Arabic Fragments on the Pentateuch 14–18

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown

When the Israelites fought with the Amalekites, a great number were killed on the side of the Israelites; and when they made the golden calf, many of them perished again. Therefore God commanded Moses and Aaron to take a census of the Israelites on the first day of the month Iyar; and this was done one day after another. And these are the names of the heads of the twelve tribes, one from each tribe: 1. Elizur the son of Shedeur, head of the tribe of Reuben. 2. Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, head of the tribe of Simeon. 3. Nahshon the son of Amminadab, head of the tribe of Judah. 4. Nethanel the son of Zuar, head of the tribe of Issachar. 5. Eliab the son of Helon, head of the tribe of Zebulun. 6. Elishama the son of Ammihud, head of the tribe of Ephraim the son of Joseph. 7. Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, head of the tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph. 8. Abidan the son of Gideoni, head of the tribe of Benjamin. 9. Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, head of the tribe of Dan. 10. Pagiel the son of Ochran, head of the tribe of the Banu Asher. 11. Eliasaph the son of Deuel, head of the tribe of Gad. 12. Ahira the son of Enan, head of the tribe of Naphtali. These are the heads of the clans of the tribes of the Israelites; and they were with Moses when he took the census of the Israelites. Now Moses is the type of Christ, and the twelve heads are types of the disciples. Then Moses forbade all the Israelites to go out of the camp, and the herald proclaimed as a divine command that whoever crossed the bounds of the camp should be killed and stoned. Then Moses took a census of all the Israelites except the tribe of Levi. And the number of the tribe of the sons of Reuben came to 46,500 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Simeon was 59,300 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Judah was 74,600 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Issachar was 54,400 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Zebulun was 57,400 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim the son of Joseph was 40,500 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph was 32,200 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin was 30,400 souls; the number of the tribe of the sons of Asher was 41,500 souls; and the number of the tribe of the sons of Gad was 45,600 souls. Asher and his brother Gad are the sons of Zilpah, the maid of Leah, Jacob's wife. And the number of the tribe of the sons of Dan was 62,700 souls; and the number of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali was 53,400 souls. Dan and Naphtali are the sons of Bilhah, the maid of Rachel, Jacob's wife. The tribe of the sons of Levi he counted separately from the tribes of the sons of Israel. And their number was 603,550 souls. The total of the tribes of the Israelites was 1,181,550 men, not counting the women and children, but only those twenty years old and upward. And when the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, their number was 601,730 men, from twenty years old and upward. And the number of the married and unmarried women was 1,100,920. So according to the statement of the book which in the Syriac language is called "simatha," which is translated "Book of Treasures." But the book of Chronicles says that the number of the Israelites in the time of the kings was 1,100,000 men able to fight; and in the army of the five kings there were 22,573 souls of the Levites, the priestly tribe. But in the total mentioned, the family of Moses and Aaron, the family of Gershon, the family of Kohath, and the family of Merari are not counted, because these four families served in the tent of revelation and did not go out to battle with their brothers the Israelites, but remained in the tent.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown

God commanded Moses to take a census of the priests and of those of the family of the Levites who served in the tent of revelation; for the priests and the servants of the tent of revelation were not counted among the Israelites, just as the holy apostles were not counted as belonging to the world; for the Gospel says of them: "O my Father, keep them in your name, for they are not of the world; if they were of the world, the world would love them." And the four families that served the tent of revelation were the family of Moses and Aaron, the family of Gershon, the family of Kohath, and the family of Merari. So Moses counted the number of the four families. And for the family of Moses and Aaron the number came to 22,000 souls, from a month old and upward; and these lived by the door of the tent of revelation, toward the east, because the door of the tent of revelation faced east. And the number of the family of Gershon, from a month old and upward, was 7,500 souls, and these lived behind the tent of revelation toward the west. And the number of the family of the sons of Kohath, from a month old and upward, was 8,600 souls, and these lived behind the tent of revelation toward the south. And the number of the family of the sons of Merari, from a month old and upward, was 6,200 souls; and these lived behind the tent toward the north. So the number of the sons of the four families, from a month old and upward, came to 44,300 souls. And these Moses did not count among the Israelites. After Moses had completed the census of the Levites, God commanded him to choose from each of the families the ablest and strongest men, to serve the tent and carry it on the marches, and to carry the ark of the covenant and the pillars of the tent and its vessels; and these were to be men of thirty years and over. Then Moses chose from his own and his brother Aaron's family the strongest and most vigorous men of thirty years and over, and the number of the men came to 2,470 souls. Then he chose from the family of the sons of Gershon the strongest and most vigorous men of thirty years and over, and the number came to 2,630 souls. Then he chose from the family of the sons of Kohath the strongest and most vigorous men of thirty years and over, and the number came to 2,750 souls. Then he chose from the family of the sons of Merari the strongest and most vigorous men of thirty years and over, and the number came to 3,200 souls. So the number of the strongest and most vigorous men whom Moses chose from the four families to carry the vessels of the tent of revelation was 11,050 souls. And these were charged with guarding the tent of revelation and all its vessels; and the pillars of the tent were also in their keeping, and likewise the silver and gold. And each of the families looked after a part of the vessels of the tent of revelation. The family of Moses and Aaron looked after receiving the offerings, the vow offerings, and the tithes of gold, silver, and pearls, cattle, sheep, and the like. The family of the sons of Gershon looked after carrying the silk and purple coverings, guarding the door at the entrance of the tent and of the court and of the altar in the holy of holies, and the pegs and cords of the tent, and had the duty of marching armed before the tent on the march. The family of the sons of Kohath had charge of the holy of holies and had to guard the curtain of the door of the tabernacle, and the silk covering of the sanctuary and the others, the linen and the purple, and the table and the showbread; and they had to wrap the lampstand and its lamps in coverings of rams' and goats' skin, and all the vessels of the tent of revelation. The family of the sons of Merari had to look after the pillars and bases and cords and the gold and silver vessels of the tent, and to see that the grain offerings were cooked but the sheep offerings left raw, and to look after the wheat bread and the unleavened bread. And they carried the tent on the marches from one station to the next. And they had the first share of the grain offerings and of the slaughtered sacrifices. These four families, then, had charge of the tent of revelation and its vessels. And whenever they halted anywhere, they camped on all four sides of the tent in the form of a great cross.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown

Hippolytus, the interpreter of the Targum, says: God, out of the fullness of his mercy, gave this commandment to the Israelites so that they might confess their sins and turn back, so that he might receive them again when they turned back. In the same way God has given this commandment to all men, that when they sin they should confess their debts and ransom themselves from the death of sin by fasting, prayer, almsgiving, weeping, and repentance. And whoever does not follow this commandment, on his head the sin returns. Further, when he says, "Whoever commits a sin has to bear a fifth besides," he means that a man, when he sins, sins with his five senses; for Adam, when he sinned, sinned with his five senses. And the word of Scripture, "He shall add a fifth of it and give it to the one against whom he has sinned and done wrong," means that if he has committed five sins or faults, he should do five good deeds in compensation, so that the one against whom he sinned may receive him again. And God gave Moses this command: "If a man's wife secretly commits adultery, and commits sexual immorality with a strange man and is unclean, her husband shall bring his offering before God, a tenth of barley flour; but he shall pour no oil on it and put no incense on it, for it is bread of jealousy." By the tenth of barley flour is meant the tenth part of understanding, so that the husband of the adulteress may perceive it and kill her. And when God commanded that no oil or incense might be put on the barley flour, it meant that he might show her no grace or mercy, because she had committed sexual immorality and deceived her husband, and should therefore perish. For the barley bread is bread of jealousy. And when Scripture says, What he brings before God belongs to the priest, it means that the people should bring an atoning sacrifice for sin before the priest, and the priest should bring the atoning sacrifice for sin before God with prayer, invocation, and supplication, so that God may accept the sinner's atoning sacrifice for a sin. And when Scripture says: "The priest shall take holy water of atonement in an earthen vessel and earth from the floor of the sanctuary and cast it into the water, and the priest shall set the adulterous woman before God and uncover her head; then he shall put the barley bread in her hand and adjure her by God as follows: May God make you a solemn curse among your people, if you have committed adultery against your husband, committed sexual immorality, and deceived him. May God make your belly swell and your thighs waste away! And may this water of testing go into you, and may your bowels swell and all your joints grow slack! And the woman shall say: Amen, Amen! And the priest shall write these curses on a leaf and wash them off with this bitter water, and give this bitter water to the woman to drink. If she has committed adultery against her husband and deceived him, her belly will swell at once; but if she has not committed adultery and sexual immorality, she will remain sound and bear children without hindrance," this is a typical pointer to the pure and the impure soul. For when the soul is impure in its body, though it seems pure to men, and the time comes when it is tested and put to the proof, its sins are uncovered and revealed, and shame clings to the tenth that it brought, as happened to the adulterous and immoral woman. But if the soul is pure in its body, and is suspected of sexual immorality and shameful deeds although it has not committed them, then when the time comes that it is put to the proof and tested, nothing evil befalls it, its body does not ache, its face does not change before God and before the tenth it has brought, and it is acquitted and will bear healthy children; that is the whiteness of the face. And God commanded Moses thus: "If a man or a woman undertakes to make a vow to God, to consecrate himself to God, forbid him wine and intoxicating drink; and further he shall eat no fresh or dried grapes. As long as he abstains and is consecrated to God, he shall let no razor come upon his head, until the time of his abstinence and consecration to God is past. And he shall be pure and guard himself, and keep his hair, neither shaving nor plucking it, and he shall not go near any dead person, whether his father or his mother or anyone else. But if he touches a dead person or has come near one, he shall shave his head. On the day on which he becomes clean again, on the seventh day, he shall shave his hair, and on the eighth day he shall bring his offering, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, to the tent of revelation." Now we say: God forbade the consecrated man to drink wine, just as he forbade the Israelites to adopt the customs of the people of Egypt. And just as he forbade intoxicating drink, so the new law forbade the priests intoxicating drink and the drinking of wine. And Luke bears witness to this when he says of John the Baptist: "He shall drink no wine or intoxicating drink, and the Holy Spirit will rest upon him, and he will be filled with him while still in his mother's womb." And when he says, "He shall eat no grapes," he means that he should not store up fermenting and strong wine; and by the word "He shall eat no dried grapes" he means that eating dried grapes increases bad disposition and arrogance, which contends with everything earthly. And when he says, "He shall keep his hair and his soul," he means that he should guard his soul from filthy things; and "he shall keep his hair" means that he should guard his head from accepting evil counsels from the one who hates the good, just as an animal guards its head and protects it from blows, and seeks to save its whole body from being struck and killed. And he shall guard his head, which is the symbol of faith in God. And when he says, "He shall not go near any dead person," he means that he should not attend the sacrifices to idols, nor the customs of the ungodly, who resist the word of God. And when he says, "If he has touched a dead person, he shall shave his head on the seventh day," he means: when temptation and trial come upon him, he should turn away from them and recognize them; and "he shall shave his hair" means that he should cast away the evil thoughts and return to his former state. "And on the eighth day he shall bring a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons," that is: on the eighth day, which is the day of judgment, he should bring a body cleansed of filth and a soul disciplined by asceticism, continence, good works, fasting, and prayer.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown

Moses chose twelve strong men from the tribes, one from each tribe, and sent them out to spy out the land of Canaan. And these are their names: Shammua the son of Zaccur, of the tribe of Reuben; Shaphat the son of Hori, of the tribe of Simeon; Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of the tribe of Judah; Igal the son of Joseph, of the tribe of Issachar; Hoshea the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim; Palti the son of Raphu, of the tribe of Benjamin; Gaddiel the son of Sodi, of the tribe of Zebulun; Gaddi the son of Susi, of the tribe of Manasseh; Ammiel the son of Gemalli, of the tribe of Dan; Sethur the son of Michael, of the tribe of Asher; Nahbi the son of Vophsi, of the tribe of Naphtali; Geuel the son of Machi, of the tribe of Gad. These twelve spies are the type of the holy apostles, and Moses is the type of Christ. As he sent out the twelve men to spy out the land of Canaan, so Christ sent out his apostles to search out the world with the gospel in his name. And the spies are also the type of the prophets, who foretold the coming of the awaited Messiah. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, who led the men, are the type of Peter and Paul, who led the mission of the apostles. When Scripture says, "They cut down there a branch and a cluster of grapes, which they carried between two men," the branch is the symbol of the cross, and the cluster that hangs on the branch and is carried between two men is the symbol of Jesus Christ, who hung on the cross, which stood between two robbers. So too the prophet Habakkuk says: "God comes from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran"; and again: "What lies between years you know, and what is in the midst of the years is manifest to you, and when the time came you revealed it"; this is a prophecy of the cross of Christ, which stands between the two robbers. And the basket in which they carried the cluster is the symbol of prophecy and of the gospel. The cluster that they carried is Jesus Christ. The two men who carried the cluster are the symbol of the prophets and the apostles. They proclaimed those two things among the Israelites; and likewise the preachers of the gospel proclaimed the name of the crucified Christ before the nations of the whole earth. And when Scripture says, "They returned after spying out the land for forty days," so likewise the seventy evangelists preached in the world for forty days and returned after forty days to the Master Jesus and reported to him what they had done among the nations in his name.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Arabic; neither is shown

Balaam was of the tribe of Midian, and he belonged to the descendants of the children of Keturah, the second wife whom Abraham married after his wife Sarah. This is the genealogy of Balaam: Balaam was the son of Beor, the son of Abida, the son of Midian, the son of Asshurim, the son of Dedan, the son of Jokshan, the son of Abraham by Keturah. He was a seer and a sorcerer. To him Balak the son of Zippor, the king of Midian, sent …