19 myths
The night before facing his murderous brother, Jacob was left alone by the river and grabbed by a stranger who could not overpower him before dawn.
At Isaac's weaning feast the giant Og sneers he could crush the laughing heir with one finger, and Heaven dooms him to fall by that child's seed.
A judge at the city gate watches a serpent cross the dust with terrible purpose, and learns whose sentence it has been sent to carry out.
The prophetess who drew water from the rock vanished with her well, and the mystics found her again among the pomegranate trees of paradise.
Miriam died, her well vanished, and Moses wept six hours before the thirsting camp dragged him to a rock that would not give water.
The well that followed Israel through the wilderness did more than quench thirst. It filled the camp with rivers, orchards, fragrant herbs, and healing water.
A generation raised under divine clouds had never seen direct sunlight. The day Aaron died on Mount Hor, every cloud dissolved at once.
When Aaron died and the protective clouds dissolved, Amalek dressed as Canaanites and attacked, hoping to send Israel's prayers in the wrong direction.
Og measured the camp of Israel with one eye, tore a mountain loose, and balanced it on his head to bury a whole nation under a single stone.
Sihon and Og shared one father, a Watcher who fell from heaven, and their mingled blood made Moses crush one brother yet tremble before the other.
Three sustainers led Israel from Egypt with manna, cloud, and a traveling well, and the water vanished the day Miriam was buried at Kadesh.
Moses had faced Pharaoh without flinching. But Sihon the giant made him afraid. The rabbis explain what God had to do before the battle could begin.
Moses split seas and stood at Sinai but could not cross the Jordan. He tried every angle he could think of and God refused each one.
Moses dreaded telling Aaron his death had arrived, but Aaron climbed the mountain willingly and disappeared into the cloud.
God tells Moses he will be gathered as Aaron was gathered. The rabbis heard desire: Moses wanted his brother's peaceful death, not his own.
A miraculous well followed Israel through the desert for forty years. When Miriam died, the water stopped. The people learned what she had been by losing her.
Og rode the ark, served Abraham, mocked Isaac, and stood against Moses. The giant's death sentence was spoken long before Edrei while Isaac was still a child.
Enemy armies hid in the caves of the Arnon to ambush Israel, but the Ark drew two hills together and sealed the killers in stone.
Moses stands at Og's border gripped by a fear older than the battle. And God speaks before a single spear is thrown.
