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Shemos 2 (5 – 11). To escape the decree of Paroh to kill Jewish male babies, Yocheved places her son in a basket in the water. None other than Paroh's daughter discovers him and saves him. Paroh's daughter agrees to Miriam's suggestion that she find a Jewish wet-nurse to feed the baby and the result is that Paroh's daughter is paying Yocheved to nurse her own son. This seems to be a miraculous turn of events. The Chumash makes no mention of the miraculous nature of the incident nor of the feelings of Yocheved and Miriam.

Why is there no mention of the miraculous nature of the incident with Bas Paroh and baby Moshe in the text. Do any of the meforshim speak about it?

Related: Why did Shifrah give Moses back to Pharaoh's daughter?

How did Paro's daughter explain suddenly having a child?

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    Theres plenty of miracles mentioned in midrashim that aren't in the text. The Torah doesn't just say all the miracles. The Shela says the Torah writes things we can learn from on a practical level.
    – Shlomy
    Commented Dec 20, 2021 at 19:26
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    The miracle is mentioned; it is not remarked on by the text.
    – Avrohom Yitzchok
    Commented Dec 20, 2021 at 19:29
  • You're right, every midrash is hinted in the text. The reason why it's not written explictly, the Shela explains since one can't learn from it.
    – Shlomy
    Commented Dec 20, 2021 at 19:33
  • I suggest that we can learn from it. That is that however bad the situation is, Hashem can bring about a salvation. The salvation moreover can come for the most unexpected source and against all reasonable expectations. Who would have thought that Paroh's daughter would pay Moshe's mother to nurse him when Paroh had decreed that all Jewish babies should bedrowned?
    – Avrohom Yitzchok
    Commented Dec 20, 2021 at 19:51
  • You see that concept here more than the rest of the Torah?
    – Shlomy
    Commented Dec 20, 2021 at 21:57

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The verses say that Miriam, Moshe's sister, stood watch to see what would happen with Moshe. When the daughter of Pharaoh pulled Moshe from the water, Miriam suggested Yocheved as a nurse. So it was not so much a miracle as a result of Miriam's dedication.

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  • Right if she wasn't there they wouldn't have just randomly picked yocheved.. still a miracle he survived and was found at that moment and that they weren't able to feed him on their own
    – Core of reality
    Commented Jul 18 at 6:58
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Perhaps, our cultural take on how one should react to miracles may yield misunderstanding of the Egyptians' reaction to the miracle of Moshe's rescue. I.e. while the Torah does not seem to present the situation as miraculous, our tradition tells us that Mitzrim indeed interpreted events of Moshe's rescue as miraculous and attributed him supernatural powers from that moment on. Moshe survived because he was an unusually big child. Because Moshe did not drown in the Nile river (an object of worship), Egyptians felt that he had powers over it. Later Pharaoh considered himself a god and would not speak to Moshe if there was no known supernatural reputation about him, as Shemot 4:16 states literally. Therefore, Torah does indeed present the whole incident as miraculous from its very beginning by noting how egyptians reacted to it.

Finally, we know that daughter of Pharao call the baby Moshe, as the root משה means draw out of water. However, daughter of Pharao could not speak Hebrew, so the question is what does the name mean in Ancient Egyptian language. According to the book "Accuracy of the Bible" by egyptologist Abraham S. Yahuda (section II, chapter 1), the etymology of the name Mosheh is an expression of two words: "mu" - seed, son, child and "sheh" - body of water, pond, lake, specifically applied to water of the Nile river itself. I.e. Mu-sheh - son of the Nile - an Egyptian divine name.

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  • The Jewish-Persian Historian Artapanus states according to some suviving quotes from the greek historians that the "pharaoh Palmanothes who ruled the north (i.e. Middle Egypt) was the father of the princess who drew Moshe out of the marshes and adopted him. When she became of age she married the pharaoh Khenophres, who ruled south of Memphis, who then became Moshe's stepfather."
    – Y DJ
    Commented Jul 18 at 6:12
  • Khenophres, is the well known as the 29th ruler of the 13th dynasty Sobekhotep IV (Khaneferre). His statues are found in Karnak in south Egypt and at the Tanis in the Delta. Based on the changing style of pottery, scholars conclude that 13th dynasty was followed by the 18th in mid Egypt. (for further info see the book "Pharaoh" by R. ALexander Hool)
    – Y DJ
    Commented Jul 18 at 6:13

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