For two years the child rescued by Pharaoh's daughter stayed with his
parents and kindred. They gave him various names. His father called him
Heber, because it was for this child's sake that he had been "reunited"
with his wife. His mother's name for him was Jekuthiel, "because," she
said, "I set my hope upon God, and He gave him back to me." To his
sister Miriam he was Jered, because she had "descended" to the stream
to ascertain his fate. His brother Aaron called him Abi Zanoah, because
his father, who had "cast off" his mother, had taken her back for the
sake of the child to be born. His grandfather Kohath knew him as Abi
Gedor, because the Heavenly Father had "built up" the breach in Israel,
when He rescued him, and thus restrained the Egyptians from throwing
the Hebrew men children into the water. His nurse called him Abi Soco,
because he had been kept concealed in a "tent" for three months,
escaping the pursuit of the Egyptians. And Israel called him Shemaiah
ben Nethanel, because in his day God would "hear" the sighs of the
people, and deliver them from their oppressors, and through him would
He "give" them His own law.[57]
His kindred and all Israel knew that the child was destined for great
things, for he was barely four months old when he began to prophesy,
saying, "In days to come I shall receive the Torah from the flaming
torch."[58]
When Jochebed took the child to the palace at the end of two years,
Pharaoh's daughter called him Moses, because she had "drawn" him out of
the water, and because he would "draw" the children of Israel out of
the land of Egypt in a day to come.[59] And this was the only name
whereby God called the son of Amram, the name conferred upon him by
Pharaoh's daughter. He said to the princess: "Moses was not thy child,
yet thou didst treat him as such. For this I will call thee My
daughter, though thou art not My daughter," and therefore the princess,
the daughter of Pharaoh, bears the name Bithiah, "the daughter of God."
She married Caleb later on, and he was a suitable husband for her. As
she stood up against her father's wicked counsels, so Caleb stood up
against the counsel of his fellow-messengers sent to spy out the land
of Canaan.[60] For rescuing Moses and for her other pious deeds, she
was permitted to enter Paradise alive.[61]
That Moses might receive the treatment at court usually accorded to a
prince, Bithiah pretended that she was with child for some time before
she had him fetched away from his parents' house." His royal
foster-mother caressed and kissed him constantly, and on account of his
extraordinary beauty she would not permit him ever to quit the palace.
Whoever set eyes on him, could not leave off from looking at him,
wherefore Bithiah feared to allow him out of her sight.[63]
Moses' understanding was far beyond his years; his instructors observed
that he disclosed keener comprehension than is usual at his age. All
his actions in his infancy promised greater ones after he should come
to man's estate, and when he was but three years old, God granted him
remarkable size. As for his beauty, it was so attractive that
frequently those meeting him as he was carried along on the road were
obliged to turn and stare at him. They would leave what they were
about, and stand still a great while, looking after him, for the
loveliness of the child was so wondrous that it held the gaze of the
spectator. The daughter of Pharaoh, perceiving Moses to be an
extraordinary lad, adopted him as her son, for she had no child of her
own. She informed her father of her intention concerning him, in these
words: "I have brought up a child, who is divine in form and of an
excellent mind, and as I received him through the bounty of the river
in a wonderful way, I have thought it proper to adopt him as my son and
as the heir of thy kingdom." And when she had spoken thus, she put the
infant between her father's hands, and he took him and hugged him close
to his breast.[64]