114 myths · Page 3 of 4
Every Hebrew had marked his name on the bricks of forced labor. Amalek got hold of those lists. Outside the camp he called out: Reuben. Simeon. Levi.
Moses named Joshua, handed him a sealed book of prophecy, then stood while wisdom left him mid-lecture. Heaven said learn from the disciple.
Moses rejected an angel and demanded God walk among Israel. When Joshua later asked the captain whose side he took, the angel wept from his feet.
Moses could not hold his own arms in the air. They put a rock under him, and what took his weight was the deeds of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the mothers.
God courted Moses seven days like a king pursuing an orphan bride. When succession came, Moses laid both hands on Joshua beyond the command.
At Refidim, Amalek struck and Moses promised the hill. One sage heard tactics; another heard Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob fighting in the staff.
Amalek skipped five nations and rode four hundred parasangs to strike Israel. Moses' hands grew heavy as water jugs while God warred by His Name alone.
At a hundred and twenty his eye had not dimmed. Moses laid hands on Joshua anyway, with joy, and never asked why the honor missed his own sons.
Pharaoh's officers would not chase runaway brickmakers for nothing. He threw open the treasure houses and promised every man an equal share.
For forty days Moses learned Torah and forgot it. God poured it into him as a gift, and Ha-Satan (the Accuser) hunted the treasure across earth, sea, and death.
The other ten adjusted their straps and practiced neutral faces. Joshua stood there saying the new syllables of his name under his breath, testing the weight.
R. Yossi counts forty years of manna under Moses and fourteen more after his death, until Canaan's produce fully replaced heaven's bread.
Moses rushes Midian's war knowing death waits after, while Joshua drags thirty-one kings across many years and loses a decade of life.
Joshua cuts Amalek's ranks below while Moses' arms fail on the hill, and Aaron and Hur hold them skyward until the enemy breaks at dusk.
The same report of Amaleks ruin hardened the scoffer and converted Jethro, while Heaven swore no seed of Amalek would be welcomed to draw near.
From the ridge Moses sees the whole land and the final day. He bargains to enter as a commoner or as a corpse. Heaven answers no.
Death climbed Nebo for Moses soul and fled empty-handed. Sea and mountain refused his questions until God hid the grave and buried His servant.
On the field of battle Joshua lifts the scroll he never stopped reading and orders the sun to halt, calling in Joseph's old dream as debt.
On Nebo, Moses is one hundred twenty and still sharp. God shows him fields and futures. He dies with Israel's map burning behind his eyes.
Joshua crossed the Jordan, struck thirty-one kings, and won a loyalty Moses never heard. He still died without a son, while Saul fled a crown that chased him.
The iron was a leather needle, no longer than a finger. It slipped into a man's throat, and the man holding it ran for the nearest city of refuge.
An axe head slipped and a man fell dead. The killer ran for a city of refuge while the goel hadam closed the road behind him.
When God renamed Sarai, the tiny letter yod flew to the throne and complained until it was set first in Yehoshua, the name of Moses' heir.
They put Joshua in the ground and went straight out to their fields and vineyards. Nobody spoke over him. The hill above the grave began to move.
They wore ripped sandals and packed stale bread to fake a long journey. Joshua caught the lie and put them to work cutting wood and hauling water.
The five kings were still running when the light began to go. Joshua raised the scroll of Deuteronomy toward the sun and told it to be quiet.
Two hundred young men filled a courtyard with Torah. A year later only orphans remained, and an angel told Eliyahu not to mourn them for their hidden sins.
At Rephidim Joshua weakened Amalek while Moses hands held the sky. Rabbi Eliezer later split one verb into king, family, and armies in full.
Pharaoh counted six hundred thousand workers. The midrash answers that only two of that number would finally stand free on the far side of Egypt's night.
The rod Moses carried up the hill had already broken Egypt and split the sea. Below, an army that came to fight found it could not move.
