Texts in Conversation
In Exodus, Moses' sister watches the infant Moses from a distance. In the Exagoge, a retelling of the Exodus as a Greek tragedy, and also in Jubilees, Miriam is given a much more active role in protecting Moses.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 2:4
Hebrew Bible
2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a good child8, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she was no longer able to hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him and sealed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and set it among the reeds along the edge of the Nile. 4 His sister stationed herself at a distance to find out what would happen to him. 5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself by the Nile, while her attendants were walking alongside the river, and she saw the basket among the reeds. She sent one of her attendants, took it, 6 opened it, and saw the child—a boy, crying!—and she felt compassion for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
Jubilees 47:4
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
3 And they cast them in for seven months until the day that you were born. And your mother hid you for three months, and they told regarding her. 4 And she made an ark for you, and covered it with pitch and asphalt, and placed it in the flags on the bank of the river, and she placed you in it seven days, and your mother came by night and suckled you, and by day Miriam, your sister, guarded you from the birds. 5 And in those days Tharmuth, the daughter of Pharaoh, came to bathe in the river, and she heard your voice crying, and she told her maidens to bring you forth, and they brought you to her.
Exagoge 18
Ezekiel the Tragedian
Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry
13 I have often heard my mother tell 14 how she hid me for three months at that time. 15 Then, afraid of being discovered, she wrapped me tightly 16 in rough cloth and secretly laid me 17 among the thick reeds along the riverbank. 18 My sister Miriam kept watch close by, 19 until Pharaoh's daughter came down with her maids 20 to bathe in the cool river. 21 She saw the baby and immediately picked it up, 22 and recognized that it was a Hebrew child. Then my sister 23 ran up and said to the princess, 24 "Shall I find a nurse for this fine child, 25 a Hebrew woman?" The princess told her to hurry, 26 and she quickly told her mother, 27 who came at once and took me in her arms.
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Notes and References
“... Another interesting element is the omission of the basket in which Moses is deposited (Exod 2,3) in Philo and Ezekiel. Because of the elimination of this element, neither of them can accept the version of the story according to which Moses was deposited in waters of the river, but they have to leave the baby on the river banks, in a well protected space (Exag. 17; Mos. 1,10). Philo seems to share Ezekiel's preoccupation in wanting to show that Moses' mother has done her utmost best to ward off any possible danger and to save her son. The indication of the position of Miriam has to be interpreted in the same way: according to Exodus, Moses' sister observes the scene from far away (Exod 2,4), but in Ezekiel and Philo she was nearby (Exag. 18; Mos. 1,12). The Book of Jubilees shows the same preoccupation with the safety of Moses, when affirming: "Your mother would come at night and nurse you, and during the day your sister Miriam would protect you from the birds" (47.7; trans. VanderKam). ...”
Lanfranchi, Pierluigi
"Reminiscences of Ezekiel's Exagoge in Philo's De vita Mosis" in Graupner, Axel; Wolter, Michael (ed.) Moses in Biblical and Extra-Biblical Traditions
(pp. 147-148) De Gruyter, 2007
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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