Parshat Vayigash5 min read

Serah Bat Asher, the Woman Who Outlived the Exodus

She appears in Genesis, then again in Numbers a generation later. The rabbis asked the obvious question and found an answer hidden inside a harp song.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. A Name That Appears Twice When It Should Appear Once
  2. How a Harp Song Won an Immortal Life
  3. The Blessing Jacob Gave Her
  4. Moses at Joseph's Tomb

A Name That Appears Twice When It Should Appear Once

Her name appears in the Torah twice, and the second appearance is the problem.

The first time is in Genesis 46:17. Jacob is leading his family down to Egypt to escape the famine, and the Torah lists everyone who makes the journey. Most are men, sons and grandsons counted by lineage. Then, tucked into the tribe of Asher, a single name: Serah. A daughter, a granddaughter of the patriarch Jacob himself. She went down to Egypt as a child.

The second time is in Numbers 26:46. Moses is taking a census of the Israelites in the wilderness, decades after the Exodus from Egypt, and there is Serah again. Same name. Same parentage. Serah daughter of Asher. But if she was old enough to be counted in Jacob's household when they entered Egypt, and if the Israelite sojourn in Egypt lasted four hundred and thirty years, and if this is the census taken in the fortieth year of the wilderness journey, she would be centuries old at minimum.

The ancient rabbis did not see a scribal error. They saw a mystery demanding an answer.

How a Harp Song Won an Immortal Life

The answer begins with the problem Joseph's brothers faced after their reunion in Egypt. Joseph was alive. He was well. He was the second-most powerful man in the empire. But how do you tell a very old man, a man who has mourned for decades, that the son he believed was dead has been alive all along, living in a palace, without that shock killing him on the spot?

The brothers were terrified. They needed someone to carry the news to Jacob gradually, carefully, in a way that introduced the impossible fact slowly enough that the old man's heart could absorb it. They turned to Serah, young and musical, a girl who had Jacob's love and his trust.

Bereshit Rabbah, the early rabbinic commentary on Genesis compiled in fifth-century Palestine, records what she did. She took her harp and went to her grandfather and began to play, and in the music she wove the news. "Still lives Joseph, still lives. Still lives Joseph, still lives." She played and sang it gently, approaching the fact from a distance, letting the rhythm carry the information before the words had to stand alone. And Jacob, hearing it in the music, heard it in a way his body could receive.

The Blessing Jacob Gave Her

When Jacob understood that Joseph was alive, that this was true and not delusion, he looked at Serah who had brought him back from grief and blessed her. The blessing was this: "you will not taste death. You will live forever in this world, because through your mouth the life of Jacob was renewed."

The rabbis read her double appearance in the Torah as the record of that blessing holding. She went down to Egypt. She came out of Egypt. She crossed the wilderness with Moses. She carried inside her the knowledge of where Joseph's bones had been buried, because she had been there, had lived through the original concealment. When Moses needed to find those bones to fulfill the oath and carry them out of Egypt as Joseph had demanded, he did not know where to look. Serah told him. The woman who had been alive for centuries was the keeper of the location.

Moses at Joseph's Tomb

The tradition about Moses going to Serah to find Joseph's tomb places her at a key moment in the Exodus narrative. While the Israelites were gathering gold and silver from the Egyptians in the hours before departure, Moses was at the Nile. He knew where Joseph's coffin was, or he knew who knew: Serah bat Asher, the woman who had been there when Joseph was buried, who had sung the news of Joseph's survival to Jacob, and who was still alive because of the blessing that song had earned her.

She told Moses the location. Moses waded into the Nile and retrieved the coffin. And Israel carried Joseph's bones through the entire wilderness journey, forty years, until they could bury him in the land of Canaan as he had asked. The woman who first carried the news of Joseph's life now stood at the river's edge, having pointed the way to his bones, completing the request he had made before he died. The same hands that had once held the harp had named the water that hid him.

PatriarchsEgyptExodusWomenLongevity
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From the tradition

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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Sotah 13aTalmud Bavli, Sotah

And as a child Miriam would say: In the future, my mother will give birth to a son who will save the Jewish people. And once Moses was born, the entire house was filled with light. Her father arose and kissed her on her head. He said to her: My daughter, your prophecy has been fulfilled.

And once they put him into the river, her father arose and hit her on her head. He said to her: My daughter, where is your prophecy? And this is as it is written: “And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him” (Exodus 2:4), i.e., to know what will be the ultimate resolution of her prophecy. § The mishna teaches: Joseph merited to bury his father, resulting in a display of great honor to his father.

The Gemara begins its discussion of the burial of Jacob by asking: What is different initially that it is written: “And Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt” (Genesis 50:7), and afterward it says in the following verse: “And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father’s house; only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen” (Genesis 50:8), indicating that the brothers of Joseph were second in importance to the Egyptians?

And what is different at the end that it is written: “And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren,” and afterward it states: “And all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father” (Genesis 50:14), placing the brothers before the Egyptians? Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Initially, before the Egyptians saw the honor of the Jewish people, as the Gemara will soon explain, they did not treat them with honor, so the brothers were behind the servants of Pharaoh.

And in the end, when they saw their honor, they treated the brothers with honor. The Gemara explains what honor was accorded to the family of Jacob: As it is written: “And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they wailed with a very great and sore wailing; and he made a mourning for his father seven days” (Genesis 50:10). The word atad is the name of the boxthorn bush.

And does a boxthorn bush have a threshing floor? Thorns are not collected and eaten. Rabbi Abbahu says: This teaches that they surrounded the casket of Jacob with crowns, like this threshing floor that is surrounded with boxthorns, because the children of Esau and the children of Ishmael and the children of Keturah all came to the burial of Jacob. A Sage taught: Initially, they all came to wage war with the family of Jacob, but once they saw the crown of Joseph, the viceroy of Egypt, hanging on the casket of Jacob, they all took their crowns and hung them on the casket of Jacob.

A Sage taught: Thirty-six crowns were hung on the casket of Jacob. This was the great honor accorded to the family of Jacob. The Gemara continues its discussion of Jacob’s burial. The verse states: “And there they wailed with a very great and sore wailing” (Genesis 50:10).

It is taught: Even horses and even donkeys participated in the mourning. Once they reached the Cave of Machpelah, Esau came and was preventing them from burying Jacob there. He said to them: It says: “And Jacob came unto Isaac his father to Mamre, to Kiryat Arba, the same is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned” (Genesis 35:27). And Rabbi Yitzḥak says: It is called Kiryat Arba because there were four couples buried there: Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah.

Esau said: Jacob buried Leah in his spot, and the spot that is remaining is mine. The children of Jacob said to Esau: You sold your rights to Jacob. Esau said to them: Though I sold the birthright, did I also sell my rights to the burial site as an ordinary brother? The brothers said to him: Yes, you also sold to Jacob those rights, as it is written that Joseph stated: “My father made me swear, saying: Behold, I die; in my grave that I have dug [kariti] for me in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me” (Genesis 50:5).

And Rabbi Yoḥanan says in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak: The word kira in the verse is nothing other than a term of a sale [mekhira] sharing a similar root, because in the cities overseas they call a sale kira. Esau said to them: Bring the bill of sale to me, i.e., you can’t prove your claims. They said to him: The bill of sale is in the land of Egypt. They said: And who will go to bring it?

Naphtali will go, for he is as fast as a doe, as it is written: “Naphtali is a doe let loose, he gives goodly words” (Genesis 49:21). Rabbi Abbahu says: Do not read it as “goodly words [imrei shafer]”; rather, read it as imrei sefer, i.e., the words of the book, as he returned to Egypt to retrieve the bill of sale. The Gemara relates: Hushim, the son of Dan, was there and his ears were heavy, i.e., he was hard of hearing.

He said to them: What is this that is delaying the burial? And they said to him: This one, Esau, is preventing us from burying Jacob until Naphtali comes back from the land of Egypt with the bill of sale. He said to them: And until Naphtali comes back from the land of Egypt will our father’s father lie in degradation? He took a club [kulepa] and hit Esau on the head, and Esau’s eyes fell out and they fell on the legs of Jacob.

Jacob opened his eyes and smiled. And this is that which is written: “The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked” (Psalms 58:11). At that moment the prophecy of Rebecca was fulfilled, as it is written that Rebecca said of Jacob and Esau: “Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?” (Genesis 27:45), as Rebecca foresaw that the future bereavement for both her sons would be on the same day.

The Gemara comments: And although their deaths were not on the same day, in any event their burials were on the same day, as Esau was killed and buried on the same day that Jacob was buried. The Gemara returns to discuss the involvement of Joseph and his brothers in the burial of their father: And if Joseph would not have dealt with the burial of Jacob, would his brothers not have dealt with it? But isn’t it written: “For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah” (Genesis 50:13)?

Since it is evident that the brothers were involved in the burial, why did they not deal with Jacob’s burial needs from the outset? The Gemara answers: They said: Allow Joseph to take care of it, because there is more honor for our father to be prepared for burial by royalty than by common people [hedyotot]. § It states further in the mishna: Who, to us, had a greater burial than Joseph, as it was none other than Moses who involved himself in transporting his coffin.

The Sages taught in the Tosefta (4:6–7): Come and see how beloved mitzvot are to Moses our teacher. As, at the time of the Exodus, all the Jewish people were involved in taking the plunder from Egypt, and he was involved in the performance of mitzvot, as it is stated: “The wise in heart will take mitzvot” (Proverbs 10:8). The Gemara asks: And from where did Moses our teacher know where Joseph was buried?

The Sages said: Serah, the daughter of Asher, remained from that generation that initially descended to Egypt with Jacob. Moses went to her and said to her: Do you know anything about where Joseph is buried? She said to him: The Egyptians fashioned a metal casket for him and set it in the Nile [Nilus] River as an augury so that its water would be blessed. Moses went and stood on the bank of the Nile.

He said to Joseph: Joseph, Joseph, the time has arrived about which the Holy One, Blessed be He, took an oath saying that I, i.e., God, will redeem you. And the time for fulfillment of the oath that you administered to the Jewish people that they will bury you in Eretz Yisrael has arrived. If you show yourself, it is good, but if not, we are clear from your oath. Immediately, the casket of Joseph floated to the top of the water.

And do not wonder how iron can float, as it is written in the verses describing how Elisha was able to cause iron to float: “But as one was felling a beam, the ax head fell into the water; and he cried, and said: Alas, my master! For it was borrowed. And the man of God said: Where did it fall? And he showed him the place.

And he cut down a stick, and cast it in there, and the iron floated up” (II Kings 6:5–6). And are these matters not inferred a fortiori: And just as Elisha, who was a mere student of Elijah, and Elijah was a mere student of Moses, as Elijah studied the Torah of Moses, was able to cause the iron to float before him, all the more so would it float before Moses our teacher himself. The Gemara now presents a different version of where Joseph was buried.

Rabbi Natan says: Joseph was buried in the crypt [kabbarnit] of kings. Moses went and stood by the crypt of kings and said: Joseph, the time has arrived about which the Holy One, Blessed be He, took an oath saying that: I will redeem you. And the time for fulfillment of the oath that you administered to the Jewish people that they will bury you in Eretz Yisrael has arrived. If you show yourself, it is good, but if not, we are clear from your oath.

At that moment, the casket of Joseph shook among the caskets. Moses took it and brought it over to himself. And all those years that the Jewish people were in the wilderness, these two arks, one a casket of a dead man, Joseph, and one the Ark of the Divine Presence, i.e., the Ark of the Covenant, were traveling together, and passersby would say: What is the nature of these two arks? They said to them: One is of a dead person and one is of the Divine Presence.

The passersby would ask: And in what way is it the manner of a dead person to travel with the Divine Presence? They said in response:

Full source
Bereshit Rabbah 94:9Bereshit Rabbah

"All the souls that came, etc." and "the sons of Joseph who were born to him, etc." (Genesis 46:26-27). Rabbi Levi in the name of Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman said: Have you ever in your days seen a man give his fellow sixty-six cups and then give him three more, and he counts them as seventy? Rather, this is Jochebed, who completed the count of Israel in Egypt.

And some say: Serah daughter of Asher completed the count with them. This is what is written (II Samuel 20:16-17):

"Then cried a wise woman out of the city... and he came near to her, and the woman said: Are you Joab?" She said: Your name is Joab, to say that you are a father (av) to Israel, but you are nothing but a reaper (kotzer), and you do not live up to your name; you and David are not men of Torah. Up to here have the words of Torah been exhausted? Is it not written (Deuteronomy 20:10): "When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it"? And he said to her: Who are you? She said to him (II Samuel 20:19): "I am of the peaceful and faithful of Israel." I am the one who completed the count of Israel in Egypt; I am the one who delivered the faithful to the faithful, Joseph to Moses.

Full source
Shemot Rabbah 5:8Exodus Rabbah

"And it came to pass on the way, at the lodging place" (Exodus 4:24). Beloved is circumcision, for Moses did not delay over it even one hour. Therefore, when he was on the way and busied himself at the lodging place and was slothful about circumcising Eliezer his son, immediately "the LORD met him and sought to kill him" (Exodus 4:24). You find that it was an angel of mercy, and even so "he sought to kill him." "And Zipporah took a flint" (Exodus 4:25). Now from where did Zipporah know that it was over the matter of circumcision that Moses was endangered? Rather, the angel came and swallowed Moses from his head down to the circumcision. When Zipporah saw that it had swallowed him only as far as the circumcision, she recognized that it was over the matter of circumcision that he was harmed, and she knew how great is the power of circumcision, that the angel could not swallow him beyond that point. Immediately "she cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to his feet, and said: Surely a bridegroom of blood are you to me" (Exodus 4:25). She said: You shall be my bridegroom, given to me by the merit of this blood of circumcision, for behold, I have fulfilled the commandment. Immediately "the angel let him go" (Exodus 4:26). "Then she said: A bridegroom of blood, with regard to the circumcision" (Exodus 4:26). She said: How great is the power of circumcision, for my bridegroom was liable to death because he was slothful in performing the commandment of circumcision, and had it not been for it, he would not have been saved.

Full source