Aggada -- Translations into English; Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends; Midrash -- Translations into English
"Two days after I was visited by this dream, Judah and I repaired to
our grandfather Isaac, who blessed me in accordance with the words I
had heard. Jacob also had a vision, and he saw, too, that I was
appointed to be the priest of God, and through me he set apart a tenth
of his possessions unto the Lord. And when we established ourselves in
Hebron, the residence of Isaac, our grandfather taught me the law of
the priesthood, and admonished me to hold myself aloof from unchastity.
At the age of twenty-eight years I took Milcah to wife, and she bore me
a son, and I named him Gershom, because we were strangers in the land.
But I perceived he would not be in the first ranks of men. My second
son was born unto me in my thirty-fifth year, and he saw the light of
the world at sunrise, and I beheld him in a vision standing among the
proud of the assembly, and therefore I gave him the name Kohath. The
third son my wife bore me in the fortieth year of my life, and I called
his name Merari, because bitter had been her travail in bearing him. My
daughter Jochebed was born in Egypt, when I was sixty-three years old,
and I called her thus because I was known honorably among my brethren
in those days. And in my ninety- fourth year, Amram took Jochebed to
wife, he that was born on the same day with her."
Thereupon Levi admonished his children to walk in the ways of the Lord,
and fear Him with all their heart, and he told them what he had learnt
from the writings of Enoch, that his descendants would sin against the
Lord in times to come, and they would suffer the Divine punishment for
their transgression, and then God would raise up a new priest, unto
whom all the words of the Lord would be revealed. His last words were:
"And now, my children, ye have heard all I have to say. Choose, now,
light or darkness, the law of the Lord or the works of Beliar." And his
sons made answer, "Before the Lord we will walk according to His law."
Then Levi spake, "The Lord is witness and the angels are witnesses, I
am witness and ye are witnesses, concerning the word of your mouth."
And his sons replied, "We are witnesses."
Thus Levi ceased to admonish his sons. He stretched out his feet, and
was gathered unto his fathers, at the age of one hundred and
thirty-seven years, a greater age than any of his brethren attained.[9]
JUDAH WARNS AGAINST GREED AND UNCHASTITY
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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