The Symbolism and Miracles in Pharaoh’s Daughter Rescuing Moses in Exodus 2:3-5 (Sotah 12a-b)
Part of a series in honor of the upcoming holiday of Passover on the extended sugya in Sotah 11a-12b on the beginning of the Book of Exodus. Previous installments here, here, here, here, here, and here.
The story of Pharaoh’s daughter rescuing Moses from the Nile (Exodus 2:3–6) is rich with symbolism, theological implications, and Rabbinic interpretation. The Talmud (Sotah 12a–b) expands upon this narrative, uncovering layers of meaning that range from the materials of the basket holding Moses to the role of divine intervention in his survival.
The Talmud explores the symbolic choices made in the biblical text and their midrashic interpretations, addressing key themes such as the significance of bulrushes, the spiritual implications of Pharaoh’s daughter's immersion, the miraculous death of her female servants, and the debate over the meaning of "amatah" (her arm or her maid).
Outline
The Choice of Bulrushes for Moses' Basket (Exodus 2:3)
Measures for Moses’ Comfort: Protection from Foul Odor (Exodus 2:3)
The Location of the Basket (Exodus 2:3; Isaiah 19:6)
Pharaoh’s Daughter’s Immersion as Conversion and Spiritual Cleansing (Exodus 2:5, Isaiah 4:4)
The Death of Pharaoh’s Maidens and the Rejection of Royal Decree (Exodus 2:5): Death Language in “Walking” (Genesis 25:32); The Female Servants Oppose the Rescue; Divine Intervention and Their Death
The Meaning of "Amatah" in Exodus 2:5: Arm or Female Servant
The Passage
The Choice of Bulrushes for Moses' Basket (Exodus 2:3)
The Talmud asks why Moses' mother specifically chose bulrushes1 to construct his basket (תבת).
R' Elazar states that this choice demonstrates how righteous people value their money more than their own bodies. Since they don’t steal,2 their own possessions are particularly precious to them (leading them to use inexpensive materials).
R' Shmuel bar Naḥmani offers a practical reason: bulrushes are soft and flexible, allowing the basket to withstand impacts.3
״ותקח לו תבת גמא״.
מאי שנא גומא?
אמר רבי אלעזר:
מיכן
לצדיקים שממונם חביב עליהן יותר מגופן.
וכל כך למה?
לפי שאין פושטין ידיהן בגזל.
רבי שמואל בר נחמני אמר:
דבר רך,
שיכול לעמוד בפני דבר רך ובפני דבר קשה.
The verse states: “And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with bitumen and with pitch; and she put the child therein, and laid it in the willows by the river’s bank” (Exodus 2:3).
The Gemara asks: What is different about bulrushes that she decided to use them?
R' Elazar says:
From here it is derived
concerning righteous people that their money is more precious to them than their bodies, as she took an inexpensive material to build the ark.
And why do they care so much about their money?
Because they do not stretch out their hands to partake of stolen property. Therefore, their own property is very precious to them.
R' Shmuel bar Naḥmani says an alternative reason for her taking bulrushes for the ark:
She took a soft material like bulrush,
which is able to withstand an impact both before a soft item and before a hard item.
She feared that if she would have made the box from a hard material like wood, if it were to collide with a hard item in the water it might break.
Measures for Moses’ Comfort: Protection from Foul Odor (Exodus 2:3)
The verse describes how Moses’ mother coated the basket with bitumen4 and pitch (זפת).
A baraita explains that bitumen was used on the inside and pitch on the outside to prevent Moses, the righteous infant, from smelling the unpleasant odor.5
״ותחמרה בחמר ובזפת״,
תנא:
חמר מבפנים, וזפת מבחוץ,
כדי שלא יריח אותו צדיק ריח רע.
The verse continues: “And daubed it with bitumen and with pitch” (Exodus 2:3).
A Sage teaches:
She daubed bitumen on the interior and pitch on the exterior,
so that righteous person, i.e., Moses, would not smell a foul odor, such as that of pitch.
The Location of the Basket (Exodus 2:3; Isaiah 19:6)
R' Elazar and R' Shmuel bar Naḥmani debate the meaning of "suf" (סוף) in the verse:
R' Elazar interprets it as the Suf Sea (ים סוף - Red Sea), while R' Shmuel bar Naḥmani understands it as a generic marsh (אגם), based on a verse in Isaiah.
״ותשם בה את הילד
ותשם בסוף״,
רבי אלעזר אומר: ים סוף.
רבי שמואל בר נחמני אמר:
אגם,
כדכתיב: ״קנה וסוף קמלו״.
The verse continues: “And she put the child therein,
and laid it in the willows [bassuf]” (Exodus 2:3).
R' Elazar says: This means she placed him in the Suf Sea, i.e., the Red Sea.
R' Shmuel bar Naḥmani says:
She placed him in a marsh,
as it is written: “The reeds and willows [suf] shall wither” (Isaiah 19:6).
Pharaoh’s Daughter’s Immersion as Conversion and Spiritual Cleansing (Exodus 2:5, Isaiah 4:4)
R' Yoḥanan, citing R' Shimon ben Yoḥai, interprets the word “lirḥotz” (לרחוץ - "to bathe") as having a religious purpose:
Pharaoh’s daughter is said to descend to the river not merely to wash, but to “cleanse herself from the idols (גלולי) of her father’s house”.6
To support this interpretation, a parallel is drawn from Isaiah 4:4, where “raḥatz” refers to God washing away sin and impurity from the Daughters of Zion.7
״ותרד בת פרעה לרחוץ על היאר״,
אמר רבי יוחנן, משום רבי שמעון בן יוחי:
מלמד:
שירדה לרחוץ מגלולי [בית] אביה,
וכן הוא אומר: ״אם רחץ ה׳ את צואת בנות ציון וגו׳״.
The verse states: “And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe [lirḥotz] in the river” (Exodus 2:5).
R' Yoḥanan says in the name of R' Shimon ben Yoḥai:
This teaches that
she came down to the river to cleanse herself from the impurity of her father’s idols, as she was immersing herself as part of the conversion process.
And similarly it states: “When the Lord shall have washed [raḥatz] away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of destruction” (Isaiah 4:4). This washing clearly refers to the purging of spiritual sins, rather than bathing for the sake of cleanliness.
The Death of Pharaoh’s Maidens and the Rejection of Royal Decree (Exodus 2:5): Death Language in “Walking” (Genesis 25:32); The Female Servants Oppose the Rescue; Divine Intervention and Their Death
R' Yoḥanan interprets the word “holekhot” (“walking”) as referring to (walking towards) death, citing a similar usage in Genesis 25:32, where Esau says, “I am ‘going’ (הולך) to die.”
When Pharaoh’s daughter approaches to save Moses from the Nile, her female servants object, stating: “Our mistress (גבירתנו)! The custom of the world (מנהגו של עולם) [is that when] a king of flesh and blood (מלך בשר ודם) decrees” a royal decree—such as Pharaoh’s command to kill Israelite infants—should at least be upheld by the king’s own household.
Because the female servants attempted to prevent Moses’ rescue, the angel Gabriel “strikes them down”.8
״ונערתיה הולכות וגו׳״,
אמר רבי יוחנן:
אין הליכה זו אלא לשון מיתה,
וכן הוא אומר: ״הנה אנכי הולך למות״.
״ותרא את התיבה בתוך הסוף״,
כיון דחזו דקא בעו לאצולי למשה,
אמרו לה:
גבירתנו!
מנהגו של עולם
מלך בשר ודם גוזר גזירה,
אם כל העולם כולו אין מקיימין אותה —
בניו ובני ביתו מקיימין אותה,
ואת עוברת על גזירת אביך?!
בא גבריאל, וחבטן בקרקע.
The verse continues: “And her maidens walked along [holekhot] by the riverside” (Exodus 2:5).
R' Yoḥanan says:
This walking is nothing other than the terminology of going toward death,
and similarly it states: “Behold, I am going [holekh] to die” (Genesis 25:32).
The verse continues: “And she saw the ark among the willows” (Exodus 2:5).
Once her maidens saw that the daughter of Pharaoh was intending to save Moses,
they said to her:
Our mistress!
the custom of the world is that
when a king of flesh and blood decrees a decree,
even if all the world does not fulfill it,
at least his children and members of his household fulfill it,
and yet you are violating the decree of your father?!
After the maidens tried to convince her not to save Moses, the angel Gabriel came and beat them to the ground and they died.
The Meaning of "Amatah" in Exodus 2:5: Arm or Female Servant
R' Yehuda and R' Neḥemya disagree on the meaning of "amatah" (אמתה - “her ‘amah’ “) in the verse "And she sent her amah to take it" (Exodus 2:5):
One interprets it as her arm, while the other understands it as her female servant.9
״ותשלח את אמתה ותקחה״.
רבי יהודה ורבי נחמיה:
חד אמר: ידה,
וחד אמר: שפחתה.
The verse concludes: “And she sent amatah to take it” (Exodus 2:5).
R' Yehuda and R' Neḥemya disagree as to the definition of the word “amatah.”:
One says that it means her arm,
and one says that it means her maidservant.
Literally: “they don’t stretch out their hands (פושטין ידיהן) in stealing (גזל)”.
A wooden ark, in contrast, might break upon hitting a hard object in the water.
חֵמָר. See Hebrew Wiktionary there (at the hyperlink), my translation:
The word appears three times in the Bible, in the verses above. It is clear what it is used for, but its nature is unclear.
It may refer to a group of substances with similar uses. In translations, it is sometimes rendered as "asphalt." In ancient Egyptian culture, asphalt, pitch, and bitumen found around the Dead Sea were highly valued.
The asphalt product was known as ḥeimar (חֵמָר) and was used as a component to strengthen and stabilize other materials with which it was mixed. Additionally, it was used to seal the interior of clay vessels, Moses’ basket, boats, and similar items.
In general, on this substance, see Wikipedia, “Bitumen“:
Bitumen […] is an immensely viscous constituent of petroleum. Depending on its exact composition it can be a sticky, black liquid or an apparently solid mass that behaves as a liquid over very large time scales. In American English, the material is commonly referred to as asphalt.
Whether found in natural deposits or refined from petroleum, the substance is classed as a pitch.
Prior to the 20th century, the term asphaltum was in general use. The word derives from the Ancient Greek word ἄσφαλτος (ásphaltos), which referred to natural bitumen or pitch.
The largest natural deposit of bitumen in the world is the Pitch Lake of southwest Trinidad, which is estimated to contain 10 million tons.
About 70% of annual bitumen production is destined for road construction, its primary use. In this application, bitumen is used to bind aggregate particles like gravel and forms a substance referred to as asphalt concrete, which is colloquially termed asphalt.
Its other main uses lie in bituminous waterproofing products, such as roofing felt and roof sealant.
And see Wikipedia, “Dead Sea“, section “Names“:
Because of the large volume of ancient trade in the lake's naturally occurring free-floating bitumen, its usual names in ancient Greek and Roman geography were some form of Asphalt Lake (Ancient Greek: […] Asphaltítēs or Asphaltítis Límnē; Latin: Lacus Asphaltites) or Sea ([…] Asphaltítēs Thálassa) […]
And ibid., section “Chemistry“:
An unusual feature of the Dead Sea is its discharge of asphalt. From deep seeps, the Dead Sea constantly spits up small pebbles and blocks of the black substance.
Asphalt-coated figurines and bitumen-coated Neolithic skulls from archaeological sites have been found. Egyptian mummification processes used asphalt imported from the Dead Sea region.
Of pitch.
The physical reasoning aligns with what’s known about tar, pitch, and VOCs:
Bitumen (חֵמָר / ḥemar) is a natural tar-like substance, heavy and sticky.
Pitch (זָפֶת / zefet) is more refined and volatile, typically derived from the distillation of wood or coal tar.
Both substances are known to have strong, unpleasant odors, but pitch is indeed more pungent and releases more volatile organic compounds (VOCs), especially when heated.
See Wikipedia, “Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus)“, section “In Judaism“, with slight adjustments:
According to Jewish tradition, in her later years Pharaoh's daughter devotes herself to Moses, and to the Jewish God; she celebrates the first Passover Seder with Moses in the slaves' quarters and for that, her firstborn is the only Egyptian to survive the final of the Ten Plagues of Egypt, and leaves Egypt with him for the Promised Land.
Citing a passage in the Books of Chronicles (1 Chronicles 4:17-18), some have maintained that she is the one who is said to have married a member of the Tribe of Judah, Mered (E.B. see Wikipedia at that hyperlink: “Jewish traditions identify Mered with Caleb, and his wife Bithiah with the princess who rescued Moses from the river.“), and to have had children with him.
Additionally, she is referred to there as a Jew, indicating that she had accepted the Jewish God as her own god.
Furthermore, the rabbis claim that, in the Book of Proverbs (Proverbs 31:15), she is praised in Woman of Valor.
Further, the Midrash teaches that because of her devotion to the Jewish God and her adoption of Moses, she was one of those who entered heaven alive.
בנות ציון - this shows that the verb “raḥatz” can refer to purification from spiritual defilement, not just physical washing.
חבטן בקרקע - “beat them to the ground ”; killing them.
This clears the way for Pharaoh’s daughter to act against her father’s decree.
These two Hebrew words are spelled the same (i.e. homographs), but not pronounced the same (i.e. heteronyms):