The Torah focuses on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, on Joseph and his brothers. But the world didn't stop spinning just because the Israelites were having family drama. According to Ginzberg's sweeping narrative in Legends of the Jews, the ancient world was a hotbed of conflict, alliances, and betrayals, all swirling around the central figures we know and love.
Take Hadad, the king of Edom. He wasn't exactly a star in Egypt, but he found his stride in a war against Moab. The Moabites, clever strategists as they were, teamed up with the Midianites. But when things got tough, they bailed, leaving their allies to face Hadad's wrath. The Edomites, with Hadad at the helm, decimated the Midianites.
Of course, the Midianites weren't too happy about this. They rallied their kin, the sons of Keturah (Abraham's other wife, as some traditions tell it), and sought revenge. But Hadad, ever the opportunist, stepped in to help Moab again, crushing the Midianites' hopes. Thus began a deep-seated hatred between the Moabites and Midianites. Ginzberg states that "If a single Moabite is caught in the land of Midian, he is killed without mercy, and a Midianite in Moab fares no better."
After Hadad's death, the Edomites crowned Samlah of Masrekah. He wanted to help Agnias, an old Edomite ally, against Zepho, but his own people wouldn't let him harm their kinsman. Speaking of Zepho, he died in the fourteenth year of Samlah's reign, after ruling Kittim (often associated with Cyprus or other Mediterranean locales) for fifty years. His successor, Janus, also enjoyed a lengthy reign.
And what of Balaam? Remember him, the non-Jewish prophet hired to curse the Israelites but who ended up blessing them instead? Well, after Zepho's death, he fled to Egypt, where he became a royal counselor thanks to his "exceeding great wisdom."
Back in Edom, Samlah was followed by Saul of Pethor, a handsome fellow who ruled for forty years. Then came Baal Hamon, whose thirty-eight-year reign saw the Moabites revolt and throw off the Edomite yoke. Talk about a turbulent time! According to Legends of the Jews, it was a time of trouble everywhere.
Agnias, the king of Africa, passed away, as did Janus of Kittim. Their successors, Asdrubal and Latinus, plunged into a long and bloody war. At first, Latinus had the upper hand, invading Africa by sea and defeating Asdrubal, who died in battle. Latinus even destroyed a canal built by Agnias and took Asdrubal's beautiful daughter, Ushpiziwnah, as his wife. Her beauty was so great that her countrymen wore her likeness on their garments.
But Latinus's victory was short-lived. Anibal, Asdrubal's younger brother, launched a series of attacks on Kittim, killing eighty thousand people, including nobles and princes, over eighteen years. Finally, he returned to Africa and ruled in peace.
Meanwhile, the Edomites weren't having an easy time either. Hadad, successor to Baal Hamon, tried to subdue the Moabites again, but a new Moabite king, supported by the Ammonites, proved too strong. These wars were followed by conflicts between Hadad of Edom and Abimenos of Kittim. Abimenos invaded Seir, defeated the Edomites, captured Hadad, and executed him. Seir became a province of Kittim, ending Edom's independence. They had to pay tribute to Kittim until Abimenos died in his thirty-eighth year.
So, what do we take away from this glimpse into the wider world of our ancestors? It's a reminder that history is complex and interconnected. Even as the story of the Israelites unfolds, other nations are rising and falling, engaging in their own power struggles, and shaping the world around them. It's a tapestry of human experience, woven with threads of war, ambition, and the enduring quest for power. It also reminds us that the story of the Jewish people is not one lived in isolation, but always in conversation and conflict with our neighbors.
Hadad, the king of Edom, who had failed to gain fame and honor in the Egyptian campaign, was favored by fortune in another war, a war against Moab. The Moabites shrank from meeting Hadad alone, and they made an alliance with the Midianites. In the thick of the fight the Moabites fled from the field of battle, leaving the Midianites to their fate, and these deserted allies of theirs were cut down to a man by Hadad and his Edomites. The Moabites saved their skins, and suffered only the inconvenience of having to pay tribute. To avenge the faithlessness practiced against them, the Midianites, supported by their kinsmen, the sons of Keturah, gathered a mighty army, and attacked the Moabites the following year. But Hadad came to their assistance, and again he inflicted a severe defeat upon the Midianites, who had to give up their plan of revenge against Moab. This is the beginning of the inveterate enmity between the Moabites and the Midianites. If a single Moabite is caught in the land of Midian, he is killed without mercy, and a Midianite in Moab fares no better. After the death of Hadad, the Edomites installed Samlah of Masrekah as their king, and he reigned eighteen years. It was his desire to take up the cause of Agnias, the old ally of the Edomites, and chastise Zepho for having gone to war with him, but his people, the Edomites, would not permit him to undertake aught that was inimical to their kinsman, and Samlah had to abandon the plan. In the fourteenth year of Samlah's reign, Zepho died, having been king of Kittim for fifty years. His successor was Janus, one of the people of Kittim, who enjoyed an equally long reign. Balaam had made his escape to Egypt after the death of Zepho, and he was received there with great demonstrations of honor by the king and all the nobles, and Pharaoh appointed him to be royal counsellor, for he had heard much about his exceeding great wisdom. In the Edomite kingdom, Samlah was succeeded by Saul of Pethor, a youth of surpassing beauty, whose reign lasted forty years. His successor upon the throne was Baal Hamon, king for thirty-eight years, during which period the Moabites rose up against the Edomites, to whom they had been paying tribute since the time of Hadad, and they succeeded in throwing off the yoke of the stranger. The times were troubled everywhere. Agnias, the king of Africa, died, and also the death of Janus occurred, the king of Kittim. The successors to these two rulers, Asdrubal, the son of Agnias, and Latinus, the king of Kittim, then entered upon a long drawn out war of many years. At first the fortune of war favored Latinus. He sailed to Africa in ships, and inflicted one defeat after another upon Asdrubal, and finally this king of Africa lost his life upon the battlefield. After destroying the canal from Kittim to Africa built many years before by Agnias, Latinus returned to his own country, taking with him as his wife Ushpiziwnah, the daughter of Asdrubal, who was so wondrously beautiful that her countrymen wore her likeness upon their garments. Latinus did not enjoy the fruits of his victory long. Anibal, the younger brother of Asdrubal and his successor in the royal power, went to Kittim in ships and carried on a series of wars lasting eighteen years, in the course of which he killed off eighty thousand of the people of Kittim, not sparing the princes and the nobles. At the end of this protracted period he went back to Africa, and reigned over his people in quiet and peace. The Edomites, during the forty-eight years of the reign of Hadad, the successor of Baal Hamon, fared no better than the people of Kittim. Hadad's first undertaking was to reduce the Moabites again under the sovereignty of Edom, but he had to desist, because he could not offer successful resistance to a newly chosen king of theirs, one of their own people, who enlisted the aid of their kinsmen the Ammonites. The allies commanded a great host, and Hadad was overwhelmed. These wars were followed by others between Hadad of Edom. and Abimenos of Kittim. The latter was the attacking party, and he invaded Seir with a mighty army. The sons of Seir were defeated abjectly, their king Hadad was taken captive, and then executed by Abimenos, and Seir was made a province subject to Kittim and ruled by a governor. Thus ended the independence of the sons of Esau. Henceforth they had to pay tribute to Kittim, over which Abimenos ruled until his death, in the thirty-eighth year of his reign.
