Pharaoh has decreed that all Hebrew baby boys must be killed. What's a mother to do? As Legends of the Jews (Ginzberg) tells us, she takes matters into her own hands. She builds an ark – not a massive one like Noah's, mind you, but a small, carefully constructed basket made of bulrushes. She waterproofs it with pitch, but only on the outside, because she doesn't want the smell to bother the baby! Talk about attention to detail.
She even adds a tiny canopy over him, whispering, "Perhaps I shall not live to see him under the marriage canopy." A poignant wish, filled with both hope and heartbreaking uncertainty. And then, she does the unthinkable: she sets the ark afloat on the shores of the Red Sea.
But she doesn't just abandon him completely. Miriam, Moses' sister, stays nearby, watching, waiting. Why? Because she had prophesied even before Moses' birth that her mother would give birth to the redeemer of Israel! According to Ginzberg, when Moses was born, the house filled with brilliant light. But when they were forced to abandon him, Amram, her father, questioned her prophecy. So Miriam is there, on the shore, to see how things unfold. It's a powerful image of faith and familial love mixed with a healthy dose of "I told you so."
The day Moses is set adrift is significant, by the way. It's the twenty-first of Nisan – the same day, years later, that the Israelites will sing a song of praise to God for their redemption from the sea. As we find in Midrash Rabbah, the angels themselves question God: "Will the one destined to sing Your praises for being rescued from the sea find his death in the sea today?" God, of course, knows the whole story.
Meanwhile, God sends a scorching heat upon the Egyptians, afflicting them with leprosy and boils. Thermutis, Pharaoh's daughter, seeks relief in the waters of the Nile. But there's more to it than just physical discomfort. She is also seeking to cleanse herself from the impurity of the idol worship in her father's palace. When she spots the little ark bobbing in the water, she orders her handmaids to retrieve it.
But here's where things get really interesting. The handmaids protest! "Do you desire to transgress your father's edict?" they ask. Immediately, the angel Gabriel appears and, shall we say, persuades them to be quiet... by burying them in the earth! Only one handmaid is spared to assist the princess. Thermutis, now acting on her own, reaches for the ark. Though it's sixty ells away (that's quite a distance!), her arm miraculously lengthens, and she grabs it.
The moment she touches the ark, her leprosy vanishes! It's a sign, a clear indication that something extraordinary is happening. When she opens the ark, she's astonished to find a beautiful baby boy, radiating with the Shekinah – the divine presence. She notices the sign of the Abrahamic covenant and knows he's a Hebrew child.
Initially, she hesitates, remembering her father's decree. But then, Gabriel gives the baby a good pinch, and he cries out with a voice like a young man. Touched by his cries, and perhaps feeling a divine nudge, Thermutis decides to save him.
She orders an Egyptian woman to nurse the child, but Moses refuses. He won't take milk from any of them! Why? Because, as Ginzberg explains, God ordained that none of them should later boast, "I suckled him who speaks with the Shekinah." The mouth destined to speak with God would not draw nourishment from an unclean source.
Enter Miriam, as if by chance. She suggests, "Why not try a Hebrew woman? He might accept her breast, seeing she is of his own nation." Thermutis agrees, and Miriam, quick as a wink, brings back her own mother – Jochebed! The baby latches on immediately. The princess, unknowingly speaking a prophecy, tells Jochebed, "Here is what is thine." She hires her to nurse the boy, unknowingly paying her own mother to care for her own child.
What a moment of divine irony! Jochebed is rewarded for her bravery in defying Pharaoh's command by being reunited with her son and paid to care for him. And by placing Moses in danger, Amram and Jochebed unintentionally caused Pharaoh to rescind his decree against the Hebrew children.
The story doesn't end there. The astrologers tell Pharaoh that the danger threatening the Egyptians from a boy destined to be killed by water has passed. So, Pharaoh calls off the drowning of the Hebrew boys. They think they know what’s going on, but they don't understand the full picture. As Ginzberg points out, the water that will be Moses' doom isn’t the Nile. It's the waters of Meribah – the waters of strife – that will ultimately lead to his death in the desert, before he can lead his people into the Promised Land.
Pharaoh, misled by his astrologers, even ordered the drowning of Egyptian boys born during the same period, trying to be extra sure! But because of Moses' merit, all six hundred thousand Hebrew boys born that night were miraculously saved.
So, what are we left with? A story of faith, courage, divine intervention, and a healthy dose of irony. Moses' rescue from the water is more than just a dramatic tale; it's a testament to the power of faith, the resilience of the human spirit, and the often-unforeseen ways in which God works in our lives. It makes you wonder, doesn't it? What "arks" are we building, what prophecies are we upholding, and what unexpected deliverances might be waiting just around the corner?
Jochebed accordingly took an ark fashioned of bulrushes, daubed it with pitch on the outside, and lined it with clay within. The reason she used bulrushes was because they float on the surface of the water, and she put pitch only on the outside, to protect the child as much as possible against the annoyance of a disagreeable odor. Over the child as it lay in the ark she spread a tiny canopy, to shade the babe, with the words, "Perhaps I shall not live to see him under the marriage canopy." And then she abandoned the ark on the shores of the Red Sea. Yet it was not left unguarded. Her daughter Miriam stayed near by, to discover whether a prophecy she had uttered would be fulfilled. Before the child's birth, his sister had foretold that her mother would bring forth a son that should redeem Israel. When he was born, and the house was filled with brilliant light, Amram kissed her on her head, but when he was forced into the expedient of exposing the child, he beat her on her head, saying, "My daughter, what hath become of thy prophecy?" Therefore Miriam stayed, and strolled along the shore, to observe what would be the fate of the babe, and what would come of her prophecy concerning him. The day the child was exposed was the twenty-first of the month of Nisan, the same on which the children of Israel later, under the leadership of Moses, sang the song of praise and gratitude to God for the redemption from the waters of the sea. The angels appeared before God, and spoke: "O Lord of the world, shall he that is appointed to sing a song of praise unto Thee on this day of Nisan, to thank Thee for rescuing him and his people from the sea, shall he find his death in the sea to-day?" The Lord replied: "Ye know well that I see all things. The contriving of man can do naught to change what bath been resolved in My counsel. Those do not attain their end who use cunning and malice to secure their own safety, and endeavor to bring ruin upon their fellow-men. But he who trusts Me in his peril will be conveyed from profoundest distress to unlooked-for happiness. Thus My omnipotence will reveal itself in the fortunes of this babe. At the time of the child's abandonment, God sent scorching heat to plague the Egyptians, and they all suffered with leprosy and smarting boils. Thermutis, the daughter of Pharaoh, sought relief from the burning pain in a bath in the waters of the Nile. But physical discomfort was not her only reason for leaving her father's palace. She was determined to cleanse herself as well of the impurity of the idol worship that prevailed there. When she saw the little ark floating among the flags on the surface of the water, she supposed it to contain one of the little children exposed at her father's order, and she commanded her handmaids to fetch it. But they protested, saying, "O our mistress, it happens sometimes that a decree issued by a king is unheeded, yet it is observed at least by his children and the members of his household, and dost thou desire to transgress thy father's edict?" Forthwith the angel Gabriel appeared, seized all the maids except one, whom he permitted the princess to retain for her service, and buried them in the bowels of the earth. Pharaoh's daughter now proceeded to do her own will. She stretched forth her arm, and although the ark was swimming at a distance of sixty ells, she succeeded in grasping it, because her arm was lengthened miraculously. No sooner had she touched it than the leprosy afflicting her departed from her. Her sudden restoration led her to examine the contents of the ark, and when she opened it, her amazement was great. She beheld an exquisitely beautiful boy, for God bad fashioned the Hebrew babe's body with peculiar care, and beside it she perceived the Shekinah. Noticing that the boy bore the sign of the Abrahamic covenant, she knew that he was one of the Hebrew children, and mindful of her father's decree concerning the male children of the Israelites, she was about to abandon the babe to his fate. At that moment the angel Gabriel came and gave the child a vigorous blow, and he began to cry aloud, with a voice like a young man's. His vehement weeping and the weeping of Aaron, who was lying beside him, touched the princess, and in her pity she resolved to save him. She ordered an Egyptian woman to be brought, to nurse the child, but the little one refused to take milk from her breast, as he refused to take it from one after the other of the Egyptian women fetched thither. Thus it had been ordained by God, that none of them might boast later on, and say, "I suckled him that holds converse now with the Shekinah." Nor was the mouth destined to speak with God to draw nourishment from the unclean body of an Egyptian woman. Now Miriam stepped into the presence of Thermutis, as though she had been standing there by chance to look at the child, and she spoke to the princess, saying, "It is vain for thee, O queen, to call for nurses that are in no wise of kin to the child, but if thou wilt order a woman of the Hebrews to be brought, he may accept her breast, seeing that she is of his own nation." Thermutis therefore bade Miriam fetch a Hebrew woman, and with winged steps, speeding like a vigorous youth, she hastened and brought back her own mother, the child's mother, for she knew that none present was acquainted with her. The babe, unresisting, took his mother's breast, and clutched it tightly. The princess committed the child to Jochebed's care, saying these words, which contained an unconscious divination: "Here is what is thine." Nurse the boy henceforth, and I will give thee two silver pieces as thy wages. The return of her son, safe and sound, after she had exposed him, was Jochebed's reward from God for her services as one of the midwives that had bidden defiance to Pharaoh's command and saved the Hebrew children alive. By exposing their son to danger, Amram and Jochebed had effected the withdrawal of Pharaoh's command enjoining the extermination of the Hebrew men children. The day Moses was set adrift in the little ark, the astrologers had come to Pharaoh and told him the glad tidings, that the danger threatening the Egyptians on account of one boy, whose doom lay in the water, had now been averted. Thereupon Pharaoh cried a halt to the drowning of the boys of his empire. The astrologers had seen something, but they knew not what, and they announced a message, the import of which they did not comprehend. Water was, indeed, the doom of Moses, but that did not mean that he would perish in the waters of the Nile. It had reference to the waters of Meribah, the waters of strife, and how they would cause his death in the desert, before he had completed his task of leading the people into the promised land. Pharaoh, misled by the obscure vision of his astrologers, thought that the future redeemer of Israel was to lose his life by drowning, and to make sure that the boy whose appearance was foretold by the astrologers might not escape his fate, he had ordered all boys, even the children of the Egyptians, born during a period of nine months to be cast into the water. On account of the merits of Moses, the six hundred thousand men children of the Hebrews begotten in the same night with him, and thrown into the water on the same day, were rescued miraculously together with him, and it was therefore not an idle boast, if he said later, "The people that went forth out of the water on account of my merits are six hundred thousand men."
