[A collection of legends concerning biblical heroes. It is also known under the titles of Toledot Adam and Dibre ha-Yamin ha-Arok. It had been assumed that this was the Book of Jashar mentioned in Joshua 10.13, and elsewhere. But this assumption was long ago given up by all scholars. In all likelihood this book originated in southern Italy during the twelfth century. The style is a good imitation of the narrative books of the Bible.]

Moses Having Taken a Besieged City Is Proclaimed King of Cush^[131]

So Moses reigned on that day over all the children of Cush instead of Kikanus king of Cush. In the fifty-fifth year of the reign of Pharaoh king of Egypt, that is, in the hundred and fifty-seventh year after the children of Israel went down into Egypt, did Moses reign over Cush. Twenty-seven years old was Moses when he began to reign over Cush, and forty years did he reign. And the Lord made Moses find grace and favor in the sight of the children of Cush, and the children of Cush loved him exceedingly. And Moses was good with the Lord and with men.

And it came to pass on the seventh day of his reign that all the children of Cush gathered together. And they all met together, and came before Moses, and bowed down to him to the ground. And all the children of Cush together spoke to the king, saying: ‘Give us counsel, that we may see what is to be done to this city. For it is to-day nine years that we are besieging this city, and we have not seen our children and our wives.’

And the king answered them, saying: ‘If ye will hearken to my voice in all that I shall command you, then the Lord will deliver the city into our hands, and we shall take it. For if we fight against them as in the first battle which we fought before king Kikanus died, many of us shall fall down slain, as before. Now, behold, here is counsel for you in this matter: if ye will hearken to my voice, the city will be delivered into our hands.’

And all the armies answered the king, saying: ‘All that which our lord commands us will thy servants do.’

So Moses said unto them: ‘Pass through, and proclaim in the whole camp, unto all the people, saying: Thus says the king: Go into the forest, and bring of the young of the stork, each man a young one in his hand. And whosoever will transgress the command of the king, and will not bring his young one, shall be put to death, and the king shall take away all his belongings. And it shall come to pass that, when ye bring them, they shall be in your keeping, and ye shall rear them until they grow up, and ye shall teach them to swoop, in the manner of the young of the hawk.’

And the children of Cush hearkened to the words of Moses, and they arose, and caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying: ‘Unto you, all the children of Cush, is the king’s command: Go ye all together into the forest, and take for you of the young of the stork, each man his young one in his hand, and ye shall bring them with you. Now whosoever shall rebel against the command of the king, shall be put to death, and the king shall take away all his belongings.’

So the people did according to his command; and they went to the forest, and climbed up the fir-trees, and they took, each man his young one in his hand, all the young of the stork, and they brought them with them in the evening. And they reared them according to the command of the king, and they taught them to swoop like the young of the hawk; according to all that the king commanded them, so did all the children of Cush.

And it came to pass that, when the young of the stork grew up, the king commanded to let them hunger for three days. And all the people did so.

And it came to pass on the third day that the king said unto them: ‘Strengthen yourselves and be men of valor; and put on every man his armor, and gird on every man his sword upon him, and ride every man his horse, and take every man his young of the stork in his hand. And we shall rise up, and fight against the city from the place where the serpents are.’ And all the people did according to the command of the king, and every man took his young of the stork in his hand, and they went forth.

And it came to pass, when they reached the place of the serpents, that the king said unto them: ‘Send forth every man his young stork upon the serpents.’ So every man sent forth his young stork, according to the command of the king. And the young storks swooped upon the serpents, and devoured them all, and destroyed them out of that place. And when the people and the king saw that all the serpents were destroyed out of that place, all the people shouted with a great shout. And they drew nigh, and fought against the city, and they seized upon it and took it; and they entered the city. And there died on that day of the people of the city one thousand and a hundred men, all the inhabitants of the city. But of the people who were besieging not one died. Then all the children of Cush went every man to his house, and to his wife, and to his children, and to all that he possessed.

Now when Balaam the soothsayer saw that the city was taken, he opened the gate, and he and his two sons and eight brothers fled; and they returned to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt. They are the sorcerers and magicians mentioned in the Book of the Law, who stood against Moses when the Lord brought all the plagues upon Egypt.

So Moses took the city by his wisdom, and the children of Cush set him on the throne of the kingdom, instead of Kikanus king of Cush. And they set the royal crown on his head, and gave him queen Adonijah the Cushite, the wife of Kikanus, to wife. But Moses feared the Lord, the God of his fathers, and he went not in unto her, nor did he turn his eyes to her. For Moses remembered how Abraham had made Eliezer his servant swear, saying: ‘Take not a wife for my son Isaac of the daughters of Canaan’^[132]; and also that which Isaac had done, when Jacob fled from before his brother, how he commanded him, saying: ‘Take not a wife of the daughters of Canaan, nor shalt thou make marriages with any of the children of Ham; for the Lord our God gave Ham the son of Noah and all his seed as servants unto the children of Shem and unto the children of Japheth, and unto their seed after them for ever.’^[133] Therefore Moses turned not his heart nor his eyes to the wife of Kikanus all the days that he reigned over Cush.

And Moses feared the Lord, the God of his fathers, all his days. And Moses walked before the Lord in truth, with all his heart, and with all his soul; Moses departed not from the good way all the days of his life; he turned not to the right hand nor to the left from the way in which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had walked. And Moses strengthened himself in the kingdom of the children of Cush, and he guided the children of Cush in justice by his wisdom. And Moses prospered in his kingdom.