4,138 related texts · 13 related myths · Page 3 of 87
The familiar version gives us the highlights – the Nile turning to blood, the frogs, the darkness. But some sources really dial up the intensity, giving us a truly nightmarish visi...
Israel looked at the staff of Moses and saw only devastation. It had brought ten plagues upon the Egyptians in Egypt, blood, frogs, lice, and all the rest. Then it brought ten more...
The Torah actually grapples with this very question, and the answer, as you might expect, is layered and fascinating. Moses, standing before the burning bush, is tasked with leadin...
The plague has a smell. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 7:21) stays close to the Hebrew, but what it describes is the sensory aftermath of a cosmic blow. The fish that were in th...
The first plague had fallen, but Egypt's astrologers refused to concede. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 7:22) gives a detail most translations flatten: So also did the astrologe...
The frogs finally break him. For the first time, Pharaoh sends for Moses and Aharon and asks them to pray. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 8:4) preserves his exact bargaining pos...
Moses does not pray inside Pharaoh's palace. He does not pray inside the city at all. "When I have gone out from thee into the city," he tells the king, "I will outspread my hands ...
The familiar story is this: Pharaoh, gripped by fear of the Israelites' growing numbers, decrees that all newborn Hebrew boys be cast into the Nile. A brutal, heartbreaking command...
The familiar story centers on his dramatic rescue as a baby, floating down the Nile in a basket. But what happened next, after he was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter? The Book of Jas...
Legends of the Jews (Ginzberg) turns to The Plagues Brought Through Aaron. In Legends of the Jews, as retold by Ginzberg, a whole year passed between the first plague and the final...
Legends of the Jews turns to Bithiah Pretended to Be Pregnant Then Produced Moses. One charming detail, found in Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, is how Bithiah, Pharaoh's daughter,...
Legends of the Jews turns to Pharaoh — Moses and Divine Judgment. Moses, chosen by God to lead his people out of slavery, invites the elders of Israel to join him in approaching Ph...
Terrifying. That's exactly where Moses and Aaron found themselves when they approached Pharaoh. Pharaoh's palace wasn't just a building; it was a fortress, a symbol of absolute pow...
Oh no, that would be far too simple. According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, at every single entrance stood two massive lions. Lions! Terrifying. These weren't yo...
That feeling, that impossible tension, isn’t new. The Israelites felt it acutely during their enslavement in Egypt, and their frustration boiled over in a truly heartbreaking way. ...
Legends of the Jews turns to Pharaoh Hunts for Moses on the Night of Death. The Ginzberg's says retelling in Legends of the Jews, Pharaoh didn't wait for the usual royal waking hou...
Legends of the Jews turns to Pharaoh — Moses and the Dreamer. The Legends of the Jews, that incredible compilation of rabbinic lore collected by Louis Ginzberg, gives us a glimpse ...
Darkness, locusts, boils… you name it, they got it. And now, finally, Pharaoh is ready to let the Israelites go. But it wasn't exactly a gracious departure. In Ginzberg's, Legends ...
Variantly: "And he called to Moses and to Aaron": What is the intent of this? Pharaoh had said to him (Ibid. 10:28) "Go from me." (29) "And Moses said: "True have you spoken" (and ...
Midrash Tehillim turns to The Bitter Irony When Moses Faced Pharaoh's Court. Can you imagine the scene? The sky darkening, the air thick with anticipation of the coming storm. Phar...
Midrash Tehillim turns to Rod and Serpent of Tabernacle. A fascinating little nugget from Midrash Tehillim, a homiletical commentary on the Book of Psalms. It deals with truth, fal...
It paints a picture of a young Moses deeply connected to his people, even while living in Pharaoh's palace. Everyone in Pharaoh's household was involved in Moses' upbringing. Isn't...
Here is one of the most extraordinary expansions in all of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan. The biblical Hebrew says only that Moses took the rod of God in his hand. The Aramaic adds a cosm...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 14:21) loads Moses's staff with cosmic freight. This is not a shepherd's walking stick. It is the great and glorious rod which was created at ...
The familiar version gives us the basics: baby Moses in a basket, found by Pharaoh's daughter. But what if I told you there's a whole world of interpretation swirling around just a...
It’s a story filled with palace intrigue, near-fatal tests, and a touch of divine intervention. The familiar version gives us the basics: baby Moses in a basket, found by Pharaoh's...
The familiar story is this: God commands Moses to go to Pharaoh and demand the release of the Israelites. But Moses hesitates. He protests, famously declaring, "I am not a man of w...
That feeling, that frustration, it's ancient. It's woven into the very fabric of our stories. Think about Moses and Aaron standing before Pharaoh, demanding freedom for the Israeli...
The Book of Job, that epic poem of suffering and faith, contains a verse that hints at this: "Behold, all these God will do, twice, three times to a man" (Job 33:29). The Midrash (...
The Book of Exodus tells us the what – ten devastating plagues – but it's the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), those ancient rabbinic interpretations, that explore the h...
Shemot Rabbah turns to Pharaoh — Moses and the Holy Sanctuary. Pharaoh's advisors, sensing the impending doom, had pleaded with him to release the Israelites after yet another deva...
Vayikra Rabbah 22, a fascinating collection of stories and teachings, explores just that. It suggests that everything – from frogs to plants to even inanimate objects – can be inst...
The familiar story centers on the plagues visited upon Egypt. Blood, frogs, locusts… a greatest hits album of divine retribution. But what about the behind-the-scenes details? What...
The familiar story centers on Moses, Pharaoh, and the Israelites, but the ancient texts hint at a deeper, more magical struggle. Pharaoh's magicians were a crucial part of the dram...
Ten times Pharaoh promised to free the Hebrews. Ten times he broke his word. Each broken promise brought something worse than the last, and according to Josephus, the plagues that ...
When Pharaoh decided to enslave the Israelites, he consulted three advisors. According to Sotah 11a, what happened to each of them perfectly matched the advice they gave. Balaam re...
A reader can see them as just divine punishment, but Jewish tradition often digs deeper, searching for layers of meaning. one fascinating idea from Shemot Rabbah, a classic collect...
The plain verse says God made Moses as a god to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:1). The phrase has rattled translators for two thousand years. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 7:1) handles ...
The astrologers finally crack. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 8:15) records their confession: This is not by the power or strength of Mosheh and Aharon; but this is a plague sen...
Pharaoh offers a compromise. Bring your sacrifices inside the land. Don't go anywhere. Moses's answer, as Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 8:22) renders it, is a lesson in cultura...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 9:18), the Aramaic paraphrase long attributed to Yonatan ben Uzziel, does something the plain Hebrew text does not. It names the source of the...
It sounds radical, I know. Some accounts say God bestowed immense honor upon Moses, gifting him dominion over the entire earth, the seas, the rivers – all the elements themselves. ...
Take the story of Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, the High Priest. We encounter them in the book of Leviticus. They seem like pious individuals. But according to tradition, their e...
It happened exactly as the Lord said. Moses and Aaron took the furnace ash in their hands, walked out to meet Pharaoh, and Moses flung the ash skyward. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan r...
Moses almost never loses his temper in the written text, but on this night he does. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 11:8) describes him warning Pharaoh that the day is coming whe...
Moses is pleading with Pharaoh to release the Israelites from slavery, and things are… not going well. Three plagues have already hit Egypt, each one worse than the last. You'd thi...
The familiar version gives us the highlights – the Nile turning to blood, swarms of locusts, darkness… But the details, the why and how, are often richer and stranger than we remem...
Shemot Rabbah turns to The Deeper Meaning Behind the Plague of Frogs. Here, in Shemot Rabbah 10, the rabbis are unpacking the verse "Behold, I will smite [nogef]". Now, nogef can m...
