Bilaam Praises the Matriarchs Who Cherished Procreation

Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Balak 20:2

Curated by Arthur·Translated by Maggid (Beta)·

"And the number of the fourth part (rova) of Israel" (Numbers 23:10) — <this refers to> their copulations (revi'iyot). Who is able to number the multitudes that have come forth from those women who seize upon and cherish the commandments <of procreation>? As it is said: "And she said to her: Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband?" (Genesis 30:15); "Behold my maidservant Bilhah, go in to her" (Genesis 30:3); "And when Leah saw that she had ceased bearing" (Genesis 30:9); "And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, <and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife>" (Genesis 16:3).

Themes

MatriarchsCreationWomenMusicAbraham

Biblical References

Continue Reading

Midrash AggadahWhy God Remembered Abraham and Rescued Lot from SodomWhen the fire came down upon Sodom, why was Lot drawn out alive? The verse does not say that God remembered Lot. It says that God remembered Abraham and sent LoMidrash AggadahAbraham Answers Avimelech on Sarah as Sister and WifeWhen Avimelech demanded an accounting, Abraham laid his reasoning bare. "Only there is no fear of God in this place", and where the fear of God is absent, men wMidrash AggadahAbraham Tells Avimelech That Sarah Bears No GuiltWhen Avimelech confronted him, Abraham did not unsay his words. He pressed the meaning of the verse: "And she became my wife." Yet, Abraham argued, you never onThe Midrash of PhiloWhy Hagar Despised Sarah After She ConceivedOur question comes from (Genesis 16:4): "When she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes." Hagar, Sarai’s maidservant, becomes pregnaMidrash Tanchuma Buber, VayeraWhy Three Angels Came to Abraham but Only Two to SodomRead closely, says the Maggid, and a riddle leaps off the page. By the oaks of Mamre, Abraham lifts his eyes and sees three men. Yet at the gates of Sodom, ScriMidrash Tanchuma Buber, VayeraWhy Abimelech Rose Early and Abraham Called Sarah His SisterWhen the dream broke, Abimelech could not wait for dawn. He lay watching the dark, counting the hours until he might rise early and be rid of the terror that ha