THE LEGENDS OF THE JEWS VOLUME IV BIBLE TIMES AND CHARACTERS

B >> BY LOUIS GINZBERG >> THE LEGENDS OF THE JEWS VOLUME IV BIBLE TIMES AND CHARACTERS

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Prepared by David Reed haradda@aol.com or davidr@inconnect.com

THE LEGENDS OF THE JEWS VOLUME IV
BIBLE TIMES AND CHARACTERS FROM JOSHUA TO
ESTHER

BY LOUIS GINZBERG

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN MANUSCRIPT

CONTENTS

I. JOSHUA
The Servant of Moses Entering the Promised Land--Conquest of
the Land--The Sun Obeys Joshua--War with the
Armenians--Allotment of the Land.

II. THE JUDGES
The First Judge--Campaigns of KenaS--Othniel--Boaz and
Ruth--Deborah--Gideon--Jephthah--Samson--The Crime of the
Crime of the Benjamites.

III. SAMUEL AND SAUL
Elkanah and Hannah--The Youth of Samuel--Eli and His
Sons--The Activities of Samuel--The Reign of Saul--The Court of
Saul.

IV. DAVID
David's Birth and Descent--Anointed King--Encounter with
Goliath--Pursued by Saul--Wars--Ahithophel--Joab--David's Piety
and His Sin--Absalom's Rebellion--David's
Atonement--Visitations--The Death of David--David in
Paradise--The Family of David--His Tomb.

V. SOLOMON
Solomon Punishes Joab--The Marriage of Solomon--His Wisdom--
The Queen of Sheba--Solomon Master of the Demons--The
Building of the Temple--The Throne of Solomon--The
Hippodrome--Lessons in Humility--Asmodeus--Solomon as
Beggar--The Court of Solomon.

VI. JUDAH AND ISRAEL
The Division of the Kingdom--Jeroboam--The Two Ahijabs--Asa--
Jehoshaphat and Ahab--Jezebel--Joram of Israel.

VII. ELIJAH
Elijah before His Translation--After His Translation--Censor and
Avenger--Intercourse with the Sages--God's Justice Vindicated--
Elijah and the Angel of Death--Teacher of the
Kabbalah--Forerunner of the Messiah.

VIII. ELISHA AND JONAH
Elisha the Disciple of Elijah--The Shunammite--Gehazi--The
Flight of Jonah Jonah in the Whale--The Repentance of Nineveh.

IX. THE LATER KINGS OF JUDAH
Joash--Three Great Prophets--The Two Kingdoms
Chastised--Hezekjah--Miracles Wrought for
Hezekiah--Manasseh--Josiah and His Successors.

X. THE EXILE
Zedekiah--Jeremiah--Nebuchadnezzar--The Capture of Jerusalem--
The Great Lament--Jeremiah's Journey to Babylon--Transportation
of the Captives--The Sons of Moses--Ebedmelech--The Temple
Vessels--Baruch--The Tombs of Baruch and Ezekie1--Daniel--The
Three Men in the Furnace--Ezekiel Revives the
Dead--Nebuchadnezzar a Beast--Hiram--The False
Prophets--Daniel's Piety.

XI. THE RETURN OF THE CAPTIVITY
Belshazzar's Feast--Daniel under the Persian Kings--The Grave of
Daniel--Zerubbabel--Ezra--The Men of the Great Assembly.

XII. ESTHER
The Feast for the Grandees--The Festivities in Shushan--Vashti's
Banquet--The Fate of Vashti--The Follies of Ahasuerus--Mordecai
Esther's Beauty and Piety--The Conspiracy Haman the Jew-baiter--
Mordecai's Pride--Casting the Lots--The Denunciation of the
Jews--The Decree of Annihilation--Satan Indicts the Jews--The
Dream of Mordecai Fulfilled--The Prayer of Esther--Esther
Intercedes--The Disturbed Night--The Fall of Haman--The Edict of
the King.

THE SERVANT OF MOSES

The early history of the first Jewish conqueror (1) in some respects
is like the early history of the first Jewish legislator. Moses was
rescued from a watery grave, and raised at the court of Egypt.
Joshua, in infancy, was swallowed by a whale, and , wonderful to
relate, did not perish. At a distant point of the sea-coast the
monster spewed him forth unharmed. He was found by
compassionate passers-by, and grew up ignorant of his descent.
The government appointed him to the office of hangman. As luck
would have it, he had to execute his own father. By the law of the
land the wife of the dead man fell to the share of his executioner,
and Joshua was on the point of adding to parricide another crime
equally heinous. He was saved by a miraculous sign. When he
approached his mother, milk flowed from her breasts. His
suspicions were aroused, and through the inquiries he set a foot
regarding his origin, the truth was made manifest. (2)

Later Joshua, who was so ignorant that he was called a fool,
became the minister of Moses, and God rewarded his faithful
service by making him the successor to Moses. (3) He was
designated as such to Moses when, at the bidding of his master, he
was carrying on war with the Amalekites. (4) In this campaign
God's care of Joshua was plainly seen. Joshua had condemned a
portion of the Amalekites to death by lot, and the heavenly sword
picked them out for extermination. (5) Yet there was as great a
difference between Moses and Joshua as between the sun and the
moon. (6) God did not withdraw His help from Joshua, but He was
by no means so close to him as to Moses. This appeared
immediately after Moses had passed away. At the moment when
the Israelitish leader was setting out on his journey to the great
beyond, he summoned his successor and bade him put questions
upon all points about which he felt uncertain. Conscious of his
own industry and devotion, Joshua replied that he had no questions
to ask, seeing that he had carefully studied the teachings of Moses.
Straightway he forgot three hundred Halakot, and doubts assailed
him concerning seven hundred others. The people threatened
Joshua's life, because he was not able to resolve their difficulties in
the law. It was vain to turn to God, for the Torah once revealed
was subject to human, not to heavenly, authority. (7) Directly after
Moses' death, God commanded Joshua to go to war, so that the
people might forget its grievance against him. (8) But it is false to
think that the great conqueror was nothing more than a military
hero. When God appeared to him, to give him instructions
concerning the war, He found him with the Book of Deuteronomy
in his hand, whereupon God called to him: "Be strong and of good
courage; the book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth." (9)

ENTERING THE PROMISED LAND

The first step in preparation for war was the selection of spies. To
guard against a repetition of what had happened to Moses, Joshua
chose as his messengers Caleb and Phinehas, on whom he could
place dependence in all circumstances. (10) They were
accompanied on their mission by two demons, the husbands of the
she-devils Lilith and Mahlah. When Joshua was planning his
campaign, these devils offered their services to him; they proposed
that they be sent out to reconnoitre the land. Joshua refused the
offer, but formed their appearance so frightfully that the residents
of Jericho were struck with fear of them. (11) In Jericho the spies
put up with Rahab. She had been leading an immoral life for forty
years, but at the approach of Israel, she paid homage to the true
God, lived the life of a pious convert, and, as the wife of Joshua,
became the ancestress of eight prophets and of the prophetess
Huldah. (12) She had opportunity in her own house of beholding
the wonders of God. When the king's bailiffs came to make their
investigations, and Rahab wanted to conceal the Israelitish spies,
Phinehas calmed her with the words: "I am a priest, and priests are
like angels, visible when they wish to be seen, invisible when they
do not wish to be seen." (13)

After the return of the spies, Joshua decided to pass over the
Jordan. The crossing of the river was the occasion for wonders, the
purpose of which was to clothe him with authority in the eyes of
the people. Scarcely had the priests, who at this solemn moment
took the place of the Levites as bearers of the Ark, set foot in the
Jordan, when the waters of the river were piled up to a height of
three hundred miles. All the peoples of the earth were witnesses of
the wonder. (14) In the bed of the Jordan Joshua assembled the
people around the Ark. A Divine miracle caused the narrow space
between its staves to contain the whole concourse. Joshua then
proclaimed the conditions under which God would give Palestine
to the Israelites, and he added, if these conditions were not
accepted, the waters of the Jordan would descend straight upon
them. Then they marched through the river. When the people
arrived on the further shore, the holy Ark, which had all the while
been standing in the bed of the river, set forward of itself, and,
dragging the priests after it, overtook the people.

The day continued eventful. Unassailed, the Israelites marched
seventy miles to Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, and there
performed the ceremony bidden by Moses in Deuteronomy: six of
the tribes ascended Mount Gerizim, and six Mount Ebal. The
priests and the Levites grouped themselves about the holy Ark in
the vale between the two peaks. With their faces turned toward
Gerizim, the Levites uttered the words: "Happy the man that
maketh no idol, an abomination unto the Lord," and all the people
answered Amen. After reciting twelve blessings similar to this in
form, the Levites turned to Mount Ebal, and recited twelve curses,
counterparts of the blessings, to each of which the people
responded again with Amen. Thereupon an altar was erected on
Mount Ebal with the stones, each weighing forty seim, which the
Israelites had taken from the bed of the river while passing through
the Jordan. The altar was plastered with lime, and the Torah
written upon it in seventy languages, so that the heathen nations
might have the opportunity of learning the law. At the end it was
said explicitly that the heathen outside of Palestine, if they would
but abandon the worship of idols, would be received kindly by the
Jews.

All this happened on one day, on the same day on which the
Jordan was crossed, and the assembly was held on Gerizim and
Ebal, the day on which the people arrived at Gilgal, where they
left the stones of which the altar had been built. (15) At Gilgal
Joshua performed the rite of circumcision on those born in the
desert, who had remained uncircumcised on account of the rough
climate and for other reasons. (16) And here it was that the manna
gave out. It had ceased to fall at the death of Moses, but the supply
that had been stored up had lasted some time longer. (17) As soon
as the people were under the necessity of providing for their daily
wants, they grew negligent in the study of the Torah. Therefore the
angel admonished Joshua to loose his shoes from off his feet, for
he was to mourn over the decline of the study of the Torah, (18)
and bare feet are a sign of mourning. The angel reproached Joshua
in particular with having allowed the preparations for war to
interfere with the study of the Torah and with the ritual service.
Neglect of the latter might be a venial sin, but neglect of the
former is worthy of condign punishment. (19) At the same time the
angel assured Joshua that he had come to aid him, and he entreated
Joshua not to draw back from him, like Moses, who had refused
the good offices of the angel. (20) He who spoke to Joshua was
none other than the archangel Michael. (21)

CONQUEST OF THE LAND

Joshua's first victory was the wonderful capture of Jericho. The
whole of the city was declared anathema, because it had been
conquered on the Sabbath day. Joshua reasoned that as the Sabbath
is holy, so also that which conquered on the Sabbath should be
holy. (22) The brilliant victory was followed by the luckless defeat
at Ai. In this engagement perished Jair, the son of Manasseh,
whose loss was as great as if the majority of the Sanhedrin had
been destroyed. (23) Presently Joshua discovered that the cause of
the defeat was the sinfulness of Israel, brought upon it by Achan,
who had laid hands on some of the spoils of Jericho. Achan was a
hardened transgressor and criminal from of old. During the life of
Moses he had several times appropriated to his own use things that
had been declared anathema, (24) and he had committed other
crimes worthy of the death penalty. (25) Before the Israelites
crossed the Jordan, God had not visited Achan's sins upon the
people as a whole, because at that time it did not form a national
unit yet. But when Achan abstracted an idol and all its
appurtenances from Jericho, (26) the misfortune of Ai followed at
once.

Joshua inquired of God, why trouble had befallen Israel, but God
refused to reply. He was no tale-bearer; the evil-doer who had
caused the disaster would have to be singled out by lot. (27)
Joshua first of all summoned the high priest from the assembly of
the people. It appeared that, while the other jewels in his
breastplate gleamed bright, the stone representing the tribe of
Judah was dim. (28) By lot Achan was set apart from the members
of his tribe. Achan, however, refused to submit to the decision by
lot. He said to Joshua: "Among all living men thou and Phinehas
are the most pious. Yet, if lots were cast concerning you two, one
or other of you would be declared guilty. Thy teacher Moses has
been dead scarcely one month, and thou has already begun to go
astray, for thou hast forgotten that a man's guilt can be proved only
through two witnesses."

Endued with the holy spirit, Joshua divined that the land was to be
assigned to the tribes and families of Israel by lot, and he realized
that nothing ought to be done to bring this method of deciding into
disrepute. He, therefore, tried to persuade Achan to make a clean
breast of his transgression. (29) Meantime, the Judeans, the
tribesmen of Achan, rallied about him, and throwing themselves
upon the other tribes, they wrought fearful havoc and bloodshed.
This determined Achan to confess his sins. (30) The confession
cost him his life, but it saved him from losing his share in the
world to come. (31)

In spite of the reverses at Ai, (32) the terror inspired by the
Israelites grew among the Canaanitish peoples. The Gibeonites
planned to circumvent the invaders, and form an alliance with
them. Now, before Joshua set out on his campaign, he had issued
three proclamations: the nation that would leave Canaan might
depart unhindered; the nation that would conclude peace with the
Israelites, should do it at once; and the nation that would choose
war, should make its preparations. If the Gibeonites had sued for
the friendship of the Jews when the proclamation came to their
ears, there would have been no need for subterfuges later. But the
Canaanites had to see with their own eyes what manner of enemy
awaited them, and all the nations prepared for war. The result was
that the thirty-one kings of Palestine perished, as well as the
satraps of many foreign kings, who were proud to own possessions
in the Holy Land. (33) Only the Girgashites departed out of
Palestine, and as a reward for their docility God gave them Africa
as an inheritance. (34)

The Gibeonites deserved no better fate than all the rest, for the
covenant made with them rested upon a misapprehension, yet
Joshua kept his promise to them, in order to sanctify the name of
God, by showing the world how sacred an oath is to the Israelites.
(35) In the course of events it became obvious that the Gibeonites
were by no means worthy of being received into the Jewish
communion, and David, following Joshua's example, excluded
them forever, a sentence that will remain in force even in the
Messianic time. (36)

THE SUN OBEYS JOSHUA

The task of protecting the Gibeonites involved in the offensive and
defensive alliance made with them, Joshua fulfilled scrupulously.
He had hesitated for a moment whether to aid the Gibeonites in
their distress, but the words of God sufficed to recall him to his
duty. God said to him: "If thou dost not bring near them that are far
off, thou wilt remove them that are near by." (37) God granted
Joshua peculiar favor in his conflict with the assailants of the
Gibeonites. The hot hailstones which, at Moses' intercession, had
remained suspended in the air when they were about to fall upon
the Egyptians, were now cast down upon the Canaanites. (38)
Then happened the great wonder of the sun's standing still, the
sixth (39) of the great wonders since the creation of the world.

The battle took place on a Friday. Joshua knew it would pain the
people deeply to be compelled to desecrate the holy Sabbath day.
Besides, he noticed that the heathen were using sorcery to make
the heavenly hosts intercede for them in the fight against the
Israelites. He, therefore, pronounced the Name of the Lord, and the
sun, moon and stars stood still. (40) The sun at first refused to
obey Joshua's behest, seeing that he was older than man by two
days. Joshua replied that there was no reason why a free-born
youth should refrain from enjoining silence upon an old slave
whom he owns, and had not God given heaven and earth to our
father Abraham? (41) Nay, more than this, had not the sun himself
bowed down like a slave before Joseph? "But," said the sun, "who
will praise God if I am silent?" (42) Whereupon Joshua: "Be thou
silent, and I will intone a song of praise." (43) And he sang thus:

1. Thou hast done mighty things, O Lord, Thou has performed
great deeds. Who is like unto Thee? My lips shall sing unto Thy
name.

2. My goodness and my fortress, my refuge, I will sing a new song
unto Thee, with thanksgiving I will sing unto Thee, Thou art the
strength of my salvation.

3. All the kings of the earth shall praise Thee, the princes of the
world shall sing unto Thee, the children of Israel shall rejoice in
Thy salvation, they shall sing and praise Thy power.

4. In Thee, O God, did we trust; we said, Thou art our God, for
Thou wast our shelter and our strong tower against our enemies.

5. To Thee we cried, and we were not ashamed; in Thee we
trusted, and we were delivered; when we cried unto Thee, Thou
didst hear our voice, Thou didst deliver our souls from the sword.

6. Thou hast shown unto us Thy mercy, Thou didst give unto us
Thy salvation, Thou didst rejoice our hearts with Thy strength.

7. Thou wentest forth for our salvation; with the strength of Thy
arm Thou didst redeem Thy people; Thou did console us from the
heavens of Thy holiness, Thou didst save us from tens of
thousands.

8. Sun and moon stood still in heaven, and Thou didst stand in Thy
wrath against our oppressors, and Thou didst execute Thy
judgements upon them.

9. All the princes of the earth stood up, the kings of the nations had
gathered themselves together, they were not moved at Thy
presence, they desired Thy battles.

10. Thou didst rise against them in Thine anger, and Thou didst
bring down Thy wrath upon them, Thou didst destroy them in Thy
fury, and Thou didst ruin them in Thy rage.

11. Nations raged from fear of Thee, kingdoms tottered because of
Thy wrath, Thou didst wound kings in the day of Thine anger.

12. Thou didst pour out Thy fury upon them, Thy wrathful anger
took hold of them, Thou didst turn their iniquity upon them, and
Thou didst cut them off in their wickedness.

13. They spread a trap, they fell therein, in the net they hid their
foot was caught.

14. Thine hand found all Thine enemies, who said, through their
sword they possessed the land, through their arm thy dwelt in the
city.

15. Thou didst fill their faces with shame, Thou didst bring their
horns down to the ground.

16. Thou didst terrify them in Thy wrath, and thou didst destroy
them from before Thee.

17. The earth quaked and trembled from the noise of Thy thunder
against them; Thou didst not withhold their souls from earth, and
Thou didst bring down their lives to the grave.

18. Thou didst pursue them in Thy storm, Thou didst consume
them in the whirlwind, Thou didst turn their rain into hail, they fell
in floods, so that they could not rise.

19. Their carcasses were like rubbish cast out in the middle of the
streets.

20. They were consumed, and they perished before Thee, Thou
hast delivered Thy people in Thy might.

21. Therefore our hearts rejoice in Thee, our souls exult in Thy
salvation.

22. Our tongues shall relate Thy might, we will sing and praise
Thy wondrous works.

23. For Thou didst save us from our enemies, Thou didst deliver us
from those who rose up against us, Thou didst destroy them from
before us, and depress them beneath our feet.

24. Thus shall all Thine enemies perish, O Lord, and the wicked
shall be like chaff driven by the wind, and Thy beloved shall be
like trees planted by the waters. (44)

WAR WITH THE ARMENIANS

Joshua's victorious course did not end with the conquest of the
land. His war with the Armenians, after Palestine was subdued,
marked the climax of his heroic deeds. Among the thirty-one kings
whom Joshua had slain, there was one whose son, Shobach by
name, was king of Armenia. With the purpose of waging war with
Joshua, he united the forty-five kings of Persia and Media, and
they were joined by the renowned hero Japheth. The allied kings in
a letter informed Joshua of their design against him as follow:
"The noble, distinguished council of the kings of Persia and Media
to Joshua, peace! Thou wolf of the desert, we well know what thou
didst to our kinsmen. Thou didst destroy our palaces; without pity
thou didst slay young and old; our fathers thou didst mow down
with the sword; and their cities thou didst turn into desert. Know,
then, that in the space of thirty days, we shall come to thee, we, the
forty-five kings, each having sixty thousand warriors under him,
all them armed with bows and arrows, girt about with swords, all
of us skilled in the ways of war, and with us the hero Japheth.
Prepare now for the combat, and say not afterward that we took
thee at unawares."

The messenger bearing the letter arrived on the day before the
Feast of Weeks. Although Joshua was greatly wrought up by the
contents of the letter, he kept his counsel until after the feast, in
order not to disturb the rejoicing of the people. Then, at the
conclusion of the feast, he told the people of the message that had
reached him, so terrifying that even he, the veteran warrior,
trembled at the heralded approach of the enemy. Nevertheless
Joshua determined to accept the challenge. From the first words
his reply was framed to show the heathen how little their fear
possessed him whose trust was set in God. The introduction to his
epistle reads as follows: "In the Name of the Lord, the God of
Israel, who saps the strength of the iniquitous warrior, and slays
the rebellious sinner. He breaks up the assemblies of marauding
transgressors, and He gathers together in council the pious and the
just scattered abroad, He the God of all gods, the Lord of all lords,
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God is the Lord of war!
From me, Joshua, the servant of God, and from the holy and
chosen congregation to the impious nations, who pay worship to
images, and prostrate themselves before idols: No peace unto you,
saith my God! Know that ye acted foolishly to awaken the
slumbering lion, to rouse up the lion's whelp, to excite his wrath. I
am ready to pay you your recompense. Be ye prepared to meet me,
for within a week I shall be with you to slay your warriors to a
man."

Joshua goes on to recite all the wonders God had done for Israel,
who need fear no power on earth; and he ends his missive with the
words: "If the hero Japheth is with you, we have in the midst of us
the Hero of heroes, the Highest above all the high."

The heathen were not a little alarmed at the tone of Joshua's letter.
Their terror grew when the messenger told of the exemplary
discipline maintained in the Isrealitish army, of the gigantic stature
of Joshua, who stood five ells high, of his royal apparel, of his
crown graven with the Name of God. At the end of seven days
Joshua appeared with twelve thousand troops. When the mother of
King Shobach, who was a powerful witch, espied the host, she
exercised her magic art, and enclosed the Isrealitish army in seven
walls. Joshua thereupon sent forth a carrier pigeon to communicate
his plight to Nabiah, the king of the trans-Jordanic tribes. He urged
him to hasten to his help and bring the priest Phinehas and the
sacred trumpets with him. Nabiah did not tarry. Before the relief
detachment arrived, his mother reported to Shobach that she
beheld a star arise out of the East against which her machinations
were vain. Shobach threw his mother from the wall, and he
himself was soon afterward killed by Nabiah. Meantime Phinehas
arrived, and, at the sound of his trumpets, the wall toppled down.
A pitched battle ensued, and the heathen were annihilated. (45)

ALLOTMENT OF THE LAND

At the end of seven years of warfare, (46) Joshua could at last
venture to parcel out the conquered land among the tribes. This
was the way he did it. The high priest Eleazar, attended by Joshua
and all the people, and arrayed in the Urim and Thummim, stood
before two urns. One of the urns contained the names of the tribes,
the other the names of the districts into which the land was
divided. The holy spirit caused him to exclaims "Zebulon." When
he put his hand into the first urn, lo, he drew forth the word
Zebulon, and from the other came the word Accho, meaning the
district of Accho. Thus it happened with each tribe in succession.
(47) In order that the boundaries might remain fixed, Joshua had
had the Hazubah (48) planted between the districts. The rootstock
of this plant once established in a spot, it can be extirpated only
with the greatest difficulty. The plough may draw deep furrows
over it, yet it puts forth new shoots, and grows up again amid the
grain, still marking the old division lines. (49)

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