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Exodus 2:1-15/2.9.3

3. A man whose name was Amram1, one of the nobler sort of the Hebrews, was afraid for his whole nation, lest it should fail, by the want of young men to be brought up hereafter, and was very uneasy at it, his wife2 being then with child, and he knew not what to do. Hereupon he betook himself to prayer to God3; and entreated him to have compassion on those men who had nowise transgressed the laws of his worship, and to afford them deliverance from the miseries they at that time endured, and to render abortive their enemies' hopes of the destruction of their nation. Accordingly God had mercy on him, and was moved by his supplication. He stood by him in his sleep4, and exhorted him not to despair of his future favors. He said further, that he did not forget their piety towards him, and would always reward them for it, as he had formerly granted his favor to their forefathers, and made them increase from a few to so great a multitude. He put him in mind, that when Abraham was come alone out of Mesopotamia into Canaan, he had been made happy, not only in other respects, but that when his wife was at first barren, she was afterwards by him enabled to conceive seed, and bare him sons. That he left to Ismael and to his posterity the country of Arabia; as also to his sons by Ketura5, Troglodytis; and to Isaac, Canaan. That by my assistance, said he, he did great exploits in war6, which, unless you be yourselves impious, you must still remember. As for Jacob, he became well known to strangers also, by the greatness of that prosperity in which he lived, and left to his sons, who came into Egypt with no more than seventy souls, while you are now become above six hundred thousand. Know therefore that I shall provide for you all in common what is for your good, and particularly for thyself what shall make thee famous; for that child, out of dread of whose nativity the Egyptians have doomed the Israelite children to destruction, shall be this child of thine, and shall be concealed from those who watch to destroy him: and when he is brought up in a surprising way, he shall deliver the Hebrew nation from the distress they are under from the Egyptians. His memory shall be famous while the world lasts; and this not only among the Hebrews, but foreigners also: - all which shall be the effect of my favor to thee, and to thy posterity. He shall also have such a brother, that he shall himself obtain my priesthood, and his posterity shall have it after him to the end of the world.7

 

Exodus 2:23/2.13.1

HOW MOSES AND AARON RETURNED INTO EGYPT TO PHARAOH.

1. SO Moses, when he understood that the Pharaoh, in whose reign he fled away, was dead, asked leave of Raguel to go to Egypt, for the benefit of his own people. (Verse 21) And he took with him Sapfora8, the daughter of Raguel, whom he had married, (Verse 22) and the children he had by her, Gersom and Eleazer9, and made haste into Egypt. Now the former of those names, Gersom, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies that he was in a strange land10; and Eleazer, that, by the assistance of the God of his fathers, he had escaped from the Egyptians. Now when they were near the borders, Aaron his brother, by the command of God, met him, to whom he declared what had befallen him at the mountain, and the commands that God had given him. But as they were going forward, the chief men among the Hebrews, having learned that they were coming, met them: to whom Moses declared the signs he had seen; and while they could not believe them, he made them see them, So they took courage at these surprising and unexpected sights, and hoped well of their entire deliverance, as believing now that God took care of their preservation.

 

Exodus 2:15-25/2.11.1

HOW MOSES FLED OUT OF EGYPT INTO MIDIAN.

1. Now the Egyptians, after they had been preserved by Moses, entertained a hatred to him, and were very eager in compassing their designs against him, as suspecting that he would take occasion, from his good success, to raise a sedition, and bring innovations into Egypt; and told the king he ought to be slain. The king had also some intentions of himself to the same purpose, and this as well out of envy at his glorious expedition at the head of his army, as out of fear of being brought low by him and being instigated by the sacred scribes, he was ready to undertake to kill Moses11: but when he had learned beforehand what plots there were against him, he went away privately; and because the public roads were watched, he took his flight through the deserts, and where his enemies could not suspect he would travel; and, though he was destitute of food, he went on, and despised that difficulty courageously; and when he came to the city Midian12, which lay upon the Red Sea, and was so denominated from one of Abraham's sons by Keturah, he sat upon a certain well, and rested himself there after his laborious journey, and the affliction he had been in. It was not far from the city, and the time of the day was noon, where he had an occasion offered him by the custom of the country of doing what recommended his virtue, and afforded him an opportunity of bettering his circumstances.

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1 Hebrew עמרם, LXX Ἀμβράμ, Josephus Ἀμαράμης. In the Bible Amram’s name is not mentioned until much later (Exod. 6:20). J. Cohen (1993:49) notes the significance of this fact, which makes Amram into a major figure, while his wife, Jochebed, becomes a marginal character. Josephus omits the biblical statement (Exod. 2:1) of the marriage of Amram and Jochebed. Josephus was perhaps troubled by the apparent implication of the biblical narrative that Moses was the first-born child of Amram and Jochebed, whereas actually Aaron and Miriam were older than he. 

 

2 On the word that Josephus uses here, γύναιον, for “wife,” see Ant. 1.220, 1.257, and 2.225.

 

3 Whereas Exod. 2:1-2 states merely that “a man from the house of Levi went and took to wife a daughter of Levi” and the woman conceived, Josephus here adds the motive for Amram’s fathering a child and his prayer to God.

 

4 Amram’s dream is a Josephan addition. The rabbinic tradition likewise knows of a prediction of the birth of Moses, but it is through a prophecy of Miriam and not through a dream ( Soṭah 12b-13a, Megillah 14a, and parallels) that her mother was destined to bear a son who would save the Israelites, who would be cast into the waters, and through whom the miracle of the crossing of the Sea of Reeds, as well as other miracles, would be accomplished. Bib. Ant. 9.10 reports that Miriam had a dream in which God instructed Miriam to tell her parents that through the child who would be born God would work miracles and would save the Israelites. In Bib. Ant. 9.7 there is no mention of Amram’s dream; rather, we are told that Amram’s plan to have relations with his wife and to hide the pregnancy for three months was pleasing to God and that He resolved that He would do wonders through the child to be born.

 

5 Ant. 1.239. In mentioning the bequeathing of Trogloditis to the descendants of Keturah at this point before the bequeathing of Canaan to Isaac Josephus is not following the Bible’s chronological order.

 

6 Gen. 14:14-16, as amplified by Josephus ( Ant. 1.176-78).

 

7 This is Josephus’ addition, perhaps motivated by the fact that Josephus himself was a priest and therefore descended from Aaron, Moses’ brother. 

 

8 Hebrew צפרה (Exod. 2:21), LXX Σεπφώρα, Josephus Σαπφώρα.

 

9 Hebrew אליעזר (Exod. 18:4), LXX Ἐλίεζερ, Josephus Ἐλεάζαρος. Josephus has here confused Eliezer with Eleazar.

 

10 Exod. 2:22 explains the name of Gershon as meaning “I have been a sojourner ( גר) in a foreign land.” Josephus omits the element of “sojourner.” Modern lexicographers derive the name from גרשׁ (“drive out”). The LXX renders גר here by πάροικος, “sojourner,” “alien,” “stranger.” Philo ( De Confusione Linguarum 17.82) renders it by γειώρας, “sojourner,” from the Aramaic word גיורא, the word that the LXX uses in translating the Hebrew גר (Exod. 12:19).

 

11 Josephus, for apologetic reasons, omits the biblical reason for the Pharaoh’s anger, namely the fact that Moses had murdered an Egyptian (Exod. 2:15).

 

12 Hebrew מדין (Exod. 2:15), LXX Μαδιάμ. The Bible refers to it as a land, not a city, located east of the Gulf of Aqaba.