Moses in Jewish Mythology

1,019 myths · Page 34 of 34

The life and legend of Moses, from the bulrushes of Egypt to the heights of Sinai, the greatest prophet in Jewish tradition.
Myth 6 min

Righteous Souls Wait Under the Sapphire Throne

After the shroud is knotted, a righteous soul slips under the purple-blue Throne of Glory and waits for resurrection in the dark of sapphire.

ThroneSoulsAfterlifeEdenMoses
Myth 5 min

Moses Demands the Measure of Paradise from Its Own Prince

Moses will not cross heaven as a guest. He interrogates Nuriel, counts the guarded thrones, and presses the prince who cannot measure his own garden.

MosesParadiseAscensionAngelsNurielThrones
Parshat Yitro 5 min

The Angel of the Presence Dictated All Time to Moses at Sinai

On Sinai a radiant angel orders Moses to write the first thing and the last, then unrolls the hidden angels who run frost, thunder, and time itself.

Book Of JubileesMosesAngelsSinaiCreationApocrypha
Parshat Vayelech 6 min

Moses Sealed the Books of Every Age on His Last Day

On his last day Moses tells Joshua he was made before the world to kneel between God and Israel, then seals the books of every age to come.

MosesJoshuaIntercessionProphecyHidden BooksFarewell
Parshat Vaera 5 min

The Chained Lions Fawned at the Feet of Moses

The lions chained at Pharaoh's gate broke loose only to fawn at Moses's feet, and one staff swallowed the sorcerers before a single plague fell.

MosesPharaohExodusLionsSorcerersBalaamStaff
Parshat Naso 6 min

The Voice That Could Break Cedars Entered Only One Ear

Moses stepped into the finished Tent, and a Voice that could shatter cedars narrowed to a stream and entered no ear in the camp but his.

MosesTabernacleCherubimThe VoiceRevelationTent Of Meeting
Parshat Shemot 6 min

Moses Convened the Angels to Judge the Egyptian Taskmaster

Seeing a taskmaster beat one of his own kin, Moses looked this way and that, gathering the angels into a court to weigh whether the man deserved to die.

MosesEgyptAngelsDivine NameJusticeExodus
Parshat Vaera 5 min

Moses Was Made a God Over the King Who Made Himself One

Pharaoh swore he made the Nile and needed nothing, so God set Moses as a god over him and sent him to ambush the king at the river at dawn.

MosesAaronPharaohExodusPlague Of BloodFalse Gods
Parshat Shemot 6 min

Jethro Bound the Fugitive Moses the Way Laban Cornered Jacob

A price on his head, Moses fled Egypt into Midian, where the priest Jethro took him in as a friend and bound him by oath before giving Zipporah.

MosesJethroOathsMidianZipporahExodusLaban
Parshat Naso 5 min

The Day the Sanctuary Drove the Demons From the World

Moses set the last board of the sanctuary in place. Rabbi Yochanan heard a word for wiping out in that verse, and said the demons lost the earth that day.

TabernacleDemonsShekhinahMosesPsalm 91Ketev Meriri
Parshat Ki Tisa 6 min

The Vaults of Reward Opened for Moses and the Dying

God leads Moses past the sealed vaults where the reward of the righteous waits, then draws the same curtain back for sages at the hour of death.

MosesRewardDeathTanchumaSinaiRighteous
Parshat Behaalotecha 6 min

The Menorah Moses Could Not Make and God Forged in Fire

Every vessel of the Tabernacle obeyed Moses but one. The menorah broke his hammer, so God cast the raw gold into fire and lifted the lampstand out whole.

TanchumaMenorahMosesTabernacleFireLightBeha Alotcha
Parshat Vaera 6 min

Pharaoh Stole the Name of God, So God Lent It to Moses

Pharaoh boasted through Ezekiel's mouth that he made himself, so God handed a runaway shepherd the one glory earthly kings kill to guard.

PharaohMosesDivine GlorySelf Made GodTanchumaExodus
Parshat Chukat 6 min

The God Who Answers Out Loud From the Pillar of Cloud

At Sinai the man spoke first and heaven answered out loud, and the same voice came down from the cloud for Aaron and for Samuel too.

MosesAaronSamuelSinaiPillar Of CloudProphecyRevelation
Parshat Ki Tisa 6 min

Moses Came Down From Sinai Not Knowing His Face Was Radiant

Forty days in the cloud left the skin of Moses radiating fire, and he walked down Sinai glowing, never guessing why Aaron and the elders shrank back.

MosesSinaiShining FaceVeilTent Of MeetingShekhinahKi Tisa
Parshat Vaera 5 min

The Arrows, the Bleeding Nile, and the Fire Inside the Ice

God warns Moses that Pharaoh will never listen, so redemption comes by force. Arrows with names, a river of gore, and fire burning inside the hail.

ExodusTen PlaguesMosesAaronPharaohTargum Pseudo Jonathan
Parshat Ki Tisa 5 min

Moses in the Cleft of the Rock and the Word That Shielded Him

Emboldened after Sinai, Moses begged to see God's glory, so God hid him in the rock and stretched His own Word over the stone as it swept past.

MosesThirteen Attributes Of MercyDivine GloryCleft Of The RockMemraKi Tisa
Parshat Vezot Haberakhah 6 min

God Spread a Bed of Purple and Kissed the Soul From Moses

God sent Gabriel, then Michael, then the sword-bearing Samael to take Moses, but none could touch the man worth six hundred thousand.

MosesAngel Of DeathSamaelDeath Of MosesGabrielMichaelKiss Of DeathDeathTorahAngelsSoulSinaiKings
Parshat Haazinu 6 min

Honey From the Rock Until the Wine Turned to Serpent Venom

God fed Israel honey pressed from bare rock and oil from flint. Then the nations poured a cup, and the wine moved in them like a serpent.

MosesDivine JusticeJudgmentExileSerpentDeuteronomy
Parshat Ki Tisa 6 min

The Angel of Death Lost Israel at Sinai and Won It Back

At Sinai the angel of death lost his claim on Israel. Forty days later the calf rose and the second half of the verse gave his sword back.

Golden CalfAngel Of DeathMosesMount SinaiJacobs LadderDivine Judgment
Parshat Vayigash 6 min

The Shepherd Kings Who Took Egypt Without a Battle

An Egyptian priest wrote that shepherd kings seized Egypt without a battle and later built Jerusalem, and Josephus read him as a witness.

JosephusAgainst ApionEgyptManethoExodusMoses
Parshat Bereshit 6 min

The Torah Danced at Creation and Ended Up in Sackcloth

She danced before the Throne on the sixth day and was betrothed to the soul of Moses. Centuries later she stood in sackcloth while men picked at her.

TorahZoharCreationMosesSabbatai ZeviKabbalahMidrashAbrahamLeah
Parshat Emor 6 min

The Evil Inclination Asked Who Fed God Before the Altar

A voice at the ramp asks who set God's table before Israel existed. The answer is a man of bread who spent a hundred and twenty days where nothing eats.

Yetzer HaraMosesAaronSacrificeMenorahSinaiMidrash Tanchuma
Parshat Matot 6 min

Zur Gave His Own Daughter and Scripture Wrote Him Third

The greatest of Midian's five kings walked his own daughter into the trap at Shittim, and the roll of the slain quietly buried his name third.

MidianMosesPinchasBalaamIdolatryKings
Parshat Chukat 6 min

Moses Asked About the Corpse and God Did Not Answer

God taught every law with its cleansing until the corpse, where the answer stopped and Moses walked out of the Tent with a gray face.

MosesRed HeiferPurityPriestsImpurityMidrash Tanchuma
Parshat Ki Tisa 6 min

Moses Refused the Escort Because Heaven Had Stood Down at the Sea

Armed angels came down to the Sea and God sent them home. Moses remembered that, and would not take one as escort into Canaan.

MosesAngelsDivine PresenceGolden CalfExodusRepentance
Parshat Tzav 6 min

The Water Moses Poured Bought Every Yom Kippur to Come

Moses set his own hands to the laver at the door of the Tent, and the water he poured over his brother paid for every Day of Atonement still unborn.

AaronMosesTzavPriesthoodTent Of MeetingYom KippurHoly Of Holies
Parshat Terumah 6 min

Moses Asked How Brass Survives a Fire That Never Goes Out

Moses told God the plated altar would burn through. God answered with the angels of glowing fire who stand under water and are never eaten.

MosesAltarAngelsFireSacrificeTabernacle
Parshat Yitro 6 min

Moses Took the Angels' Praise and Israel Wears It Indoors

Moses climbed into the seam where heaven's voice met the mountain's fire, overheard the angels answering God, and carried their words down to Israel.

MosesSinaiAngelsYom KippurPrayerRevelation