The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the Nile, while her maidens walked along the Nile. She spied the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to fetch it. When she opened it, she saw that it was a child, a boy crying. She took pity on it and said, “This must be a Hebrew child.” Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a Hebrew nurse to suckle the child for you?” And Pharaoh’s daughter answered, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, who made him her son. She named him Moses, explaining, “I drew him out of the water.”
As Joseph Campbell notes in The Hero with a Thousand Faces, the birth of the hero is inevitably extraordinary. Faced with Pharaoh’s decree ordering the death of all male Hebrew infants, Moses’ mother placed him in an ark left floating in the bulrushes, well aware that the infant would be found, and hopefully raised, by an Egyptian family. That the one who finds him is the daughter of Pharaoh is an expression of his extraordinary fate. Note that this myth also provides an explanation for Moses’ name, relating it to how he was found and drawn out of the water.
Sources:
Exodus 1:23, 2:1-10.
478. PHARAOH AND THE CHILD MOSES
After the daughter of Pharaoh found the infant Moses in the bulrushes, she brought the child to live in the palace. There she told her father and his court that the Nile river had given her that child as a gift. So it was that they accepted the child, since it was the wish of the princess. But one of Pharaoh’s sorcerers secretly believed that the child was a Hebrew. And he waited for the chance to turn against him.
One day, when Moses was three years old, he sat at the table on his mother’s lap. Next to her sat Pharaoh, and to his right was Pharaoh’s wife. Attracted by the glittering gems in Pharaoh’s crown, the child Moses reached for the crown and knocked it off of Pharaoh’s head. Then the evil sorcerer, who had been waiting for just such a moment, quickly said: “Do not ignore this sign from fate, my lord. For this child may be destined to usurp your throne.” Pharaoh was filled with fear that this might have been such a sign. Therefore he called together all his advisors and asked their opinions.
Now the angel Gabriel had been sent by God to guard the infant Moses at all times. And when the angel saw the danger the child faced, he disguised himself in the form of one of Pharaoh’s advisers. And when Pharaoh asked them what they should do, he spoke and said: “Surely the child meant no evil. Why not give him a test to prove this? I suggest that two bowls be brought here. One of them will contain precious jewels and the other burning coals. If the child reaches for the jewels, this shows that he knows the coals are dangerous. For the coals will glow brighter than the jewels. That would prove that he is wise beyond his years. But if he reaches for the coals, that would prove that he has no more understanding than any other infant.”
Pharaoh quickly agreed to this test, for it seemed reasonable to him. And when the bowls had been brought and the infant Moses set down before them, the angel Gabriel made himself invisible and stood next to the child. Now as it happened Moses was attracted to the jewels rather than the burning coals, and would have reached for them. But as he did, the angel stopped his hand and made him reach for the coals instead. And before the child realized how hot the coals were, he had brought one to his tongue, singeing it. And when the child burst into tears, Pharaoh concluded that the child was completely innocent.
That is how the child Moses was able to remain within Pharaoh’s palace until he was grown. But because he had singed his tongue, he always spoke with a bit of a stutter after that. And that is why he brought his brother, Aaron, to speak for him when the day came that he stood before Pharaoh and demanded that he let his people go.
This is an extremely famous midrash that is often told to children. It explains how Moses got his stutter, as well as how Pharaoh decided to keep the infant Moses and raise him in the palace. This is, indeed, an appropriate midrash for children, who can easily understand why the bright jewel would be more attractive to an infant than a burning coal. It is possible that there were specific midrashim that were primarily intended for children. For other examples, see “The Giant Og,” p. 461 and the commentary to “The Star Maiden,” p. 455 about the angel’s wings.
Sources:
Sefer ha-Yashar; IFA 6725, 18238.
479. PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER
Pharaoh’s daughter, Bitiah, knew by divine inspiration that she was destined to raise the redeemer of Israel. That is why she strolled beside the Nile every morning and evening. When she discovered Moses floating in an ark she knew that God had given her what she sought, and she rejoiced. How did she know? She saw that the infant was circumcised.
Seeing that Bitiah wanted to save the infant, her attending maidens said to her, “Mistress, when a king issues a decree, even if the whole world does not fulfill it, at least his children should do so. Yet you transgress your father’s decree.” At that moment the angel Gabriel came and thrust them into the earth.
Bitiah named the infant she drew out of the water Moses, and this remained his name for the rest of his life.
God said to Bitiah, “Moses was not your son, yet you called him your son. Therefore, though you are not My daughter, I will call you My daughter.” After that Bitiah went down to immerse herself in the river to cleanse herself from her father’s idols, for the sake of converting to Judaism.
At the request of Moses, Bitiah was not afflicted by any of the ten plagues, and was the only female firstborn to be spared in Egypt. She was one of the nine who entered Paradise alive. There she was given her own heavenly palace, where she teaches Torah to the souls of righteous women.
In the Midrash Pharaoh’s daughter is given the name Bitiah, which means “daughter of God.” She is regarded as a very holy figure, and is one of four righteous women who are said to have palaces of their own in heaven. The others are Serah bat Asher, Yocheved, the mother of Moses, and Deborah, the prophetess. See “Women in Paradise,” p. 190.
Sources:
B. Sota 12b; B. Megillah 13a; Exodus Rabbah 1, 18:3; Leviticus Rabbah 1:3; Midrash Mishlei 31:15; Midrash ha-Gadol on Genesis 23:1, Exodus 2:10; Derekh Eretz Zuta 1.
480. THE BURNING BUSH
Now Moses, tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, drove the flock into the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush. He gazed, and there was a bush all aflame, yet the bush was not consumed. Moses said, “I must turn aside to look at this marvelous sight; why doesn’t the bush burn up?” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him out of the bush: “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.” And He said, “Do not come closer. Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. I am,” He said, “the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
The first encounter Moses has with God has many of the earmarks of a mystical vision. God speaks to Moses out of a bush that is burning but is not consumed. From this time on, the life of Moses is completely transformed, as many mystics have described their lives after having a mystical experience. However, in biblical terms what Moses experiences is not a personal vision, but the arrival of his true destiny, serving as the Redeemer of Israel.
It may seem strange that God chose something as unimposing as a bush to reveal Himself, but there are other examples of God contracting Himself into a small space, such as the Ark. Later a kabbalistic principle, that of tzimtzum, would be established on this concept of contraction. See “The Contraction of God,” p. 13.
As with Abraham, God has chosen Moses, who starts out as a reluctant prophet, but in the end becomes the greatest prophetic figure of all. From th
is point on, God gives Moses explicit instructions about how to approach Pharaoh to demand that the Israelites, who were valuable slaves, should be set free and permitted to depart from Egypt. Likewise, God instructs Moses in how to approach the people of Israel, who are slow to acknowledge Moses as their leader.
In subsequent encounters, Moses speaks directly to God, sees Him face to face, and receives the Torah, God’s most precious gift, for Israel. All of these events are prefaced by this first revelation at the burning bush.
Sources:
Exodus 3:1-6.
481. MOSES SWALLOWED BY A SERPENT
At a night encampment on the way, Yahweh encountered Moses and sought to kill him (Exod. 4:24). Why did God seek to kill him? Because of his son, Gershom, who had not been circumcised since Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, had not allowed Moses to circumcise him.
Some say that God sent the angel Uriel in the guise of a giant serpent, who came and swallowed Moses from his head to the place of his circumcision. When Zipporah saw this, she understood that Moses had been attacked because their son had not been circumcised. So Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched his legs with it, saying, “You are truly a bridegroom of blood to me!” And when He let him alone, she added, “A bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision” (Exod. 4:25-26).
Others say that God sent two angels, Af and Hemah, the Angels of Anger and Fury, after Moses. Hemah swallowed him, except for his legs. Only after Zipporah circumcised their son did Hemah spit him out. Then Moses sought to slay the destroying angels, as it is said, Give up anger, abandon fury (Ps. 37:8).
Still others say that Zipporah knew by divine inspiration that in order to save Moses she must circumcise her son. Then she did not hesitate, but took the flint and cut off her son’s foreskin (Exod. 4:25) and cast the foreskin at the feet of the Destroyer, saying, “May the blood of this circumcision atone for my husband.” After that the Destroyer left him alone. Then Zipporah said, “How beloved is the blood that has delivered this bridegroom from the hand of the Angel of Death.”
The account of how God sought to kill Moses in Exodus 4:24 has always been considered perplexing. Many biblical scholars believe the passage is fragmentary. Especially oblique are Zipporah’s comments about Moses being “a bridegroom of blood” to her. The rabbinic explanation is that Moses had not circumcised his son Gershom at the proper time and therefore God sent an angel in the form of a serpent who swallowed Moses from his head to the place of his circumcision. Seeing this, Zipporah understood that God’s anger concerned their failure to circumcise the child. Thus she picked up a flint and circumcised the child on the spot, and the attack on Moses comes to an end. Rashi says: “She was now sure of the cause of his illness, and realized that circumcision had saved his life.”
Zipporah’s comment, from Targum Neophyti on Exodus 4:26, “How beloved is the blood that has delivered this bridegroom from the hand of the Angel of Death,” is a perfect example of how the Targum changed the meaning of biblical texts by interpolating additional words into them. Here it is the verse You are truly a bridegroom of blood (Exod. 4:25), that serves as the basis of this interpolation. This transforms an enigmatic and fragmentary text into an assured and complete blessing.
The two angels, Af and Hemah, are the personifications of Anger and Fury. Af is a male—and Hemah is a female—destroying angel. These furies resemble the Furies of Greek myth. Hemah’s role is derived from Proverbs 16:14: The king’s wrath (Hemah) is a messenger of death. Af and Hemah go forth together, like Samael and Lilith, and they are paired—and cursed—in Psalms 37:8: Give up anger, abandon fury. Through them God expresses his anger at Moses for not having circumcised his son. In general, there are five great destroying angels: in addition to Af and Hemah, they are Ketzeph (Displeasure), Hashmed (Destruction), and Hashbeth (Annihilation). These angels of destruction can only be stopped by calling upon the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus Rabbah 44:8 and Ecclesiastes Rabbah 4:3).
Note that this attack on Moses comes right after God had told him about the slaying of the firstborn of Egypt, and here he is almost slain because of his own firstborn. There seems to be some kind of link, but because of the truncated nature of Exodus 4:24-26 it is difficult to ascertain exactly what it is.
Why was the son of Moses not circumcised? Some sources put the blame on Jethro, Zipporah’s father, others on Moses. Jethro is said to have ordered Moses not to circumcise the baby at the time that he agreed to let Moses marry Zipporah. Moses promised Jethro that he would not do so, and therefore he could not break his vow. Note that it is Zipporah, and not Moses, who does the act of circumcision.
Sources:
Targum Pseudo-Yonathan to Exodus 4:24-26; Targum Neophyti on Exodus 4:24-26.; B. Nedarim 32a; Exodus Rabbah 5:8; Deuteronomy Rabbah 3:11; Midrash Tehillim 7:11; Yalkut Shim’oni, Shemot 168; Zohar 1:93b.
482. SERAH BAT ASHER
Serah bat Asher was the daughter of Asher, one of the sons of Jacob. She was among the sixty-nine who ascended with Jacob to Egypt, and she was among those who crossed the Red Sea and were counted by Moses in the census of the wilderness.
Serah was still a child when Joseph’s brothers asked her to sing a little song for her grandfather, Jacob. For Joseph had sent his brothers to bring the House of Jacob to Egypt, because of the famine in the land. Then Joseph’s brothers had to find a way to break the news to Jacob that Joseph was still alive. They said, “If we tell our Father that Joseph is alive, he might die from the shock.” And they decided to have Serah play the harp for Jacob and sing the words “Joseph is alive.” This Serah gladly did, and when Jacob, who was lost in a reverie, suddenly understood what she was saying, he cried out, “Is it true?” And when Serah assured him that it was, Jacob, in his joy, gave her a great blessing, which let her live so long.
But there is another version of this account, in which Jacob was furious that Serah had mentioned this most painful episode in his life, the loss of his son Joseph. And Jacob jumped up and pointed to her and said, “You should live so long!” And she did.
The name Serah bat Asher appears in the Torah only twice, in two lists. Nothing else is said about her. Yet, using the midrashic method, the ancient rabbis were able to create a full identity for her and make her play an essential role in many key biblical episodes. They concluded that she lived longer than anyone else, even Methuselah. It was she who, knowing the sign, identified Moses as the Redeemer; she who helped Moses search for the coffin of Joseph; she who crossed the Red Sea and later reported on what the walls of the Red Sea looked like. This figure, Serah bat Asher, comes to life in the Talmud and the Midrash and becomes one of the favorite figures of the rabbis, whom they draw into the narrative as often as possible. How they did this is an object lesson in the midrashic method.
Serah is also used to resolve another apparent contradiction. Genesis 46:27 states that the total of Jacob’s household who came to Egypt was 70 persons. However, those listed in Genesis 46:8-25 only total 69. The explanation given in Genesis Rabbah 94:9 is that Serah bat Asher was counted twice. Because of her extreme righteousness and wisdom, she had the value of two.
The story of Serah bat Asher begins with a name in the list in the passage describing Jacob’s journey into Egypt: Jacob and all his offspring with him came to Egypt. He brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons, his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring (Gen. 46:6-7). Among the 69 who accompanied Jacob into Egypt were, as recounted in Genesis 46:17: Asher’s sons: Imnah, Ishvi, and Beriah, and their sister Serah. Serah might have remained merely a name in this list if not for a curious parallel. For in another list, in Numbers 26:46, that of the census taken by Moses in the wilderness the name Serah bat Asher appears again: The name of Asher’s daughter was Serah.
What are we to make of the fact that the same name appears in two lists separated by at least 200 years? From our perspective, it might be discounted as a coincidence. After all, Asher was a respectable name,
and it is certainly possible that someone named Asher might name his daughter Serah. But from the point of view of the ancient rabbis, the fact that these two lists had this one name in common cried out for explanation. So they arrived at what was for them the logical conclusion: they were the same person.
That resolves the problem of the identity of the two Serahs, but it doesn’t explain how she lived so long. However, rabbinic ingenuity found a solution for this problem as well. Using the midrashic method, the rabbis searched for the “right place.” This is the place in the text that gives the necessary clue, making it possible to read between the lines. And in this case the clue involved another matter that is missing in the biblical narrative: how the sons of Jacob finally informed him that his beloved son, Joseph, was not dead after all.
It all goes back to the brothers’ discovery that Joseph was still alive. Indeed, he was none other than the Prince of Egypt. And now that Joseph had revealed his true identity, he commanded his brothers to bring their father and the rest of the family to Egypt, for there was a famine in the land: “And you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen, and you shall hasten and bring down my father hither” (Gen. 45:13). This must have presented a dilemma to Joseph’s brothers, since they had cast him naked into a pit and then sold him into slavery and then told their father that he had been slain by a wild beast. Now they had to go back to their father, Jacob, a frail old man, and tell him that Joseph was alive after all.
Reading between the lines, the rabbis intuited that the brothers were filled with guilt and remorse, as well as with fear that Jacob might die of shock when he heard the news. So they came up with the idea of letting Serah break the news to him. They asked Serah, who apparently was a child, to play the harp for Jacob and sing him a little song, with the words “Joseph is alive, Joseph is alive.” Serah, of course, was glad to sing a song for her grandfather, and when Jacob realized what she was saying, he jumped up and asked, “Is it true?” And when she told him it was true, he blessed her with such a great blessing that she lived as long as she did! In this way the midrash brought Serah to life and explained how she lived for so long.
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