63

Joseph, having called his sons, blessed them all, beginning from Reuben. But coming to Judah, he blessed him as a king, because, they say, he also was justified in the matter of a woman, his own daughter-in-law Tamar, having sinned in ignorance and having condemned himself. Her, being of the family of Abraham, as some say, Er the son of Judah, being a man from the land of the Canaanites, he first did not know her. And likewise Onan his brother also destroyed his own seed of the same mother, being a child of Shua, who also prevented Shelah from being joined to Tamar, being possessed by the same hatred. Levi died in Egypt at 137 years of age, in the 28th year of Amram, the father of Moses. And it was the year of the world 3607. In the 62nd year of Amram, Maria the sister of Moses was born. And it was the year of the world 3724. In the 72nd year of Amram, Aaron was born. And it was the year of the world 3734. But Moses, when he was born, after a period of three months, his parents Amram and Jochebed his mother, having placed him in an ark daubed with pitch by the banks of the river, for fear of the command of Pharaoh, who had ordered that no male Hebrew child be kept alive, cast him out, on the one hand hesitating to destroy such beauty by death on account of his great comeliness, and on the other because it had been divinely revealed to his God-beloved father what would happen concerning him, as some of those from the circumcision have recorded, that he would lead Israel and that he would shatter the dominion of the Egyptians with a divine war. Pharaoh's daughter, having found him by a certain divine providence and being astonished at the beauty of the infant while walking about with her handmaidens in the meadows there, after bringing him to many foreign wet nurses, found that he turned away from them all; but using his own mother Jochebed as a nurse, as if she were a stranger, on the advice 139 of Maria his sister, who was also following along to see what would happen to him when cast out, the stranger is commanded to nurse the child as her own, having promised wages for the nursing, and she renames him Moses after he had grown up past his first age, because, she says, “I drew him out of the water,” he who had previously been called Melchias by his parents. And so this great name was twofold and worthy of the things done by him. For Melchias is interpreted 'king'; and Moses 'from the water' in the sacred language of the Egyptians. The same, having been adopted as a son by Pharaoh's daughter Thermuthis, also called Pharia, who was a queen, and having been trained in all the education of the Egyptians as a queen's son, might rightly be called according to the world 'king from water', so that one might learn about the things afterwards done by him at the Red Sea concerning the passage of the people through it and the destruction of the Egyptians in it, having set aside his upbringing in the palace, and also his success as a general against the Ethiopians, where they say the city of the Ethiopians called Saba was besieged by him and was completely betrayed by Tharbis, the daughter of the then-king of the Ethiopians, the maiden having been captivated by love for Moses. For the divine scriptures and the other histories testify to such great handsomeness in him even before the theophany, that all who saw him would forget and leave behind the task they had in hand. For this reason indeed Pharaoh's daughter Thermuthis adopted him, and Tharbis, the daughter of the king of the Ethiopians, astonished at his beauty, betrayed the aforementioned metropolis of Saba, according to Josephus, which in later times Cambyses, son of Cyrus, captured and commanded to be called Meroe, after the name of his sister. And they say that once his adoptive mother Pharia brought him to Pharaoh, who, taking off the royal crown on his head, placed it on the infant Moses; and the story is that he threw it down and trampled on it. 140 Moreover, the male children of the Hebrews, says Josephus, Pharaoh ordered to be killed, having heard a certain terrible prophecy spoken by a Hebrew sacred scribe, that a child being born would overthrow the rule of the Egyptians. Such a divine grace and power and authority in the palaces of the Egyptians was attached to Moses from infancy until the time of the

63

Ἰωσήφ, προσκαλεσάμενος τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ εὐλόγησε πάντας ἀπὸ Ῥουβὴν ἀρξάμενος. Ἐλθὼν δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰούδαν ὡς βασιλέα ηὐλόγησεν, ὅτι, φασί, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν γυναικί, τῇ ἰδίᾳ νύμφῃ Θάμαρ, ἐδικαιώθη, ἀγνοίᾳ ἁμαρτήσας καὶ ἑαυτὸν κατακρίνας. ταύτην ἐκ γένους Ἀβραὰμ οὖσαν, ὥς τινες, ὁ Ἢρ υἱὸς Ἰούδα,ὡς ἐκ τῆς γῆς Χανανίτιδος, ὢν ἀνήρ, αὐτὸς πρῶτος οὐκ ἔγνω αὐτήν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ὁ Αὐνὰν ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ τὸ ἴδιον σπέρμα ἠφάνιζε τῆς αὐ τῆς μητρός, παῖς ὢν Σαύας, ἥτις ἐκώλυσε καὶ τὸν Σηλὼμ ζευχθῆναι τῇ Θάμαρ, τῷ αὐτῷ μίσει κρατουμένη. Λευὶ ἐτῶν ρλζʹ ἐτελεύτησεν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τῷ κηʹ ἔτει τοῦ Ἄμβραμ πατρὸς Μωυσέως. τοῦ δὲ κόσμου ἦν ἔτος γχζʹ. Τῷ ξβʹ ἔτει Ἄμβραμ ἐγεννήθη Μαρία ἡ ἀδελφὴ Μωυσέως. τοῦ δὲ κό σμου ἦν ἔτος γψκδʹ. Τῷ οβʹ ἔτει Ἄμβραμ ἐγεννήθη Ἀαρών. τοῦ δὲ κόσμου ἦν ἔτος γψλδʹ. Τὸν δὲ Μωυσέα τεχθέντα μετὰ τριμηνιαῖον χρόνον οἱ γονεῖς ἐν θήβῃ κατησφαλτωμένῃ καταθέμενοι Ἄμβραμ καὶ Ἰωχάβετ ἡ μήτηρ πρὸς ταῖς ὄχθαις τοῦ ποταμοῦ, φόβῳ τοῦ προστάγματος Φαραῶ, μὴ ζωογονεῖσθαι πᾶν ἄρρεν Ἑβραίοις κελεύσαντος, ἔρριψαν, τοῦτο μὲν διὰ πολλὴν ἀστειότητα κατοκνοῦντες θανάτῳ τοιοῦτον κάλλος ἐξαφανίσαι, τοῦτο δ' ὅτι προκεχρη μάτιστο θεόθεν τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν τῷ πατρὶ θεοφιλεῖ ὄντι, καθώς τινες τῶν ἐκ περιτομῆς ἱστορήκασιν, ὅτι γε τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καθηγήσεται καὶ ὅτι τὴν Αἰγυπτίων δυναστείαν θείῳ συντρίψει πολέμῳ. τοῦτον ἡ θυγάτηρ Φαραῶ περιτυχοῦσα κατά τινα θείαν πρόνοιαν καὶ τὸ κάλλος ἐκπλαγεῖσα τοῦ βρέ φους ἐν τῷ περιιέναι σὺν ταῖς ἄβραις τοὺς αὐτόθι λειμῶνας, πολλαῖς θηλαῖς ἀλλοτρίαις προσαγαγοῦσα, πάσας εὗρεν ἀποστρεφόμενον· τρο φῷ δὲ χρησαμένη τῇ ἰδίᾳ μητρὶ Ἰωχάβετ ὡς ἀλλοτρίᾳ, τῇ συμβουλῇ 139 Μαρίας τῆς ἀδελφῆς, ἣ καὶ παρείπετο σκοποῦσα ῥιφέντι τὸ ἐκβησόμενον, ὡς οἰκεῖον ἡ ἀλλοτρία τὸν παῖδα τροφεύεσθαι κελεύεται, μισθοὺς ὑπο σχομένη τῆς τιτθείας, Μωυσέα τε μετονομάζει μετὰ τὴν πρώτην ἡλικίαν ἀνδρυνθέντα, διότι, φησίν, «ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος αὐτὸν ἀνειλόμην», τὸν Μελχίαν ὑπὸ τῶν γονέων πρὶν κληθέντα. Ἦν δ' ἄρα διπλῆ τις καὶ ἀξία τῶν ἐπ' αὐτῷ πραχθέντων ἡ τηλικαύτη προσηγορία. Μελχίας γὰρ βασιλεὺς ἑρμηνεύεται· Μωυσῆς δὲ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδα τος τῇ ἱερᾷ παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις φωνῇ. Ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς υἱὸς τῇ θυγατρὶ Φαραῶ Θερμούθιδι, τῇ καὶ Φαρίῃ, βασιλίδι οὔσῃ εἰσποιηθεὶς καὶ πᾶσαν Αἰγυπτίων ἀσκηθεὶς παίδευσιν ὡς βασι λίδος υἱός, δικαίως ἂν κληθείη κατὰ κόσμον βασιλεὺς ἐξ ὕδατος, ἵνα τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα κατὰ τὴν ἐρυθρὰν ἐπ' αὐτῷ πραχθέντα περὶ τὴν τοῦ λαοῦ δι' αὐτῆς πορείαν καὶ τὸν ὄλεθρον Αἰγυπτίων ἐν αὐτῇ τις ἐάσας τὴν ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις ἀναγωγὴν αὐτοῦ καταμάθοι καὶ ἔτι τὴν κατὰ τῶν Αἰθιό πων στρατηγικὴν εὐδοκίμησιν, ἔνθα φασὶ πολιορκηθῆναι τὴν Αἰθιόπων Σαβᾶ καλουμένην πόλιν παρ' αὐτοῦ καὶ προδοθῆναι τελείως ὑπὸ Θαρβῆς θυγατρὸς τοῦ τηνικαῦτα βασιλέως Αἰθιόπων, ἁλούσης τῆς κόρης τῷ Μωυσέως ἔρωτι. τοσαύτην γὰρ αὐτῷ μαρτυροῦσιν αἵ τε θεῖαι γραφαὶ αἵ τε λοιπαὶ ἱστορίαι καὶ πρὸ τῆς θεοπτίας τὴν ὡραιότητα, ὡς πάντας ὁρῶν τας αὐτὸν ἐπιλανθάνεσθαι καὶ καταλιμπάνειν τὸ ἐν χερσὶ σπουδαζό μενον. Ταύτῃ τοι καὶ ἡ θυγάτηρ Φαραῶ Θέρμουθις αὐτὸν υἱοθετήσατο, καὶ Θαρβῆ θυγάτηρ Αἰθιόπων βασιλέως ἐκπλαγεῖσα τὸ κάλλος αὐτοῦ τὴν εἰρημένην Σαβᾶ μητρόπολιν, ὡς Ἰώσηππος, προὔδωκεν, ἣν χρόνοις ὕστε ρον Καμβύσης ἑλὼν ὁ Κύρου Μερόην εἰς ὄνομα καλεῖσθαι τῆς ἀδελφῆς ἐκέλευσε. φασὶ δ' ὅτι ποτὲ τοῦτον ἡ θετὴ μητὴρ Φαρία προσαγαγοῦσα τῷ Φαραῷ τὸν ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ στέφανον βασιλικὸν ἀφελὼν περιέθηκε τῷ Μωυσῇ νηπιάζοντι· τοῦτον δὲ ῥίψαντα καταπατῆσαι αὐτὸν λόγος. 140 Τὰ μέντοι τῶν Ἑβραίων ἄρρενα, φησὶν Ἰώσηππος, ἀναιρεῖσθαι προσέταξε Φαραῶ, δεινοῦ τινος Ἑβραίων ἱερογραμματέως πρόρρησιν εἰπόντος ἀκούσας, ὅτι γεννώμενον παιδίον τὴν Αἰγυπτίων ἀρχὴν καταλύσει. τοιαύ τη τις ἐκ βρέφους τῷ Μωυσῇ θεία χάρις προσῆπται καὶ δύναμις καὶ ἐν τοῖς Αἰγυπτίων βασιλείοις ἐξουσία ἕως τοῦ χρόνου τῆς