When Amram separated from his wife after Pharaoh's decree to drown all Hebrew boys, it was his young daughter Miriam who brought them back together. The Spirit of God came upon the girl and she prophesied: "A son shall be born to my parents who will rescue Israel from the hands of the Egyptians." Amram returned to Jochebed, and six months later she gave birth. The entire house filled with a light as brilliant as the sun and moon combined.
But Egyptian women devised a cruel trick to find hidden children. They brought their own babies into Hebrew homes—when the infants babbled, any hidden child would babble back, revealing its location. After three months, Jochebed placed Moses in a basket of bulrushes. God sent a scorching drought so severe that Pharaoh's daughter went down to the river to bathe, where she discovered the crying infant and adopted him.
Moses had seven names. His mother called him Yequtiel—"I placed my hope in God." His sister called him Yered—"I went down to the river after him." His grandfather Kehath named him Abigedor—"for his sake God closed the breach," and the Egyptians stopped drowning Hebrew children. At three years old, sitting in Pharaoh's lap, Moses reached up and placed the royal crown on his own head. Balaam the enchanter urged the king to kill him, but the angel Gabriel, disguised as a courtier, suggested a test: place glowing coals and precious stones before the child. Gabriel guided Moses' hand to the coal, which burned his lips and tongue, making him heavy of speech—but saving his life.
At eighteen, Moses killed an Egyptian who had assaulted a Hebrew man's wife. He fled, and the angel Michael carried him beyond Egypt's borders. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, Moses then joined the army of Qinqanos, King of Cush, and after nine years of siege, the people crowned Moses king. He devised an ingenious strategy: he had each soldier raise a young stork, starve it for two days, then release the birds against the serpents guarding the city walls. The storks devoured the snakes, the army poured through, and Moses reigned over Cush for forty years.
XLIV. (1) There was a Levite in the land of Egypt whose
name was Amram, the son of Qehath, the son of Levi, the
son of Jacob. This man betrothed Jochebed, the daughter
of Levi, the sister of his father, and she conceived and bare
a daughter, and called her name Miriam (the bitter), because
in those days people began to embitter the lives of the
Israelites. She conceived again and bare a son, whose
name she called Aaron (pregnancy), because during the
time of her pregnancy Pharaoh began to shed the blood of
their males upon the ground, and to cast them into the
river of Egypt. When, however, the word of the king and
his decree became known respecting the casting of their
males into the river, many of God's people separated from
their wives, as did Amram from his wife.
(2) After the lapse of three years the Spirit of God came
upon Miriam, so that she went forth and prophesied in the
house, saying, ' Behold, a son shall be born to my mother
and father, and he shall rescue the Israelites from the
hands of the Egyptians.' When Amram heard his young
daughter's prophecy he took back his wife, from whom he
had separated in consequence of Pharaoh's decree to destroy
all the male line of the house of Jacob. After three years
of separation he went to her and she conceived. And it
came to pass at the end of six months from the time of her
conception that she bare a son. The whole house was at
that moment filled with a great light, as the light of the
sun and the moon in their splendour. The woman saw
that the child was good and beautiful to behold, so she hid
him in an inner room for three months.
(3) At that time the Egyptian women took secret counsel
together to destroy the Hebrew women; they, therefore,
went to the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were
carrying their little children who could not speak upon their
shoulders. The Hebrew women then hid their children
from the Egyptians, so that their existence might not
become known to them, in order to preserve them from
destruction and annihilation. The Egyptian women came
thus to Goshen with their children who could not speak,
and when one of them came into the house of the Hebrew
she made her own child chatter in the child's language,
and the hidden child, hearing it, replied in the same manner.
The Egyptian women thereupon went to Pharaoh's house
to tell him of it, and Pharaoh sent his officers to slay those
children.
(4) After that child (Moses) had been hidden now for
three months and it thus became known to Pharaoh, the
mother took the child and placed it in a little ark of
bulrushes, which she daubed with slime and with pitch.
She then hurriedly placed the child among the flags by
the river's brink, while his sister stood at a distance to wit
what would be done to him.
(5j God then sent drought and great heat in the land
of Egypt, so that it burnt one's very flesh upon him just
110 [XLIV. G
as when the sun is m its strength. The Egyptians
were therefore sorely troubled. Pharaoh's daughter went
down by the river-side to bathe, as did all the Egyptian
women, on account of the heat and the drought. Her
handmaids and all Pharaoh's concubines went with her.
While thus occupied, she beheld the ark floating on the
water, and sent her handmaid to fetch it. On opening the
box, she discovered the child. It began to cry, and she had
pity upon it, and said, ' This is one of the Hebrew children.'
(6) At this the Egyptian women by the river came up for
the purpose of suckling it, but it refused to take them.
God wished to return it to the breast of its mother. The
child's sister Miriam then said to Pharaoh's daughter,
' Shall I go and call a Hebrew nurse to suckle the child ?'
'Yes,' said she. And she forthwith called the child's own
mother. Then said Pharaoh's daughter, ' Take this child
and suckle it for me, and I will give thee as a reward a
monthly wage of two pieces of silver;' so the woman took
the child and nursed it. (7) After two years she brought
it to Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted it, and she called its
name Moses, ' for from the waters I drew him.' But his
father called him ' Heber,' because for his sake he joined his
wife again from whom he had separated himself; while his
mother called him 'Yequtiel,' because *I placed my hope in
God the Almighty,' and He returned him to her. His sister
called him ' Yered,' because she went down to the river
after him to know what his end would be; while his brother
called him 'Abi Zanoah,' saying, 'My father separated
from my mother, but returned to her on account of this
child.' Kehath, his grandfather, named him 'Abigedor,'
because for his sake God closed up the breach of the house
of Jacob, so that they no more cast the children into the
water. His nurse called him ' Abi Sokho,' saying that he
was hidden in a tent (or box) for three months out of fear
of the descendants of Ham; and all Israel called him ' Ben
Nethanel,' because in his days God heard their groaning.
(8) In the third year of Moses' birth, when Pharaoh was
sitting at his meal, with his mistress on his right hand, his
XLIV. llj 111
daughter on his left, and the child in her lap, and all the
princes of the kingdom sitting round the table, it happened
that the child stretched out his hand, and, taking the crown
from the king's head, placed it upon his own. The king and
the princes, on seeing this, were confused and exceedingly
astonished. (9) Then Balaam, the enchanter, one of the
king's eunuchs, said,'/ Eememberest thou, my lord the king,
the dream which thou didst dream and the interpretation
thy servant gave it ? Now, is this not one of the children
of the Hebrews in whom the spirit of God is? By his
wisdom he has done this and has chosen for himself the
kingdom of Egypt. Thus did Abraham, who weakened
the power of Nimrod, the King of the Chaldeans, and
Abimelech, King of Gerar, and inherited the land of the
children of Heth and all the kingdoms of Canaan. He
also went down to Egypt, and said of his wife, " She is
my sister," for the purpose of placing a stumbling-block
in the way of the Egyptians and their king. Isaac did
the same in Philistia when he sojourned in Gerar. He
grew stronger than all the Philistines. Their king he
also wished to lead astray when he said of his wife,
" She is my sister." Jacob also went stealthily and
took away his only brother's birthright and his blessing
withal. He then went to Padan Aram, to the house of
Laban, his maternal uncle, and by his cunning obtained
his daughters, his cattle, and all that he had. He then
fled to the land of Canaan. (10) His sons again sold Joseph
into Egypt, where he was put in prison for two years, until
the Pharaoh before thee dreamt dreams. He was then
taken from prison and appointed over the princes of Egypt,
on account of the interpretation of these dreams. When
God brought a famine upon the land he brought his father
and his brothers to Egypt. He maintained them without
paying for it, and us he bought for slaves. If, now, it seems
good to the king, let us shed the blood of this child, lest,
when he grows up, he take the kingdom from thy hands,
and Egypt perish.'
(11) God at that moment sent one of his angels, named
112 [XLIV. 12
Gabriel, who assumed the form of one of them. ' If
it pleaseth the king,' said the angel, ' let onyx stones and
live-coals be brought and placed before the child, and
it shall come to pass, if he stretches forth his hand to
the coals, then know that he has not done this by his
wisdom, and let him live.' This thing being good in the
eyes of the king and the princes, they acted according to
the word of the angel, and they brought him the onyx and
the coals. The angel then placed the child's hand near
the coal so that his fingers touched it. He lifted it to his
mouth and burnt his lips and his tongue, so that he became
heavy of speech. The king and the princes then desisted
from killing the child. (12) He lived for fifteen years
afterwards in the king's palace, clothed in garments of
purple, for he was reared together with the king's sons.
When he was in his eighteenth year the lad longed for his
parents, and consequently went to them. He went out to
his brethren in the field and looked upon their burdens. He
there saw an Egyptian smite one of his Hebrew brethren.
When the man that was beaten saw Moses he ran to him
for help, for Moses was a greatly-honoured man in
Pharaoh's house. He said to him, '0 my Lord, this
Egyptian came into my house in the night and, binding me
with cords, went to my wife in my very presence, and he
now seeks my life.' When Moses heard this evil deed he
was exceedingly angry, and, turning this way and that to
see that nobody was looking, he smote the Egyptian and
hid him in the sand. He thus saved the Hebrew from the
hand of the Egyptian. (13) Moses then returned to the
palace, and the Hebrew to his house. When the man
returned to his house he told his wife that he wished to
divorce her, because it was not right for one of the house of
Jacob to lie with his wife after she had been defiled. So
the woman went out and told her brothers, who thereupon
sought to kill him, but he fled into his house, and thus
escaped.
(14) On the next day Moses went out to his brethren, and,
seeing that some were quarrelling, he said to the wicked
one, ' Why dost thou beat thy neighbour ?' But one of
them retorted, * Who made thee to be a prmce and judge
over us ? Wilt thou slay us as thou didst slay the
Egyptian?' Moses by this perceived that the thing was
already known. (15) Pharaoh immediately got to hear of
it, and ordered Mo'ses to be slain. But God sent Michael,
the captain of His heavenly host, in the likeness of the
chief butcher (slayer). He then took his sword and severed
the head of the chief butcher, for his face was changed to
the exact likeness of Moses. The angel then took hold of
Moses' hand, and, bringing him forth from Egypt, placed
him outside its border, a distance of forty days' journey.
But Aaron yet remained in Egypt, who prophesied to the
Israelites in the midst of the Egyptians, saying, ' Cast away
from you the abominations of the Egyptians, and do not
defile yourselves with their idols.' But the Israelites
rebelled and would not listen. The Lord then said that
He would have destroyed them, were it not that He remem-
bered the covenant He had made with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. But the hand of Pharaoh was constantly becoming
heavier upon the Israelites, so that he persecuted and
oppressed them until God sent forth His word and
redeemed them.
XLY. (1) At that time a war broke out between Cush
on the one side and the people of Qedem (East) and Syria
on the other; for these rebelled against the King of Cush.
Qinqanos, King of Cush, then went out to war against the
other two nations, and smote Syria and the East. He took
many captives and made them submit to Cush. (2) When
Qinqanos went out to war against Syria and the people of
the East he left behind Bala am the enchanter, i.e,, Laban
the Aramean, who came from Caphtor, together with his
two sons, Janis and Jambris, to guard the city and the
poor people. But Bala'am counselled the people to rebel
against Qinqanos, so that he should not be able to come
into the city. The people, Hstening to him, swore to
act accordingly. Him they made king over them, and
his two sons they appointed as captains of the host of
114 [XLV. 3
the people. On two sides of the city they raised very
high walls, while on the third side they dug an innumer-
able number of pits between the city and the river that
surrounds the whole land of Gush, and from there the
people drew into them the waters of the river. On the
fourth side they collected by their wiles and witchcraft an
immense number of serpents, so that no one could approach
them.
(3) When the king and all the captains of the army
returned from the war and saw the very high walls of the
cit}^ they were greatly astonished, and said, ' Behold, wdiile
we have been detained at w^ar, they have built walls to the
city and strengthened themselves to prevent the Canaanitish
kings from waging war against them.' But w4ien they came
near the city and discovered that the gates were closed, they
shouted to the keepers, ' Open the gates for us, that w^e may
enter the city.' But they refused to open them, just as
Bala'am the enchanter had ordered them, and would not
allow them to enter the city. They therefore drew up their
line of battle opposite the gate, and fought so that on that
day there fell 130 men of Qinqanos's army. On the second
day they fought on the side of the river. But when thirty
cavalrymen tried to cross they sank into the pits and were
drowned. The king then commanded them to hew some
wood, which they were to use as rafts upon ^yhich to cross,
and they did so. When, however, they came to the w^alls,
the rafts rolled from under them like a mill, and on that
day 200 men that had gone upon ten rafts were sunk in
the wells. On the third day they w^ent on that side of the
city where the serpents lay, but they dared not approach.
After 170 men had been killed by these serpents they ceased
fighting against Gush. They besieged it for nine years, so
that no one went out or entered the city.
(4) During this siege Moses, having fled from Egypt,
came to the camp of Qinqanos, the King of Gush. He was
then but eighteen years old. This young man entered
their ranks, and was much beloved by the king, the princes,
and all the army, because he w^as mighty and beautiful.
His height was hke the cedar and his face hke the rising
sun, and his strength Hke that of a Hon. He was therefore
made the king's counseUor. It came to pass after nine
years that the Cushite king was seized with an iHness by
which he died, so that after seven days Qinqanos departed
this Hfe. His servants embahned him, and buried him
opposite the gate of the city looking towards Egypt. There
they erected a beautiful building and a very high temple,
and engraved upon the stones his arms and the record of
his mighty deeds.
(5) When they had completed the building, they said to
each other, ' What shall we now do ? If we try to get into
the city and fight there wall be many more of us slain than
before. If we give up the siege, then all the Syrian kings
and those of the East, having heard of the death of our
king, will come upon us suddenly, and none of us will be
left. Now, let us appoint a king over us, and we shall then
continue the siege until the city falls into our hands.'
They then hastily stripped themselves of their garments,
and, casting them upon the ground, they made a large
platform, upon which they placed Moses. They then blew
the trumpets, and exclaimed, ' Long live the king !' And
all the princes and all the people took the oath of obedience
to him, and gave him a Cushite wife, the widow of Qinqanos.
They then crowned him King of Gush. He was twenty-
seven years old when he was made king.
(6) On the second day of his reign they all assembled
before the king, and said, ' If it is pleasing to the king, give
us advice what to do. For these last nine years we have
not seen our wives nor our sons, but have remained in the
siege.' The king then answered the people, saying, ' Be
certain that the city will be delivered into our hands if you
hearken to my advice. Now, if we fight with them, many
of us will fall as at first, and if we determine to cross the
water we shall fare similarly. Now, go to the forest, and
let each one bring a young stork, which he shall keep until
it has grown up and be taught to hunt just as the hawk.'
The people immediately hastened to the forest, and, climb-
8—2
116 [XLV. 7
ing the fir-trees, they each brought the young (of the
stork) in then- hands according to the king's word.
(7) When the young storks had grown up, the king com-
manded them to starve them for two days, and on the third
day he said to them, ' Let each man put on his armour and
harness the horses and mules to the chariots; and when
each man has taken his stork in his hand, let us rise and
war against the city on the side where the serpents are
lying.' This they did. When they approached the place,
the king said, ' Let each send forth his young stork.' As
soon as they did so the storks flew upon the serpents and
devoured them, thus ridding the place of them.
(8) When the king and the people saw that the serpents
had disappeared they raised a great shout, fought against
the city, and captured it, so that each man went to his own
house, to his own wife, and to his goods. On that day
1,100 inhabitants were killed, but of the besiegers not one.
When Bala am the enchanter saw that the city was taken,
opening the gate, he and his two sons fled away upon their
horses to Egypt, to Pharaoh, King of Egypt. These were
the magicians and the wizards, as it is written in the
' Sefer Hayashar ' (Book of the Just = Bible), that coun-
selled Pharaoh to wipe out the name of Jacob from off the
face of the earth.
