195 myths · Page 3 of 7
Three hundred mules carried only the keys to Korah's storerooms. The rabbis trace that fortune to Joseph and ask what it means when the richest man rebels.
Noah had three sons. He also had twelve months of waking in the dark to feed every animal in the ark at its own hour, and he came out emaciated.
Sihon and Og took Moab's money for years to stand between Balak and the desert. Israel killed them both in one season. Now nothing stood there.
Cain's descendants settled the plain near Damascus, on the field where Abel died. The Sethites kept to the mountains until they came down and mixed.
When Nimrod put on Adam's garments, the animals stood still for him. Esau killed him for them and stripped them off the body in the field.
Noah's skin shone white as snow at birth and his eyes lit up the room. His father Lamech ran to Methuselah convinced the child was not human.
The vine Noah planted after the flood came from the Garden of Eden. What he saw in the wine was a vision of the messianic age he encoded in a drunken act.
Noah wept over the ruin he had survived. God rebuked him for not praying before it happened. Job suffered while still called God's servant.
Noah woke up sober and went looking for the son who had done it. God had blessed all three brothers at the ark, so the one man he wanted was untouchable.
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.
Noah wept after the flood and God rebuked him for praying too late. Centuries later Rabbi Akiva laughed at foxes in the Temple ruins where three sages wept.
The Book of Jubilees records that Rebekah's role was inscribed in heaven before she drew water from the well. What was written there also included a curse.
Abraham told God directly that he could see the problem in Esau. The bowl of lentil soup decades later was not a surprise to anyone who had been watching.
Every spirit the witch of Endor summoned came up bent over. Samuel rose standing straight. She recognized immediately that she had pulled up someone different.
After the flood, Noah sacrificed to Elohim, not to Adonai. Philo of Alexandria thought the choice of divine name was the whole point of the story.
After the flood Noah planted a vineyard, drank wine, and became drunk. Most traditions see failure in it. Philo of Alexandria read the same verse and disagreed.
Genesis calls Nimrod a mighty hunter before God and leaves it at that. Jewish sources spent centuries asking whether he stood before God in service or defiance.
Enoch was taken out of the world before the water came. Noah was left inside a sealed box floating on it, measuring the world by one bird.
When Noah stepped out of the ark, evil spirits were still at large. An angel was commanded to teach him medicines before demons could harm his grandchildren.
After the Flood Noah prays against evil spirits, Mastema bargains to keep one tenth of them, and angels teach Noah remedies to fight back.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan gave Noah a precise blueprint for 150 cells and 10 storage cabins, and God set lions at the door when the flood came.
Fire was ruled out. The sword was ruled out. Egypt worked down the list and settled on the river, because God had sworn off floods.
On the second day the lower waters wept and would not split. The sky was three fingers thick. An angel sang about Sinai, and the waters went quiet.
Count the joints in one hand. Fourteen, which is the number value of the Hebrew word for hand. Open that hand to a beggar and heaven opens too.
Sin crouches at Cain's door before the flood begins. Noah's name promises comfort. God waits 120 years. Then the ark rises on mercy and descends into sacrifice.
A woman separates challah and repairs what Adam broke. A thief returns the stolen object and the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence, comes home from exile.
The animals walked off the ark and would not take an order. God gave Noah back their fear and held their obedience back for a king not yet born.
Noah blessed two of his sons and cursed a third. Moses blessed all twelve tribes. The rabbis measure the distance between the two blessings and find a world.
God dictated the words let us make man, and Moses stopped writing. Heretics will read that and claim there are two powers, he said.
Noah plants cedar trees and cuts them down for 120 years, warning a generation that watches, mocks, and drowns without surprise.
