121 myths · Page 3 of 5
After two brothers razed Shechem, an army from Nineveh cut off Jacob's road, and the old patriarch and his twelve sons fought it like a nation.
An old priest strikes the king's officer at Modin and hands his sons a war no army can win, and one son frees Judea only to fall on a deserted field.
Lysias brought sixty thousand foot and five thousand horse. Judas prayed David's underdog victories, then stepped into the brook first.
After the night raid that freed Lot, Abraham sorted spoil for Shem, son of Noah. Angels answered his prayer and named God his shield.
Balaam told Midian that Israel's God hates lewdness. Market booths pulled young men out, twenty-four thousand fell, then the sword found the counselor.
After six failed months, Joab had himself slung into the Amalekite capital, then sent blood through the gates so Israel could shout the Shema (Hear O Israel).
One man against royal armies. Abraham cried that without God's glory he was nothing, and the night itself split so he could slaughter enemies until morning.
Three days after Jacob was laid to rest, Seir and the East rode against Joseph. Six hundred thousand fell, then Esau's sons and Seir turned on each other.
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.
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.
Hadad crushed Midian after Moab fled the field, then crushed Midian's revenge. Later Israel took Moabite land only through Sihon's prior theft.
Enemy camps lit fires and fled before dawn. Jonathan struck the Zabadeans instead, and elsewhere his men stormed a city with massive slaughter.
Amalek reached Rephidim with no herald and no demand. Moses climbed the hill and argued the case to God with the staff that had split the sea.
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.
Manasseh died in the barley heat. Judith built a roof tent, wore sackcloth, and later left Israel without fear for years after her death.
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.
Israel had bowed to Baal Peor, and a plague killed the guilty. When the war with Midian came, soldiers blackened women's faces and took their jewelry.
Twelve thousand came home from Midian with no man dead and no man accused. Then they set gold in front of Moses, and he asked what it was for.
Pharaoh snuck to the river before dawn to hide a god's body, and Moses met him there while frogs later split even palace stone.
Do not put your eyes on the money, he told three hundred and eighteen men. If it is silver and gold you want, it is already on your backs.
After the quarrel over pasture, Abraham still names Lot brother, thins his army to Eliezer alone, and chases kings past Dan into Hobah.
Judas's friends gathered like men around a cold hearth. We have no man like him, they said, and gave the command to his brother. Bacchides hunted him next.
Moses rushes Midian's war knowing death waits after, while Joshua drags thirty-one kings across many years and loses a decade of life.
The king of Israel wanted them dead and asked the prophet for permission. Elisha said no and set out bread and water for the men sent to bind him.
His arms were heavy and the camp had pillows to spare. Amalek was still attacking, so Moses sat on a rock instead and kept his hands up.
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.
Moses heard the order to harass Midian and felt the old wound reopen. Swords had failed Israel less than beauty set as a trap.
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.
Outside Jerusalem the enemy roasted goats west of the wall so the starving inside died from the scent of meat they could not reach.
