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| | 2:5 |
Pharaoh's daughter went to bathe in the Nile, while her maids walked along the Nile's edge. She saw the box in the rushes, and sent her slave-girl to fetch it.
Vatered bat-Par'oh lirchots al-haYe'or vena'aroteyha holchot al-yad haYe'or vatere et-hatevah betoch hasuf vatishlach et-amatah vatikacheha. |
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Commentary:
Pharaoh's daughter
According to Talmudic tradition, she is the Bithiah mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4:18 (Targum ad loc. ; Sanhedrin 19b; Pirkey Rabbi Eliezer 48). Other sources, however, appear to indicate that Bithiah was Solomon's wife (BeMidbar Rabbah 10:4). Today, this name is usually pronounced Bathyah. (Significantly, the name Bati is found in ancient Egyptian texts). Other ancient sources state that the name of Pharaoh's daughter was Tarmuth (Yov'loth 47:5) or Thermuthis (Josephus, Antiquities 2:9:5). This would be Ne-termut, in ancient Egyptian texts. Still earlier sources state that her name was Merris, (Meres in Egyptian) and that Moses' foster father was Khenefiris (Artapanus [2nd Century b.c.e.], quoted in Eusobius, Preparation Evangelica 9:27). Khenefiris or Kha-neph Ra (Sebek-hetep IV) was a king of the 13th Dynasty. Some say that she could not have children of her own (Philo, De Vita Moses 2:201; Wisdom 19:6).
| sent her slave-girl
(Rashi; Ibn Ezra). Or, 'stretched out her arm' (Targum; Rashi). Both opinions are cited in the Talmud (Sotah 12b).
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