The Legends of the Jews, vol 1 | Page 6

to treat of the same personage in different chapters, as, for instance,
many of the legends bearing upon Jacob, those connected with the
latter years of the Patriarch, do not appear in the chapter bearing his
name, but will be found in the sections devoted to Joseph, for the
reason that once the son steps upon the scene, he becomes the central
figure, to which the life and deeds of the father are subordinated. Again,
in consideration of lack of space the Biblical narratives underlying the
legends had to be omitted--surely not a serious omission in a subject
with which widespread acquaintance may be presupposed as a matter
of course.
As a third consequence of the amplitude of the material, it was thought
advisable to divide it into several volumes. The references, the
explanations of the sources used, and the interpretations given, and,
especially, numerous emendations of the text of the Midrashim and the
pseudepigrapha, which determined my conception of the passages so
emended, will be found in the last volume, the fourth, which will
contain also an Introduction to the History of Jewish Legends, a
number of Excursuses, and the Index.
As the first three volumes are in the hands of the printer almost in their
entirety, I venture to express the hope that the whole work will appear
within measurable time, the parts following each other at short
intervals.
LOUIS GINZBERG.
NEW YORK, March 24, 1909

CONTENTS
PREFACE I. THE CREATION OF THE WORLD The First Things
Created--The Alphabet--The First Day--The Second Day--The Third
Day--The Fourth Day--The Fifth Day--The Sixth Day--All Things
Praise the Lord.

II. ADAM Man and the World--The Angels and the Creation of
Man--The Creation of Adam--The Soul of Man--The Ideal Man--The
Fall of Satan--Woman--Adam and Eve in Paradise--The Fall of
Man--The Punishment--Sabbath in Heaven--Adam's Repentance--The
Book of Raziel--The Sickness of Adam--Eve's Story of the Fall--The
Death of Adam--The Death of Eve.
III. THE TEN GENERATIONS The Birth of Cain--Fratricide--The
Punishment of Cain--The Inhabitants of the Seven Earths--The
Descendants of Cain--The Descendants of Adam and Lilith--Seth and
His Descendants--Enosh--The Fall of the Angels--Enoch, Ruler and
Teacher--The Ascension of Enoch--The Translation of
Enoch--Methuselah.
IV. NOAH The Birth of Noah--The Punishment of the Fallen
Angels--The Generation of the Deluge--The Holy Book--The Inmates
of the Ark--The Flood--Noah Leaves the Ark--The Curse of
Drunkenness--Noah's Descendants Spread Abroad--The Depravity of
Mankind--Nimrod--The Tower of Babel.
V. ABRAHAM The Wicked Generations--The Birth of Abraham--The
Babe Proclaims God--Abraham's First Appearance in Public--The
Preacher of the True Faith--In the Fiery Furnace--Abraham Emigrates
to Haran--The Star in the East--The True Believer--The
Iconoclast--Abraham in Canaan--His Sojourn in Egypt--The First
Pharaoh--The War of the Kings--The Covenant of the Pieces--The
Birth of Ishmael--The Visit of the Angels--The Cities of Sin--Abraham
Pleads for the Sinners--The Destruction of the Sinful Cities--Among
the Philistines--The Birth of Isaac--Ishmael Cast Off--The Two Wives
of Ishmael--The Covenant with Abimelech--Satan Accuses
Abraham--The Journey to Moriah--The Akedah--The Death and Burial
of Sarah--Eliezer's Mission--The Wooing of Rebekah--The Last Years
of Abraham--A Herald of Death--Abraham Views Earth and
Heaven--The Patron of Hebron.
VI. JACOB The Birth of Esau and Jacob--The Favorite of
Abraham--The Sale of the Birthright--Isaac with the Philistines--Isaac
Blesses Jacob--Esau's True Character Revealed--Jacob Leaves His
Father's House--Jacob Pursued by Eliphaz and Esau--The Day of
Miracles--Jacob with Laban--The Marriage of Jacob--The Birth of
Jacob's Children--Jacob Flees before Laban--The Covenant with

Laban--Jacob and Esau Prepare to Meet--Jacob Wrestles with the
Angel--The Meeting between Esau and Jacob--The Outrage at
Shechem--A War Frustrated--The War with the Ninevites--The War
with the Amorites--Isaac Blesses Levi and Judah--Joy and Sorrow in
the House of Jacob--Esau's Campaign against Jacob--The Descendants
of Esau.

I
THE CREATION OF THE WORLD THE FIRST THINGS
CREATED THE ALPHABET THE FIRST DAY THE SECOND DAY
THE THIRD DAY THE FOURTH DAY THE FIFTH DAY THE
SIXTH DAY ALL THINGS PRAISE THE LORD

I
THE CREATION OF THE WORLD
THE FIRST THINGS CREATED
In the beginning, two thousand years before the heaven and the earth,
seven things were created: the Torah written with black fire on white
fire, and lying in the lap of God; the Divine Throne, erected in the
heaven which later was over the heads of the Hayyot; Paradise on the
right side of God, Hell on the left side; the Celestial Sanctuary directly
in front of God, having a jewel on its altar graven with the Name of the
Messiah, and a Voice that cries aloud, "Return, ye children of men."[1]
When God resolved upon the creation of the world, He took counsel
with the Torah.[2] Her advice was this: "O Lord, a king without an
army and without courtiers and attendants hardly deserves the name of
king, for none is nigh to express the homage due to him." The answer
pleased God exceedingly. Thus did He teach all earthly kings, by His
Divine example,