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| Thus, it can be seen that there is little or no basis in the Bible for Korah to be assumed a wealthy man, especially since he fled with Moses during the Exodus. It is unlikely, although Jewish tradition has it, that the Hebrews would have fled in haste from a vengeful Pharaoh and his army carrying a load of treasure. Rather this idea, included in the Quran, about Korah being so wealthy that the keys to his treasure house themselves were so heavy that they required a large number of bearers is credited in the Talmud to Rabbi Levi; a third century Haggadist who lived in Palestine. | | Thus, it can be seen that there is little or no basis in the Bible for Korah to be assumed a wealthy man, especially since he fled with Moses during the Exodus. It is unlikely, although Jewish tradition has it, that the Hebrews would have fled in haste from a vengeful Pharaoh and his army carrying a load of treasure. Rather this idea, included in the Quran, about Korah being so wealthy that the keys to his treasure house themselves were so heavy that they required a large number of bearers is credited in the Talmud to Rabbi Levi; a third century Haggadist who lived in Palestine. |
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| ==Mountain raised above the Children of Israel==
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| ===Qur'anic Account===
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| In four passages, the Quran says that the mountain was raised over the Children of Israel when they were given the covenant.
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| {{Quote|{{Quran|2|63}}|And [recall] when We took your covenant, [O Children of Israel, to abide by the Torah] and We raised over you the mount, [saying], "Take what We have given you with determination and remember what is in it that perhaps you may become righteous."}}
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| {{Quote|{{Quran|7|171}}|And [mention] when We raised the mountain above them as if it was a dark cloud and they were certain that it would fall upon them, [and Allah said], "Take what We have given you with determination and remember what is in it that you might fear Allah."}}
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| See similarly {{Quran|2|93}} and {{Quran|4|154}}.
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| ===Midrash Account===
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| Michael Graves has argued in a detailed article on the theology of these passages that the Quran deploys the motif that the mountain was literally raised over the Israelites for its own theological purposes, to destabilize Judeo-Christian concepts of divine election and to emphasise the need for all people to show reverant awareness of Allah. Moreover, he explains why academic scholars understand the idea to have come about from Rabbinic exegesis of a verse in the biblical book of Genesis.<ref>Graves, M. W. (2018). [https://www.eurasia.org.uk/docs/academic/quran-studies/The_Upraised_Mountain_and_Israels_Electi.pdf The Upraised Mountain and Israel’s Election in the Qur’an and Talmud] Comparative Islamic Studies, 11(2), 141–177. https://doi.org/10.1558/cis.34780</ref>
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| Graves explains that in [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_(King_James)/Exodus#19:17 Exodus 19:17] Moses brings the people out of the camp to meet God, and the people take their place beṯaḥtîṯ hāhār, which is usually taken to mean, “at the foot of the mountain.”
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| {{Quote|Exodus 19:17-18 (KJV)|17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.<BR />
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| 18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.}}
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| He notes that beṯaḥtîṯ is an unusual way to say "at the foot of", the root word typically meaning "under", and this particular form of the word is unique in the Hebrew Bible. Graves observes that:
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| {{Quote||If one were to press the language of the text in a literalistic fashion, one could construe this verse as saying that the people took their place “below” or “underneath” the mountain. It is precisely this kind of unusual expression in the biblical text that regularly served as a jumping off point for midrashic exegesis (see Zetterholm 2012, 70–71; Wylen 2005, 97–98; Stern 1987, 613–620; Sarason 1998, 133–154). In fact, the picture of Israel situated literally underneath the uplifted mountain supports a theological reflection on Israel’s meeting with God at Sinai in the earliest rabbinic midrash on Exodus, Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael. That God raised up Mt. Sinai over Israel became a standard interpretation of Exodus 19:17 in rabbinic sources. It is notable, although not unusual, that an exegetical motif such as this should find its way into the Qurʾan.}}
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| Graves notes that the Talmud ascribes the interpretation to R. Abdimi b. Hama, a fourth century Rabbi. He quotes the tradition as reported in the Babylonian Talmud, Tracates Shabbat 88a and Abodah Zarah 2b:
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| {{Quote|Tracates Shabbat 88a and Abodah Zarah 2b|And they stood under the mountain”: R. Abdimi b. Ḥama said: This teaches
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| that the Holy Blessed One overturned the mountain upon them like a cask, and said to them, “If you accept the Torah, well and good; but if not, there shall be your burial.}}
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| Reynolds notes an additional point regarding {{Quran-range|7|171|174}}: "On the term translated here as 'canopy' (Ar: zulla), Yahuda (284) argues that it means something closer to a jar (inverted)."<ref>Gabriel Said Reynolds, ''The Qurʾān and Bible'' p. 286<BR />"Yahuda" refers to Abraham Yahuda, "A contribution to Quran and Hadith interpretation" in S. Lowinger and J. Somogyi (eds.) Ignace Goldziher Memorial Volume. Budapest: Globus, 1948</ref> If correct, that would suggest an even closer fit to the talmud quote above.
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| == Moses, Aaron and the Samiri == | | == Moses, Aaron and the Samiri == |