In one version, given here, the raven demonstrates great anger at Noah’s order that it go forth to see if the waters of the Flood have receded. It even accuses Noah of desiring its mate. In another version, the raven goes forth, and the first thing it finds to feast on is the corpse of a man. In both versions the raven is portrayed as evil, while the dove is portrayed as good. Thus the kind of good and evil polar figures that are found among humans, such as Esau and Jacob or Lilith and Eve, are here mirrored in the rabbinic interpretations of the account of the raven in the story of the Flood.
There are many fables in rabbinic literature and in later Jewish folklore. These fables include many speaking animals, but rarely do they speak, as in this midrash about
Noah, with a human being. There are also many other Jewish fables about the raven. The twelfth century fabulist Berekhiah ha-Nakdan includes in his Mishle Shualim le-Rabbi Berekhiah ha-Nakdan several fables about ravens. See Fables of a Jewish Aesop, translated by Moses Hadas.
This midrash can be seen to have an environmental perspective, as the raven argues that since there are only he and his mate, should he die, one species might be lost. Even though the argument comes from the raven, the question is resonant enough to reflect a real concern of the rabbis for preserving the natural environment.
Bernard Malamud’s short story, “The Jewbird,” portrays a talking bird much in the caustic spirit of the raven in these rabbinic texts. See Malamud’s The Complete Stories, pp. 322-330.
Sources
:B. Sanhedrin 95a, 108b; Genesis Rabbah 33:5; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 32.
Studies:
Interpretations of the Flood edited by Florentino García Martínez and Gerard P. Luttikhuizen.
588. THE FIERY DELUGE
Strange as it may seem, the generation of the Flood was punished by fire, not by water. For every single drop of rain that God brought down on them had first been boiled in the fires of Gehenna. Thus it was not the Deluge that took their lives, but the fact that the water was boiling. Why such a terrible punishment? Led astray by the angels known as the Sons of God who had descended to earth and corrupted them, the generation of the Flood sinned with hot passion, and therefore were punished with boiling water.
It is said that boiling water descended from above, while cold water rushed from below, washing away those who were rebellious and causing them to perish.
Viewing the generation of the Flood as evil, this midrash transforms the flood from one of rain to one of fire, the fire of Gehenna. Thus, for their sins, the fires of hell were rained upon them. Likewise, the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, another evil generation, were exterminated by fire that rained down on them from on high. The image of fire raining down from heaven is found in Genesis 19:24.
Sources:
B. Zevahim 113b; Leviticus Rabbah 7:6; Strophe to a lost composition by Simeon bar Megas, from The Pizmonim of the Anonymous, p. 73.
589. THE TOWER OF BABEL
Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them hard.” Brick served them as stone, and bitumen served them as mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build us a city, and a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for ourselves; else we shall be scattered all over the world.” The Lord came down to look at the city and tower that man had built, and the Lord said, “If, as one people with one language for all, this is how they have begun to act, then nothing that they may propose to do will be out of their reach. Let us, then, go down and confound their speech there, so that they shall not understand one another’s speech.” Thus the Lord scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel, because there the Lord confounded the speech of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
This is an origin myth that both explains the origin of many languages and the wide dissemination of people around the world. The mystery about this myth is why God feels so threatened by the attempts of the people to build a tower into heaven. After all, it is a peaceful endeavor and requires cooperation. The stated purpose of the people is simply to make a name for themselves. But God clearly feels that their true intention is to overthrow heaven and so descends to confuse their languages and scatter them abroad. Rabbinic commentaries on the Tower of Babel emphasize the malignant intention of the builders. See “Building the Tower,” which follows.
Archaeologists have identified the Tower of Babel with the ziggurat structures built in Mesopotamia, which resembled high towers to heaven. This seems like the likely source of the myth.
Sources:
Genesis 11:1-9.
Studies:
“Eridu, Dunnu, and Babel: A Study in Comparative Mythology” by Patrick D. Miller, Jr.
590. BUILDING THE TOWER
The builders of the Tower of Babel spoke a universal language, as it is said, Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words (Gen. 11:1). With this miraculous language anything could be accomplished. Some say they had but to speak, and instantly their work was done. This universal language was lost when God scattered the builders and confused their tongues, but this same language will be spoken in the future, in the messianic era.
Others say everything went well for these builders, and their work prospered in their hands. A man who came to lay one stone found that he had laid two, and one who came to plaster two rows found that he had plastered four.
Why did they build the tower? Some say they believed that the firmament was in danger of tottering, and the tower they built was to be one of four pillars to support the heavens. That was the eastern pillar, and others were to be built in the north, in the south, and in the west.
Others say that they built the tower out of fear of another Flood. They hoped to avoid the waters of the Flood by inhabiting the heights of the tower, and they took axes with them to cleave the heavens, so that all the waters stored there would run out before God could cause them to flood.
Still others say that they intended to overthrow heaven, to prevent God from bringing another Flood on the world. They argued that God had no right to choose the celestial spheres for Himself and assign the terrestrial world to them. They set an idol at the top of the tower, with a sword in its hand, as a sign that they intended to wage war against the King of heaven, and to dwell there in His place. So too did they shoot arrows into heaven, which fell back dripping blood, which convinced them that the defeat of heaven was close at hand.
The builders of the tower were split up into three groups. Those who intended to live peacefully were scattered over the face of the earth. Those who intended to wage war against heaven were turned into evil spirits, demons, wraiths, and liliyot (female demons of the night). And those who intended to worship idols had their languages confounded, and could no longer communicate with each other.
As for the fate of the tower, one third was consumed by fire, one third sank into the earth, and the remaining third still stands as a warning against challenging heaven. Even this third is so tall that from the top palm trees resemble locusts. Nor did the tower ever lose its power over mankind. Whoever passes there forgets all that he knows.
The ancient rabbis felt a strong need to justify God’s decision to confuse the language of the builders of the Tower of Babel and scatter them throughout the world. Although the biblical account does not contain any direct references to the people desiring to overthrow heaven, this is the interpretation found in the midrashic texts. Here their plans and actions are presented in vivid terms, with arrows being shot into heaven and falling back dripping blood—as God deceived them into believing that they were going to defeat heaven and take it over. With these kinds of details, the subsequent punishment does not seem excessive, but rather merciful. Here, too, a portion of the tower remains to remind the people of the hubris of the
builders of the tower.
Sources:
B. Sanhedrin 109a;Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 24; Sefer ha-Yashar 22-31; Midrash Tanhuma, Noah 18-19; Midrash ha-Gadol, Bereshit 188; Sihot Shedim in Sifrei Rabbi Tzaddok ha-Kohen.
591. THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH
The two angels arrived in Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to greet them and, bowing low with his face to the ground, he said, “Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house to spend the night, and bathe your feet; then you may be on your way early.” But they said, “No, we will spend the night in the square.” But he urged them strongly, so they turned his way and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
They had not yet lain down, when the townspeople, the men of Sodom, young and old—all the people to the last man—gathered about the house. And they shouted to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may be intimate with them.” So Lot went out to them to the entrance, shut the door behind him, and said, “I beg you, my friends, do not commit such a wrong. Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you please; but do not do anything to these men, since they have come under the shelter of my roof.” But they said, “Stand back! The fellow,” they said, “came here as an alien, and already he acts the ruler! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” And they pressed hard against the person of Lot, and moved forward to break the door. But the men stretched out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And the people who were at the entrance of the house, young and old, they struck with blinding light, so that they were helpless to find the entrance.
Then the men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? Sons-in-law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else that you have in the city—bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place; because the outcry against them before the Lord has become so great that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law as one who jests.
As dawn broke, the angels urged Lot on, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two remaining daughters, lest you be swept away because of the iniquity of the city.” Still he delayed. So the men seized his hand, and the hands of his wife and his two daughters—in the Lord ‘s mercy on him—and brought him out and left him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, one said, “Flee for your life! Do not look behind you, nor stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, lest you be swept away.” But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lord! You have been so gracious to your servant, and have already shown me so much kindness in order to save my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. Look, that town there is near enough to flee to; it is such a little place! Let me flee there—it is such a little place—and let my life be saved.” He replied, “Very well, I will grant you this favor too, and I will not annihilate the town of which you have spoken. Hurry, flee there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Hence the town came to be called Zoar.
As the sun rose upon the earth and Lot entered Zoar, the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulfurous fire from the Lord out of heaven. He annihilated those cities and the entire Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation of the ground. Lot’s wife looked back, and she thereupon turned into a pillar of salt.
Next morning, Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood before the Lord, and, looking down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the Plain, he saw the smoke of the land rising like the smoke of a kiln.
Despite Abraham’s efforts to convince God to spare Sodom in Genesis 18:17-33, it was destroyed along with the city of Gomorrah. Lot’s wife, who is given the name Edith in the Midrash, was turned into a pillar of salt when she disobeyed the command of the angels not to look back. The account in Genesis makes it clear that the inhabitants of these cities were sinners, and the midrashim about this episode go even further. After all, this is a city where Lot offers his virgin daughters to a mob as a means of protecting his guests. This is a perverted kind of hospitality, the opposite of the kind of hospitality Abraham demonstrated in Genesis 18 when he welcomed the same angels to his tent.
The destruction of Sodom and Gemorah is parallel to the destruction wrought by the Flood, though on a smaller scale. Like the Flood, it stands as an example of God’s anger when provoked by sin on a large scale. Later rabbinic tradition described God as having two thrones, a Throne of Justice and a Throne of Mercy. It was when He was seated on the Throne of Justice that God demonstrated harsh justice, as shown here.
Sources:
Genesis 19:1-28.
592. THE BANISHED ANGELS
Angels must have God’s permission to reveal any of the secrets of heaven. But the two angels who went to Sodom, to the home of Lot and his wife, revealed a secret of the Lord. And because they revealed this secret, they were banished from heaven. What secret did they reveal? God’s intention of destroying Sodom, as it is said, for Yahweh is about to destroy the city (Gen. 19:14). They wandered in exile for one hundred and thirty-eight years. Their banishment only came to an end on the night that Jacob dreamed of the ladder that reached from earth to heaven. For they were among the angels who ascended on that ladder as Jacob dreamed about it, as it is said, and angels of God ascending and descending on it (Gen. 28:12).
Here the angels who reveal God’s intention to destroy Sodom to Lot are said to have been punished by being exiled from heaven for 138 years. This myth is parallel to that of the rabbinic myths about two angels, Shemhazai and Azazel, the Sons of God of Genesis 6, who were said to have descended to earth and revealed a great many secrets of heaven. They too were punished for their sins. This myth, found in Targum Pseudo-Yonathan, explains that the punishment of the two angels came to an end when Jacob had his dream of the ladder reaching to heaven, and that they were among the angels ascending on it. This one myth, then, looks back at one biblical episode, that of the Sons of God and the daughters of men, and forward, to Jacob’s dream. This linking of biblical episodes is one of the primary functions of this kind of exegesis.
Sources:
Targum Pseudo-Yonathan on Genesis 28:12; Genesis Rabbah 50:9, 68:12.
593. THE PILLAR OF SALT
The angels told Lot and his family not to look back when they left Sodom. When Lot’s wife disobeyed and looked back, she was turned into a pillar of salt, as it is said, Lot’s wife looked back, and she thereupon turned into a pillar of salt (Gen. 19:26). But why did she look back? And why was she turned into a pillar of salt?
Some say that Lot’s wife, whose name was Edith, looked behind her to see if her daughters, who were married to men Sodom, were coming after her or not. So too did she want to know what would be the end of her father’s house. Instead, she saw God, who had descended in order to rain brimstone and fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah. And that is why she was turned into a pillar of salt.
Others say that because she sinned with salt, Lot’s wife was punished with salt. On the night that the angels visited Lot, Lot prepared a feast for them, as he had learned hospitality from Abraham, and he asked his wife to give them a little salt. She grew angry and said, “Do you want to introduce that evil practice of giving strangers salt?” Then she went to all of her neighbors asking for salt. In this way she alerted them to the presence of the guests, and precipitated the mob who demanded that Lot turn the angels over to them. Thus, because she sinned with salt, she was punished with salt.
As for the pillar of salt, it still can be seen to this day. All day oxen lick it and it decreases until nothing remains but her feet. But in the morning the pillar of salt grows afresh. Those who see it are required to say the benediction to be pronounced on seeing Lot’s w
ife, “Blessed be He who wrought miracles for our ancestors in this place.”
The transformation of Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt is one of the most striking images in the Bible. There still exists a pillar of salt near the Dead Sea that is identified as Lot’s wife. In the Mishnah this is said to be one of the places where a blessing should be said. Other places listed in the Talmud (B. Ber. 54a) include the place of the crossing of the Red Sea and the wall of Jericho that sank into the ground.
Why was Lot’s wife transformed into a pillar of salt? Of course, she did disobey the angel’s command not to look back, but the real reason for her punishment seems to be because in doing so she saw God, who had descended to destroy the city.
Sources:
Targum Pseudo-Yonathan on Genesis 19:26; B. Berakhot 54a; Genesis Rabbah 50:4, 51:5; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 25; Philo, De Abrahamo 27; Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 1:114.
594. THE GOLDEN CALF
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who shall go before us, for that man Moses, who brought us from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has happened to him.” Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” And all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. These he took from them and cast in a mold, and made it into a molten calf. And they exclaimed, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron announced: “Tomorrow shall be a festival of the Lord!” Early next day, the people offered up burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; they sat down to eat and drink, and then rose to dance.
Tree of Souls Page 99