?' As he said this the blood of the prophet stood still and

quiescent. He then reasoned within himself thus, 'If the blood of one

individual has brought about so great a punishment, how much greater

will my punishment be for the slaughter of so many!' In short, he

repented, fled from his house, and became a Jewish proselyte."

 

_Gittin_, fol. 57, col. 2.

 

The same story is repeated in _Sanhedrin_, fol. 96, col. 2, with

some variations; notably this, among others, that it was because

the prophet prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem that they

put him to death.

 

(Gen, xxvii. 2), "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the

hands of Esau." The first-named "voice" alludes to the voice of

lamentation caused by Hadrian, who had at Alexandria in Egypt massacred

twice the number of Jews that had come forth under Moses. The "voice of

Jacob" refers to a similar lamentation occasioned by Vespasian, who put

to death in the city of Byther four hundred myriads, or, as some say,

four thousand myriads. "The hands are the hands of Esau," that is, the

empire which destroyed our house, burned our Temple, and banished us

from our country. Or the "voice of Jacob" means that there is no

effectual prayer that is not offered up by the progeny of Jacob; and

"the hands are the hands of Esau," that there is no victorious battle

which is not fought by the descendants of Esau.

 

Ibid.

 

Tamar and Zimri both committed fornication. The former (actuated by a

good motive, see Gen. xxxviii. 26) became the ancestress of kings and

prophets. The latter brought about the destruction of myriads in Israel.

Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak says, "To do evil from a good motive is better

than observing the law from a bad one" (e.g., Tamar and Zimri, Lot and

his daughters).

 

_Nazir_, fol. 23, col. 2.

 

The Rabbis have taught that the text, "And when it rested, he said,

Return, O Lord, to the myriads and thousands of Israel" (Num. x. 36),

intimates that the Shechinah does not rest upon less than two myriads

and two thousands (two being the minimum plurality). Suppose one of the

twenty-two thousand neglect the duty of procreation, is he not the cause

of the Shechinah's departure from Israel?

 

_Yevamoth_, fol. 64, col. 1.

 

"And place over them to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds,

and rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens" (Exod. xviii. 21). The rulers

of thousands were six hundred in number, the rulers of hundreds six

thousand, of fifties twelve thousand, and rulers of tens six myriads.

The total number of rulers in Israel, therefore, was seven myriad eight

thousand six hundred.

 

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 18, col. 1.

 

Once upon a time the people of Egypt appeared before Alexander of

Macedon to complain of Israel. "It is said (Exod. xii. 36), they argued,

'The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that

they lent unto them,' etc.;" and they prayed, "Give us now back the gold

and the silver that ye took from us." Givia ben Pesisa said to the wise

men (of Israel), "Give me permission to plead against them before

Alexander. If they overcome me, say, 'You have overcome a plebeian

only,' but if I overcome them, say, 'The law of Moses our master has

triumphed over you.'" They accordingly gave him leave, and he went and

argued thus, "Whence do ye produce your proof?" "From the law," said

they. Then said he, "I will bring no other evidence but from the law. It

is said (Exod. xii. 40), 'The sojourning of the children of Israel, who

dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.' Pay us now the

usufruct of the labor of the sixty myriads whom ye enslaved in Egypt for

four hundred and thirty years." Alexander gave the Egyptians three days'

grace to prepare a reply, but they never put in an appearance. In fact,

they fled away and left both their fields and vineyards.

 

Ibid., fol. 91, col. 1.

 

"And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you" (Exod.

xviii. 10). A tradition says, in the name of Rabbi Papyes, "Shame upon

Moses and upon the sixty myriads (of Israel), because they had not said,

'Blessed be the Lord,' till Jethro came and set the example."

 

_Sanhedrin_, fol. 94, col. 1.

 

"And let him dip his foot in oil" (Deut. xxxiii. 24), the Rabbis say,

refers to the portion of Asher, which produces oil like a well. Once on

a time, they relate, the Laodiceans sent an agent to Jerusalem with

instructions to purchase a hundred myriads' worth of oil. He proceeded

first to Tyre, and thence to Gush-halab, where he met with the oil

merchant earthing up his olive trees, and asked him whether he could

supply a hundred myriads' worth of oil. "Stop till I have finished my

work," was the reply. The other, when he saw the business-like way in

which he set to work, could not help incredulously exclaiming, "What!

hast thou really a hundred myriads' worth of oil to sell? Surely the

Jews have meant to make game of me." However he went to the house with

the oil merchant, where a female slave brought hot water for him to wash

his hands and feet, and a golden bowl of oil to dip them in afterward,

thus fulfilling Deut. xxxiii. 24 to the very letter. After they had

eaten together, the merchant measured out to him the hundred myriads'

worth of oil, and then asked whether he would purchase more from him.

"Yes," said the agent, "but I have no more money here with me." "Never

mind," said the merchant; "buy it and I will go with thee to thy home

for the money." Then he measured out eighteen myriads' worth more. It is

said that he hired every horse, mule, camel, and ass he could find in

all Israel to carry the oil, and that on nearing his city the people

turned out to meet him and compliment him for the service he had done

them. "Don't praise me," said the agent, "but this, my companion, to

whom I owe eighteen myriads." This, says the narrator, illustrates what

is said (Prov. xiii. 7), "There is that maketh himself (appear to be)

rich, yet hath nothing; there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath

great riches."

 

_Menachoth_, fol. 85, col. 2.

 

 

 

 

THE MIDRASHIM

 

 

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the Aggadah, as explained in the

Midrashim"

 

 

 

 

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

 

 

The Midrashim are ancient Rabbinical expositions of Holy Writ. The term

Midrash (of which Midrashim is the plural form) occurs twice in the

Hebrew Bible (2 Chron. xiii. 22, and xxiv. 27); and in both passages it

is represented in the Anglican version by the word "story," while the

more correct translation, "commentary," is relegated to the margin.

"Legendary exposition" best expresses the full meaning of the word

Midrash.

 

The Midrashim, for the most part, originated in a praiseworthy desire to

familiarize the people with Holy Writ, which had, in consequence of

changes in the vernacular, become to them, in the course of time, almost

a dead letter. These Midrashim have little or nothing to do with the

Halachoth or legal decisions of the Talmud, except in aim, which is that

of illustration and explanation. They are not literal interpretations,

but figurative and allegorical, and as such enigmatic. They are,

however, to be received as utterances of the sages, and some even regard

them of as binding obligation as the law of Moses itself. The following

are fairly representative extracts.

 

 

 

 

THE MIDRASHIM

 

 

The name of Abraham always precedes those of Isaac and Jacob except in

one place (Lev. xxvi. 42), where it is said, "And I will remember my

covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my

covenant with Abraham will I remember;" and thus we learn that all were

of equal importance.

 

_Midrash Rabbah_, Gen. chap. 1.

 

In the Selichoth for the Day of Atonement the above reversal of

the usual order of the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is

thus referred to: "The first covenant Thou didst exalt, and the

order of the contracting parties to it Thou hast reversed."

 

Abraham deserved to have been created before Adam, but the Holy

One--blessed be He!--said, "Should he pervert things as I make them,

then there will be no one to rectify them; so behold I will create Adam

first, and if he should make things crooked, then Abraham following him

will make them straight again."

 

Ibid., chap. 14.

 

Abram was called Abraham, and Isaac was also called Abraham; as it is

written (Gen. xxv. 19), "Isaac, Abraham's son, Abraham."

 

Ibid., chap. 63.

 

"And he lay down in that place" (Gen. xxviii. 11). Rabbi Yuda said,

"There he lay down, but he did not lie down during all the fourteen

years he was hid in the house of Eber." Rabbi Nehemiah said, "There he

lay down, but he did not lie down all the twenty years in which he stood

in the house of Laban."

 

Ibid., chap. 68.

 

Vayash Kihu, "And kissed him" (Gen. xxxiii. 4), Rabbi Yanai asks, "Why

is this word (in the original Hebrew) so pointed?" "It is to teach that

Esau did not come to kiss him, but to bite him; only the neck of Jacob

our father became as hard as marble, and this blunted the teeth of the

wicked one." "And what is taught by the __EXPRESSION__ 'And they wept'?"

"The one wept for his neck and the other for his teeth."

 

_Midrash Rabbah_, chap. 78.

 

Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai in Sifri deliberately controverts this

interpretation, and Aben Ezra says it is an "exposition fit only

for children."

 

Esau said, "I will not kill my brother Jacob with bow and arrow, but

with my mouth I will suck his blood," as it is said (Gen. xxxiii. 4),

"And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and they

wept." Read not "and he kissed him," but read, "and he bit him." The

neck of Jacob, however, became as hard as ivory, and it is respecting

him that scripture says (Cant. vii. 5), "Thy neck is as a tower of

ivory,"--so that the teeth of Esau became blunted; and when he saw that

his desire could not be gratified, he began to be angry, and gnashed his

teeth, as it is said (Ps. cxii. 10), "The wicked shall see it and be

grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth."

 

_Pirke d'Rab. Eliezer_, chap. 36.

 

See also the previous quotation from the Midrash Rabbah. The

Targum of Jonathan and also the Yerushalmi record the same

fantastic tradition. In the latter it is given thus, "And Esau

ran to meet him, and hugged him, and fell upon his neck and

kissed him. Esau wept for the crushing of his teeth, and Jacob

wept for the tenderness of his neck."

 

Abraham made a covenant with the people of the land, and when the angels

presented themselves to him, he thought they were mere wayfarers, and he

ran to meet them, purposing to make a banquet for them. This banquet he

told Sarah to get prepared, just as she was kneading cakes. For this

reason he did not offer them the cakes which she had made, but "ran to

fetch a calf, tender and good." The calf in trepidation ran away from

him and hid itself in the cave of Machpelah, into which he followed it.

Here he found Adam and Eve fast asleep, with lamps burning over their

couches, and the place pervaded with a sweet-smelling odor. Hence the

fancy he took to the cave of Machpelah for a "possession of a

burying-place."

 

Ibid.

 

Shechem, the son of Hamor, assembled girls together playing on

tambourines outside the tent of Dinah, and when she "went out to see

them," he carried her off, ... and she bare him Osenath. The sons of

Jacob wished to kill her, lest the people of the land should begin to

talk scandal of the house of their father. Jacob, however, engraved the

holy Name on a metal plate, suspended it upon her neck, and sent her

away. All this being observed before the Holy One--blessed be He!--the

angel Michael was sent down, who led her to Egypt, into the house of

Potipherah; for Osenath was worthy to become the wife of Joseph.

 

_Pirke d'Rab. Eliezer_, chap. 48.

 

In Yalkut Yehoshua 9, Osenath is styled a proselyte; and indeed

it might seem likely enough that Joseph induced her to worship

the true God. The Targum of Jonathan agrees with the version of

the Midrash above, while another tradition makes Joseph marry

Zuleika, the virgin widow of Potiphar, and says that she was the

same woman that is called Osenath (_Koran_, note to p. 193).

 

When Joseph's brethren recognized him, and were about to kill him, an

angel came down and dispersed them to the four corners of the house.

Then Judah screamed with such a loud voice that all the walls of Egypt

were leveled with the dust, all the beasts were smitten to the ground,

and Joseph and Pharaoh, their teeth having fallen out, were cast down

from their thrones; while all the men that stood before Joseph had their

heads twisted round with their faces toward their backs, and so they

remained till the day of their death; as it is said (Job iv. 10), "The

roaring of the lion (Judah), and the voice of the fierce lion," etc.

 

_Vayegash_, chap. 5.

 

The tradition of a legend in our possession says that Judah killed Esau.

When? When Isaac died, Jacob and (the chiefs of) the twelve clans went

to bury him; as it is written (Gen. xxxv. 29), "And his sons Esau and

Jacob buried him." In the Midrash it is, "And Esau and Jacob and his

sons buried him," which fits the legend better. Arrived at the cave,

they entered it, and they stood and wept. The (heads of the) tribes, out

of respect to Jacob, left the cave, that Jacob might not be put to shame

in their presence. Judah re-entered it, and finding Esau risen up as if

about to murder Jacob, he instantly went behind him and killed him. But

why did he not kill him from the front? Because the physiognomy of Esau

was exactly like that of Jacob, and it was out of respect to the latter

that he slew Esau from behind.

 

_Midrash Shochar Tov_, chap. 18.

 

Tradition varies respecting the tragic end of Esau. The Book of

Jasher (chap. 56, v. 64) and the Targum of Jonathan (in Vayechi)

both say that Cushim the son of Dan slew Esau at the burial, not

of Isaac, but of Jacob, because he sought to hinder the funeral

obsequies, disputing the title to the sepulchre.

 

"Oh, that I had wings like a dove! for then I would fly away, and be at

rest" (Ps. lv. 6). This is spoken of Abraham. But why like a dove? Rabbi

Azariah, in the name of Rabbi Yudan, says, "Because all birds when tired

rest on a rock or on a tree, but a dove, when tired of flying, draws in

one wing to rest it, and continues her flight with the other."

 

_Bereshith Rabbah_, chap. 39.

 

The Holy One--blessed be He!--said unto Abraham, "What should I tell

thee? and with what shall I bless thee? Shall I tell thee to be

perfectly righteous, or that thy wife Sarah be righteous before me? That

ye both are already. Or shall I say that thy children shall be

righteous? They are so already. But I will bless thee so that all thy

children which shall in future ages come forth from thee shall be just

like thee." Whence do we learn this? From Gen xv. 5: "And he said unto

him, So (like thee) shall thy seed be."

 

_Bamidbar Rabbah_, chap. 2.

 

"Every man ... by his own standard" (Num. ii. 2). The several princes of

Israel selected the colors for their banners from the color of the

stones that were upon the breastplate of Aaron. From them other princes

have learned to adorn their standards with different distinguishing

colors. Reuben had his flag red, and leaves of mandrakes upon it.

Issachar had his flag blue, and the sun and moon upon it. Naphtali had

on his flag an olive tree, for this reason that (Gen. xlix. 20) "Out of

Asher his bread shall be fat."

 

Ibid., chap. 7.

 

"And Abraham rose up early and saddled his ass" (Gen. xxii. 3). This is

the ass on which Moses also rode when he came into Egypt; for it is said

(Exod. iv. 20), "And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon

an ass." This is the ass on which the Son of David also shall ride; as

it is said (Zech, ix. 9), "Poor, and riding upon an ass."

 

_Pirke d'Rab. Eliezer_, chap. 31.

 

In the morning service for Yom Kippur, there is an allusion to

the scripture passage with which our quotation opens. It is said

that Abraham in "his great joy perverted the usual order," which

a footnote explains thus--"In the greatness of his joy, that he

had thus an opportunity of showing his obedience to God, he set

aside the usual order of things, which was that the servant

should saddle the ass, and saddled the ass himself, as mentioned

Gen. xxii. 3." The animal referred to in the above remarks is

spoken of in Sanhedrin, fol. 98, col. 1, as being of a hundred

colors.

 

When Joseph saw the signs of Judah's anger, he began to tremble, and

said (to himself), "Woe is me, for he may kill me!" And what were these

signs? Tears of blood rolling down from Judah's right eye, and the hair

that grew on his chest rising and penetrating through the five garments

that he wore. Joseph then kicked the marble seat on which he was

sitting, so that it was instantly shattered into fragments. Upon this

Judah observed, "He is a mighty man, like one of us."

 

_Yalkut Vayegash._

 

Abraham married three wives--Sarah, a daughter of Shem; Keturah, a

daughter of Japheth; and Hagar, a daughter of Ham.

 

_Yalkut, Job_, chap. 8.

 

Rashi supposes that Keturah was one and the same with Hagar--so

the Midrash, the Targum Yerushalmi, and that of Jonathan. The

latter says, "Keturah, she is Hagar, who had been bound to him

from the beginning," but Aben Ezra and most of the commentators

contend that Keturah and Hagar are two distinct persons, and the

use of the plural concubines, in verse 6, bears them out in this

assertion.

 

The Holy One--blessed be He!--daily proclaims a new law in the heavenly

court, and even all these were known to Abraham.

 

Ibid., chap. 37.

 

A Gentile once asked Rabbi Yoshua ben Kapara, "Is it true that ye say

your God sees the future?" "Yes," was the reply. "Then how is it that it

is written (Gen. vi. 6), 'And it grieved Him at His heart'?" "Hast

thou," replied the Rabbi, "ever had a boy born to thee?" "Yes," said the

Gentile; "and I rejoiced and made others rejoice with me." "Didst thou

not know that he would eventually die?" asked the Rabbi. "Yes," answered

the other; "but at the time of joy is joy, and at the time of mourning,

mourning." "So it is before the Holy One--blessed be He!--seven days He

mourned before the deluge destroyed the world."

 

_Bereshith Rabbah_, chap. 27.

 

All the strength of the soul's mourning is from the third to the

thirtieth day, during which time she sits on the grave, still thinking

her beloved might yet return (to the body whence she departed). When she

notices that the color of the face is changed, she leaves and goes away;

and this is what is written (Job. xiv. 22), "But his flesh upon him

shall have pain, and his soul shall mourn over him." Then the mouth and

the belly quarrel with one another, the former saying to the latter,

"All I have robbed and taken by violence I deposited in thee;" and the

latter, having burst three days after its burial, saying to the former,

"There is all thou hast robbed and taken by violence! as it is written

(Eccles. xii. 6), 'The pitcher is broken at the fountain.'"