Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

To my knowledge, there are no later mentions of Pharaoh's daughter in the book of Exodus itself subsequent to the account of her finding and adopting Moses in Exodus 2:1-10. However, 1 Chronicles 4:17 (where Pharaoh's daughter's name is mentioned as Bithia) indicates that she married a man from the Israelite tribe of Judah named Mered (thus indicating that she had at some point apparently converted to Judaism), and also had children with him named Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah. Ishbah, in turn, was the father of Eshtemoa. To my knowledge, that is the only other specific reference to her in the Bible.

Aside from the Bible, there are mentions of her in both Jewish and Muslim tradition. According to Jewish tradition, Pharaoh's daughter celebrated the first Passover Seder with Moses in the quarters of the Hebrew slaves at the time of the exodus, and also was later taken alive directly to heaven (rather than dying). She is also viewed by some rabbis as having served as the inspiration for the description of the woman or wife of noble character in Proverbs 31:10-31. 

In Islamic writings (the Hadith and the Quran), in contrast to the account in Exodus, the woman in question (who is there named Asiya) was Pharaoh's wife, rather than his daughter. Also, her servants (rather than she herself) drew Moses from the Nile, and Pharaoh subsequently sought to kill Moses at that time. However, Asiya intervened and Pharaoh changed his mind, allowing the boy to live. Mirroring the Judeo-Christian story, Jochebed (Moses' birth mother) was called to Pharaoh's palace to act as a wet nurse for him but then, her story, as told by Islam, deviates from the Judeo-Christian version once more, with Asiya being tortured to death at the hands of Pharaoh for professing a belief in the God of Israel.

February 13 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report