Aggada -- Translations into English; Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends; Midrash -- Translations into English
As Simeon, sword in hand, battled for his sister, so, by force of arms,
did the tribe of Gad set out to gain the land beyond the Jordan for
their brethren. Therefore did their prince follow Shelumiel, prince of
Simeon, with his offerings. This tribe, so active in gaining the
promised land, symbolized in its gifts the exodus from Egypt, which
alone made possible the march of Palestine. The charger of the weight
of a hundred and thirty shekels alluded to Jochebed, who at the age of
one hundred and thirty years bore Moses, who had symbolical connection
with the bowl, for he was thrown into the Nile. This bowl weighed
seventy shekels, as Moses extended his prophetic spirit over the
seventy elders; and as the bowl was filled with fine flour, so did
Moses' prophetic spirit in no way diminish because the seventy elders
shared in prophecy. The three burnt offerings recalled the three
virtues Israel possessed in Egypt, which were instrumental in their
deliverance - they did not alter their Hebrew names, they did not alter
their Hebrew language, and they lived a live of chastity. The sin
offerings were to atone for the idolatry to which they were addicted in
Egypt, so that God did not permit their deliverance until they had
renounced idolatry. The two oxen of the peace offering corresponded to
Jacob and Joseph, for whose sake God had delivered Israel out of Egypt.
They brought, besides, fifteen heads of small cattle as sacrifice,
because God was mindful of His vow to the three Patriarchs and the
twelve fathers of the tribes, and released Israel out of bondage. [394]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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