Aggada -- Translations into English; Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends; Midrash -- Translations into English
"I was born of Bilhah, and because Rachel had acted with cunning, and
had given Jacob Bilhah instead of herself, I was called Naphtali.
Rachel loved me, for I was born upon her knees, and while I was still
very young, she was in the habit of kissing me and saying, 'O that I
had a brother unto thee from mine own body, one in thine image.'
Therefore Joseph resembled me in all respects, in accordance with
Rachel's prayer. My mother Bilhah was a daughter of Rotheus, a brother
of Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, and she was born the same day as Rachel.
As for Rotheus, he was of the family of Abraham, a Chaldean,
God-fearing, and a free man of noble birth, and when he was taken
captive, he was bought by Laban and married to his slave Aina. She bore
Rotheus a daughter, and he called her Zilpah, after the name of the
village in which he was taken captive. His second daughter he called
Bilhah, saying, 'My daughter is impetuous,' for hardly was she born
when she hastened to suckle.
"I was fleet of foot like a deer, and my father Jacob appointed me to
be his messenger, and in his blessing he called me a hind let loose. As
the potter knows the vessel he fashions, how much it is to hold, and
uses clay accordingly, so the Lord makes the body in conformity with
the soul, and to agree with the capacity of the body He plans the soul.
The one corresponds to the other down to the third of a hair- breadth,
for the whole of creation was made by weight, and measure, and rule.
And as the potter knows the use of every vessel he fashions, so the
Lord knows the body of His creature, unto what point it will be
steadfast in the good, and at what point it will fall into evil ways.
Now, then, my children, let your conduct be well-ordered unto good in
the fear of God, do naught that is ill-regulated or untimely, for
though ye tell your eye to hear, it yet cannot, and as little can ye do
deeds of light while you abide in darkness."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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