The Book of History

Part Four

There were 486 years from the birth of Moses until the birth of David, may peace be upon him. The details are [as follows]: There were 79 years and 37 days from Moses’ birth until he prophesied. Amram, son of Kohath, son of Levi, was the father of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. They all lived at the same time. Jochebed was their mother.

Now, during these years Aaron married a woman by the name of Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, from the tribe of Judah. Four children were born to her. Their names were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. It was during this time also that, when Moses was seven years old, the daughter of Pharaoh, may God curse him, took him [i.e., Moses] in and raised him. Her name was Batya. Now, when Moses was forty years old, the killing of the heretic occurred. Moses was afraid of Pharaoh, so he fled to Midian to Jethro, who [word unknown, possibly “descended”] from the son of Midian, [who was the] son of Abraham. He [Moses] dwelt with and worked for him thirty-nine years. During this time, he [Moses] married his [Jethro’s] daughter Zipporah. Two sons were born to him. One was Gershom. The other was Eliezer.

The children of Israel during all these years were slaves in Egypt. When one month and one week of Moses’ eightieth year had passed, Moses was called [to the children of Israel]. This was on the fifteenth [day] of the month of Nisan. This is so because he was born on the first day of the month of Adar. He saw the fire in the bush that year. When he turned aside to view it, he was summoned and appointed as messenger to the children of Israel and to Pharaoh, to liberate them in service of the Lord. He [God] encouraged him with signs and wonders, to ensure belief in that which was made evident to him by personal witness or by the transmission of words. And among His signs [were] the healing of [his] speech impediment, the turning of [his] staff into a serpent, and the bleaching of [his] hand, even though he was not sick [i.e., with leprosy]. Then came the plagues which He meted out upon Pharaoh and his people to afflict [them]. Among them were the turning of the water into blood, the infestation of frogs, the nuisance of lice, the attack of wild animals, the occurrence of the plague on their animals, the emergence of boils in their flesh, the bringing down of hail upon them, the raising of locusts, the darkening of the air for three days, and the cutting down of their firstborn.

These plagues [occurred] from the month of Iyar until the month of Nisan. Between each plague there was a warning about it and an opportunity to repent, in accordance with His mercy. It concluded with the taking of the firstborn on the night of the fifteenth of Nisan [in] Moses’ eighty-first year. The Lord announced He would destroy them as the blink of an eye in the middle of that night.

[So] Moses dwelt with the people. From the time he was [first] sent to them, which was [Moses’] eightieth year, until forty-one years afterward, he lived in Egypt. And what happened to them in the first year of those forty years? They went out from Egypt—and the place where they were living is today called ‘Ayn Shams—on the fifteenth of Nisan. Their number was six hundred thousand fighting men. They traveled three days’ journey by foot, day and night, until they came to an impasse. [ . . . ] On the following day, the sea split into twelve paths. The [Israelite] armies passed through, each tribe through its [own] path. But Pharaoh and his people followed them. [So] the Lord, may He be extolled and glorified, drowned them in the sea. The paths closed upon them, and it [i.e., the sea] became [as] one water. His people, the children of Israel, were saved.

Afterward, they journeyed through the desert [for] three days, until they came to the basin of al-Marira [Bitterness]. Its waters were bitter, so the people protested to Moses. He called out to his God, who sweetened them for them. Then the people’s food ran out on the fifteenth of the month of Iyar, whereupon they protested again. He called out to his God, who brought down manna from the sky. Afterward, they came to Rephidim on the twenty-third of the month of Iyar. They were thirsty, so they protested to Moses. He called out to his God, who burst open a fountain of water for them from the rock. He didn’t finish with them until they reached Mount Sinai. This was on the day after the [first of the] month of Sivan, which was the third month after their going out from Egypt. The Lord, mighty and eminent is He, commanded three days from the [start of the] month their purification and preparation to hear His word. So he purified them [for] three days. And when it was the third day, which was the sixth day of the month of Sivan, the Lord, mighty and eminent is He, lifted the mountain and caused his light to dwell upon it. He cast darkening clouds around it, and made to appear on the horizon thunder, lightning, and violent winds. He let the people hear His Ten Commandments. [ . . . ]

The Lord presented him with the precious stone tablets upon which the Ten Commandments were written. He descended on the seventeenth day of the month of Tammuz, when he saw the [golden] calf. The script [on the tablets] vanished. They became [too] heavy for his hands and fell and shattered. Then he scattered [the dust of] the [golden] calf and tossed it upon the water. He killed those who were culpable among the people. He [again] ascended the mountain, on the nineteenth of Tammuz, to beseech assistance for the remainder of the people. He stayed there another forty days until the Lord forgave the people. He descended and spent [there] one day of Av, after the Lord promised to provide him other tablets in place [of the former], on which was written that which was written on the first. He ascended the mountain and stayed [there] another forty days. This was on the first of the month of Elul, until the tenth of Tishri. [ . . . ]

In the month of Nisan, in the fortieth year, Miriam, the daughter of Amram, died. She was 126 years old. In the month of Av, in the same year, Aaron, may peace be upon him, died. He was 123 years old. Then there was the war with the Canaanites, and with Sihon and Og, in the months following this, until the month of Shevat. In the beginning of the month of Shevat, Moses took [it upon himself] to review for them the Torah, as they were [now] the second generation. He ordered them to copy it, to preserve it, and to include everything he witnessed and that had happened to him, and to preserve its system of law.

This concluded on the thirtieth day of Adar. [But] he said to them on the seventh day (which was before the thirtieth [of Adar]): “Behold, this day [marks] the fulfillment of 120 years. The Lord has remembered that which he made known to me, that he would gather me [up]. He commanded me to appoint for you Joshua son of Nun, may peace be upon him, in my stead. And with him the seventy elders whom I chose before this day. And with him Eleazar son of Aaron. Hearken to them and obey them. Behold, I bear witness [before] the Lord, [beside] whom there is no other God, and the heavens and the earth, that you shall serve the Lord, that you shall conjoin to Him no [other God], and that you shall not exchange His laws with others.”