Sefer haYashar — Medieval Midrash

Sefer HaYashar (midrash) — Book of Numbers

[Sefer HaYashar (midrash) / Book of Numbers / 1] And on the twentieth day of the month the cloud was removed from over the ‎tabernacle, and at the same time the children of Israel continued their journey from the ‎wilderness of Sinai, and after they had gone a three days’ journey the cloud rested over the ‎wilderness of Paran. There the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, for they provoked ‎the Lord in their asking of him flesh for food; and the Lord hearkened unto their voice and he ‎gave them flesh and they ate it for a full month. But soon after the anger of the Lord was ‎kindled against them, and he smote them terribly, and great many of them were buried in that ‎place. And the children of Israel called the name of the place Kibroth-hattaavah, because there ‎they buried the people that lusted after flesh. And they journeyed from Kibroth-hattaavah, ‎and encamped in Hazeroth, which is in the wilderness of Paran, and whilst the children of ‎Israel abode in Hazeroth, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Miriam on account of ‎Moses, and she became leprous, white as snow, and Miriam was shut out from the camp ‎seven days, until her leprosy subsided, and then the children of Israel journeyed from ‎Hazeroth and they encamped in the end of the wilderness of Paran. Then the Lord spoke unto ‎Moses to send twelve men from the children of Israel, one man for each tribe, to go and ‎search the land of Canaan, and Moses sent the twelve men and they came into the land of ‎Canaan to search it and to spy it out, and they explored the whole land from the wilder ness of ‎Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. And they returned unto Moses at the end of forty ‎days, and they brought them word as it was in their hearts, and ten of the men brought forth ‎an evil report concerning the land they had searched, saying: It is better for us to return unto ‎Egypt than to go unto this land, a land that eateth up its inhabitants. But Joshua, the son of ‎Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, said: The ‎land is exceedingly good. If the Lord delight in us then he will bring us into this land, and give it ‎unto us, a land which floweth with milk and honey. But the children of Israel hearkened not ‎unto them, and they listened unto the ten men that brought an evil report concerning the ‎land.‎ [Sefer HaYashar (midrash) / Book of Numbers / 2] And the Lord heard the murmuring of the children of Israel and he was angry, and he swore, ‎saying: Surely not one man of this wicked generation, from twenty years and upwards, shall ‎see this land, save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun, for this wicked ‎generation shall perish in this wilderness; but their children shall come into the land to possess ‎it. Thus the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he caused them to journey about ‎in the wilderness for forty years until that wicked generation had died out, because they did ‎not follow the Lord. And the people abode in the wilderness of Paran for many days, and then ‎they journeyed in the wilderness on the road of the Red Sea. Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the ‎son of Kohath, the son of Levi, took many men of the children of Israel, and they rose up and ‎quarreled with Moses and Aaron, and the entire congregation. And the anger of the Lord was ‎kindled against them, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their ‎houses and all their goods, and all the men that appertained unto Korah; and after this God ‎caused the people to journey around about the way of Mount Seir for many days. Then the ‎Lord said unto Moses: Do not engage in a battle with the sons of Esau, for I will not give away ‎from their land even as much as the sole of a foot, for I have given Mount Seir for a possession ‎unto Esau. And the children of Israel journeyed about in the wilderness around Mount Seir for ‎many days, without touching the sons of Esau, and they journeyed on that way for nine teen ‎years, and then they journeyed into the wilderness of Moab. And the Lord said unto Moses: ‎Besiege not Moab, neither shalt thou fight with them, for I will not give unto you aught of their ‎land; and the children of Israel journeyed about in the wilderness of Moab for nineteen years ‎and they did not fight against them. ‎ [Sefer HaYashar (midrash) / Book of Numbers / 3] And in the thirty-ninth year of the Israelites’ going out of Egypt, the Lord provoked the heart ‎of Sihon, king of the Amorites, to go forth and fight against the children of Moab. And Sihon ‎sent messengers to Beor the son of Janeus, the son of Balaam, counselor to the king of Egypt, ‎and unto Balaam his son, to curse Moab, that it might be delivered into the hands of Sihon. ‎And Beor and Balaam his son came, and they cursed Moab, and the Lord delivered the children ‎of Moab into the hands of Sihon; and Sihon slew the king of Moab, and he took all the cities of ‎Moab, including Heshbon which was one of the cities of Moab, and he placed his princes and ‎officers over Heshbon. Therefore they that spoke in proverbs, Beor and his son Balaam, speak ‎in these words, saying: Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared. Woe to ‎thee, Moab, thou art undone, O people of Chemosh! Behold it is written in the book of the ‎law of God. And Sihon gave many presents unto Beor and his son Balaam, and they returned ‎to their home. And at that time all the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of ‎Moab, and they went around the wilderness of Edom, and they came into the wilderness of ‎Zin on the first month of the fortieth year after their going out of Egypt; and Israel abode there ‎in Kadesh, and there Miriam died, and she was buried in that place. Then Moses sent ‎messengers unto Hadad, king of Edom, saying: Let me pass, I pray thee, through thy country; ‎we will not pass through the fields or through the vine yards, neither will we drink of the ‎waters of the wells; we will go by the king's highway. And Edom said unto him: Thou shalt not ‎pass by me; and Edom went forth against Israel with a numerous host, but the children of ‎Israel removed from Edom without fighting with them.‎ And the children of Israel journeyed from Kadesh and they came to Mount Hor. [Sefer HaYashar (midrash) / Book of Numbers / 4] Then the Lord said unto Moses: Tell unto Aaron thy brother that he must die here, for he shall ‎not enter the land which I have sworn to give unto the children of Israel. And Aaron went up ‎the mountain of Hor according to the word of the Lord, in the fortieth year in the fifth month, ‎on the first day of the month, and Aaron was one hundred and twenty-three years of age ‎when he died on Mount Hor. And the children of Israel journeyed from Mount Hor and ‎encamped in Oboth, and they journeyed from Oboth and encamped in Ije-haabarim, on the ‎border of Moab. And Moses sent unto Moab, saying: Let us journey through thy land to our ‎place; but Moab would not suffer Israel to journey through his land, and the children of Israel ‎journeyed from the border of Moab, and they came to the other side of Arnon, the border of ‎Moab between Moab and the Amorites, and they encamped on the border of the Amorites in ‎the wilderness of Kidemoth. And the children of Israel sent messengers unto Sihon, king of ‎the Amorites, saying: Let us pass through thy land, we shall not turn into the fields and into the ‎vineyards, but we shall go over the king's high way. But Sihon would not suffer the children of ‎Israel to pass, and he assembled all the people of the Amorites, and he went forth to fight ‎against Israel. And the Lord delivered Sihon into the hands of the children of Israel, and they ‎smote Sihon and all his people at the edge of the sword.‎ [Sefer HaYashar (midrash) / Book of Numbers / 5] And the children of Israel possessed themselves of the Sihon’s land, from Arnon unto Jabbok, ‎even unto the sons of Ammon, and the children of Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites. ‎And the children of Israel decided to fight also against the sons of Ammon, but the Lord said ‎unto them: Do not besiege the sons of Ammon, neither provoke a battle with them, for I will ‎not give unto you aught of their land. Therefore did not the children of Israel fight against the ‎sons of Ammon, but they turned away from them and journeyed by way of Bashan towards ‎the land of Og, king of Bashan. And Og, the king of Bashan, went forth against the Israelites to ‎fight with them, and he had with him many mighty men, and a great army of the people of the ‎Amorites. And Og, the king of Bashan, was an exceedingly powerful man, but Naron, his son, ‎was even more powerful than he, and Og said within his heart: Behold all the camp of the ‎Israelites covers three Parsaoth, and now I will slay them all with one blow without sword or ‎spear. And Og ascended Mount Jahaz and took up a large stone, three Parsaoth in length, and ‎placed it upon his head and he intended to cast it upon the camp of the children of Israel, to ‎slay all the Israelites with that stone. But the angel of the Lord came and perforated the stone ‎from over his head and the stone fell upon the neck of Og, and Og fell to the ground through ‎the weight of the stone around his neck. And Moses went down to him with a few men of the ‎Israelites, and he smote Og upon his ankles with a stick and slew him. And afterwards the ‎children of Israel pursued the sons of Og and their people, and they smote them and ‎destroyed them, so that there was not left of them a remnant. Then Moses sent some of the ‎children of Israel to spy out Jaazer, for Jaazer was a very prominent city, and the spies ‎searched it, and they trusted in the Lord, and the spies fought against the people of Jaazer. ‎And these men took Jaazer and its suburbs, and the Lord delivered them into their hands, and ‎they drove away the Amorites that were there. Thus the children of Israel conquered the two ‎kings of the Amorites and their land, sixty cities on the other side of Jordan, from the brook of ‎Arnon even to Mount Hermon. And the children of Israel journeyed and they came unto the ‎plain of Moab, which is on the other side of Jordan near Jericho. And when the sons of Moab ‎heard of all the evil which the children of Israel had done unto the two kings of the Amorites, ‎to Sihon and Og, all the people of Moab were in great fear of the Israelites,‎ [Sefer HaYashar (midrash) / Book of Numbers / 6] And when the elders of Moab heard these words, it pleased them greatly to send for Balaam, ‎the son of Beor, and Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent messengers unto Balaam ‎saying: Behold there is a people come out of Egypt; behold they cover the face of the earth, ‎and they abide over against me. Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for ‎they are too mighty for me; peradventure I shall prevail, that we smite them, and that I may ‎drive them out of the land; for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom ‎thou cursest is cursed. And [the messengers of Balak went, and they brought Balaam to curse ‎the people. But when Balaam came to curse Israel, the Lord said unto him: Curse not this ‎people for it is blessed. And Balak requested Balaam day after day to curse Israel, but Balaam ‎did not hearken unto Balak on account of the word of the Lord which he had spoken unto ‎Balaam; [Sefer HaYashar (midrash) / Book of Numbers / 7] and when Balak saw that Balaam was not willing to follow his words, he rose up and went to ‎his home, and Balaam also returned to his home in Midian. And the children of Israel ‎journeyed from the plain of Moab and encamped by the Jordan, from Beth-hajesi moth up to ‎Abel-shittim in the end of the plain of Moab. And when the children of Israel abode in the ‎plain of Shittim they began to commit fornication with the daughters of Moab. For when the ‎children of Israel approached Moab, and the people of Moab pitched their tents opposite the ‎camp of Israel, the Moabites were in great fear of the children of Israel, and they took their ‎daughters and wives who were of fine figure and comely appearance, and they dressed them ‎in silver and in gold and in costly garments; and the children of Moab placed those women in ‎the doors of their tents, that the children of Israel might incline to them and not fight against ‎Moab; and the children of Israel turned unto the daughters of Moab, and they were charmed ‎with them and went after them. And when a Hebrew came to the door of a Moabitish tent ‎and he saw the daughter of Moab, he felt a desire for her in his heart, and he spoke unto her ‎as he pleased. And while they were en gaged in conversation, the men of Moab would come ‎out of the tent and address the Hebrew in words like these, saying: Are we not brethren, all ‎the descendants of Lot and the descendants of Abraham his brother, wherefore then do you ‎not abide with us, and wherefore do you not eat of our bread and of our sacrifices? And when ‎the Moabites had thus spoken and enticed him with their smooth words, they seated him in ‎the tent and they slaughtered and sacrificed before him, and he ate of their bread and ‎sacrifices; and they gave him wine and he drank, and when they had him intoxicated they ‎placed a beautiful maiden before him, and he did with her according to his pleasure, for he ‎knew not what he was doing after having drunk such an abundance of wine. Thus did the sons ‎of Moab unto Israel in that place in the valley of Shittim.‎‏ ‏And the anger of the Lord was kindled ‎against the children of Israel on that account, and he sent a pestilence among them, and there ‎died of Israel twenty-four thousand men.‎‏ ‏And there was a man of the children of Simeon, ‎Zimri, son of Salu, was his name, and he enjoyed the person of the Midianite, Cobi, daughter ‎of Zur, king of Midian, before the eyes of all the children of Israel; and when Phineas, son of ‎Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest, saw this great wickedness of Zimri, Phineas went and took a ‎spear into his hands, and he followed them and pierced both of them through, and slew them. ‎So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.‎ [Sefer HaYashar (midrash) / Book of Numbers / 8] And at that time, after the pestilence was over, the Lord said unto Moses and Eleazar, the ‎priest, saying: Number ye the heads of the entire congregation of the children of Israel from ‎twenty years and upwards, all those that went forth in the army; and Moses and Eleazar ‎numbered all the children of Israel according to their families, and the number of all Israel was ‎seven hundred thousand and seven hundred and thirty.‎‏ ‏And of the number of the children of ‎Levi from one month and upwards was twenty three-thousand; and there was not among ‎those numbers one man of those that were numbered by Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, ‎for the Lord had said concerning them, that they would all die in the wilderness, and thus not ‎one remained of them, save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun. After ‎this the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying: Speak unto the children of Israel, that they avenge the ‎cause of their brethren.‎‏ ‏And Moses did so, and the children of Israel selected twelve thousand ‎men from their midst, one thousand from each tribe, and they went unto Midian.‎‏ ‏And they ‎fought against Midian, and they slew every male, and the five princes of Moab and Balaam, ‎the son of Beor, they slew likewise with the sword.‎‏ ‏And the children of Israel captured all the ‎wives of the Midianites, and their children, and their cattle, and alf belonging unto them, and ‎they took all the spoil and all the captives, and they brought them unto Moses and Eleazar, ‎into the plain of Moab.‎‏ ‏And Moses and Eleazar, and all the princes of the congregation went ‎forth to meet them with joy, and they divided all the spoil of Midian, and thus the children of ‎Israel avenged on Midian the cause of their brethren, the children of Israel.‎