EDITORIAL: Bithiah The Great
One important method in Bible study is to keep asking questions as we read a text, and to imagine how the story developed further. The account of Moses being found by Pharaoh's daughter is a classic Bible story- but it begs many questions. Why did this young woman risk disobeying her father? Given Moses' age, how did she manage to survive in Pharaoh's court with an adopted child who looked like a Hebrew and ought to have been killed in babyhood? What kind of relationship did she have with her father? Did he tolerate her sympathy and "compassion" for the Hebrews?
Where else do we read about Pharaoh's daughter? Searching through the Bible, perhaps with the help of a concordance, we come to the references to Solomon marrying Pharaoh's daughter. No great answers there to our questions. Sometimes in Bible study we do draw a blank. And that's a blank. And there's only one other reference to Pharaoh's daughter, hidden away in the obscure genealogies of Chronicles, which we likely skip reading in our daily Bible readings. But there... is the answer. "The sons of Ezrah: Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. These are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered married; and she conceived and bore Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah, the father of Eshtemoa" (1 Chron. 4:17 ESV). Who was Mered? A prince of the tribe of Judah. And, yes, he lived around the time of Moses. So... a daughter of Pharaoh married a Hebrew. A slave. And she was the daughter of Pharaoh. Now we're on to something.
We eagerly look up the meaning of "Bithiah". And we find that Bithiah means `daughter of Yah'- there is an intended tension therefore in the way in which she is called `Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh', especially considering that Pharaoh was thought to be God in Egyptian culture. It cannot be an undersigned coincidence that Bithiah is recorded as having a daughter, whom she called Miriam. It's not very common for the names of daughters to be recorded in the genealogies, so it seems a point is being made. Miriam was of course the name of Moses' sister, who had first introduced Bithiah to Moses' family. Her name in Hebrew is almost the feminine form of her father's name, Mered. Mered had another wife who was from the tribe of Judah: "And his Judahite wife bore Jered ... Heber... and Jekuthiel" (1 Chron. 4:18 ESV).
And then we wonder: Am I the first guy to have come to this discovery? This is where the internet is useful. A bit of research shows that no, others have figured some of this out. Not that getting support from others ultimately matters, for we should be ready to stand with our backs to the world if necessary in believing what we have discovered in the Bible. And "no jewel shines so brightly as the one you find yourself", as Bro.Harry Tennant once put it in talking about Bible study. But all the same, it's some level of human comfort to find we're not completely alone, and in this case, to find that indeed Jewish tradition upholds this connection between Bithiah and the adoptive mother of Moses. And Egyptologists have various theories as to who the Pharaoh of the Exodus was. One of them is that it was Amunhotep II. His coffin decorations appear to show that he had a skin condition- perhaps the boils from the plagues? One stele that was discovered shows that two of Amunhotep II's sons have been "erased". Perhaps one of them was Moses?
It seems likely that many Egyptians became proselytes, because many of them left Egypt with Israel. So Bithiah became attracted to God's people, and decided to forego all she could have had in order to save just one Hebrew life. If nothing else we learn that to sacrifice all for the sake of the salvation of `just' one person is perhaps what we are called to. The woman who could have been one of the most powerful women in the world sacrificed it all, to marry a Hebrew slave- who already had a wife. And presumably she changed her name. She was Yah's daughter now, and not that of `god' Pharaoh. What motivated her? Surely her experience with raising Moses. From the mouth of a child, who may well have been with his Godly parents for up to five years, she learnt more of Yahweh's ways. And she must have got to know the family of origin and been impressed by Moses' big sister Miriam... for she named her own daughter after her.
But the chain of influence didn't end there. For when Moses was 40, he did the same as what his adoptive mother did. At age 40, Moses came to a crisis. He had a choice between the riches of Egypt, the pleasures of sin for a season, and choosing rather to suffer affliction with God's people and thereby fellowship the reproach of Christ (Heb. 11:24-26). He probably had the chance to become the next Pharaoh, as the son of Pharaoh's daughter; but he consciously refused this, as an expression of faith in the future recompense of the Kingdom. Bithiah's example would have been ever before him.
It is worth trying to visualize the scene when Moses was "full forty years old" (Acts 7:23). It would make a fine movie. The Greek phrase could refer to Moses' birthday, and one is tempted to speculate that it had been arranged that when Moses was 40, he would become Pharaoh. Heb. 11:24 says that he refused and chose- the Greek tense implying a one-off choice- to suffer affliction with God's people. It is tempting to imagine Moses at the ceremony when he should have been declared as Pharaoh, the most powerful man in his world...standing up and saying, to a suddenly hushed audience, voice cracking with shame and stress and yet some sort of proud relief that he was doing the right thing: "I, whom you know in Egyptian as Meses, am Moshe, yes, Moshe the Hebrew; and I decline to be Pharaoh". In the end, the wonderful honour would have been given to another man, who became Pharaoh. Perhaps he or his son was the one to whom Moses was to come, 40 years later. After a nervous breakdown, stuttering, speaking with a thick accent, clearly having forgotten Egyptian... walking through the mansions of glory, along the corridors of power, to meet that man, to whom he had given the throne 40 years earlier.
And the path of influence continued to Paul. Paul "counted" the things of this life as loss "for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ" and his sufferings (Phil. 3:8), so that he would gain the resurrection. Moses likewise rejected the world for the same two reasons: the excellency of sharing the reproach of Christ, and from respect unto the recompense of the reward, at the resurrection. He uses the same word translated "esteemed" when we read of how Moses "esteemed" the reproach of Christ as greater riches than the treasures in Egypt (Heb. 11:26).
There are a number of passages which invite us to follow Moses' example in this, so that the path of influence goes yet further. Even within Hebrews, the description of Moses' rejection of Egypt for the sake of Christ is shown to be our example: "Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures (i.e. Pharaoh's treasures, which he could have had if he succeeded as Pharaoh) in Egypt... let us go forth therefore unto (Jesus) without the camp, bearing his reproach" (Heb. 11:26; 13:13). We should be even eager to bear `reproach for the name of Christ' as Moses did (1 Pet. 4:14), knowing it is a surety of our sharing his resurrection. The way Moses had "respect unto the recompense of the reward" is our example; for again, even within Hebrews, we are exhorted: "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward" (Heb. 11:26; 10:35). The Greek for " respect" means to look away from all else; indicating how single- mindedly and intensely did Moses look ahead to the Kingdom; the knowledge of which was, in terms of number of words, scant indeed. All he had was the covenants of promise.
"(Moses) refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; having chosen rather (Gk.) to suffer affliction with the people of God" (Heb. 11:24,25) suggests that there was a struggle within the mind of Moses, between the reproach of Christ and the approbation of this world, and he then decisively came down on the right side. If we are truly saints, called out ones, after the pattern of Moses, this struggle between present worldly advantage and the hope of the Kingdom must surely be seen in our minds. For this reason Moses is held up so highly as our example and pattern.
We too face choices. To take a second job, rise early and stay up late... to advance in our careers. To get more income, to dispose of upon expensive coffees, the latest gadgets. Or in the spirit of Bithiah and Moses to realize, and realize finally and once for all, that nothing else matters now. The hope of the Kingdom and fellowship of the rejected Son of God is worth so infinitely more than any of Egypt's temporary glory. Moses rejected it for the sake of his service of God's people- who for the most part never appreciated him, and turned their backs on "this Moses". Bithiah likewise, gave it all up... just to be identified with God's people. Being the second woman in Mered's life, a Gentile compared to the other wife being a true blue blooded Judahite, couldn't have been much fun. For all we know, Bithiah died alone and feeling rejected in the corner of a Hebrew slave camp, lamenting how Moses was apparently caught up in the good life of Pharaoh's court which she had given up, buried in the hot sand without a grave, a far cry from the glory girl of her teens. But she did it all so as to be connected with God's people, just as Moses chose to suffer affliction with a people of God who didn't want him.
There are brethren who set us a great example in these things. They lost their families because they married a believer and not the one expected for them. Married someone of another race or colour because of their spiritual connection with that person, thus losing the status they might have had within their own culture. They declined promotion in their career because... they wanted to get home each day in time to read Bible stories to their kids. Didn't take out a court case but suffered the loss of so much, didn't answer slander, left God to judge... Spent their spare time and cash going to the Post Office and mailing Bibles to people rather than... tropical beach holidays. Spent their evenings emailing or visiting old, sick, suffering, depressed, difficult or plain awkward brethren... instead of watching telly.
The chain of influence ran from little Moses and Miriam to Bithiah and then back to Moses, through Paul to us today. Our examples have far more power than we ever imagine. Over some issues and at some times, we, like Bithiah and Moses, must stand with our backs to the world. Despised by the world and even by the brotherhood, but so be it. We shall spend eternity day and night serving God... and it would be strange indeed if our lives now were not likewise totally dedicated to the things of the Kingdom into which and for which we were baptized.
--Duncan Heaster
