Book of Jasher — 1840 English Edition

Book of Jasher — 1840 English Edition 78

CHAPTER LXXVHI. 1 . At that time died Balchannan son of Achbor, king of Edom, and was buried in his house in the land of Edom. 2. And after his death the children of Esau sent to the land of Edom, and took from there a man who was in Edom, whose name was Hadad, and they made him king over them in the place of Balchaiman, iheir king. 3. And Hadad reigned over the children of Edom forty eight years. 4. And when he reigned he re- solved.to fight against the children of Moab, to bring them under the power of the children of Esau as they were before, but he was not able, because the children of Moab heard this thing, and they rose up and has- tened to elect a king over them from amongst their brethren. 5. And they afterward gathered together a great people, and sent to the children of Ammon their brethren 2^4 THE BOOK OF JASHER. for help to fight against Hadad king of Edom. 6. And Hadad heard the thing which the children of Moab had done, and was greatly afraid of them, and refrained from fighting against them. 7. In those days Moses, the son of Amram, in Midian, took Zipporah, the daughter of Reuel the Midian- ite, for a wife. 8. And Zipporah walked in the ways of the daugliters of Jacob, she was nothing short of the righteous- ness of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah. 9. And Zipporah conceived and bare a son and he called his name Gershom, for he said, I was a stran- ger in a foreign land ; but he circum- cised not his foreskin, at the com- mand of Reuel his father-in-law. 10. And she conceived again and bare a son, but circumcised his fore- skin, and called his name Eliezer, for Moses said, because the God of my fathers was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. 11. And Pharaoh king of Egypt greatly increased the labor of the children of Israel in those days, and continued to make his yoke heavier upon the children of Israel. 12. And he ordered a proclama- tion to be made in Ecrypt, saving, give no more straw to the people to make bricks with, let them go and gather themselves straw as they can find it. 13. Also the tale of bricks which they shall make let them give each day, and diminish nothing from them, for they are idle in their work. 14. And the children of Israel heard this, and they mourned and sighed, and they cried unto the Lord on account of the bitterness of their souls. 15. And the Lord heard the cries of the children of Israel, and saw the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them. 16. And the Lord was jealous of his people and his inheritance,* and heard their voice, and he resolved to take them out of the aflSiction of Egypt, to give them the land of Ca- naan for a possession.