From their ambush the forces of the son of Pharaoh fell upon Asenath
and her six hundred attendants. They succeeded in hewing down the
vanguard, and Asenath had to take to flight. To her alarm she
encountered the son of Pharaoh with fifty mounted men. Benjamin, seated
in the same chariot with her, came to her rescue, for in spite of his
youth he was exceedingly courageous. He descended from the chariot,
gathered pebbles, and, throwing them at the son of Pharaoh, struck him
on his forehead and inflicted a severe wound. The charioteer aided him
by keeping him supplied with pebbles, which he cast at the fifty riders
with such expert skill that he slew forty-eight of them with as many
missiles. Meantime the sons of Leah arrived on the spot and came to
Asenath's aid, for Levi, with his prophetic spirit, had seen what was
happening, and summoning his five brothers he had hastened thither.
These six attacked the troops in ambush and cut them down. But the
danger to Asenath was by no means removed. At this moment the sons of
the handmaids threw themselves upon her and Benjamin with drawn swords.
It was their intention to kill them both, and flee to cover in the
depths of the woods. But as soon as Asenath supplicated God for aid,
the swords dropped from the hands of her assailants, and they saw that
the Lord was on the side of Asenath. They fell at her feet and
entreated her grace. She allayed their anxiety with the words: "Be
courageous and have no fear of your brethren, the sons of Leah. They
are God-fearing men. Do but keep yourselves in hiding until their wrath
is appeased."
When the sons of Leah appeared, Asenath fell down before them, and amid
tears she adjured them to spare the sons of the handmaids and not repay
with evil the evil they had meditated. Simon would not hear of making
concessions. He insisted that the measure of their sins was full, and
they must pay for them with their lives, for they had been the ones
that had sold Joseph into slavery, and brought down untold misfortune
upon Jacob and his sons. But Asenath did not leave off, and her urgent
petitions won the day. She succeeded in calming the anger of Simon, and
in Levi she had a secret ally, for this prophet knew the hiding-place
of the sons of the handmaids, and he did not betray it to Simon, lest
his wrath be increased at the sight of them. It was also Levi that
restrained Benjamin from giving the death blow to the heavily wounded
son of Pharaoh. So far from permitting harm to be done to him, he
washed his wounds, put him into a chariot, and took him to Pharaoh, who
thanked Levi from his heart for his services of loving- kindness.
Levi's efforts were vain, three days later the son of Pharaoh died of
the wounds inflicted by Benjamin, and from grief over the loss of his
first-born Pharaoh followed him soon after, departing this life at the
age of one hundred and seventy-seven years. His crown he left to
Joseph, who ruled over Egypt for forty-eight years thereafter. He in
turn handed the crown on to the grandchild of Pharaoh, an infant in
arms at the time of his grandfather's death, toward whom Joseph had
acted in a father's stead all his life.[432]