.
_Nedarim_, fol. 38, col. 8.
It may help the reader to some idea of the strength of Moses if
we work out arithmetically the size and probable weight of these
stone slabs according to the Talmud. Taking the cubit or ell at
its lowest estimate, that is eighteen inches, each slab, being
nine feet long, nine feet wide, and four and a half feet thick,
would weigh upward of twenty-eight tons, reckoning thirteen
cubic feet to the ton,--the right estimate for such stone as is
quarried from the Sinaitic cliff. The figures are 9 X 9 X 9/2 =
729/2 = 364.5 X 173.5 = 63240.75 = 28 tons, 4 cwt., 2 qrs., 16
lbs. avoirdupois.
The Rabbis have taught that these six things possess medicinal
virtue:--Cabbage, lungwort, beetroot, water, and certain parts of the
offal of animals, and some also say little fishes.
_Avodah Zarah_, fol. 29, col. 1.
Over six the Angel of Death had no dominion, and these were:--Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Respecting the first three
it is written, "in all" (Gen. xxiv. 1), "of all" (Gen. xxvii. 33) "all"
(A.V. "enough," Gen. xxxiii. 11). Respecting the last three it is
written, "by the mouth of Jehovah" (see Num. xxxiii. 38, and Deut.
xxxiv. 5).
_Bava Bathra_, fol. 17, col. i.
According to Jewish tradition, there are 903 kinds of death, as
is elicited by a Kabbalistic rule called gematria, from the word
outlets (Ps. lxviii. 20); the numeric value of the letters of
which word is 903. Of these 903 kinds of death, the divine kiss
is the easiest. God puts His favorite children to sleep, the
sleep of death, by kissing their souls away. It was thus
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob fell asleep, as may be inferred from
the word all; that is to say, they had all the honor God could
confer upon them. Moses and Aaron fell asleep by the divine
kiss, for it is plainly stated to have been "by the mouth of
Jehovah." So also Miriam passed away, only the Scripture does
not say lest the scoffer should find fault. We are also informed
that quinsy is the hardest death of all. (See _Berachoth_, fol.
8, col. 1.)
"These six of barley gave he me." What does this mean? It cannot surely
be understood of six barleycorns, for it could not be the custom of Boaz
to give a present of six grains of barley. It must, therefore, have been
six measures. But was it usual for a woman to carry such a load as six
measures
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