Moses in rabbinic literature
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Discussions in rabbinic literature of the biblical character Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt and through their wanderings in the wilderness, contain various expansions, elaborations and inferences beyond what is presented in the text of the Bible itself.
Overview
Of all
Biography
The beginnings
Moses' influence and activity reach back to the days of the
The birth of Moses as the liberator of the people of Israel was foretold to Pharaoh by his soothsayers, in consequence of which he issued the cruel command to cast all the male children into the river.[7] Later on, Miriam also foretold to her father, Amram, that a son would be born to him who would liberate Israel from the yoke of Egypt.[8]
Moses was born on Adar 7,[9] in the year 2377 after the creation of the world.[10] He was born circumcised,[11] and was able to walk immediately after his birth;[12] but according to another story he was circumcised on the eighth day after birth.[13] A peculiar and glorious light filled the entire house at his birth,[14] indicating that he was worthy of the gift of prophecy.[15] He spoke with his father and mother on the day of his birth, and prophesied at the age of three.[16] His mother kept his birth secret for three months, when Pharaoh was informed that she had borne a son. The mother put the child into a casket, which she hid among the reeds of the sea before the king's officers came to her.[17] For seven days his mother went to him at night to nurse him, his sister Miriam protecting him from the birds by day.[18]
Rescue by Pharaoh's daughter
Then
Gabriel struck Moses, so as to make him cry and arouse the pity of the princess.[23] She wished to save the child; but as her maids told her she must not transgress her father's commands, she set him down again.[25] Then Gabriel threw all her maids down;[26] and God filled Bithiah with compassion,[27] and caused the child to find favor in her eyes.[28] Thereupon she took the child up, saved him, and loved him much.[29] This was on the sixth day of the month of Sivan;[24] according to another version, on Nisan 21.[30]
When the soothsayers told Pharaoh that the redeemer of Israel had been born and thrown into the water, the cruel edict ordering that the children be thrown into the river was repealed.[31] Thus, the casting away of Moses saved Israel from further persecution. According to another version, 600,000 children had already been thrown into the river, but all were saved because of Moses.[32]
His upbringing
Bithiah, Pharaoh's daughter, took up the child to nurse him; but he refused the breast.[33] Then she gave him to other Egyptian women to nurse, but he refused to take nourishment from any of them.[34] The mouth which was destined to speak with God might not take unclean milk.[35] Bithiah therefore gave him to his mother to nurse.
Another legend says that he did not take any milk from the breast.[12] Bithiah then adopted him as her son.[36] Aside from the name "Moses" which Bithiah gave to him,[37] he had seven names,[38] or according to other stories ten, other names given to him by his mother, his father, his brother Aaron, his sister Miriam, his nurse, his grandfather Kehat, and Israel.[39] These names were: Jared, Abi Gedor, Ḥeber, Abi Soko, Jekuthiel, Abi Zanoah, and Shemaiah ("Shama 'Yah" meaning "God has heard"), the last one being given to him by Israel. He was also called "Heman".[40]
Moses was a very large child at the age of three.
Moses remained in Pharaoh's house fifteen years longer.
Flight from Egypt
Moses' killing of the Egyptian[49] was not considered murder, for the Egyptian merited death because he had forced an Israelite woman to commit adultery with him.[50] Moses was at that time eighteen years of age.[51][52] According to another version, Moses was then twenty, or possibly forty, years of age.[52][53] These divergent opinions regarding his age at the time when he killed the Egyptian are based upon different estimates of the length of his stay in the royal palace,[54] both of them assuming that he fled from Egypt immediately after the slaying.[55]
Dathan and Abiram were bitter enemies of Moses, insulting him and saying he should not act as if he were a member of the royal house, since he was the son not of Bithia, but of Jochebed. Previous to this they had slandered him before Pharaoh. Pharaoh had forgiven Moses everything else, but would not forgive him for killing the Egyptian. He delivered him to the executioner, who chose a very sharp sword with which to kill Moses; but the latter's neck became like a marble pillar, dulling the edge of the sword.[56] Meanwhile, the angel Michael descended from heaven, and took the form of the executioner, giving the latter the shape of Moses and so killing him. He then took up Moses and carried him beyond the frontier of Egypt for a distance of three, or, according to another account, of forty, days.[57] According to another legend, the angel took the shape of Moses, and allowed himself to be caught, thus giving the real Moses an opportunity to escape.[58]
King in Ethiopia
The fugitive Moses went to the camp of King Nikanos, or Kikanos, of Ethiopia, who was at that time besieging his own capital, which had been traitorously seized by Balaam and his sons and made impregnable by them through magic. Moses joined the army of Nikanos, and the king and all his generals took a fancy to him, because he was courageous as a lion and his face gleamed like the sun.[59]
When Moses had spent nine years with the army King Nikanos died, and the Hebrew was made general. He took the city, driving out Balaam and his sons Jannes and Jambres, and was proclaimed king by the Ethiopians. He was obliged, in deference to the wishes of the people, to marry Nikanos' widow, Adoniya,[60] with whom he did not, however, cohabit.[61] Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses on account of the Cushite (Ethiopian) woman whom he had married. He became king at age 27, and ruled Ethiopia for 40 years, during which he considerably increased the power of the country. After forty years his wife, Queen Adoniya, accused him before the princes and generals of not having cohabited with her during the many years of their marriage, and of never having worshiped the Ethiopian gods. She called upon the princes not to suffer a stranger among them as king, but to make her son by Nikanos, Munahas or Munakaros, king. The princes complied with her wishes, but dismissed Moses in peace, giving him great treasures. Moses, now 67 years old, went from Ethiopia to Midian.[30]
According to
In Midian
On his arrival at Midian Moses told his whole story to Jethro, who recognized him as the man destined to destroy the Egyptians. He therefore took Moses prisoner in order to deliver him to Pharaoh.[19] According to another legend, Jethro took him for an Ethiopian fugitive, and intended to deliver him to the Ethiopians.[64] He kept him prisoner for seven[19] or ten[64] years.
Both of these legends are based on another legend according to which Moses was 77 years old when Jethro liberated him. According to the legend,[19] which says that he went to Nikanos' camp at the age of thirty, and ruled over Ethiopia for forty years, he was only seven years in Jethro's hands (30 plus 40 plus 7 equals 77). According to the other legend,[64] he was eighteen years old when he fled from Egypt; he remained for nine years in the camp of Nikanos; and was king over Ethiopia for forty years. Hence he must have been Jethro's captive for ten years, or till his seventy-seventh year.
Moses was imprisoned in a deep dungeon in Jethro's house, and received as food only small portions of bread and water. He would have died of hunger had not Zipporah, to whom Moses had before his captivity made an offer of marriage by the well, devised a plan by which she no longer went out to pasture the sheep, but remained at home to attend to the household, being thereby enabled to supply Moses with food without her father's knowledge. After ten (or seven) years Zipporah reminded her father that he had at one time cast a man into the dungeon, who must have died long ago; but if he were still living he must be a just man whom God had kept alive by a miracle. Jethro went to the dungeon and called Moses, who answered immediately. As Jethro found Moses praying, he really believed that he had been saved by a miracle, and liberated him.
Jethro had planted in his garden a marvelous rod, which had been created on the sixth day of the Creation, on Friday afternoon, and had been given to
Moses, therefore, went with his wife and child (another version says that both of his sons were then already born) to Egypt. On the way he met
At the burning bush
As the shepherd of his father-in-law, he drove his sheep far into the desert Exodus 3:1, in order to prevent the sheep from grazing in fields not belonging to Jethro.[69] Here God appeared to him and addressed him for seven consecutive days.[70] Moses, however, refused to listen, because he would not allow himself to be disturbed in the work for which he was paid. Then God caused the flaming bush to appear,[71] in order to divert Moses' attention from his work. The under-shepherds with Moses saw nothing of the marvelous spectacle, which Moses alone beheld.[72] Moses then interrupted his work and stepped nearer the bush to investigate.[73] As Moses was at this time entirely inexperienced in prophecy, God, in calling him, imitated the voice of Amram, so as not to frighten him. Moses, who thought that his father, Amram, was appearing to him, said: "What does my father wish?" God answered: "I am the God of thy father",[74] and gave him the mission to save Israel.[30] Moses hesitated to accept the mission[75] chiefly because he feared that his elder brother, Aaron, who until then had been the only prophet in Israel, might feel slighted if his younger brother became the savior of the people; whereupon God assured him that Aaron would be glad of it.[76] According to another version,[77] Moses said to God: "You promised Jacob that You Yourself would liberate Israel,[78] not appointing a mediator." God answered: "I myself will save them, but go thou first and announce to My children that I will do so." Moses consented, and went to his father-in-law, Jethro,[79] to obtain permission to leave Midian,[80] for he had promised not to leave Midian without his sanction.
Moses departed with his wife and children, and met Aaron,[81] who told him it was not right to take them into Egypt since the attempt was being made to lead the Israelites out of that country. He therefore sent his wife and children back to Midian.[82]
Confrontation with Pharaoh
When they went to Pharaoh, Moses went ahead, Aaron following, because Moses was more highly regarded in Egypt;[83] otherwise Aaron and Moses were equally prominent and respected.[84]
At the entrance to the Egyptian royal palace were two leopards, which would not allow any one to approach unless their guards quieted them; but when Moses came they played with him and fawned upon him as if they were his dogs.[85] According to another version, there were guards at every entrance. Gabriel, however, introduced Moses and Aaron into the interior of the palace without being seen.[86] As Moses' appearance before Pharaoh resulted only in increasing the tasks of the children of Israel,[87] Moses returned to Midian; and, according to one version, he took his wife and children back at the same time.[88]
After staying six months in Midian he returned to Egypt,
The plagues
Moses in dealing with Pharaoh always showed to him the respect due to a king.[93] Moses was really the one selected to perform all the miracles; but as he himself was doubtful of his success,[94] some of them were assigned to Aaron.[95] According to another version, Aaron and not Moses undertook to send the plagues and to perform all the miracles connected with the water and the dust. Because the water had saved Moses, and the dust had been useful to him in concealing the body of the Egyptian,[96] it was not fitting that they should be the instruments of evil in Moses' hand.[97]
When Moses announced the last plague, he would not state the exact time of its appearance, saying merely ka-chatzot ("about midnight"),
The Exodus
During the Exodus while all the people thought only of taking the gold and silver of the Egyptians, Moses endeavored to carry away boards for use in the construction of the future Temple,
On arriving at the Red Sea, Moses said to God when commanded by Him to cleave the water: "You have made it a law of nature that the sea shall never be dry," whereupon God replied that at the Creation He had made an agreement with the sea as to the separation of its waters at this time.[106]
When the Israelites saw Pharaoh and his army drown in the Red Sea,[107] they wished to return to Egypt and set up a kingdom there; but Moses prevented them, urging them on by force. He also removed the idols which the Israelites had brought with them from Egypt.[108]
Receiving the Torah
The giving of the tablets of the Law and of the Torah in general to Moses is a favorite subject for legends. In contrast to the pithy sentence of R. Jose to the effect that Moses never ascended into heaven,[109] there are many aggadot which describe in detail how Moses made his ascension and received the Torah there.
Moses went up in a cloud which entirely enveloped him[110] As he could not penetrate the cloud, God took hold of him and placed him within it.[111] When he reached heaven the angels asked God: "What does this man, born of woman, desire among us?" God replied that Moses had come to receive the Torah, whereupon the angels claimed that God ought to give the Torah to them and not to men. Then God told Moses to answer them.
Moses was afraid that the angels might burn him with the breath of their mouths; but God told him to take hold of the throne of glory. Moses then proved to the angels that the Torah was not suited to them, since they had no passions to be subdued by it. The angels thereupon became very friendly with Moses, each one of them giving him something.
The angel of death confided to him the fact that incense would prevent the plague.
The people worship the Golden Calf
The Torah was intended originally only for Moses and his descendants; but he was liberal enough to give it to the people of Israel, and God approved the gift.[117] According to another version, God gave the Torah to the Israelites for Moses' sake.[118] Moses' burnt tongue was healed when he received the Law.[119]
As Moses was writing down the Torah, upon reaching the passage "Let us make man",
When Moses came down with the tables and saw the calf,[125] he said to himself: "If I now give to the people the tablets, on which the interdiction against idolatry is written,[126] they will deserve death for having made and worshiped the golden calf." In compassion for the Israelites he broke the tablets, in order that they might not be held responsible for having transgressed the command against idolatry.[127] Moses now began to pray for the people, showing thereby his heroic, unselfish love for them. Gathering from the words "Let me"[128] that Israel's fate depended on him and his prayer, he began to defend them.[129] He said that Israel, having been sojourning in Egypt, where idolatry flourished, had become accustomed to this kind of worship, and could not easily be brought to desist from it.[130] Moreover, God Himself had afforded the people the means of making the golden calf, since he had given them much gold and silver.[131] Furthermore, God had not forbidden Israel to practise idolatry, for the singular and not the plural was used in Exodus 20:2-5, referring, therefore, only to Moses.[118]
Moses and Israel
Moses refused God's offer to make him the ancestor of a great people,[128] since he was afraid that it would be said that the leader of Israel had sought his own glory and advantage and not that of the people. He, in fact, delivered himself to death for the people.[131] For love of the Israelites he went so far as to count himself among the sinners,[132] saying to God: "This calf might be an assistant God and help in ruling the world." When God reproved him with having himself gone astray and with believing in the golden calf, he said: "Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people".[133] Moses atoned for the sin of making the calf; he even atoned for all the sins of humanity down to his time, freeing men from their burden of sin.[134]
Moses loved the people,
The words "They looked after Moses"[141] are differently interpreted. According to one opinion the people praised Moses, saying: "Hail to the mother who has borne him; all the days of his life God speaks with him; and he is dedicated to the service of God." According to another opinion they reproached and reviled him: they accused him of committing adultery with another man's wife; and every man became jealous and forbade his wife to speak to Moses. They said: "See how fat and strong he has grown; he eats and drinks what belongs to the Jews, and everything that he has is taken from the people. Shall a man who has managed the building of the Tabernacle not become rich?".[142] Yet Moses was the most conscientious of superintendents,[143] and although he had been given sole charge of the work, he always caused his accounts to be examined by others.[144] He was always among the workmen, showing them how to do the work.
In the Tabernacle
When everything was prepared Moses set up the
Inability to enter the Land of Israel
Whenever the cup is handed to Moses during the banquet of the pious in the other world, that he may say grace over the meal, he declares: "I am not worthy to say grace, as I have not deserved to enter the land of Israel".
Denying all these reasons, another explanation, based on Scripture, is that Moses and Aaron were not permitted to enter the promised land because they did not have the proper confidence in God in calling water from the rock. Moses asked that this error should be recorded in the Torah (Numbers 20:12) so that no other errors or faults should be ascribed to him.[157] This story of his lack of true confidence in God when calling forth the water is elaborated with many details in the legends. Moses was careful not to provoke the people during the forty years of wandering in the desert, because God had sworn that none of the generation which had left Egypt should behold the promised land.[158] When he went to call forth the water he did not know exactly from which rock it would come. The people became impatient and said that there was no difference between the rocks, and that he ought to be able to call forth water from any one of them. Vexed, he replied, "Ye rebels!"[159] or, according to the Midrash, "fools!" (μῶροι). God therefore said to him: "As thou art clever, thou shalt not enter the land together with fools." According to another legend, Moses became angry because some of the people said that, since he had been a herdsman with Jethro, he knew, like all herdsmen, where to find water in the desert, and that now he was merely trying to deceive the people and to make them believe that he had miraculously called water from the rock.[160]
At Aaron's Death
When Moses heard that Aaron also had to die, he grieved and wept so much as to cause his own death.[161] This story, as well as the reference to his early death,[162] was probably based on Deuteronomy 34:7, according to which he retained all his faculties and his full strength down to his end; but they contradict the many other versions of his death (see below). When Moses took Aaron up the mountain where the latter was to die, and announced his death to him, he comforted him, saying: "You, my brother, will die and leave your office to your children; but when I die a stranger will inherit my office. When you die you will leave me to look after your burial; when I die I shall leave no brother, no sister, and no son to bury me"[163]—for Moses' sons died before him.[164] When Moses witnessed the quiet and peaceful death of Aaron he desired a similar death for himself.[30] After Aaron's death Moses was accused by the people of having killed him through jealousy; but God cleared him from this suspicion by a miracle.[165]
When Moses was about to take vengeance on Midian before his death,[166] he did not himself take part in the War against the Midianites, because he had at one time sojourned in Midian and had received benefits in that country.[167] When Zimri brought the Midianitish woman Cozbi before Moses,[168] asking that he might marry her, and Moses refused his request, Zimri reproached him with having himself married the Midianitish woman Zipporah.[169] Later, also, Moses was reproached for this marriage, the Rabbis saying that on account of it he became the ancestor of Jonathan, the priest of Micah's idol.[170] God revealed to Moses before his death all the coming generations, their leaders and sages, as well as the saints and sinners. When Moses beheld Saul and his sons die by the sword he grieved that the first king of Israel should come to such a sad end.[171] When God showed him hell he began to be afraid of it; but God promised him that he should not go thither.[172] He beheld paradise also. A detailed description of Moses' wanderings through paradise and hell is found in the apocalypse "Gedullat Mosheh".[173]
Death of Moses
The different legends agree that Moses died on Adar 7 (also his birthday) at the age of 120 years,[174] the angel of death not being present.[175] But the earlier and the later legends differ considerably in the description and the details of this event. The earlier ones present the hero's death as a worthy close to his life. It takes place in a miraculous way; and the hero meets it quietly and resignedly. He ascends Mount Abarim accompanied by the elders of the people, and Joshua and Eleazar; and while he is talking with them a cloud suddenly surrounds him and he disappears. He was prompted by modesty to say in the Torah that he died a natural death, in order that people should not say that God had taken him alive into heaven on account of his piety.[176] The event is described somewhat differently, but equally simply, in Sifre.[177]
For the statement that Moses did not die at all, compare Sotah 13b. "When the angel of death, being sent by God to Moses, appeared before him and said, 'Give me your soul,' Moses scolded him, saying, 'You have not even the right to appear where I am sitting; how dare you say to me that I shall give you my soul?' The angel of death took this answer back to God. And when God said to the angel the second time, 'Bring Me the soul of Moses,' he went to the place where Moses had been, but the latter had left. Then he went to the sea to look for Moses there. The sea said that it had not seen Moses since the time when he had led the children of Israel through it. Then he went to the mountains and valleys, which told him that God had concealed Moses, keeping him for the life in the future world, and no creature knew where he was."
His wishes to avoid death
When God said to Moses that he must die, Moses replied: "Must I die now, after all the trouble I have had with the people? I have beheld their sufferings; why should I not also behold their joys? Thou hast written in the Torah: 'At his day thou shalt give him his hire'[178] why dost thou not give me the reward of my toil?"[179] God assured him that he should receive his reward in the future world. Moses then asked why he must die at all, whereupon God enumerated some of the sins for which he had deserved death, one of them being the murder of the Egyptian.[180]
According to another version, Moses had to die so that he might not be taken for a god.
Moses then begged that one of his children or one of the children of his brother Aaron might succeed him.[184] God answered that his children had not devoted themselves to the Law, whereas Joshua had served Moses faithfully and had learned from him; he therefore deserved to succeed his teacher.[30]
Then Moses said: "Perhaps I must die only because the time has come for Joshua to enter upon his office as the leader of Israel. If Joshua shall now become the leader, I will treat him as my teacher and will serve him, if only I may stay alive." Moses then began to serve Joshua and give him the honor due to a master from his pupil. He continued to do this for thirty-seven days, from the first of
Gabriel arranged the couch, Michael spread a silken cover over it, and Zagziel put a silken pillow under Moses' head. At God's command Moses crossed his hands over his breast and closed his eyes, and God took his soul away with a kiss (mitat neshika). Then heaven and earth and the starry world began to weep for Moses.[186]
Although Moses died in the territory of the
God Himself buried Moses
Personal qualities
All the different cycles of legends agree in saying that Moses was very wealthy, probably on the basis of Numbers 16.15;[191] they differ, however, as to the source of his wealth. According to one, he derived it from the presents and treasures given to him by the Ethiopians when they took the crown away from him.[19] According to another, Jethro gave him a large sum of money as dowry when he married Zipporah.[56] Still another story relates that Moses received a large part of the booty captured from Pharaoh and, later, from Sihon and Og.[192] In two other versions, Moses became wealthy by a miracle. One says that Moses became rich through the breaking of the tablets, which were made of sapphires;[116] in the other, God created a sapphire quarry in Moses' tent.[193]
Moses was also distinguished for his strength and beauty. He was, as stated above, ten ells tall and very powerful. In the battle against Og, Moses was the only one able to kill that king.[194] His face was surrounded by a halo;[195] this was given to him in reward for having hidden his face on first meeting God in the burning bush,[196] or he derived it from the cave in the cleft of the rock[197] or from the tablets, which he grasped while God was holding one side and the angels the other. Another legend says that a drop of the marvelous ink with which he wrote down the Torah remained on the pen; and when he touched his head with the pen he received his halo.[198]
Moses was called the "father of wisdom" on account of his great sagacity.[199] He possessed forty-nine of the fifty divisions of wisdom.[200] The question why the pious sometimes have bad luck while the sinners are fortunate was solved for him.[138] He wished to know also how good deeds are rewarded in the future world, but this was not revealed to him.[201]
Piety was not burdensome to him.[202] His prayers were immediately answered.[203] He was so prominent a figure that his authority was equal to that of an entire sanhedrin of seventy-one members,[204] or even of the whole of Israel.[205]
His prophetic powers
Aside from the Torah, Moses wrote also the Book of Job and some Psalms, and introduced many regulations and institutions.[206] On account of the excellence of his prophecy he is called "the father," "the head," "the master," and "the chosen of the Prophets".[207] While all the other prophets ceased to prophesy after a time, Moses continued to talk with God and to prophesy throughout his life;[208] and while all the other prophets beheld their visions as through nine spectacles (espaklarya) or through dim ones, Moses beheld his as through one clear, finely ground glass.[209] Balaam surpassed him in prophecy in two respects: (1) Balaam always knew when God was about to speak with him, while Moses did not know beforehand when God would speak with him; and (2) Balaam could speak with God whenever he wished, which Moses could not do. According to another tradition,[210] however, Moses also could speak with God as often as he wished. The fact that God would speak with him unawares induced Moses to give up domestic life, and to live separated from his wife.[211]
His modesty
Moses' modesty[212] is illustrated by many fine examples in aggadah. When God pointed to Rabbi Akiva and his scholarship, Moses said: "If You have such a man, why do You reveal the Torah through me?".[213] When Moses descended from heaven, Satan came to ask him where the Torah was which God had given to him. Moses said: "Who am I? Am I worthy to receive the Torah from God?" When God asked him why he denied that the Torah had been given to him, he replied: "How can I claim anything which belongs to You and is Your darling?" Then God said to him: "As you are so modest and humble, the Torah shall be called after you, the 'Torah of Moses'".[214]
Moses' modesty never allowed him to put himself forward (e.g., in liberating Israel, in dividing the sea, and subsequently also in connection with the Tabernacle) until God said to him: "How long wilt thou count thyself so lowly? The time is ready for thee; thou art the man for it".[215] When Moses had made a mistake, or had forgotten something, he was not ashamed to admit it.[216] In his prayers he always referred to the merits of others, although everything was granted to him on account of his own merit.[217]
See also
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "MOSES". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
- ISBN 978-1438405643. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
- ^ a b c JewishEncyclopedia.com - MOSES
- ^ Leviticus Rabbah 36:4
- ^ Genesis Rabbah 4:8
- ^ Genesis Rabbah 26:15
- ^ Genesis Rabbah 68:16
- ^ Exodus 1:22
- ^ Sotah 11b, 12a; Megillah 14a; Exodus Rabbah 1:24; Sefer ha-Yashar Shemot, pp. 111a, 112b; compare Josephus, "Antiquities" 2:9, § 3
- ^ Talmud Megillah 13b
- ^ Book of Jubilees, 47:1
- ^ Sotah 12a
- ^ a b Yalkut Shimoni, Wayelek, 940
- ^ Pirkei De-Rabbi Eliezer 48
- ^ ib.; Sefer ha-Yashar p. 112b
- ^ Sotah l.c.
- ^ Midrash Petirat Mosheh, in Jellinek, "B. H." 1:128
- ^ Jubilees, l.c. 47; Chronicle of Moses in Jellinek, "B. H." 2:3; Sefer ha-Yashar p. 112b
- ^ Jubilees, l.c. 4
- ^ a b c d e f Chronicle of Moses l.c.
- I Chronicles4:18; Tarmut [Thermutis], according to Josephus, l.c. and Jubilees, l.c.
- ^ Exodus Rabbah 1:27
- ^ Philo, "Vita Mosis," 2
- ^ a b Exodus Rabbah 1:28
- ^ a b Sotah 12b
- ^ Midrash Abkir, in Yalkut Shimoni, Exodus 166
- ^ Sotah 12b; Exodus Rabbah 1:27
- ^ Yalkut Shimoni, l.c.
- ^ Midrash Vayosha in Jellinek, l.c. 1:41
- ^ Exodus Rabbah l.c.
- ^ a b c d e f g ib.
- ^ Exodus Rabbah 1:29; Sotah l.c.
- ^ Genesis Rabbah 97:5
- ^ Midrash Vayosha l.c.
- ^ Josephus, l.c. 2:9, § 5; Sefer ha-Yashar p. 112b; Sotah 12b; Chronicle of Moses p. 3
- ^ Sotah l.c.; Chronicle of Moses l.c.
- ^ Sefer ha-Yashar p. 113b
- ^ Exodus 2:10
- ^ Leviticus Rabbah 1:3
- ^ Chronicle of Moses p. 3; Sefer ha-Yashar p. 112b; Megillah 13a
- ^ [i.e., נאמן; Numbers 12:7] Bava Batra 15a
- ^ Exodus Rabbah 1:32; compare Josephus; l.c.; Philo, l.c.
- ^ Chronicle of Moses l.c.; for another version see Midrash Vayosha l.c.
- ^ Josephus, l.c.; Midrash Vayosha l.c.
- ^ Sotah 11a; Sanhedrin 106
- ^ compare Exodus 4:10
- ^ Midrash Vayosha l.c.; Chronicle of Moses l.c.; Sefer ha-Yashar l.c.; Exodus Rabbah 1:31
- ^ Chronicle of Moses l.c.; Midrash Vayosha l.c.
- ^ Exodus Rabbah 1:32; Sefer ha-Yashar p. 115a
- ^ Exodus 2:12
- Exodus Rabba1:33
- ^ Chronicle of Moses l.c.; "Midrash Vayosha" l.c.; "Book of Jasher" l.c.
- ^ a b "Exodus » Chapter 2". Archived from the original on 2015-10-02.
- Exodus Rabba1:32, 35
- Genesis Rabba11
- ^ Exodus 2:15
- ^ a b c d e "Midrash Vayosha" l.c.
- ^ Chronicle of Moses l.c.; "Book of Jasher" p. 115b
- Exodus Rabba1:36
- ^ "Book of Jasher" p. 116a; compare Bava Batra 75a
- ^ compare Numbers 12
- ^ Chronicle of Moses l.c.; "Book of Jasher" p. 116b
- ^ Yalkut Shimoni, Shemot, 167
- Genesis Rabba 11; compare Sifre, Deuteronomy 34:7)
- ^ a b c d "Book of Jasher" l.c.
- ^ "Book of Jasher", Chronicle of Moses, and "Midrash Vayosha" l.c.
- ^ Mekhilta, Yitro, 1 [ed. Weiss, p. 65b]
- ^ Jubilees 48:2
- Exodus Rabba5
- Exodus Rabba1.3
- ^ Exodus Rabbah 3:20
- ^ Exodus 3:2–3
- Exodus Rabba2:8
- ^ Exodus Rabbah 2:11
- ^ Exodus 3:6
- ^ Compare Exodus 3:11
- Exodus Rabba3:21-22
- ^ Exodus Rabbah 15:15
- ^ Compare Genesis 46:4
- ^ Exodus 4:18
- Exodus Rabba4:1-4
- ^ Compare Exodus 4:27
- ^ "Book of Jasher" p. 123a; Mekhilta, Yitro, 1 [ed. Weiss, p. 65b]
- Exodus Rabba9:3
- ^ Mekhilta, Bo, 1 [ed. Weiss, p. 1a]
- ^ Chronicle of Moses l.c.; "Book of Jasher" l.c.
- ^ Yalkut Shimoni, Shemot, 175
- ^ compare Exodus 5
- Exodus Rabba5:23
- ^ ib. 5:24
- ^ Exodus 5:22
- ^ ib. 6:1
- ^ ib. 6:3-5, 15:4
- ^ ib. 7:2
- ^ ib. 6:12
- ^ a b ib. 1
- ^ ib. 2:12
- ^ ib. 9:9, 10:5, 20:1
- ^ ib. 11:4
- ^ Berachot 3b, 4a
- Exodus Rabba19:6
- ^ "Book of Jasher" p. 125b
- Genesis Rabba94:4 and Jew. Encyc. 7:24, s.v. Jacob
- Exodus Rabba18:8
- Exodus Rabba 20:17; Chronicle of Moses l.c.; "Book of Jasher" p. 126
- Exodus Rabba l.c.; compare Joseph in Rabbinical Literature
- Exodus Rabba 21:16; compare "Midrash Vayosha" p. 38
- ^ Exodus 14:30-31
- Exodus Rabba24:2
- ^ Sukkah 5a
- ^ Yoma 4a
- ^ Yoma 4b
- Exodus Rabba28
- ^ Numbers 17:11–13
- ^ Bava Metziah 87b
- Exodus Rabba47:9
- ^ a b Nedarim 35a
- Nedarim38a
- ^ Exodus Rabba47:14
- ^ Deuteronomy Rabbah 1:1
- ^ Genesis 1:26
- Genesis Rabba8:7
- ^ Sanhedrin 111a
- Exodus Rabba61
- Exodus Rabba41:12
- ^ Exodus 32:15-20
- ^ Exodus 20:2-5
- Avot of Rabbi Natan2
- ^ a b Exodus 32:10
- ^ Berachot 32a; Megillah 24a
- ^ Yalkut Shimoni, Ki Tissa, 397
- ^ a b Berachot 32a
- ^ compare Isaiah 53:12
- Numbers Rabba2:14; Deuteronomy Rabbah 1:2
- Tanna debe Eliyahu
- ^ Menachot 65a, b
- ^ Ta'anit 11a
- ^ Midrash Petirat Mosheh, in Jellinek, "B. H." 1:121
- ^ a b Berachot 7a
- ^ Yoma 36b
- ^ Bava Batra 8a
- ^ Exodus 33:8
- Exodus Rabba51.4; SheḲ. 5:13
- ^ Berachot 44a
- Exodus Rabba51:1
- Exodus Rabba52:3
- ^ Talmud Shabbat 92a
- Exodus Rabba51.4
- Leviticus Rabba11.6; Zeb. 102a
- ^ Pesachim 119b
- Numbers Rabba18:5
- ^ Ta'anit 9a
- ^ a b c Sotah 14a
- Exodus Rabba5:27
- ^ Exodus 2:19
- ^ Compare Numbers 14:28-37
- Numbers Rabba19:6
- Numbers Rabbal.c.
- ^ Deuteronomy 1:35
- ^ Numbers 20:10
- Numbers Rabba19:5; Yalkut Shimoni, Ḥuḳḳat, 763
- ^ Midrash Petirat Aharon, l.c.
- ^ Yoma 87a
- ^ Midrash Petirat Aharon, l.c.; Numbers Rabbah 19:11; Yalkut Shimoni, Num. 763, 787
- ^ compare the note in "Zayit Ra'anan" to Yalkut Shimoni, Num. 787
- ^ Yalkut Shimoni, Num. 764
- ^ compare Numbers 31
- ^ Numbers Rabbah 22:4
- ^ Numbers 25:6
- ^ Sanhedrin 82a
- ^ Judges 18:30; Bava Batra 109b
- ^ Leviticus Rabbah 26:7
- ^ Numbers Rabbah 23:4
- ^ Salonica, 1727
- ^ Megillah 13b; Mekhilta, Beshalach, Vayassa, 5 [ed. Weiss, p. 60a]; compare Josephus, l.c. 4:8, § 49
- ^ Bava Batra 17a
- ^ Josephus, l.c.
- ^ Sifre Deuteronomy 305 (ed. Friedmann, p. 129b)
- ^ Deuteronomy 24:15
- ^ Yalkut Shimoni, Deuteronomy 940; Midrash Petirat Mosheh, in Jellinek, l.c. 1:115-129
- ^ Exodus 2:12; Midrash Petirat Mosheh, l.c.
- ^ Yalkut Shimoni, Va'etchanan, 814
- ^ Yalkut Shimoni, Deuteronomy 940
- ^ Midrash Petirat Mosheh, l.c.
- ^ ib. and Numbers Rabbah 21:15
- ^ compare Sotah 13b
- ^ Midrash Petirat Mosheh, l.c.; Yalkut Shimoni, Deuteronomy 940; Deuteronomy Rabbah 11:6
- ^ Sotah 13b
- ^ Sotah 14a; Sanhedrin 39a
- ^ Pesachim 54a
- ^ Deuteronomy 34:6
- ^ Compare Nedarim 35a, where this interpretation is regarded as uncertain
- Leviticus Rabba28.4
- ^ Yalkut Shimoni, Ki Tissa, 392
- ^ Berachot 54b
- ^ Compare Exodus 34:29-35
- ^ Exodus 3:2-6; Berachot 7a
- ^ Compare Exodus 33:22
- Exodus Rabba47:11
- Leviticus Rabba1:15
- ^ Rosh Hashana 21b; Nedarim 35a
- ^ Yalkut Shimoni, Ki Tissa, 395
- ^ Berachot 33b
- Genesis Rabba60:4
- ^ Sanhedrin 16b
- ^ Mekhilta, Beshalach, Shir, 1 [ed. Weiss, p. 41a]
- ^ Talmud Shabbat 30a; compare Berachot 54; Ta'anit 27; Talmud Megillah 4; Yebamot 79; Mak. 24
- Genesis Rabba76:1
- Exodus Rabba2:12
- Leviticus Rabba1:14
- Numbers Rabba14:34
- ^ Shabbat 87a
- ^ Numbers 12:3
- ^ Menachot 29b
- ^ Shabbat 89a; compare Malachi 3:22
- Leviticus Rabba1:15
- ^ Zevachim 101a
- ^ Berachot 10b