Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

people, saying, Every son that is born you shall cast into the river (Nile), but every daughter you shall save alive.

(ver. 22); which last device was in two respects more audacious and impious than the second; first, because he now, laying aside all shame, showed publicly his despotism against a harmless foreign tribe, which relied on the hospitality

son.

solemnly promised to them; and, secondly, because now the whole people were let loose against the Hebrews; spying and informing was made an act of loyalty, and compassion stamped as high

treason.

CHAPTER II.

SUMMARY.-Jochebed bore to Amram a son, who, after having been hidden by the parents during three months, was exposed in the Nile. He was seen and saved by the daughter of Pharaoh, who called him Moses, and adopted him as her Grown older, he killed an Egyptian who had ill-treated a Hebrew; and when the report of this deed reached Pharaoh, Moses was obliged to flee; he went to Midian, where he married Zipporah, the daughter of Reuel; she bore him two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. A new Pharaoh, who, during the protracted sojourn of Moses in Midian, had succeeded to the throne, aggravated still more the oppression of the Hebrews; their cries ascended to God, who was mindful of the Covenant made with their ancestors.

AND there went a man from the house of Levi, and

took to wife a daughter of Levi. 2. And the woman

1. A daughter of Levi; i. e. one from the tribe, or the descendants of Levi, as the Sept. correctly translates (ik Tv Oνyατέρων Λευί). The names of Moses' parents, which are here omitted, are fully stated in vi. 20: "And Amram took Jochebed his father's sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses" (see Justin. xxxvi. 2). According to the literal tenor of the text Amram, the son of Kohath, was the grandson of Levi, and he married, therefore, his father's sister, the daughter of Levi, or his aunt. Although such alliance is forbidden by the Mosaic law (Lev. xviii. 12), it was,-according to Abarbanel-predestined by the special providence of God; besides, before the legislation on Mount Sinai, such marriages were not unlawful. The Sep

tuagint, however, thought it necessary to translate there aunt with "his uncle's daughter," or his cousin; an unjustifiable deviation from the text, which, however, is approved by Ewald (Antiq. p. 175, note 1). Ebn Ezra remarks, here, what he more appropriately would have re

served to that passage in Leviticus: "Those are not correct, who remark, that the produce of a field, sown on another field thrives, whilst if sown on the same field it does not thrive; for the principal object of these prohibitions is chastity, by which the Israelites shall become a holy nation" (see however, on this verse, Introduction, § 2, i.). According to the opinion of several ancient commentators, as Rashi, Jochebed was 130 years old when she bare Moses; for they follow the tradition that she was born exactly at the time of the immigration of Levi into Egypt (see note to i. 5); the whole duration of the sojourn of the Israelites there, they assert, was 210 years; Moses was 80 years of age at the time of the Exodus (vii. 7); and 210-80-130. But this would imply a wonder by far more miraculous than that of Sarah, who laughed sceptically at the idea of being a mother at the age of 90; and no circumstance is mentioned in our text to indicate that such a miracle took place. More plausible is, therefore, the opinion of Abarbanel, who, rejecting that

conceived, and bare a son: 'and she saw that he was a goodly child; and she hid him three months. 3. And when

1 Engl. Vers. And when she saw.....she hid.

tradition concerning the birth of Jochebed in the literal sense (and assigning to it a symbolical meaning) asserts, that Levi was, at the time of the immigration into Egypt about 44 years old; that Jochebed was born to him 26 or 36 years later, and as Moses was 80 years old at the departure from Egypt, she bore him between the age of 50 and 60, which would not be extraordinary or astonishing. However, this calculation is erroneous, for he computes 210-(44+26+80)=60; but the 44 years, being the age of Levi at the period of immigration, cannot be taken into account, as they have no reference to the birth of Moses by Jochebed, who thus would yet, after this calculation, become mother at the unusual age of 100 or 110 years. This difficulty might simply be removed by the supposition that Jochehed was born 70 or 80 years after the immigration (for Levi attained the age of 137 years, see vi. 16, thus living 93 years after that event): so that Jochebed would have been between 50 and 60 years old at the time of the birth of Moses; see, however, on this whole subject our above-quoted exposition, in the Introduction. The edict of Pharaoh ordering the male children of the Israelites to be cast into the Nile, must have been enforced a considerable time after the marriage of Amram and Jochebed, as their daughter Miriam was at the birth of Moses already an adult virgin (by, ver. 8), and Aaron, who was three years older than Moses, does not appear to have been exposed to any danger at his birth, of which, therefore, no mention is made in our text. According to a tradition that edict was in force during 3 years (See Abarb. on chap. i. at the end).

2. Rashbam justly refutes the usual translation: "and when she saw him that he was a goodly child" for Jochebed, the mother, would have been perfectly as anxious for the preservation of her child, had it been less fine or

less strong. That interpretation would, indeed, almost remind us of the barbarous custom of the Spartans, who killed their children if they did not appear to them sufficiently robust. Therefore, the two parts of this verse must not be brought into a causal connection, but are simply co-ordinate: "and she regarded him, that he was a goodly child, and she hid him three months." We can, thus, not even approve of Rosenmüller's mitigated expression: "Misericordiam auxit, ut solet, infantis forma eximia."

3. The Egyptians used the marsh rush (papyrus nilotica) to make garments, shoes, baskets, and utensils of various kinds, especially boats. "It is distinguished by its cluster of elegant little spikes, which consist of a single row of scales, ranged in a straight line on each side. These clusters are weak, or hang down in a nodding position, and, unlike the rest of the plant, are inapplicable to any useful purpose. The root is about the thickness of a full sized man's wrist, and more than fifteen feet in length, and so hard that all kinds of utensils were made of it. The reed-like triangular stem is about four cubits, or six feet long, was eaten raw, roasted, or boiled, and served as material for boats, sails, mats, clothes, beds, and books" (Pict. Bibl.). It is further known, that the inner rind was manufactured into a writing material, called paper, from this plant. One of the modes of preparing it, according to Pliny, was this:"The fine pellicles, which divided naturally, were slit into flakes, and being laid upon a table, were pressed together, the glutinous juice of the plant binding it, so that when it was dried, it became fit for use."—"The durable qualities of this material have been tested by the discovery of Egyptian and Greek manuscripts, written on papyrus, which can be unrolled or handled without injury, after having been

she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with 'bitumen and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by 1 Engl. Vers.-Slime.

deposited in the cases of mummies or in earthen jars, in the tombs of Egypt, for many long centuries.". Bitumen boils up from subterranean fountains like oil or hot pitch, in the vicinity of Babylon, and also near the Red Sea; it afterwards hardens through the heat of the sun; it is also collected on the surface of the Dead Sea, which hence receives the name of Lacus Asphaltites. It receives its name either from its boiling up from the fountains (see Gen. xix. 19), or from redness, the best kind being of that colour. From this description it will be evident, why we have substituted in our translation bitumen instead of slime, which the Engl. Version offers. The ark was daubed with bitumen from within, in order to protect the child from the sharp bulrushes; and with pitch from without, in order to prevent the water from penetrating into the ark. The chest was placed in the flags (alga nilotica) called by the Egyptians, sari. Pliny, H. N. xiii. 23, describes it thus:"The sari grows in the marshy parts of Egypt, or in the stagnant water that remains behind after the inundation of the Nile. From the root springs up an oblique stalk, as thick as an arm and triangular; it rises ten yards high, and ends at the top in a kind of tuft or bunch of flowers, which are only applied for wreaths in honour of the gods. The Egyptians use the root as we do wood, not only as fuel but also as material for vessels. From the rush itself they make boats; and the bark is used for sails, tiles, clothes, and ropes."-Abarbanel raises the question, why Jochebed exposed her son in the river, thus delivering him up to death, which was the only aim of the tyrant's cruel edict; so that nothing worse could have happened to the child than her own device. Of the four reasons which he offers in reply, one appears especially conclusive: that by

hiding her son longer she would have brought upon herself and her whole family also a certain death, as having contravened the royal decree, without, by all this, saving the child. Ebn Ezra, who, like all old interpreters, sees naturally the special finger of God in the miraculous incidents of Moses' childhood and youth, gives, in his own lucid and philosophical style, expression to this conviction in the following manner: "Deep are the dispensations of God; and who can penetrate into His mysteries! By Him all actions are weighed and ordained in infinite wisdom. It was perhaps His inscrutable intention, that Moses should be educated at the royal court, that his mind might receive the highest possible culture, and his spirit might remain uncurbed by the oppressive and enervating influence of slavery. Thus we read, that he killed the Egyptian, because his noble heart could not see violence and injustice; and from the same generous motives, he assisted the daughters of Reuel against the insolence of the shepherds. And further, if he had always lived among his brethren, and if they had known him from his childhood, they would not have felt for him that respect and reverence which was so essential for the accomplishment of his great mission." In a similar sense writes Schiller (Die Sendung Moses, x. p. 414, 415): "An Egyptian by birth would have lacked the requisite patriotic impulse, the national interest for the Hebrews, to attempt their deliverance. A mere Hebrew, on the other hand, would, under his oppression and thraldom, scarcely have had the energy and courage indispensable for such an arduous undertaking. What device did, therefore, Providence choose? It selected an Israelite, but withdrew him in his early infancy from the miseries of his people, and enabled him to store his mind with all the treasures of Egyptian wisdom; and thus the

the bank of the Nile. 4. And his sister stood afar off 'to see what would be done to him.

5. And the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe

1 Engl. Vers.-To wit.

Hebrew, brought up as an Egyptian, became the instrument by which that nation was redeemed from its slavery." (See, however, our note to ver. 10.)-The history of the birth, preservation, and education of Moses has, on account of its unusual character, been described as a fable and the offspring of imagination. It is true, that similar accounts are given with regard to the infancy of other celebrated individuals of antiquity, as of Semiramis, Cyrus, Romulus, Augustus, and others. But these accounts, evidently replete with adventurous and incredible incidents, differ widely from the truthful narration of our text, which, indeed, contains nothing that even the most sceptical mind can deem impossible, especially if the customs of ancient Egypt, and the circumstances of that particular epoch of her history, are taken into due consideration.

5. And the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe at the river. The Egyptians, especially the women, show their veneration for the Nile, which is held sacred on account of its incalculable importance for the prosperity of the country, by immersing in it at the time when it begins to rise. Perhaps the daughter of Pharaoh went to the Nile in order to perform this religious ceremony. The time would agree with this supposition, for the Nile begins to swell in Lower Egypt about the middle of June, and as, according to tradition, Moses was born on the seventh day of Adar, he was then about three months old. Now, in general, the women were not so restricted in Egypt as in other parts of the Orient. Clarke proposes to take here in the signification of washing clothes or linen, and quotes, as a parallel, the Homeric narrative about Nausicaa, daughter of king Alcinöus, hinting even at the possibility, "that Homer made the Hebrew story the basis of the 6th book of the Odyssey." But the mania of seeking the

2 To wash herself.

Bible in Homer, Plato, Virgil, Plutarch, and almost all heathen writers, who happen to utter any analogous idea, or to relate any like occurrence, or to use any similar metaphor, is now fairly exploded, and is, in fact, so thoroughly uncritical, that we should consider it a waste of time to attempt any kind of refutation; besides, to wash garments is never 7, but (see Ges. Thes. p. 1284).— Josephus, who, like Philo, adorns the circumstances connected with the birth of the legislator with legendary and poetical embellishments, calls the name of Pharaoh's daughter Thermuthis, which, according to Cahen, might be identical with Tomrots, a name recently deciphered on an Egyptian monument. Eusebius calls her name Merrhis. The narration of the Koran about Moses (28th Sura), is a mixture of the statements of Josephus and the Midrash explanations, in the usual incoherent and unhistorical manner of that volume. As a curiosity, we add, that Artapanus represents Moses, as a pupil of Orpheus, and asserts, that the priests gave him the surname Hermes, on account of his hermeneutical skill in the interpretation of the holy books. So busy has the imagination been to shed a fabulous halo round the head of the lawgiver, who does not require fictitious splendour, to be glorious and immortal. From the circumstance that the daughter of Pharaoh came to bathe in that part of the Nile where the child was exposed, it would appear that Amram lived near, or in the royal residence, or that the latter was, at least temporarily, in Goshen. We have already observed (on i. 7), that, on the one hand, the land of Goshen was not exclusively inhabited by Israelites, and that, on the other hand, these might partly have been scattered over different parts of Egypt, and that they assembled in Goshen only at the time, and for the purpose of the Exodus.

C

1

at the river, and her maidens walked by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid servant and she took it. 6. And when she opened it, she saw the child; and, behold, it was a weeping boy. And she had compassion on him and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. 7. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the

6.

1 Engl. Vers.-To fetch it.

She saw the child. Rashbam explains these words thus: "and she opened the ark, and examined the child, and behold! it was a boy, a boy of the Hebrew race, which she inferred from his being circumcised." But it is well known, that, besides other nations, the Egyptians also circumcised their children (Jerem. ix. 25: Herod. ii. 36; rà αἰδοῖα ὧλλοι μὲν ἐῶσι ὡς ἐγένοντο πλὴν ὅσοι ἀπὸ τούτων ἔμαθον. Αἰγύπτιοι δὲ Tερiráμvovтaι. See Bohlen, Genesis, p. 190-196). Ramban observes, more plausibly, that the fact of seeing the child exposed in the Nile naturally recalled to her mind the royal edict against the new-born Hebrews.

7. Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women? that is, a nurse who neither feels antipathy against the Hebrew child, nor will treat it carelessly, for both were to be apprehended from an Egyptian nurse, see ver. 8.

s. It has often been alleged, not without some specious probability, that the holy mission for which Moses was destined, did not allow him to be nursed by an Egyptian woman; but from this point of view his education at the idolatrous court of the Egyptian king would be equally unaccountable. "The princess objected to an Egyptian nurse, from fear that he might be neglected, or even delivered up by her to the officers of the king." Perhaps an Egyptian nurse might even have refused to take care of a child of the persecuted and detested race of the Hebrews.

10. And the child grew, that is, was weaned, which was done among the

2 The babe wept.

Israelites, as among the Egyptians and other Eastern nations, when the child was three years old, see 2 Maccab. ii. 28. Compare 2 Chron. xxx. 16; Koran ii. 233, xxxi. 13. According to rabbinical authorities, however, the child was weaned when it had completed its second year (see Kimchi, ad Gen. xxi. 8); and Morier ("A second Journey through Persia," etc. p. 107) relates, that the Persians suckle the boys two years and two months, but the girls only two years. The day of weaning the child is usually celebrated in the East with repasts and convivial festivities (compare Gen. xxi. 8), and was, in later periods of the Hebrew history, attended with the offering of a sacrifice on the part of the mother (see 1 Sam. i. 24), and is still, in Persia, connected with certain religious ceremonies. See also Mungo Park, Travels, p. 237.— And he became her son, Targum Jonathan renders "he was dear to her like a child." But Ebn Ezra already observes, that he was called her son, because she brought him up; Compare 2 Sam. xxi. 8. "Thermuthis, the king's daughter, perceiving him to be so remarkable a child, adopted him for her own, having no child of her own. And when, one time, she had brought and presented Moses to her father, she said that she intended to make him her father's successor, if it should please God she should have no legitimate child of her own" (Josephus, Antiq. II. ix. 7). The incidental remarks of Josephus (loc. cit., compare Philo, Vita Mos. i. § 3), that "Moses was educated with great care," and of St. Stephen (Acts vii. 22), "that he was educated in all the

« ElőzőTovább »