Chronicle of Moses


The Chronicle of Moses is one of the smaller midrashim. In this midrash, which is written in pure Hebrew, and which is in many portions only provides a mere hint of verses from the Bible in a close imitation of Biblical style, is presented a history of the life of Moses embellished with many legends.

Contents

These legends must be very old, since the same or similar stories are found as early as Josephus; specifically, the stories of the wise men's prophecy to the king of a birth of a child who some day will destroy the power of the Egyptians, upon which prophecy followed the command of the king to cast the male children of the Israelites into the river; the crown which the king places upon Moses' head, and which the latter casts to the earth ; Moses as leader of the Israelites in a war against the Ethiopians, his use of the ibis in combating the snakes that have made his way dangerous, and the love of the king's daughter for him.

Authorship and publication

According to A. Jellinek, the life of Moses was originally treated in detail in a chronicle which employed sources still older. This work was incorporated in the well-known collection of legends entitled Sefer ha-Yashar; and from this the Yalkut Shimoni took extracts which agree with the Sefer ha-Yashar and not with the present Chronicle of Moses. At a later time, however, a shorter recension of the older chronicle was made, which is the one now existing. According to, the work probably dates to the 10th or 11th century.
It was published at Constantinople in 1516, at Venice in 1564, and elsewhere, and was reprinted by Jellinek. Extracts were made from the chronicle by the author of Midrash Wayosha; and it was one of the sources of Shemot Rabbah; it was likewise cited in the Arukh, by Ibn Ezra, and by Samuel ben Meir on Book of Numbers.