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Exo_2:10
That he became “the son” of the king’s daughter, or that he was adopted by her, suffices to indicate the general course of his early condition and bringing up. It must not, however, lead us to suppose that, as some fancy, he by this adoption became the heir of the crown. It is indeed very true that there was no Salic law in Egypt, and it was quite possible that the princess, who is said to have been named Thermuthis, might, in failure of male heirs, have succeeded to the throne. But it does not appear that there was any probable want of male heirs to the crown; and it is likely that, although the adoption of a foreign child of a race hated by the Egyptians, may have sufficed to render him the heir to her private estate, it yet conferred upon him no political standing with reference to the crown. We cannot, however, speak with confidence on this point—Indian history having recently afforded some striking evidence of the full equality, in the East, of adoptive with natural rights.
It has seemed to some a difficulty, that so inveterate a persecutor of the Hebrews as this Pharaoh, should consent to the adoption by his daughter of one of the very children he had doomed to destruction. We think it a sufficient answer, that the crusade against the male children was probably over long before the time that the child was brought home, and adopted by Thermuthis. Some, however, conjecture that the princess was married but childless, and was hence led to adopt the Hebrew infant, whom she imposed upon her father as her own son.
One short verse in Stephen’s address to the Jewish council, is our only further source of authentic information; and so far as it goes, it is in conformity with the traditionary accounts of the youth of Moses which have been transmitted to us, and may, therefore, to a certain extent, seem to authenticate them. The words are—“Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.” This certainly implies that he received the most learned and accomplished education which the world could then perhaps afford; and was put in possession, under the ablest teachers, of all the highly extolled and anciently much desired wisdom of the Egyptians. It also intimates that he was enabled to distinguish himself, in some remarkable manner, both by “words” and by “deeds.”
Now, the Jewish traditions which stand on record in Josephus and in the Midrash, are to this effect—
It is clearly stated in Scripture, that Moses was a very beautiful child. His comeliness was such, Josephus says, as excited the pleasant surprise of all who beheld him. It frequently happened, he alleges, that those who met him, as he was carried along the road were obliged to turn again to gaze after the child; while those who were at work by the wayside, left what they were about, and stood long in motionless admiration to behold him, so astonishing were the charms of his infant countenance. Nor was his understanding less remarkably developed. It was much in advance of his years; and when he was taught, he manifested a quickness of apprehension quite unusual at his age; while the manliness of his conduct and demeanor bore promise of the greatness of his mature age.
Josephus, and other Jewish writers, allege that the king’s daughter having adopted Moses, introduced him to her father as one to become his successor in case she were not blessed with children of her own. She is made to say: “I have brought up a child who is of a heavenly form, and of a generous mind; and as I have received him in a wonderful manner from the bounty of the river, I have thought proper to adopt him for my son, and the heir of thy kingdom.” On this, the story runs on, the king took the child in his arms, and caressed him. In a pleasant way he took off his diadem, and put it upon the child’s head; but he threw it to the ground in a seemingly childish passion, and trod it beneath his feet. On this the monarch looked grave, seeing in this boyish act an evil presage for Egypt. This was confirmed by the sacred scribe then present, who declared that this child was born for disaster to the kingdom, and counselled that he should be forthwith slain. But Thermuthis prevented this, by hastily removing the boy; and even the king was not hasty in following such harsh counsel: “God himself, whose providence protected Moses, inclining the king to spare him.”
The Jewish and Moslem legends embellish this comparatively plain statement by informing us that the king commanded two bowls, one filled with Shoham stones (rubies), and the other with burning coals, to be brought; by means of which it would be seen whether the child had acted thoughtlessly or from reflection. If he seized the flaming coals, he should live; but if he took the glittering gems he should die. This was done, and the child, endued with manly understanding, was about to grasp a handful of the gems; but God, watchful over his life, sent an angel, who invisibly, and against the child’s will, directed his hand into the burning coals, and even to put one into his mouth. By this Pharaoh was reassured, and apologized to Thermuthis; but Moses, it is added, was burned in the tongue, and was a stammerer from that day. This last incident is introduced to account for what Moses says of himself—Exo_4:10—“I am of slow speech, and of a slow tongue.”
If the words which the Jewish historian subjoins to this statement may be regarded as supplying authentic information, they are very important as showing—what we cannot learn from any other source—the point of view in which the position of Moses was regarded by the Hebrews, on the one hand, and by the Egyptians on the other. “He was therefore educated with great care. The Hebrews depended on him, and were of hope that great things for their advantage would be done by him. But the Egyptians had doubts of what might arise from such bringing up. Yet because, if Moses had been destroyed, there was no one—either akin to, or adopted by, the royal family—likely to be of greater advantage to them, and who had any pretensions to the crown by oracular predictions, Note: This alludes to an alleged previous prediction of the same sacred scribe who has just been mentioned. Before the birth of Moses he had foretold, that about this time there should be born to the Israelites one who, if he were suffered to live, would lower the power of Egypt, exalt the Israelites, and win to himself a glorious name. they spared his life.”
Amidst all this, one thing is very certain, that Moses was brought up as the son of the king’s daughter. In regard to the ends which, in the providence of God, were secured by his being brought up in the royal palace, it may be observed that, according to the common course of things, no one, either Hebrew or Egyptian, but the king’s own daughter, would have been likely to have dared to undertake, in the first instance, the responsibility of preserving a child devoted by the royal decree to destruction; nor was it possible, humanly speaking; that he should by any other means, in the existing condition of this people, have obtained the high education and training which he thus secured. By the advantage of this princely education, he became a person most accomplished in his temper, demeanor and intellect; and trained in that largeness of view and generosity of spirit which are supposed to result from such relations, and which qualified him to sustain with dignity and authority the offices of ruler of a people and general of armies, which eventually devolved upon him. This education, also—involving, as it must have done, an intimacy with the highest science and philosophy of the Egyptian sages—was well calculated to secure for him the attention and respect of the Egyptians when he stood forth to demand justice for an oppressed race.