Hebrew Myths

by Robert Graves

  Then Satan prostrated himself before Nimrod, and said: ‘Give me timber, ropes and tools! I will build my lord a siege-catapult to hurl Abram into the fiery furnace from a convenient distance.’ Nimrod agreed, and Satan set to work. First he tested the catapult, using huge boulders; then took Abram and bound him. Though implored by Amitlai to bow down and worship the King, Abram said: ‘No, Mother; for water can quench the fire of man, but not the fire of God!’ Then he prayed, and instantly the flames died down; moreover, God made the logs bud, blossom and yield fruit, until the furnace became a royal pleasure garden in which Abram walked freely among angels.

  (c) All the astrologers, councillors and courtiers then praised the Living God; and Nimrod, standing abashed, gave Abram his two chief slaves, by name Oni and Eliezer, besides rich treasures of silver, gold and crystal. Three hundred of Nimrod’s men also joined Abram, when he went away to Harran.241

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  1. These legends have no Scriptural authority. Genesis tells only that Abraham married his half-sister Sarai, and that Terah took them and his nephew Lot from Ur of the Chaldees to Harran, where he died, and where God later commanded Abraham: ‘Go hence to the land which I will show you!’ (Genesis XII. 1). But according to a tradition quoted by Stephen, a Greek-speaking Egyptian Jew (Acts VII. 2–4), God gave Abraham this order while he still lived at Ur.

  2. The tale of the fiery furnace may have been told to fortify the midrashic explanation of ‘Ur Kasdim’ as meaning ‘furnace of the Chaldeans’. It is drawn partly from Daniel III, according to which Daniel and his three companions were thrown into a fiery furnace by King Nebuchadrezzar for refusing to worship idols, but escaped unharmed; partly from Bel and the Dragon, an apocryphal addition to Daniel, according to which Daniel exposed the powerlessness of King Cyrus’s idols, proved that his priests had themselves eaten the food-offerings set before Bel’s golden image, and was permitted by Cyrus to pull down his temple. Gabriel helped Daniel (Daniel VIII. 16 and IX. 21), as he here helps Abraham.

  3. Both legends are based on a prophecy in Jeremiah:

  ‘… Every goldsmith is put to shame by the graven image, that his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, a work of delusion; in the time of their visitation they shall perish. The portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the fashioner of all things… The Lord of Hosts is His name… And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will drive forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up… I will do judgement upon her graven images…’ (Jeremiah LI. 17–19, 44, 52).

  26

  ABRAHAM IN EGYPT

  (a) When Terah died in Harran, God ordered Abram to visit Canaan, the land of his inheritance, and laid a curse on all who opposed him. Abram set out at the age of seventy-five, with Sarai, Lot, their retainers, cattle and treasures; said goodbye to Nahor, and journeyed southward. At Shechem, God appeared again to Abram, saying: ‘This is the land which your children shall possess!’ Having built Him an altar there, Abram next pitched his tent between Bethel and Ai; but famine drove him on farther, until he reached the border of Egypt, where he warned Sarai: ‘If the Egyptians know you to be my wife, they will grow jealous, I fear, and kill me. Tell them only: “I am Abram’s sister.”’

  (b) The Egyptians were indeed astonished at Sarai’s beauty; and when King Pharaoh heard of it he resolved to make her his concubine, paying Abram a huge price in oxen, cattle, sheep and slaves. God, however, afflicted the palace with so many plagues that at last Pharaoh, discovering their cause, sent for Abram and reproached his withholding the full truth. ‘What if I had taken your wife into my bed?’ he asked angrily; and expelled Abram from Egypt, restoring Sarai to him, and not even taking back the gifts won by his deception.242

  (c) Some say that when Abram came to the Torrent of Egypt which separates Egypt from Canaan, Sarai went down to wash her face. Abram who, because of his austerity, had never performed the act of love with Sarai, nor so much as lifted her veil, saw so lovely a face reflected in the water that, knowing the Egyptians for shameless fornicators, he took her across the border shut in a chest and dressed in all her finery. The officer of customs, dissatisfied with Abram’s evasive answers, made him open the chest. When he saw Sarai lying inside it, he said: ‘This woman is far too beautiful to be enjoyed by anyone but Pharaoh!’ A prince of Pharaoh’s household, named Hyrcanus, hastened to inform his master; who rewarded him richly and sent an armed escort for Sarai.243

  (d) This is the song that Hyrcanus sang in Sarai’s praise:

  How beautiful is Sarai:

  Her long, fine, glossy hair,

  Her shining eyes, her charming nose,

  The radiance of her face!

  How full her breasts, how white her skin,

  Her arms how goodly, how delicate her hands—

  Their soft palms and long slender fingers—

  How lissom her legs, how plump her thighs!

  Of all virgins and brides

  That beneath the canopy walk

  None can compare with Sarai:

  The fairest woman underneath the sky,

  Excellent in her beauty;

  Yet with all this she is sage and prudent,

  And gracefully moves her hands.244

  (e) Assured by Sarai that she was Abram’s sister, Pharaoh sent him valuable gifts and led her into the royal bed chamber. Abram wept all night, and so did Lot, praying that Sarai would keep her virginity. God therefore sent down an angel; and Pharaoh, when he tried to embrace Sarai, was dealt a blow by an unseen hand. When he tried to remove her sandals, another blow fell; when he tried to touch her garments, the angel buffeted him harder. Sarai, however, saw the angel, and slyly moved her lips to form words of instruction: either ‘Wait!’ or ‘Strike now!’, as the case might be. A whole night went by in this manner, and Pharaoh accomplished nothing. At dawn, he saw signs of leprosy on the walls, beams and pillars of his bed chamber, and on the faces of his eunuchs. Sarai then confessed: ‘Abram is not only my brother, but my husband,’ and Pharaoh made no more attempts to enjoy her. He placated Abram with even richer gifts than before; and gave Sarai a bond-maid named Hagar, his own daughter by a concubine. Thereupon the leprosy faded.245

  (f) Others say that a pestilential wind invaded the palace; and that Pharaoh promised Sarai the Land of Goshen; and all the silver and gold she desired, in payment for the night he would spend with her.246

  (g) But before leaving Egypt, Abram taught Pharaoh’s court mathematics and astronomy, which he had learned from the Chaldeans.247

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  1. The historical fact underlying Genesis XII seems to be the movement of Hebrew-speaking tribes southward through Palestine into Egypt, among a mixed horde of Hittites, Mitannians from Harran, Syrians and Palestinians. Their leaders, the Hyksos Kings, ruled Egypt from 1730(?) to 1570 B.C. and their empire extended over a great part of Syria. Very little is known about these Shepherd Kings because, when their viceroys in Upper Egypt rebelled against Pharaoh Apopy II (1603–1570 B.C.), and dethroned him after a long war, the Egyptian scribes—for whom the sheep was an unclean animal (Genesis XLVIII. 34)—suppressed the dynastic records.

  2. Abram’s short stay in Canaan ‘because of the famine’, is consonant with the destructive Hyksos march through Palestine. He paused only to raise an altar at Shechem, which was to become an important Israelite sanctuary. His somewhat hasty return suggests that certain Hebrew tribes, finding Egypt a country unsuitable for nomads, wandered back to Palestine where, some generations later, they were joined by their compatriots under Joshua.

  3. The myth of Abram, Sarai and the King who desired her, occurs twice again: in the story of Abram, Sarai and Abimelech of Gerar (see 30); and in that of Isaac, Rebekah and the same Abimelech (see 37). It has been borrowed from the Egyptian Tale of the Two Brothers, which also provides that of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. Abram’s locking of Sarai in a chest is paralleled by the opening tale of the Arabian Nights. His mistrust of the Egyptians as fornicators is base
d on the bad reputation of Ham’s descendants: for Mizraim (Egypt) figures in Genesis X. 6 as a son of Ham.

  4. Pharaoh’s gift of Goshen and all the silver and gold Sarai desired was a retrospective midrashic charter permitting the Israelites to occupy Goshen in Joseph’s day, and to despoil the Egyptians during the Exodus (Exodus XI. 2 and XII. 35–36). Pharaoh’s further gift of Hagar is intended to account for her Egyptian nationality. The poem in praise of Sarai’s beauty comes from the Genesis Apocryphon discovered in 1947 among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

  5. Leprosy, to the Israelites, meant such skin diseases as ringworm, scald-head and vitiligo (Leviticus XII. 29–46); not leprosy proper. The term (‘sara‘at’) was further applied to mould or mildew in buildings (Leviticus XIV. 33–57), or on garments (Leviticus XIII. 47–59). That the Israelites themselves suffered from ‘leprosy’ is reported by the Egyptian priest Manetho (fourth century B.C.), who alleges that this was the cause of eighty thousand scabby Israelites being quarantined in a separate city, and afterwards either drowned or driven into the wilderness under Moses.

  6. Jacob’s vision of the ladder occurred at Bethel (see 43. c). Haai (‘ruin’), or Ai, a royal Canaanite city sacked by Joshua (Joshua VII and VIII), was standing again in Isaiah’s time (Isaiah X. 28). It has been identified with modern el-Tell, one mile south-east of Bethel.

  27

  ABRAHAM’S RESCUE OF LOT

  (a) From Egypt, Abram led his flocks and herds back to the place where he had pitched his tent between Bethel and Ai; and then on again to Shechem, where he had built God’s altar. His nephew Lot accompanied him, but their shepherds quarrelled so hotly about pasturage that the two kinsmen thought it best to divide the land between them. Lot chose the eastern side, making his home at Sodom, a city of the Plain; Abram took the western side, making his home at Hebron.

  (b) Meanwhile, King Chedorlaomer of Elam persuaded three Kings, namely Amraphel of Shinear, Arioch of Ellasar and Tidal of Goyim, to march against five other Kings—Bera of Sodom, Birsha of Gomorrah, Shinab of Admah, Shemeber of Zeboyim and Bela of Zoar—who had jointly rebelled after twelve years of vassalage. On their march from Elam, Chedorlaomer and his allies defeated three tribes of giants: the Rephaim at Ashteroth-Karnaim, the Zuzim at Ham, and the Emim at Shaveh-Kiriathaim; they also drove the Horites from Mount Seir to El-Paran. Turning about, they stormed En-Mishpat, an Amalekite stronghold now known as Kadesh, and the city of Hazezon-Tamar. Then they met the King of Sodom and his allies in the Vale of Siddim, which was full of slime pits, and won a further victory. The Vale of Siddim is now the Dead Sea.

  (c) Abram, while encamped at Hebron in the terebinth grove of Mamre the Amorite, heard from a fugitive that Lot and his family had been captured at Sodom. At once he led three hundred and eighteen retainers to the rescue, and followed Chedorlaomer’s army northward. Coming up with the enemy at Dan, Abram attacked them by night on both flanks, slaughtered some, pursued the rest as far as Hobah near Damascus, and recovered all the booty; at the same time liberating Lot, his family and numerous other prisoners-of-war.

  (d) Upon Abram’s triumphal return, the King of Sodom welcomed him in the royal Vale of Shaveh, by Salem; where Melchizedek, King of Salem and priest of the Most High God, gave him bread, wine and this benediction:

  Abram, be you blessed by the Most High God,

  Maker of Heaven and Earth!

  And blessed be the Most High God Himself,

  Who has delivered your enemies to you!

  In acknowledgement of Melchizedek’s kindness, Abram presented him with a tenth part of his spoils. The King of Sodom then said: ‘Pray, my lord Abram, restore me my subjects, but keep their flocks, herds and treasure.’ He answered: ‘I have sworn to the Most High God, Maker of Heaven and Earth, that I shall not take so much as a thread or a shoe-latchet from you, lest word go about: “Abram was enriched by the King of Sodom!” Repay only what my servants, my ally Mamre, and his sons Aner and Eshcol, have cost me in food and drink.’248

  (e) Some say that Chedorlaomer had previously rebelled against King Nimrod and made him his vassal. And that, when Abram mustered his retainers against Chedorlaomer, he said: ‘We are about to do battle. No man who has committed a sin and suffers from guilt should come with me!’ But when they reached Dan—which is now called Paneas—Abram’s strength suddenly drained away: a prophetic voice had told him that here, many generations later, the idolatrous King Jeroboam would set up a golden calf for Israel to worship. Nevertheless, Abram’s servant Eliezer fought valiantly that day, and caused the enemy as much loss as did all his three hundred and seventeen comrades.249

  (f) Others again say that the planet Zedek (Jupiter) shed a mysterious light around Abram as he fought, so that he saw his enemies clearly despite the gloom; Layla, the Angel of Night, also assisted him. Moreover, all his enemies’ swords turned to dust, and their arrows into chaff; contrariwise, Abram only needed to hurl dust and it became javelins; a handful of straw, and it became a volley of arrows.250

  (g) Others again say that Melchizedek (also known as Adoni-Zedek), was Abram’s ancestor Shem, and that he now taught Abram the duties of priesthood, particularly the rules governing shew-bread, wine-libations and burned offerings. He also gave Abram the garments of skin made by God for Adam and Eve, stolen by Ham, but now restored to him. All this Shem did because God had appointed Abram his successor. For when Shem said: ‘Abram, be you blessed by the Most High God, Maker of Heaven and Earth; and blessed be the Most High God Himself, who has delivered your enemies to you!’, Abram at once cried: ‘Is it seemly to bless the servant before the Master?’—a reproof which convinced God that Abram was the fitter to be His priest.251

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  1. Shinear, over which King Amraphel reigned, has been identified with Akkadian Shankhar (see 22. 5); and Tidal with Tudkhalya, the name of several Hittite kings. Goyim, Tidal’s kingdom, may be a proper name or may simply mean ‘peoples’. Ellasar seems to be Ilansra, mentioned in eighteenth-century B.C. Mari inscriptions, and later Hittite documents, as a royal city between Carchemish and Harran. The name Arioch seems to mean ‘Honoured One’ (Ariaka) in Old Iranian. Elam was an ancient and powerful kingdom at the head of the Persian Gulf. Chedorlaomer may have been one of several Elamite kings whose names, extant in cuneiform inscriptions, resemble his.

  2. It was for long doubted that Genesis XIV contained any historical kernel. Nevertheless, some scholars now regard it as an ancient historical tradition, first recorded, probably in the Akkadian or Canaanite language, soon after the war described in it took place, and much later translated into Hebrew. The date of this war is variously placed as early as the twentieth and as late as the seventeenth century B.C. However, in its extant form, the chapter serves as a charter for possession of Canaan. Canaan was conquered from Kadesh and El-Paran (or Elath) on the Red Sea gulf in the south, to Dan in the north, by four invaders; but immediately afterwards, Abram defeated them, recovered all the booty they had taken and, by the right of succession, also acquired all the land overrun by them. Thus Abram’s children, when they emerged from Egypt and conquered Canaan, were taking possession of a country the title to which was theirs by inheritance.

  3. The names of five Cities of the Plain and their kings still present numerous problems. What the name of Bera, King of Sodom means, is uncertain. Some see in it an abridged form of a theophoric name, such as Bera-Baal, found in Lihyānite (North Arabian) inscriptions, which may mean ‘Splendour of Baal’. Birsha, the name of the King of Gomorrah, has not been satisfactorily explained, although some connect it with an old Semitic word meaning ‘flea’ which, in Akkadian, has the form of Burshu‘u, and is used to this day in Arabic as a personal name.

  Admah has been identified with Adamah (Psalm LXXXIII. 11) and Adam (Joshua III. 16), today Tell Adamiya, on the eastern bank of Jordan, near the mouth of the Jabbok River. If so, Admah was the most northerly frontier outpost of this confederation of five cities. Its king, Shinab, carried a royal name which recurred centuries late
r as that of an Ammonite king, Sanibu, mentioned in the time of Tiglath Pileser III (745–727 B.C.). Shemeber’s city, Zeboyim, has been located tentatively in the Lisan peninsula of the Dead Sea, where there is a Wadi Sebaiye. Others, however, hold that these four cities stood in an area now covered by the southern part of the Dead Sea. Bela appears as the name of an Edomite king whose city was Dinhabah (Genesis XXXVI. 32–33). This name was also current among the Hebrews (Genesis XLVI. 21; 1 Chronicles V. 8) and the South Arabians, where it meant ‘gourmand’. Bela’s royal city, Zoar (meaning ‘little’), seems to be identical with Zukhr, mentioned in the Tell Amarna letters and called ‘Zoara’ by Josephus and ‘Segor’ by Eusebius and the Crusaders. It lay north-east of the Dead Sea, probably at modern Tell el-Zara. Zoar figures prominently in the Lot myth as the only place, a ‘small’ one (miz‘ar), that escaped God’s destruction of the Cities of the Plain (Genesis XIX. 20–23; see 32. a).

  4. How far the Promised Land extended, to whom it was promised, and under what conditions, can be seen from the following Biblical passages:

  Genesis XII. 7—Abraham, coming south from Harran on the Middle Euphrates, is promised the land inhabited by the Canaanites for his seed in general, without condition.

  Genesis XIII. 11–18—Abraham amicably resigns the Plain of Jordan to Lot, ancestor of the Moabites and Ammonites, but God repeats His promise to Abraham that as far as he can see to north and south, east and west, will belong to his seed.

  Genesis XV. 18–19—Abraham is promised for his seed in general all the territory between the Torrent of Egypt (near Gaza) and the Euphrates, including the entire Land of Canaan defined in Genesis X. 19 as extending from Sidon to Gaza and the Red Sea.

  Genesis XVII. 8–14—Abraham is promised for his seed in general, for ever, all the Land of Canaan; on condition that they worship God alone and practice circumcision. Circumcision will constitute their title-deeds to the land.