midrash session 3.5

[cellio]

The last of the burning-bush midrash:

(1) "And this rod take in your hand" -- the rod that was created at twilight (lit: between the suns) was transmitted [a] to Adam Rishon (the first man) in the garden of Eden, (2) and Adam transmitted it to Chanok, and Chanok transmitted it to Shem, and Shem to Avraham, and Avraham to Yitzchak, and Yitzchak to Yaakov, (3) and Yaakov took it to Egypt and he gave it to Yosef his son. (4) And when Yosef died

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he bequeathed it to his house and it was given into the palace of Paro, (5) and Yitro was one of the magicians of Egypt, and he saw the rod and the signs upon it he coveted it in his heart, and he took it to his place [b] and he planted it in the midst of the garden of his house, (6) and there was not a man who could draw near upon it [c], until Moshe came to the land of Midian, and he entered the midst of the garden of his [Yitro's] house, and he saw the rod, and read the signs on it, and sent forth his hand to take it. (7) This in the future will redeem Yisrael from Egypt, therefore he gave to him his daughter Tzipporah for a wife.

It doesn't actually say "Yitro saw this and said "this will redeem...", but that's the only way this part makes sense.

Why Yosef, who had sons, would have let the rod go to Paro's palace instead of to his family is not explained. I mean, the plain text says "his house", which you'd think means his own family, but then it goes on to say that something else happened.

The transmission at the beginning is interesting; Chanok (Enoch) is in the seventh generation but yes, lifespans were long enough that Adam was still alive. Chanok must have given the rod to Shem before the flood (though I hadn't thought he lived that long; Chanok got short-changed compared to the others), and I guess it's possible that Shem was still alive in Avraham's time. While trying to look that up without actually doing the math I came across this family tree that looks potentially useful. (No dates/ages, though.)

[a] The root here is mem-samekh-reish, the same root as "mesorah", a tradition passed down from generation to generation.

[b] Not makom and not beito (his house); I'm taking someone else's word for this one.

[c] Better, less-literal translation: No man could draw near it.

Comments

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

[b] Not makom and not beito (his house); I'm taking someone else's word for this one.

It actually doesn't say where he brought it to: ulikacho vehevi'o un'ta'o b'toch gan-beito = "and he took it and he brought it and he planted it in the garden of his house".

[cellio]

Ah, thanks.