De Moor VIII:29: The Sixth Day, Part 4

Finally, in his Compendio our AUTHOR adds:  With good reason do we pass on the Jewish Fables concerning Ten things in addition, variously enumerated, and rather Sixteen conjointly, the Mouth of the Earth, of a Well, of an Ass, etc., Created at twilight on the Evening of the Sabbath.  A triple diverse enumeration of these Ten things is exhibited by BOCHART, Hierozoico, part I, book II, chapter XIV, column 193.

α.  In the Chaldean Paraphrase of Jonathan on Numbers 22:28 thus it reads:  “Ten things were created after the perfection of the world at the approach of the Sabbath between the two evenings:  1.  Manna; 2.  the Well (concerning which Numbers 21:16); 3.  the Rod of Moses; 4.  שְׁמִירָא, the Shamir (that is, adamant, by the help of which Solomon cut the Stones for the building of the temple); 5.  the Rainbow, 6.  the Cloud of glory (concerning which Exodus 40:38); 7.  the Mouth of the Earth (whereby Korah with his own was devoured, Numbers 16:30, 32); 8.  the Writing of the tables of the Covenant; 9.  Demons; 10.  the speaking Mouth of the Ass, which the word of the Lord opened at that moment, and speech was prepared for it, and it said, etc.”

β.   Now, those ten things are enumerated by the Talmudists in Pirke Aboth,[1] folio 30a, in this manner:  “1.  The Mouth of the Earth; 2.  the Mouth of the Well; 3.  the Mouth of the Ass; 4.  the Rainbow; 5.  Manna; 6.  the Rod; 7.  the Shamir; 8.  the Writing (the prototype of the Law, which is in heaven); 9.  the Description (or the ἔκτυπον/ectype on the tables); 10.  the Tables.”

γ.  Again, in Tractate Pesachim,[2] folio 154a, this enumeration is given:  “1.  The Well; 2.  Manna; 3.  the Rainbow; 4.  the Writing of the Law; 5.  the Description; 6.  the Tables; 7.  the Sepulchre of Moses; 8.  the Cave in which Moses and Elijah stayed; 9.  the Opening of the Mouth of the Ass; 10.  the Opening of the Mouth of the Earth to swallow the wicked.”  To this triple reckoning of those Ten things, which Bochart exhibits, let four be added from GAFFAREL’S[3] Curiositates inauditatas, chapter II, note 5, by whom out of the Rabbis those things were enumerated in this way:  “1.  The Fissure of the Earth, which consumed Korah with his associates; 2.  the Water of the Rock, which was following the Israelites in the desert;[4] 3.  Balaam’s Ass, which spoke; 4.  the Rainbow; 5.  Manna; 6.  the miraculous Rod of Moses; 7.  the Adamantine Shamir; 8.  the Writing of the Tables of the Low; 9.  the Sepulchre of Moses; 10.  the Ram that was sacrificed in the place of Isaac.”

But if you compare these four enumerations with each other, you will see that Ten things conjointly are rather Sixteen, as our AUTHOR has rightly advised.

Meanwhile, BOCHART observes, that those things are said to have been created at that time, not because they were actually created in the evening of the first Sabbath:  but שהן האלה באותות לחדש השם שגזר לתולדת׃ חוץ, because God decreed to renew [nature] through these miracles, which are outside the order of nature; according to the opinion of Ibn Ezra.  JOHANN FRIEDRICH MICHAELIS, in his Dissertatione de prioribus Fœderis Tabulis, Section II, § 4, 10, expresses doubt, whether that sounder interpretation is consistent th the opinion of the Talmudists, and takes pains to oppose this Jewish tradition concerning the Ten things created on the Evening of the Sabbath; compare Dissertationem de Tabulis Fœderis posterioribus, § 2, in HASE’S[5] and IKEN’S[6] Thesauro Novo Dissertationum in Veteris Instrumenti Loca, pages 349, 350, 354, 363, 364.

[1] Pirkei Avoth is a tractate of the Mishnah (Jewish oral law), relating ethical sayings of the Rabbis from the third century BC to the third century AD.

[2] Pesachim is a tractate of the Mishnah, addressing matters pertaining to the Feast of Passover and the Passover sacrifice.

[3] Jacques Gaffarel (1601-1681) was a French scholar and priest, excelling in Eastern languages (Hebrew, Persian, and Arabic) and occultism.

[4] 1 Corinthians 10:4.  See Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11.

[5] Theodor Hase (1682-1731) was a Reformed theologian and philologist.  He served as Professor of Theology at Bremen from 1708 to 1731.

[6] Conrad Iken (1689-1753) was a Reformed theologian and philologist.  He served as Professor of Theology at Bremen from 1723 to 1753.