Sotah 13a (יג.) — the Talmud in English

And she says

in her prophecy, before Moses was born:

“My mother is destined to bear a son who will save Israel.” And when

when

Moses was born, the entire house was filled with light. Amram stood,

who was

her father,

Miriam’s

and kissed her on the head. He said to her: “My daughter, your prophecy has been fulfilled,”

for he saw that when Moses was born the house was filled with light, and understood that this was because Moses was the savior of Israel.

And when they cast him into the Nile, her father stood and tapped

and struck

her on the head. He said to her: “My daughter, where is your prophecy,”

that Moses is the savior of Israel?

And this is what is written: “And his sister stood from afar, to know what would be done to him,”

meaning that she stood

to know what would ultimately become of her prophecy,

in which she had said that Moses was the savior of Israel. Therefore, she watched to see whether Moses would remain alive and her prophecy would be fulfilled.

We learned in the Mishna:

“Joseph merited”

to bury his father, Jacob.

And we challenge this:

What is different at first, as it is written,

when Joseph initially went to bury his father, it is written:

“And Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh,” and afterward

only afterward is it written that “the entire household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household” also went up with him to Eretz Yisrael.

And what is different at the end, as it is written,

when they returned from Eretz Yisrael to Egypt after Jacob’s burial, it says:

“And Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers,”

so Joseph’s brothers are mentioned first,

and afterward

only afterward is it written that he was accompanied also by

“all who went up with him to bury his father,”

who were Pharaoh’s servants. This is difficult: Why at first are Pharaoh’s servants written before Joseph’s brothers, whereas at the end Joseph’s brothers are written before Pharaoh’s servants?

And we answer:

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: At first,

when they went up to Eretz Yisrael to bury Jacob, it was

before they had seen

before Pharaoh’s servants had seen

the honor of Israel,

how the inhabitants of Eretz Yisrael honored Joseph’s brothers. Therefore,

they did not honor them,

and consequently Pharaoh’s servants are mentioned before Joseph’s brothers.

But

if

at the end,

when they returned from Eretz Yisrael to Egypt, and this was after

they had seen the honor

accorded to Joseph’s brothers in Eretz Yisrael,

Pharaoh’s servants treated them

with

honor,

and therefore Joseph’s brothers are mentioned before Pharaoh’s servants.

The proof that they treated Joseph’s brothers with honor in Eretz Yisrael is

as it is written,

when they came to Eretz Yisrael to bury Jacob:

“And they came to the threshing floor of Atad,”

meaning that they came to a place where thorns were gathered [atad means thorns]. The Gemara asks:

“But does Atad have a threshing floor?

Is it customary to gather thorns and make a threshing floor from them?” Rather, he expounded

and Rabbi Abbahu said: This teaches

that this verse teaches us

that

the inhabitants of Eretz Yisrael

surrounded Jacob’s coffin with crowns, just as

a threshing floor

that

in order that it not be stolen,

is surrounded

is encircled by

thorns,

so that no one can enter the threshing floor. This indicates that they honored him in Eretz Yisrael.

And we explain who surrounded Jacob’s coffin with crowns.

When

the descendants of Esau, the descendants of Ishmael, and the descendants of Keturah came, it was taught:

We learned that

they all came for war

to kill Jacob’s sons. Only

when they saw Joseph’s crown,

who was then king in Egypt, and they feared him,

did they all take

all the kings of Esau, Ishmael, and Keturah

their crowns and hang them on Jacob’s coffin.

It was taught:

We learned that

thirty-six crowns were hung

on Jacob’s coffin:

Joseph’s crown, twelve crowns of the princes of the descendants of Ishmael, and twenty-three crowns of the chieftains of the descendants of Esau. This makes thirty-six crowns.

“And they mourned there with a great and very grievous mourning.”

It was taught:

We learned that

even horses and even donkeys

were present there at the mourning for Jacob.

And when they came to bury Jacob,

when they reached the Cave of Machpelah,

where Jacob was supposed to be buried, since his forefathers Abraham and Isaac were buried there,

Esau came and obstructed

and wanted to prevent Jacob’s burial.

He said to them,

Esau said to Jacob’s sons: The verse states,

“Mamre, Kiryat HaArba, which is Hebron,” and Rabbi Yitzḥak said

that Esau explained why its name is

Kiryat Arba:

because

four couples

are destined to be buried in the cave, and the couples already buried there

were Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca.

It follows that two graves remained there, and Esau claimed that one belonged to him and one belonged to

Jacob, while Leah

Jacob’s wife, had already been buried there. It follows that

he,

Jacob,

buried Leah

his wife

in his own portion,

in the portion that belonged to him,

and this last one that remains

the final grave that remained

is his;

it belongs to me.

They said to him,

Jacob’s sons said to Esau:

You sold it

When you sold the birthright to Jacob, you also sold Jacob your right to a grave in the Cave of Machpelah.

He said to them,

Esau said to Jacob’s sons:

Granted that I sold the birthright,

even though I sold the portion due to me as the firstborn,

the ordinary portion,

the portion due to me like that of the other sons,

did I sell that?

I did not sell it. Since two graves remained in the Cave of Machpelah, one belongs to Jacob, who already buried Leah there, and one belongs to me. Therefore, he wanted to prevent Jacob’s burial in the Cave of Machpelah.

They said to him,

Jacob’s sons said to Esau:

No,

you did indeed sell your portion in the cave to our father.

As it is written,

for our father Jacob told us at the time of his death to bury him

“in my grave that I dug for myself,” and Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak:

They intended to say to him by this that, since

“digging” is only a term for selling, as

for

in the coastal cities they call selling “digging,”

it is evident that you indeed sold your portion in the cave to our father Jacob.

He said to them,

Esau said to Jacob’s sons:

Give me the document;

show me the bill of sale in which I sold Jacob my portion in the cave.

They said to him,

Jacob’s sons said to Esau:

The document,

the bill of sale, is located

in the land of Egypt.

And who will go?

Jacob’s sons wondered which of them should go to Egypt to bring the bill of sale, and decided that

Naphtali should go,

that they should send Naphtali, because

he was as swift as a hind,

for he was nimble and quick like a hind.

As it is written: “Naphtali is a hind let loose, who gives beautiful words,” and Rabbi Abbahu said: Do not read “beautiful words” (imrei shefer), but “words of a document” (imrei sefer),

and this was the bill of sale for which Naphtali, swift as a hind, was sent to bring it from Egypt.

Meanwhile,

Ḥushim, son of Dan,

Ḥushim, the son of Dan, Jacob’s son,

was there.

However, because

his ears were heavy,

he did not hear well all the negotiations taking place between Esau and Jacob’s sons.

He said to them,

Ḥushim asked Jacob’s sons:

“What is this?”

Why are you not burying Jacob?

They said to him: “This one is obstructing us,”

for Esau was preventing them from burying him,

“until Naphtali comes,”

until Naphtali returns

from the land of Egypt

and brings the bill of sale by which Esau sold Jacob the grave in the cave, after which they would bury him.

He said to them,

Ḥushim son of Dan said to Jacob’s sons:

“And until he comes,”

what, until

Naphtali returns from the land of Egypt

and brings the bill of sale,

“will my father’s father”

my grandfather, Jacob,

“lie in disgrace,”

without burial?

He took

Ḥushim son of Dan

a club

a staff

and struck his head,

striking Esau on the head. As a result of the blow,

his eyes fell

Esau’s eyes fell

onto Jacob’s feet.

Then

Jacob opened his eyes;

Jacob opened his eyes,

and

when he saw what had happened to Esau,

his brother,

he smiled and rejoiced at Esau’s downfall.

And this is what is written

in the Book of Psalms:

“The righteous shall rejoice”

our patriarch Jacob

“when he sees vengeance,”

when his eyes opened and he saw the vengeance exacted against Esau;

“he shall wash his steps in the blood of the wicked,”

the righteous shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked as he walks.

At that moment,

when Esau was killed,

Rebecca’s prophecy was fulfilled, as it is written:

for she had prophesied:

“Why should I be bereaved of both of you on one day?”

and indeed Jacob and Esau, her sons, died on the same day.

And although their deaths did not occur on the same day,

for Jacob died before Esau, since several days passed from Jacob’s death until they traveled from Egypt to Eretz Yisrael, and only then did Esau die,

nevertheless,

their burials,

of Jacob and Esau,

did occur on the same day,

and through this Rebecca’s prophecy was fulfilled: both of them were buried on one day.

We challenge what is stated in the Mishna, that Joseph merited burying his father, and likewise the meaning of the verse, which says, “And Joseph went up to bury his father.” This indicates that Jacob’s burial is attributed to Joseph.

And seemingly, how did Joseph’s brothers allow Joseph to have Jacob’s burial attributed to him, implying that

if Joseph had not attended to it,

if Joseph had not occupied himself with his burial,

his brothers would not have attended to it?

Jacob’s brothers would not have occupied themselves with Jacob’s burial.

But the verse

nevertheless states:

“And his sons carried him to the land of Canaan,”

which indicates that they too were involved in Jacob’s burial. If so, why did they agree that Jacob’s burial should be attributed to Joseph?

And we answer:

They said:

Jacob’s sons

“Let him be,”

allowing Joseph to attend to the burial and have it attributed to him, because

his honor,

the honor of our patriarch Jacob, was greater if it was said that he was buried

“by kings,”

by Joseph, who was a king,

than

if it were said that he was buried by us, and they would say that he was buried

“by ordinary people,”

by simple people like us.

We learned in the Mishna:

“Who is greater for us than Joseph,”

for only Moses attended to him.

The Sages taught: Come and see how beloved mitzvot were to Moses our teacher, for while all of Israel were occupied with the spoils,

as it is stated, “And they emptied Egypt,”

he was occupied with a mitzva

of Joseph’s bones,

as it is stated:

“The wise of heart will take mitzvot.”

And from where did Moses our Teacher know where Joseph was buried?

They said

to him:

Serah daughter of Asher, who remained from that

generation,

and perhaps she knows where Joseph is buried.

Moses went to her.

He said to her: Do you happen to know where Joseph is buried?

She said to him: The Egyptians made an iron ark for him and set it

and sank the ark

in the Nile River so that its waters would be blessed,

so that the Nile would continually rise and fill the canals and channels extending from it throughout the land, from which the fields were irrigated, since rain does not fall in Egypt.

Moses went and stood on the bank of

the

Nile.

He said to it: Joseph, Joseph! The time has arrived concerning the oath by which the Holy One, blessed be He, swore that I would redeem you, and the time has arrived for the oath that you imposed upon Israel

that they would bring up your bones from Egypt with them:

If you reveal yourself, all the better; and if not, behold, we are released from your oath!

Immediately, Joseph’s ark surfaced!

And do not wonder how iron could float,

for it is written

in Kings, concerning the disciples of Elisha: “

And it came to pass, as one was felling the beam, that the iron

fell into the water,”

and he cried out, saying, “

Alas, my master, and it was borrowed”

[and I have nothing with which to repay it]. “

And the man of God said: Where did it fall? And he showed him the place, and he cut

[cut off]

a piece of wood and threw it there, and the iron floated.”

Is this not a kal va-chomer? If Elisha

who was

a disciple of Elijah, and Elijah was a disciple of Moses

who learned the Torah of Moses,

caused iron to float because of him, then surely it should do so because of Moses our Teacher!

Rabbi Natan says: In the cemetery

in the burial ground

of kings he was buried,

Joseph, but it was not known in which grave.

Moses went and stood at the cemetery of kings. He said: Joseph! The time has arrived concerning the oath by which the Holy One, blessed be He, swore that I would redeem you, and the time has arrived for the oath that you imposed upon Israel. If you reveal yourself, all the better; and if not, behold, we are released from your oath!

At that moment, Joseph’s ark trembled! Moses took it and brought it to him.

And throughout all the years that Israel was in the wilderness, these two arks—one containing a dead man

Joseph’s

and one containing the Divine Presence

and the Tablets within it

traveled alongside one another, and passersby would say: What is the nature of these two arks?

They said

the Israelites:

One contains a dead man, and one contains the Divine Presence!

The passersby asked:

But what business does a dead man have traveling with the Divine Presence?