Hebrew Folk Tales and Legends

The famine continued throughout the land of Canaan and was getting worse.  Soon Jacob’s family had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt.  None of their crops would grow and there was no food left anywhere in their country.  They had no alternative but to buy some more food in Egypt, so their father said to his sons, "You must go back to Egypt and buy us some more food." Judah reminded his father, "If we go we have to take Benjamin with us. The man in charge of the food bank solemnly warned us that he would not see us again or let us buy any more food unless our youngest brother came back with us to prove that the story we told him was true.   We will only go back to Egypt if you let Benjamin go with us.   It would be dangerous for us to go without Benjamin.” Jacob was annoyed.   He asked his sons, "Why did you tell the man that you had another brother? You have created a big problem for us." The sons replied, "The man questioned us carefu...

There had been no rain in Canaan in several months.  The land was dry, the grass had withered and the crops had failed.  There was widespread famine and both people and animals were starving.  When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why do you keep looking at one another helplessly?    I have heard," he said, "that there is grain in Egypt; go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die." Ten of Joseph's brothers went on the long trip down to Egypt to buy grain. Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his other brothers, for he feared that harm might come to the brothers on their journey, and then he would be alone, with no sons left.   Joseph was governor over all the land of Egypt and he was in charge of food sales to the population. When Joseph's brothers arrived in Egypt they went to Joseph and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground.   Joseph recognized his brother...

While Joseph was in prison in Egypt allegedly for sexual assault against the wife of his master, two high officials of the Pharaoh's household, his wine steward and his chief baker, got into serious trouble with the Pharaoh of Egypt and he had them put into the same prison where Joseph was confined.  The captain of the guard put Joseph in charge of these two new prisoners, who were locked up in the prison with long sentences. One night both the wine steward and the baker had dreams that troubled them.   When Joseph saw them in the morning, he noticed that they were troubled, so he asked them, "Why are you so upset today?" They replied, "We have had dreams and no one can tell us what they mean." Joseph said to them, "Dreams come from the gods and so does their interpretation.   Please tell me your dreams. I will see if I can tell what they mean." First the wine steward told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, "In my dream there was a vine...

Judah decided to leave his father and brothers and head off on his own.  He settled some distance away near the home of a man named Hirah and made a home for himself there.  He married a young Canaanite woman and shortly after they slept together in the marriage bed she conceived and bore three sons in quick succession.   The eldest son was named Er.   Judah chose a young woman named Tamar to be husband to Er, but Judah did some things that Lord Yahweh thought were terribly evil so the Lord Yahweh killed Er.   Judah then went to his second son, Onan, and said to him, “Onan, your brotherly duty is to sleep with Tamar, so that she will produce children for your brother.” Onan was not happy with what tribal custom required him to do, and since Onan knew that the children that he fathered with Tamar would not be his, whenever he went to bed with his brother's wife he pulled out from her before he ejaculated and he spilled his semen on the ground so that he wou...

Jacob arrived back in the land of Canaan and settled there with his family, his tribesmen and his herds in this land where his father before him had lived as an alien. Jacob had a son named Joseph, his youngest child, now seventeen years old.  Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Jacob was the son of his old age, and so he had made a special robe for Joseph that had sleeves.  Joseph worked with his older brothers in the pastures and helped them tend his father's flock of sheep and goats. One day Joseph reported to his father that his brothers were lazy and not doing a good job caring for the sheep.   The brothers hated Joseph and talked rudely to him because he was his father's favorite and because he had gotten them into trouble with their father.   Joseph made their hatred even worse when he told them about a dream he had in which he and his brothers were harvesting grain and tying it into bundles (called sheaves). Joseph's sheaf stood u...

Jacob had been in Haran far too long and he was eager to go home, so after his son Joseph was born he went to his uncle Laban and said to him, "It's time for me to leave here and go back to my own country.  I've earned the right.  I served you for many years. Let me take my wives and my children and let me leave here peacefully, for you know how well and hard I have worked for you these many years." Laban said to him, "I mean no offense but I have learned from my gods that your god, the Lord Yahweh, has been good to me because of you.   I want you to stay here with me—so name your price and I will give you whatever you ask, just as long as you remain here.”   Jacob said to him, "Laban, you know I have served you well and you can see how well your flocks and herds have multiplied under my care.   You know that you had few cattle and little wealth before I came and you can see how your flocks and herds have increased under my care.   Yes, Laban, the Lord ...