Aggada -- Translations into English; Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends; Midrash -- Translations into English
Such was the manner of Jacob's arrival in Egypt. He came with his whole
family, sixty-nine persons they were in all, but the number was raised
to seventy by the birth of Jochebed, afterward the mother of Moses,
which took place when the cavalcade had advanced to the space between
the one and the other city wall.[321] All the males in his family were
married men; even Pallu and Hezron, the latter of whom was but one year
old at the time of their migration, and the former but two years, had
the wives with them that had been chosen for them by their
parents.[322] In general, all the sons and grandsons of Jacob had
married young, some of them had been fathers at the age of seven.[323]
Joseph took some from among his brethren, and presented them to
Pharaoh. He chose the weakest of them, that the king might not be
tempted to retain them in his service as warriors.[324] And as he did
not desire his family to live at close quarters with the Egyptians and
perhaps amalgamate with them, he introduced them as shepherds. The
Egyptians worshipped the constellation of the rain, and paid divine
honors to animals, and they kept aloof from shepherds. Pharaoh
therefore was inclined to grant Joseph's wish, to give them the pasture
land of Goshen for their sojourning place, the land that was theirs by
right, for the Pharaoh that took Sarah away from Abraham by force had
given it to her as her irrevocable possession.[325]
In their conversation with Pharaoh the brethren of Joseph made it plain
to the Egyptian king that it was not their intention to remain in Egypt
forever, it was to be only a temporary dwelling-place.[326]
Then Joseph set Jacob his father before Pharaoh, and when the king saw
him, he said to Og, who happened to be with him at that moment, "Seest
thou! Thou wast wont to call Abraham a sterile mule, and here is his
grandson with a family of seventy persons!" Og would not believe his
own eyes, he thought Abraham was standing before him, so close was the
resemblance between Jacob and his progenitor. Then Pharaoh asked about
Jacob's age, to find out whether he actually was Jacob, and not
Abraham. And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my
pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years," using the word pilgrimage
in reference to life on earth, which the pious regard as a temporary
sojourn in alien lands. "Few and evil," he continued, "have been the
days of the years of my life. In my youth I had to flee to a strange
land on account of my brother Esau, and now, in my old age, I must
again go to a strange land, and my days have not attained unto the days
of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their
pilgrimage." These words sufficed to convince Pharaoh and Og that the
man standing before them was not Abraham, but his grandson.[327]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account