AND PHARAOH CHARGED ALL HIS PEOPLE (1, 22). Rabbi Jose ben Rabbi Hanina said: He decreed against his own people too. And why was this? Because his astrologers told him, 'The mother of Israel's saviour is already pregnant with him, but we do not know whether he is an Israelite or an Egyptian.' Then Pharaoh assembled all the Egyptians before him and said: 'Lend me your children for nine months that I may cast them in the river, as it is written: EVERY SON THAT IS BORN. YE SHALL CAST INTO THE RIVER (ib. 22). It does not say 'every son who is an Israelite', but 'every son', whether he be Jew or Egyptian. But they would not agree, saying: 'An Egyptian son would not redeem them; he must be an Hebrew. YE SHALL CAST INTO THE RIVER. Why did they decree that they should cast them into the river? Because the astrologers foresaw that Israel's saviour would be smitten by means of water, and they thought that he would be drowned in the water; but, as we know, it was only on account of the well of water that the decree of death was pronounced upon him, as it is said: Because ye believed not in Me [footnote states: "Moses and Aaron were told that they would not bring Israel into the Promised Land."] (Num. XX, 12). The Rabbis say: They took deep counsel so that God should not exact retribution from them through water. They knew that God repays measure for measure, and they were confident that He would no longer bring a flood upon the world, so they decided to drown them. AND EVERY DAUGHTER YE SHALL SAVE ALIVE; what need did Pharaoh have to save the girls? What they said in fact was: 'Let us kill the males so that we may take unto ourselves the females for wives,' for the Egyptians were steeped in immorality.
...Why did they cast him into the river? [footnote states: "Seeing that other women left their babes in the field; supra, 12"] So that the astrologers might think that he had already been cast into the water, and would not search for him. [footnote states: "Sc. the redeemer of Israel, and therefore Pharaoh's decree would no longer be necessary."]
What did she mean by THIS IS ONE OF THE HEBREWS' CHILDREN? This one had to fall in the river, not another; and when they had cast Moses into the river, the decree was rescinded. [footnote states "Since the decree was now rescinded, she was, therefore, at liberty to look after Moses."] This is in accordance with Rabbi Eleazar's explanation of the text: And when they shall say unto you: Seek unto the ghosts and the familiar spirits, that chirp and that mutter (Isa. VIII, 19)-they see [footnote states "In Heb. it is the same root as 'to chirp'. They foresee some of the future, but do not understand the real import."] and do not know what they see, they murmur [footnote states: "Same root as to 'mutter'."] and do not know what they murmur. [footnote states: "A disparagement of Pharaoh's astrologers, who like birds, only chatter, unaware of the significance of their mutterings."] They foresaw that Israel's deliverer would be punished through water, so they decreed 'Every son that is born', etc., and as soon as Moses had been cast into the water, they said: 'Their saviour has already been cast into the water'; the decree was therefore immediately cancelled. Little did they know that he was only to be punished on account of the waters of Meribah [footnote states: "'Strife.'"]; as Rabbi Jose ben Hanina explained the verse: These are the waters of Meribah (Num. XX, 13), these are the waters which Pharaoh's astrologers foresaw but of which they mistook the portent, as it says: The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand men on foot (ib. XI, 21). [footnote states: "This passage, abbreviated here, is given fully in Gen. Rabbi XCVII, 3."] Moses said to Israel: 'You have all been saved because of me.' [footnote states: "An explanation of the unusual word ragli ('on foot')."]
AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES: SAY UNTO AARON (VII, 19). Rabbi Tanhum said: Why did not Moses smite the waters? Because God said: 'It is not proper that the waters which protected thee when thou wast cast into the river should now be smitten by thee. No, they shall be smitten by none but Aaron.'
AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES: SAY UNTO AARON: STRETCH FORTH THY HAND (VIII, 1). Rabbi Tanhum said: God said to Moses: ' The water which protected thee when thou wert cast into the Nile shall not be smitten by thee; hence AND AARON STRETCHED OUT HIS HAND.
AND THE MAGICIANS COULD NOT STAND BEFORE MOSES, etc. (IX, 11). Why were they not able to stand before Moses? Because it was they who had counselled Pharaoh to cast into the Nile every male child that was born, so that Moses should die. [footnote states: "Cf. supra, 1, 24."]
Moses then said to God: 'Behold, he says: 'Who is the Lord?' and does not wish to set them free.' He then said to him: 'Whence do the Egyptians drink?' The reply was, 'From the Nile.' God said: ' Turn it into blood.' Moses replied: 'I cannot; for can a man cast a stone into a well from which he has drunk?' [footnote states: (1) B.K. 92a. Moses, having been saved from the Nile, feels that he cannot smite it; cf. supra, IX, 10."] God replied: 'Let Aaron convert it [into blood].' Aaron went and smote it and it was turned into blood. Why did not Moses smite it? He said: 'Because though I was cast into it, it did not injure me.' On this account, it was Aaron who smote it.
Another explanation: AND THIS IS THE BLESSING. Rabbi Tanhuma said: If [Moses] is referred to as ' God ', why [is he also termed] 'man', and if 'man', why also ' God? [footnote states: "He regards 'man ' and ' God' as being in apposition, rendering: And this is the blessing wherewith Moses, a man, God, blessed, etc. Hence the question."] The reason is this. When he was cast into the river of Egypt [the Nile] he was a man; but when the river was turned into blood [by Moses] he was as God.
Rabbi Judah said: Miriam and Jochebed acted as midwives for the Israelites, as it is written, The Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah (Ex. I, 15)....Puah is Miriam [and she was so called] because she used to cry out (po'ah) to the woman and the child came forth. Another explanation is: she used to cry out and weep for her brother Moses who had been cast into the river, as it is said, And his sister stood afar off (Ex. II, 4). Another explanation of Puah is: she revealed (hofi'ah) the career of her brother. Another explanation is: she cried out in the presence of Pharaoh and told him, 'Woe to you because of the day of judgment!' It has been taught: A man is called by three names: one which his father and mother call him, a second which other persons call him, and a third by which he is designated in the book of the generations of his creation. [footnote states: "An obscure phrase. Probably the meaning is: the name which he gains for himself as the result of his conduct in life."]