Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets

What It's About

This is a collection of the legends that grew up around the figures of the Old Testament, gathered from sources outside the Bible itself. Beginning with Adam and the early patriarchs, it follows the biblical story through Noah, Abraham, Joseph and Moses to Joshua, adding the embellishments, explanations and tales that Jewish and Islamic tradition developed over the centuries. Many of these stories fill the gaps the Bible leaves open, such as how Abraham came to reject idolatry or what happened at the Tower of Babel. The result is a readable, narrative retelling of familiar episodes with a great deal of unfamiliar detail.

Key Concepts

The book draws on Talmudic and Midrashic tradition, apocryphal texts and Islamic accounts of the prophets, setting them beside the biblical text. It shows how the same figures were reinterpreted across faiths and how layers of popular imagination shaped the way scripture was understood. It is a work of folklore rather than scripture, and the author presents the legends as tradition, not as established history. As a Victorian compilation it relies on translated and secondhand collections of this material, so modern scholars of Midrash and Islamic exegesis have long since superseded it. It remains valuable as a window into how these stories were gathered and presented in the nineteenth century.

About the Author

Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924) was an English Anglican priest and country squire who spent most of his life as rector of his family's parish at Lew Trenchard in Devon. A tireless scholar with wide-ranging interests in history, folklore and religion, he was among the most productive Victorian writers.