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Balaam Read Pharaoh's Dream and Sent a Generation Into the Nile

An old man hung merchants' scales in front of the throne, put every noble in Egypt in one pan and a baby goat in the other, and the goat went down.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Kid That Outweighed Egypt
  2. Three Counselors and One Answer
  3. The Babies in the Field
  4. The Crown on the Wrong Head
  5. The Day He Went and Asked For
Balaam Read Pharaoh's Dream and Sent a Generation Into the Nile Click for full size

The Kid That Outweighed Egypt

Pharaoh dreamed he was sitting on his throne and an old man was standing in front of him holding a pair of merchants' scales. The old man hung the scales up where the king could see them. Then he gathered every elder in Egypt, every noble, every great man of the kingdom, tied them together in one bundle and laid the bundle in one pan. In the other pan he put a milk kid, a goat still young enough to be nursing.

The goat went down and the whole of Egypt went up.

Pharaoh woke, got his servants out of bed before dawn and told them, and they were frightened. Then he called for his wise men.

Balaam son of Beor had not been in Egypt long. He had come out of Chittim after the king there died, and Pharaoh had received him with presents and made him a counselor, and the nobles at court crowded around him because they wanted whatever he knew. Balaam looked at the dream and gave the king the reading straight.

"A son will be born to Israel who will destroy this whole country and bring them out of it with a strong hand. Take counsel now, before it grows."

Three Counselors and One Answer

Pharaoh sent for the other two. Reuel the Midianite and Job of Uz came and sat down in front of him.

Reuel spoke first, and he told the king to leave the Hebrews alone. Look at the record. The Pharaoh before you took Sarah into his house and God struck him and his household until he gave her back. Abimelech of Gerar took her and every womb in his kingdom closed up. He drove Isaac out and the water courses of Gerar dried and the trees stopped bearing until he came and bowed and begged for a prayer. Jacob came out from under Esau and Laban and the kings of Canaan. Joseph kept your own grandfather's country alive through the famine. Nobody has ever laid a hand on these people and walked away from it. If you do not want them here, send them to Canaan, but take your hand off them.

Pharaoh went white with anger. Reuel got up in disgrace and left the room, and left Egypt, and went home to Midian, and he took Joseph's staff with him when he went.

Job said what a man says when he wants to keep his position. "Everyone in the land is in your power. Let the king do what seems good to him."

Then Balaam finished it. "Everything you have tried will fail, and here is why. Fire will not work: their father Abraham came out of the furnace at Ur alive. The sword will not work: Isaac was under the knife and a ram was put in his place. Hard labor will not work: Jacob served Laban at the worst work there is and came out rich. Water is the one thing that has never been tried on them. Order every boy born to them from today to be thrown into the river."

The thing pleased the king and the princes, and the proclamation went out across Egypt and Goshen that day.

The Babies in the Field

Some of the Hebrew men left their wives. Others stayed. The women who stayed stopped giving birth at home. When a woman's time came she walked out into the open country, delivered the child in a field, left it lying there and went back to the house.

An angel came down to each one. He washed the child, rubbed it with oil, wrapped it, and put two smooth stones into its hands, and the baby sucked milk out of one and honey out of the other. Then its hair grew down to its knees so that it had something to cover itself with. And when the officers came looking, the ground opened and took the children in and held them under until they had grown, and then opened again and let them come up out of the soil like grass, and each one walked off across the fields and found its own father's house.

The Egyptians worked out what was under their feet. They came out with their oxen and their ploughshares and ploughed the fields the way a man ploughs at sowing time, up and down, and could not reach them. The people went on increasing.

So the officers went daily into Goshen instead, and when they found a boy they took him out of his mother's arms and carried him to the Nile. A generation of them went into that water while their sisters were left alone.

The Crown on the Wrong Head

Three years later Pharaoh was at a banquet with Alparanith the queen on his right and his daughter Bathia on his left, and the boy she had pulled out of the water lying against her. Balaam sat at the table with his two sons. The princes of the kingdom filled the rest of it.

The child reached across, took the crown off the king's head, and put it on his own.

The room stopped. Men turned to the man next to them with nothing to say. Pharaoh looked around the table and asked what the judgment should be.

Balaam stood up. "Remember the dream. This is a Hebrew child with the spirit of God in him and he did not do that by accident. Their whole family works this way. Abraham fooled Nimrod's army and fooled Abimelech and called his wife his sister to trick Egypt. Isaac did the same at Gerar. Jacob took his brother's birthright and his blessing and stripped Laban of his cattle and ran. Their sons sold their own brother into this country and he ended up running it. Now this one has risen up in their place and has chosen the kingdom of Egypt for himself. Spill his blood on the ground while he is small."

Then Balaam asked for the wise men of Egypt to be called in to confirm the sentence, and they came, and an angel of the Lord walked in among them wearing the face of one of them and nobody counted heads.

The angel spoke last. "Set two things in front of the child. An onyx stone and a live coal. If he reaches for the stone he knew what he was doing and he should die. If he reaches for the coal he is a baby."

They brought the onyx and the coal and put the boy down in front of them. His hand went out toward the onyx. The angel took him by the wrist and moved his hand onto the coal, and the coal went dead in his fist, and he lifted it and put it in his mouth. It burned part of his lips and part of his tongue, and it never healed right. He was heavy in the mouth and heavy in the tongue for the rest of his life.

Pharaoh and his princes watched a baby eat fire and agreed among themselves that he had not known what a crown was.

The Day He Went and Asked For

Moses grew up in the palace dressed in purple among the king's own children. Every day he walked down into Goshen, and he watched men working out of breath, and he asked them why the labor was measured out to them like that. They told him everything. The dream. The scales. The river. The counsel Balaam had given, and what Balaam had said at the banquet about spilling his blood.

After that Moses hunted him. He waited for him day after day, and Balaam knew it, and Balaam and his two sons got out of Egypt and ran to the king of Cush.

Then Moses went in to Pharaoh, bowed, and asked for one thing. "Give your servants the children of Israel in Goshen one day to rest from their work."

Pharaoh granted it, and had it proclaimed through Egypt and Goshen: six days you shall labor, and on the seventh day you shall not perform any work, as the king and Moses son of Bathia have commanded.

MosesProphecyEgyptPharaohExodusMiraclesHeavenAngelsMetatronFireLegends Of The Jews
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From the tradition

Sources

3 sources

The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Legends of the Jews 2:261-263Legends of the Jews

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909) · Public Domain

Amram, Moses’s father, wasn't just any man. He was a skilled doctor, so renowned that he served Pharaoh himself! The text in Tree of Souls tells us of his wisdom, and of God's hand in his life. But, as always, shadows lurked. A sorcerer named Pilti, skilled in reading the Book of Signs, foresaw a monumental shift. He saw the rise of a child who would liberate the Israelites from their suffering, but also bring turmoil to the Egyptian kingdom. – imagine having the weight of destiny revealed to you in a vision.

Pilti warned Pharaoh of an ascending "star of Israel," a sign of impending doom for Egypt. According to this sorcerer’s visions, this "liberator of the Jews" would be cast into the sea, and through him, the entire people of Israel would cross the parted waters. Pharaoh, understandably terrified, flew into a rage. For forty days, he forbade the Israelite men from being with their wives, hoping to prevent the birth of this prophesied liberator.

Even Amram was banished from his own home, forced to remain within the palace. But can human decrees truly stand against the will of God? The answer, as we know, is a resounding no.

One night, Amram and his wife, Jochebed, managed to meet. In secret, they conceived a child. When Pilti saw the signs – a star blazing with the child’s future – he knew that Pharaoh's efforts were in vain. The wheels of destiny were already turning.

Fueled by desperation, Pharaoh issued a horrific decree: every Hebrew boy born should be cast into the Nile River, while the girls would be spared. Talk about a brutal attempt to control fate. But the midwives, fearing God more than Pharaoh, secretly defied the order, allowing the male children to live.

As the Israelites continued to multiply, Pharaoh intensified his oppression. But the people found ways to resist. When a Hebrew woman was about to give birth, she would retreat into the wilderness. If the child was a girl, they would return openly. But if it was a boy, he was left in the wilderness, where, according to the story, God miraculously protected him, even providing honey from the rocks to sustain him. These children, raised in the wild, developed an unwavering faith in God, never forgetting how they were saved.

Finally, in the seventh month, the great prophet Moses was born. And, as the story goes, God declared to the celestial hosts that this was the child for whom the world itself was created! This detail, almost casually dropped, emphasizes the immense significance of Moses's arrival.

A baby born into a world of danger and oppression, destined for greatness. A reminder that even in the darkest of times, hope – and the promise of liberation – can be born.

Full source
Jasher 70Book of Jasher

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Book of Jasher, J. H. Parry edition (1887) · Public Domain

The familiar story centers on his dramatic rescue as a baby, floating down the Nile in a basket. But what happened next, after he was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter? The Book of Jasher, an ancient Hebrew text of uncertain origin, fills in some fascinating details, painting a vivid picture of Moses's early years.

In Jasher, in the third year after Moses's birth, a rather… eventful banquet took place. Pharaoh was holding court, with his queen Alparanith on one side and Bathia, Moses’s adoptive mother, on the other. The young Moses was there, nestled in Bathia's lap. And then, something extraordinary happened: the toddler reached out and grabbed the crown right off Pharaoh's head, placing it on his own!

The scene! The king and princes were, understandably, terrified. What did this mean? Was this an omen? They turned to Balaam, the son of Beor, a well-known magician, for his interpretation. Remember Balaam? He pops up later in the Torah, too.

Balaam, ever the opportunist, seized the moment. He warned Pharaoh that this was no accident. "This is a Hebrew boy," he declared, "in whom is the spirit of God!" He went on to accuse the Hebrews of a long history of trickery, citing Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as examples of those who "deceived kings" to get their way. He even brought up Joseph, saying the Hebrews bought the Egyptians as slaves. Balaam's solution? Kill the boy before he grows up and takes over the kingdom. But Pharaoh, thankfully, didn't immediately order Moses's execution. Instead, he consulted with the wise men of Egypt. Now, here’s where things get interesting. An angel of the Lord, disguised as one of the wise men, suggested a test. They proposed placing an onyx stone and a burning coal before the child. If Moses reached for the onyx, it would prove he acted with knowledge and should be put to death. But if he grabbed the coal, it would indicate he didn't understand what he was doing, and his life should be spared.

So, they presented the items to Moses. He instinctively reached for the onyx, but the angel intervened, guiding his hand to the burning coal. Moses grabbed the coal, burning his mouth and tongue. This explains, according to Jasher, why Moses later had a speech impediment.

The king and princes, seeing this, concluded that Moses hadn't acted deliberately, and spared his life. Moses remained in Pharaoh's house, growing up in royal purple, favored by Bathia and feared by the Egyptians.

But Moses didn't forget his people. He visited them in Goshen, the land where the Israelites were living, and witnessed their suffering under Pharaoh's harsh rule. He learned about the cruel decrees and the evil counsel of Balaam. This, understandably, ignited his anger. He sought to kill Balaam, who, fearing for his life, fled to the land of Cush.

One day, Moses approached Pharaoh with a humble request: "Let there be given unto thy servants the children of Israel who are in Goshen, one day to rest therein from their labor." And Pharaoh, remarkably, agreed! He issued a proclamation granting the Israelites a day of rest every seventh day.

Jasher tells us that "this thing was from the Lord to the children of Israel, for the Lord had begun to remember the children of Israel to save them for the sake of their fathers." This act of compassion, securing a day of rest for his brethren, marked the beginning of Moses's journey toward becoming the leader who would ultimately lead them out of slavery. And it all started with a toddler, a crown, and a burning coal.

What do you think this story adds to our understanding of Moses's character and his eventual role as the liberator of the Israelites?

Full source
Jasher 67Book of Jasher

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Book of Jasher, J. H. Parry edition (1887) · Public Domain

There are so many fascinating texts that offer different perspectives and details on familiar narratives. a chapter from one of these books: the Book of Jasher. Specifically, we'll be looking at Chapter 67, which gives us its own take on the events leading up to the birth of Moses.

The chapter begins by setting the stage with Amram, a man from the tribe of Levi, marrying Jochebed. Now, here's a detail you don't often hear: Jasher tells us Jochebed was 126 years old when they married! From this union, Miriam is born, her name a reflection of the bitterness (maror) the Israelites were experiencing under Egyptian rule. Then comes Aaron, born at a time when Pharaoh's cruelty was reaching new heights, with the spilling of Israelite children's blood.

Before we get to Moses, the Book of Jasher takes a detour, introducing us to some other players. We hear of the death of Zepho, king of Chittim, and the ascension of Janeas to the throne. And then – get this – Balaam, yes, that Balaam, the one with the talking donkey in the Book of Numbers, enters the scene. According to Jasher, Balaam flees from Chittim to Egypt and becomes a highly honored counselor to Pharaoh.

It’s in Pharaoh's 130th year that he has a disturbing dream. He sees an old man with merchant's scales. In one scale, the old man places all the elders and nobles of Egypt, bound together. In the other? A milk kid. And the kid outweighs them all! Can you picture the shock?

Naturally, Pharaoh is deeply troubled. He summons his wise men, including Balaam, to interpret the dream. Balaam, never one to miss an opportunity for doom and gloom, tells Pharaoh the dream signifies a great evil that will befall Egypt: a son will be born to Israel who will destroy Egypt and lead the Israelites to freedom.

So, what's a Pharaoh to do? He asks Balaam for advice on how to prevent this prophecy from coming true. Balaam suggests consulting Pharaoh's other counselors, Reuel the Midianite (who some identify with Jethro, Moses' future father-in-law!) and Job the Uzite (yes, that Job!).

Reuel, surprisingly, advises Pharaoh to leave the Hebrews alone, reminding him of the consequences faced by those who harmed Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He argues that the God of Israel fiercely protects his chosen people. He even brings up Pharaoh's own ancestor who took Sarah, Abraham's wife, and was afflicted with plagues as a result! It's a powerful speech, urging caution and respect.

But Pharaoh is unmoved. He turns to Job, who simply says, "Do as you see fit." Talk about unhelpful advice!

Finally, Pharaoh asks Balaam again. Balaam acknowledges that the Israelites have been protected from every previous attempt to harm them. Fire? Think of Abraham surviving the fiery furnace. Swords? Remember Isaac and the ram. Hard labor? Jacob prospered despite Laban's oppression.

Balaam then proposes a truly horrific solution: infanticide. He suggests that Pharaoh order all newborn Hebrew male children to be thrown into the river. This, he argues, is something their ancestors never faced, and therefore the only way to wipe out the Israelites.

And tragically, Pharaoh agrees. He issues a decree that every male Hebrew child born from that day forward must be thrown into the Nile, while the female children are allowed to live.

The chapter then describes the heartbreaking reality of this decree. Some Israelite men separate from their wives to avoid bringing more children into the world. Others remain with their wives, and when the time comes to give birth, the women go to the fields, deliver their babies alone, and leave them there.

But here's where the story takes a turn towards the miraculous. The Book of Jasher tells us that God sends angels to care for these abandoned infants. The angels wash, anoint, and clothe them. They even provide them with two smooth stones, one yielding milk and the other honey! The babies grow miraculously, hidden by their own rapidly growing hair.

When God decides the time is right, the earth opens up and swallows the children, protecting them until they are grown. Then, the earth spits them back out, and they return to their families, flourishing like plants in a field.

The Egyptians, witnessing this miracle, attempt to plow the fields to harm the children, but they are unable to. The Israelites continue to multiply, despite Pharaoh's cruel decree. Yet, Pharaoh's officers continue their gruesome task, snatching babies from their mothers and throwing them into the river.

What a powerful, if unsettling, chapter! It’s a reminder that even in the darkest of times, hope, resilience, and the possibility of divine intervention can persist. The Book of Jasher’s telling of these events adds layers of complexity and wonder to a story we think we know, prompting us to consider the many untold narratives woven into the fabric of our history. How does this version of the story change your understanding of the Exodus narrative? What does it tell us about the nature of evil, and the enduring strength of the human spirit?

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