57 myths · Page 1 of 2
Israel among the nations: the seventy peoples, their guardian angels, and the Jewish traditions about the gentile world.
57 myths on JewishMythology.com retell how Jewish tradition imagines nations, drawn from the Hebrew Bible, Midrash, Talmud, Kabbalah, and later Jewish literature. Each story below synthesizes primary sources into a single narrative; follow any myth to read it, and from there into the source passages behind it.
Terah told the king it was Haran who had advised the swap. It was a lie to save himself, and it put his own son in front of the fire.
Gomer, Magog, and Javan walked away from Babel and gave their names to the land. One old book says they became Africa, Germany, and Macedonia.
Seven Amorite kings march on Jacob's tents after Shechem burns, and only Judah's words about Noah stand between the family and the swords.
Jethro the Midianite lays burnt offerings on the fire while Aaron and the elders come to eat bread, and Moses stands and serves them all.
Laban chased Jacob to Gilead to wipe out his house, and the same hunter rose again as Balaam, the Devourer of Nations, mouth open over Israel.
Noah lay uncovered in his tent. Ham laughed and called his brothers. Shem lifted a cloak and walked in backward, his face turned away.
Esau hauls Judith back from the mountains of Seir to Hebron the same day, while Jacob waits unmarried at the house of study.
A Cushite trader sleeps under an Egyptian roof when the tenth plague comes. The firstborn of Ham dies in Egypt's tents, far from his own land.
The nations asked Rabbi Akiva why a beautiful, strong people would die for an invisible Beloved. He answered from a love poem, reading one word as above death.
Esau waits for his father to die. Pharaoh counts a swarming people. Haman seals a letter to kill every Jew in one day. Each plot is smarter. Each fails.
Before Israel ever said yes, God walked to Esau, then to Ammon and Moab, holding out the Torah. Each nation asked one question, then turned away.
Every morning manna fell in full view of the desert nations, and every watching people saw the table God spread for freed slaves.
The Torah lists Esau's kings one after another, fourteen of them, and Jacob felt small next to that column. God told him to turn and look behind him.
Amos imagined a man who ran from a lion and met a bear next. Esther Rabbah saw Israel escaping empire after empire and still living.
Two exiled angels used Jacob's dream ladder to return to heaven, but four empires climbed after them, and Rome would not stop.
Fifty thousand men crossed the Jordan to fight for land they would never live on. When they went home and built an altar, Israel armed against them.
The builders had no stone, so they fired their own out of mud. A third of the tower burned, a third sank, and palm trees below the rest look like insects.
Esau lost the blessing and cried three measured tears. Heaven remembered them, and Israel would weep for ages of its own.
Israel stands like a vineyard beaten by feet and thorns, silent in the dust until God names the crushed people His own kin.
Esau lent at interest and piled up empires of gold. The rabbis say he was only a steward, hoarding it all for the heir he despised.
On the mountain of Ararat the lots were read aloud: Elam, Asshur, Nineveh, Shinar. Shinar was where the tower would rise. Nineveh would come for Israel later.
The angel dictating to Moses on Sinai used a plural. Not He went down to Shinar, but we did. Some of the builders were later turned into monkeys.
Shem stayed on the mountain near Noah and named his city for his wife. Japheth's grandson Madai begged to trade his northern lot for a better one.
In year 1569 after creation, Noah's sons each drew a slip from their father's robe before an angel. The world was divided and given away forever.
A Midianite priest once let a fugitive water his flocks and marry his daughter. From the cliffs of Peor, Balaam named that man's family first.
The bricks were fired hard and sealed with bitumen so no water could get in. Nimrod was not reaching for heaven. He was building above the flood line.
The nations gave their gods armies, taxes, and the fat of sacrifices. Rabbi Yehudah said a reckoning was coming and the gods would have nothing to show for it.
If my Torah had been among the ten generations before this, God told Shem, I suppose I would not have drowned the world. Go and ask the nations.
Ancient enemies who had fought for generations suddenly stood together. Midrash Tanchuma explains what threat was large enough to silence a feud.
Cedars cracked and the hills ran. Houses filled with light that had no lamp behind it. The nations went looking for Balaam to ask what was coming.
