Therefore the cruel decree ordering the destruction of all male infants was withdrawn, and the miraculous deliverance of Moses became by this means the salvation of the whole generation. In allusion to this, Moses said afterwards to the people when he would restrain them (Numbers xi.): “Verily ye number six hundred thousand men, and ye would all have perished in the river Nile, but I was delivered from the water, and therefore ye are all alive as at this day.”
After two years Jochebed weaned him, and brought him to the king’s daughter. Bithia, charmed with the beauty and intelligence of the child, took him into the palace, and named him Moses (he who is drawn out of the water). Lo! a voice from heaven fell, “Daughter of Pharaoh! because thou hast had compassion on this little child and hast called him thy son, therefore do I call thee My daughter (Bithia). The foundling that thou cherishest shall be called by the name thou gavest him—Moses; and by none other name shall he be known, wheresoever the fame of him spreads under the whole heaven.”
Now, in order that Moses might really pass for the child of Bithia, the princess had feigned herself to be pregnant, and then to be confined; and now Pharaoh regarded him as his true grandchild.
On account of his exceeding beauty, every one that saw him was filled with admiration, and said, “Truly, this is a king’s son.” And when he was taken abroad, the people forsook their work, and deserted their shops, that they might see him. One day, when Moses was three years old, Bithia led him by the hand into the presence of Pharaoh, and the queen sat by the king, and all the princes of the realm stood about him. Then Bithia presented the child to the king, and said, “Oh, sire! this child of noble mien is not really my son; he was given to me in wondrous fashion by the divine river Nile; therefore have I brought him up as my own son, and destined him to succeed thee on thy throne, since no child of my body has been granted to me.”
With these words Bithia laid the boy in the king’s arms, and he pressed him to his heart, and kissed him. Then, to gratify his daughter, he took from his head the crown royal, and placed it upon the temples of Moses. But the child eagerly caught at the crown, and threw it on the ground, and then alighting from Pharaoh’s knee, he in childish fashion danced round it, and finally trampled it under his feet.[[471]]
The king and his nobles were dismayed. They thought that this action augured evil to the king through the child that was before them. Then Balaam, the son of Beor, lifted up his voice and said, “My lord and king! dost thou not remember the interpretation of thy dream, as thy servant interpreted it to thee? This child is of Hebrew extraction, and is wiser and more cunning than befits his age. When he is old he will take thy crown from off thy head, and will tread the power of Egypt under his feet. Thus have his ancestors ever done. Abraham defied Nimrod, and rent from him Canaan, a portion of his kingdom. Isaac prevailed over the king of the Philistines. Jacob took from his brother his birthright and blessing, and smote the Hivites and their king Hamor. Joseph, the slave, became chief in this realm, and gave the best of this land to his father and his brethren. And now this child will take from thee the kingdom, and will enslave or destroy thy people. There is no expedient for thee but to slay him, that Egypt become not his prey.”
But Pharaoh said, “We will take other counsel, Balaam, before we decide what shall be done with this child.”
Then some advised that he should be burnt with fire, and others that he should be slain with the sword. But the angel Gabriel, in the form of an old man, mingled with the councillors, and said, “Let not innocent blood be shed. The child is too young to know what he is doing. Prove whether he has any understanding and design, before you sentence him. O king! let a bowl of live coals and a bowl of precious stones be brought to the little one. If he takes the stones, then he has understanding, and discerns between good and evil; but if he thrusts his hands towards the burning coals, then he is innocent of purpose and devoid of reason.”[[472]]
This advice pleased the king, and he gave orders that it should be as the angel had recommended.
Now when the basins were brought in and offered to Moses, he thrust out his hand towards the jewels. But Gabriel, who had made himself invisible, caught his hand and directed it towards the red-hot coals; and Moses burnt his fingers, and he put them into his mouth, and burnt his lips and tongue; and therefore it is that Moses said, in after days, “I am slow of lips and slow of tongue.”[[473]]