The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 44

in Goshen-not perhaps in any great numbers, p. 695). Her ma.idena. Egyptio,n ladies of but still so that no Hebrew felt himself so.fe high rank are represented on the monuments from observation. as attended to the bath by a. number of hand- Ver. 3.~he took for him an ark of bul- me.idens. As many B.!I four are seen in one rnshes. The words translated" ark" and" bul- representation (Wilkinson, I. s. c.). Her maid rushes ~ are both of Egyptian origin, the former is her special personal attendant, the othen1 corresponding to the ordinary word for" chest," being merely women attached to her house• which is Ml, teba, or tebat, and the latter cor- hold. responding t.o the Egyptian kam, which is the Ver. 6.-The princess herself opened the same in Coptic, and designates the papyrus " ark," which was e. sort of covered basket. plant. This is a strong-growing rush, with a Perhaps she suspected what she would find triangular stem, which attains the height of inside; but would it be e. living or e. deo.d from 10 to 15 feet. The Egyptian paper was child? This she could not know. She op~ned, made from its pith. The rush itself was used and looked. It was a. living bo.be, and it wept. for various purposes-among others for boat- At once her woman's heart, heo,then aa she building (Plin. ' H. N.' ..-i. 22 ; vii. 16 ; Theo- was, went out to the child-its teats reached phrast. i,. 9; Plut.' De Isid. etOsir.' § 18, etc.), the common humanity that lies below all dif. as appears from the monuments. It would be ferences of race and creed-and she pitied it. a very good materilll for the sort of purpose to "One touch of nature makes the whole world which Jochebed applied it. She daubed it kin." This is one of the Hebrews' ohildren, with slime and with pitoh. The word trans- Hebrew characteristics were perhaps stamped lated "slime" is the same as that used in Gen. even upon the infant visage. Or she formed :ri.. 3, which is genere.!ly thought to mean her conclusion merely from the circwnstances, "mineral piu:h " or " bitumen." According No Egyp'tian woman had any need to expose to Strabo a.nd Diodorus, that materilll was her child, or would be likely to do so ; but it largely used by the Egyptians for the embalm- was jast what a Hebrew mother, under the ing of corpses, a.nd was imported into Egypt crnel circumstances of the time, might have from Palestine. Boats are sometimes covered felt herself forced to do. So she drew her with it externally at the present day (Ker conclusion, rapidly and decidedly, as is the Porter, Travels, voL ii p. 260; Layard,'Nineveh way of woman. a.nd its Remains,' pt. ii eh. v.); bnt Jochebed Vers. 7-9.-Then said his sister. Miriam seems to have used veget.able pitch - the had wo.tched to some purpose. She h.a.d seen ordinary pitch of commerce-for the purpose. everything-she had drawn near as she beheld Here again the Hebrew word is taken from the "ma.id " go down to the water's edge, a.ud the Egyptian. She laid it in the fiags. take the ark out. She had heard the words of " Snph," the word translated ":fl.e.gs," is a the princess ; and thereupon she promptly modification of the Egyptian tuft, which has spoke-" Shall I go and call thee a nlll'Be of that meaning. W ater-pla.nts of e.!l kinds the :Hebrew women 1" No donbt, all had abound in the backwaters of the Nile a.nd been prepared beforehand by the mother, who the IW1IShy tracts communicating with it. had selected the place and time of the expo- The object of placing the ark in a thicket of sure from a knowledge of the ha.bits and reeds probably wus, that it might not float character of the princess, had set her daughter away ont of 6.ight. The river's brink. Lite- to watch, and-so far as was possible-in- rally, the lip of the rif,er - an Egyptian structed her what she was to say. But Miriam idiom. at least carried ont the instructions given her Ver. 4.-HiB Bister. There ca.n be no with excellent judgment and tact. Sh6 C::d reasorui.ble doubt that this is the " Miriam" of not speak too soon, nor too late. She did not the later narrative ( eh. xv. 20, 21 ; Num. xx. say a word too much, nor too little. "Surely," I), who seems to have been Moses' only sister exclaimed the princess, " this is one of tho (Num. xxvi. 59). She was probably set to Hebrews' children." "She.!l I feu:h thee then watch by her mother. a Hebrew mother to nurse him ? JS the re- Ver. 5.-The daughter of Pharaoh. Pro- joinder. Egyptians, it is implied, cannot bably a daughter of Seti L and a sister ,,f properly nurse Hebrews-cannot know how Bameses the Great. Josephus calls her Ther- they ought to be treated ; o.n Egyptian nurse muthis; Syncellns, Pharia; Artapa.nus, Merrhis, wonld mismanage the boy-shall I fetch one and some of the Jewish co=entators, Bithia of his own nation ? And the princess, feeling -the diversity showing that there waa no all the force of the reasoning, answers in one genuine tradition on the subject. There is short pregnant word-" Go." "Yes," she nothing improbable in a.n Egyptian princess means, " do so; that will be best." And then be.thing in the Nile, at a place reserved for the result follows-" The maid (Miriam) went women. (See Wilkinson, ' :Manners and Cus- and called the ohild's mother." So the toms of Ancient Egyptians,' vol. iii. p. 389.) scheming of the loving mother, and the skilful The Nile wos regarded as sacred, and its water performance of the part assigned her by the u health-giving and fructifying (Strab. xv. clever sister, were crowned with success- OH, IT. 1-10.] THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 2G