1,019 myths · Page 18 of 34
Pharaoh ordered boys killed at birth by the face that leads. Israel kept Hebrew names, language, and brick-yard mercy anyway.
Moses credited a dead Egyptian for his Midian well. Zipporah answered his suit with Jethro's garden tree that swallowed suitors.
If one Israelite drifted out from under the cloud, the cloud went with him until he came back. Forty years, and no one in the camp needed a lamp at night.
Dathan and Abiram would not leave their tent doorways. They stood there and slandered Moses, so Moses asked God for a mouth in the ground, and got one.
Moses told the twelve to keep to the back paths. In a city they were to walk in the open and say they had come to buy pomegranates and grapes.
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.
After nineteen years near Kadesh, thirst turned on Aaron, Moses struck the rock for water, and a deeper sin sealed him out of the land.
Zelophehad died without sons, his daughters forced a ruling on inheritance, and the women of the Exodus loved the land more than the men.
Midian had sent its women into the camp at Shittim. Moab only hired a prophet. Moses struck Midian first and sent Phinehas, whose spear was already bloody.
Pharaoh learned Israel would not return, the sea crushed Egypt's host, and freed slaves could not stand until angels and fragrance healed them.
The nations measured each commandment against the kings they knew. No rivals, no false oaths in his name. Then came honor your father and your mother.
At the burning bush Moses said no for seven days running. God told him there would be a bill for that, and it came due at the door of the Tabernacle.
Moses marked tomorrow on Pharaoh's wall. Hail fell with fire flashing inside the ice. Pharaoh begged, then sinned again the moment the sky went quiet.
Moses doubted Israel would believe. Heaven turned his staff to a serpent for that slander, then gave signs of leprosy, blood, and a bush that would not burn.
Slaves without Torah still guarded names, language, speech, and sexual purity. Rabbi Eliezer said those four merits outweighed the world.
Moses served Jethro at a desert feast, then sent him home before Sinai, while Jethro's line later earned Jericho and Sanhedrin seats.
Officers told Moses that Israel was a sheep pulled by Pharaoh the wolf and by rescuers until the body tore, while Egypt planned total erasure.
On the mountain forty days, Moses knew day by Written Law and night by Oral Law. After one hundred twenty days he brought pardon down on Yom Kippur.
The tablets weighed as much as forty measures of wheat, and Moses carried them down easily. At the camp they turned to dead weight in his hands.
After the sea closed on Egypt, Israel listed five gifts and asked to return. They hid an idol in the camp, and Moses stopped them by force.
Willing women flooded Moses with gifts in two days while princes arrived late. Tabernacle gold came from Egypt, and Jacob's stored wood met them in the sand.
At the Mishkan, Aaron needed bullock, twin rams, and bread whole, while one pebble in his fistful spoiled the meal-offering for Heaven.
One idol was left standing at Pi-hahiroth. Baal-zephon kept its shape while the other gods rotted and rusted, bait for a pursuit that ended in the sea.
Nobody in the camp needed telling who could hold a case without selling the verdict. Moses asked the people for names, then promised nothing about using them.
No one walked out. They asked to hear the words of their King from Himself, not from a messenger, and were given two days to purify.
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 begged Eleazar to pray him into the land. Samael sealed the priest's lips, while in heaven Moses answered Jacob and Joseph measure for measure.
Miriam stood a short while by the river to see what would become of the basket. Years later all Israel waited seven days in the desert for her.
They waited in groups for Moses to leave the house of study, then poured out blame. He had led them from a fruitful land into thirst.
At the border of death Moses asked if one Egyptian he slew outweighed Egypt's firstborn. Afterward the abyss still heard Amram's son.
