The arrangement and presentation of the material in this volume are the
same as in Volume I. In both my efforts have been directed to bringing
together as full as possible a collection of Jewish legends that deal
with Biblical personages and events. The sources of those legends and
explanations of some of them will be given in the last volume of the
entire work, and the numbers throughout the work refer to the notes in
the concluding volume.
My original intention was to continue Volume II up to the death of
Moses, but the legendary material clustering around the life and death
of Moses is so abundant that practical considerations demanded the
division of this material, in order not to make the second volume too
bulky. The division chosen is a natural one. This volume closes with
the Exodus, and contains the deeds of Moses in Egypt, while the
following volume will deal with Moses in the desert.
The fact that Job is placed between Jacob's sons and Moses may appear
strange to some readers, since in the Bible Job is one of the last
books; but "legend is above time and space," and I have, therefore,
given Job the place which legend has ascribed to him.