Caleb & Bithiah see Joshua 14:6-12 on Caleb

Bithiah & Caleb


     Looking more at Jewish legend concerning the daughter of Pharaoh.
     Moses had numerous names given by different members of his family, but it was by the one that Thermutis gave him that he would be known. As for Thermutis, it is said that God told her “Moses was not thy child, yet thou didst treat him as such. For this I will call thee My daughter, though thou art not My daughter.” Thereafter she bore the name Bithiah, “the daughter of God.” She later married Caleb.
     Wanting Moses to receive the treatment at court that would be given to a prince, Bithiah pretended that she was with child. His beauty was such that she feared to allow him out of her sight. Another version of the legend says that she opening admitted he was not her son, but told her father than she had adopted him as her son because he was divine in form and of an excellent mind. That she had received him through the bounty of the river in a wonderful way, she had thought it proper to adopt him as her son and make him heir of the kingdom. The Pharaoh is said to have then hugged Moses close to his heart. Later, however, the child in playing took the throne from his head which was considered a bad sign and he was “identified” as possibly the child of doom. A test was to be made, giving him a choice between an onyx stone or a coal of fire. If he grabbed the stone, he was a danger, if the coal it meant he did not intend to grab the crown and would therefore live. Gabriel is said to have guided his hand away from the stone and to the coal. He put his burnt hand to his mouth, also burning it which is how he became ‘slow of speech and tongue.’
     Bithiah took great care in educating Moses.
     Much of the details above are, as stated last week, from legend and tradition. The bible simply lets us know that Moses grew up in the household of the princess. It is safe to assume he lived free, was well educated, experienced affluence and, perhaps, became a little spoiled. As a young man, his actions display such a conclusion.
      If Bithiah did marry Caleb, then she likely traveled with the Hebrews as they left Egypt.

     Caleb was not an Israelite. He was a Kennezzite. But he had some association with the Israelites. Tradition says he was in Egypt during their slavery.

     Some historians believe that the slavery of the Israelites was during a period of Egyptian history when Egyptians were not actually in control of their country. That the Hyksos from the Palestine area had invaded and were occupying the land.
     This, of course, would be why, as the book of Exodus tells us, that the Pharoah did not remember Joseph or his service to the land. It would also further explain the presence of many different people from the Canaanite area.
     One tradition says that Caleb was married to Miriam, the sister of Moses. Another tradition says he was married to Pharaoh’s daughter, the foster mother of Moses.
     Caleb would not be the only foreigner who stood as honored individuals in the Israelite faith and history. Among these would be Rahab, famed for her beauty in the city of Jericho. Tamar, an ancestress of David. Ruth, the Moabite woman who was great-grandmother to David.
     Caleb himself is believed to be an ancestor of David. He was a man who had committed himself wholeheartedly to the cause of God. His fidelity is cited in the Bible as complete.
     Before the Israelites entered Canaan, Moses sent spies into the land to check out the situation. He chose a man from each of the tribes. One of the men chosen was Caleb.
     Moses instructed the spies to check out the hill country and find out what kind of task lay ahead for their entering and inhabiting the land.
     Jewish folktales say the men who were picked as spies were the finest of their tribes, they were leaders of their people. But after they were chosen to spy out the land, they became worried that they would lose their positions of honor and leadership once the Israelites entered the land of Canaan. The tradition says that this is why they gave a bad report on the land. The Bible story doesn't give a reason.
      But Caleb had a "different spirit" about him. The spies went into the land of Canaan and after forty days they returned to Moses with their report. They brought with them a huge cluster of grapes, along with some pomegranates and figs.
    They admitted that the land was flowing with milk and honey and they showed the people the fruit they had brought.  Then they told how strong the people in Canaan were, about the fortified cities, and they told of the Amelekites who lived there, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites. Apparently this had a discouraging affect upon the people.
      But Caleb spoke up and said, "Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it." The other spies said, "We are not able to go up against this people, for they are stronger than we." They said that all the people were huge.  They saw the Nephilim and compared to them they had felt like grasshoppers. The people of Israel raised a loud cry at this and wept. And they complained against Moses and Aaron saying they wished they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness. They asked why the Lord was bringing them into the land to fall by the sword.
     And once again they suggested it would be better to just go back to Egypt. As a consequence God decided that none of that generation would be allowed to go into the land of Canaan. They would have to wander in the wilderness until all had died. One exception would be Caleb because he had a different spirit and has followed the Lord wholeheartedly.
      The new generation entered the land and began to occupy it. For several years they won great battles and yet still struggled for a foothold in the Promised Land.
      In the midst of this, eighty-five year old Caleb stepped forward and reminded Joshua of a promise that had been made to him. There was a piece of land, occupied by the Anakim. Those were people who had the reputation of being giants.
      Moses had promised that land to Caleb, and now he was ready to go get it.  Caleb claimed to be equal to the task. He said he was as vigorous and strong as when he was forty-five years younger.
      What is so impressive about Caleb is his willingness to take on a difficult task despite his age and the harsh life he has led.
       
What does Caleb's "can-do spirit say to today's world?

Pharaoh’s Daughter – Exodus 2:5-10

     The focus and interest of the biblical storyteller was Moses. The other people surrounding him get less attention. But many of them played valuable parts in the Exodus story.  One of these is the daughter of Pharaoh. 
     Background: The Israelites had come to Egypt as welcome guests. One of their own people, Joseph, was second only to the pharaoh in power and importance. By interpretation of the Pharaoh’s dream, and by wise administration, he had saved the nation from starvation. Along the way he also had enriched the Pharaoh considerably. So when his extended family sought refuge from the famine, they were not unwelcome refugees.
     Generations passed. A new dynasty had risen that did not care about an ancestor of these foreigners. (By which we can see that the Israelites had not assimilated into Egyptian culture.)
     Though the Hebrew population probably was not statistically large compared to all of Egypt, it was large enough to worry the Egyptians. The Hebrews were enslaved. To keep their numbers down, the Egyptians ordered that the male babies should be thrown into the Nile after birth. (Drowning was not the only form of death, for crocodiles and hippos were also quite dangerous).
     A man of the house (tribe) of Levi married a Levite woman. Again the story concentrates upon Moses, so it is not explained when his brothers and sisters were born. The story is worded in such a way as to assume that Moses was first born, although this is probably not the case. His brother Aaron and a sister named Miriam are mentioned later in the Biblical story. In chapter two, an unnamed sister (probably Miriam) is clearly an older child. By tradition, Aaron was also older. A genealogy in Exodus 6, indicates that Aaron was the son of Amram and Jochabed (Moses’ mother and father), and not the child of another marriage. Numbers 26:59 also lists Miriam as their child.
     The birth of Moses was probably, however, the first in the family after the edict of death to baby boys had been put in place. The family bravely hid him for three months. At this point he may have grown too active to keep hidden. The mother decided to comply with the order –cleverly. For she made a basket, lined it with bitumen (mineral pitch or asphalt), likely to make it waterproof. (In the same way, the Native people of the Santa Barbara region used to use tar that floated ashore).
     The child was placed in the basket then set in the Nile among the reeds
     His sister stayed close and watched.
     The daughter of Pharaoh came to the river to bathe. The child was found and recognized to be of the Hebrews. She took pity on him and determined to save the child. His sister stepped forward and offered to find a nursemaid for the baby. Thus Jochabed was able to care for her own son, though when he was weaned she had to give him up to the princess. Pharaoh's daughter named him Moses which means to “draw out.”
     This story shows a woman who was willing to defy power in order to save a child.  The compassion of the princess for Moses seems to indicate that she didn’t fear the Hebrews the way her fellow Egyptians did.
    

Jewish traditions give us many more details. As with all legends, it is difficult to know how much are based on historical fact and how much is story.

According to the tradition, the name of the princess was Thermutis. At the time of Moses’ infancy there was a scorching heat sent to trouble the Egyptians for their oppression of the Hebrews. Thermutis sought relief in the Nile, but physical discomfort was not her only reason. She was determined to cleanse herself also of the impurity of idol worship. Her maids are said to have protested her desire to help the child, but she persisted. Another strand of legend says that when she saw that the child was Hebrew, she decided she had better obey her father’s command, but his crying roused her pity and she resolved to save him.  Moses refused to receive food from an Egyptian wet nurse, so his sister Miriam offered her mother.

One legend is that a prophecy had been made that a boy child would bring trouble upon Egypt during this nine month period. Pharaoh had ordered all male children to be thrown into the river, Hebrew and Egyptian alike, because the child’s doom lay in water. But once Moses was in the water, the astrologers came to the Pharaoh and announced that the danger had been averted (the correct child having been set adrift), so Pharaoh lifted the edict.

 

(See more next week).

What do you think about Thermutis’ act of peaceful civil disobedience?

Luke 7:9-10

Luke 7:9-10 - A Centurion

      The historian, Polybius, described the job in this way.
      "Centurions are required not to be bold and adventurous so much as good leaders of steady and prudent mind, not prone to take the offensive to start fighting wantonly, but able when overwhelmed and hard-pressed to stand fast and die at their post."
     There were few ways for a man to progress in Roman society. The army offered opportunities. In the Roman army, it was possible to rise from common soldier to that elevated position of centurion. A centurion's rank brought an excellent income and various privileges. In this way, a man could become a Roman citizen. Upon retirement, a generous bonus would make life very pleasant.
     Archaeology and historical studies have also shown that the life of a Roman soldier had some advantages many other people living in the times lacked. Among these was somewhat better food and medical care that was advanced for its time.
     Nonetheless, it was still a dangerous life and it was usually only the best who could move from common soldier, surviving battles and rising to the rank of centurion.
     Assignment to Israel was not a pleasant duty station. The Jewish people were resistant to the Roman way of life. From the Roman point of view they were akin to atheists, for they neglected all other gods in favor of their one. They practiced circumcision, which was an appalling mutilation from the non-Jewish way of thinking. Their dietary habits were strange and they considered non-Israelites to be unclean.
      The Roman army didn't like their centurions to fraternize with the men under their authority. So, once a man received such a promotion, they would send him to unit where he and the soldiers were unfamiliar with each other.
      This centurion seems to have become a “God-fearer.” Among the Jewish people of the time, there were those who were called “Hellenistic Jews” or Jew of the Diaspora (dispersion). They lived outside Israel and had much more liberal points of view. They were missionary minded and had made many converts, called God-fearers. These Gentiles (non-Jews) were attracted to the spirituality and ethical nature of worshipping Yahweh.
      The God-fearers generally did not become full converts, in the sense of practicing circumcision or following ritual laws (such as the dietary ones. But the Hellenistic Jews allowed God-fearers to worship with them, something that the more Orthodox Jews of Israel would rarely do.
     This centurion, this probable “God-fearer” was living in Israel where many of its people would not have easily accepted him or associated with him. Nevertheless, he had paid for building a synagogue in the community where he served. A level of familiarity and respect grew between him and the other people of the town.
      He had acquired a servant through his increased income. The servant was evidently a good sort, hard-working and faithful.
      Then the servant fell ill and death approached. But the centurion had heard about Jesus. He felt unworthy to go to Jesus in person, but only sent word to him through the Jewish leaders who spoke positively on his behalf.
      A man came running to the Centurion's home. "The teacher is coming to you, he is coming to heal your servant."
       "Tell the teacher that I am not worthy to receive him under my roof. Let him only speak the word and I know my servant will be healed..."
      He knows about authority. He has served under authority and has been a man of authority. He knows what it is to serve under someone who deserves that power. If this amazing teacher says that the servant will be healed, it will be done, whether he is present or not.
      So he sends this message to the teacher. His faith is confirmed, for the servant arises from bed, made new in health.
      Jesus praised the faith of the centurion.

     Can you imagine what the centurion felt when he heard that this great teacher had praised the faith of a God-fearer, a Gentile who was “unclean” by Orthodox standards?

Genesis 35:8 - Deborah, Rebecca's Nurse

     This one verse simply states that Deborah, the nurse of Rebecca (or Rebekah, depending upon the translation) died and was buried under an oak tree below Bethel. Jacob named it Allon-bakuth, which means the Oak of Weeping. The only other mention of Deborah is in Genesis 25:59, where the nurse is cited as going with Rebecca when she left her family and home to travel to another land to meet and marry Isaac, the son of Abraham.
      This can be taken as a simple expression of grief over the death of a beloved family employee, the nurse who’d helped care for Jacob as a child. Jacob himself would have felt grief at the loss of someone who had probably been like a second mother. His wives, concubines, eleven sons (it was before the birth of his twelfth son, Benjamin) and one daughter would also have been the recipients of her care and therefore shared the sorrow over her loss. There is something warm-hearted about the thought that this woman was loved and valued so much that the record of her loss was remembered and passed down until it was included in the Biblical story. However, Deborah’s death may have had additional significance.
     From the two brief mentions of her, we can surmise a surprising extent of information.
     Rebecca was a kinswoman of Abraham and Isaac.
     When Abraham was growing old, following the death of Sarah, he worried that his son might marry a Canaanite woman. They were living in the land in which God had led him, but he wanted his son to marry someone from the home he had left behind. His servant traveled there where he met Rebecca, the daughter of Abraham’s brother, Nahor. Rebecca agreed to return with the servant and marry the cousin she had never seen. Thus her nurse, Deborah, also left her native land and family in order to travel with Rebecca.
     Now, many years later, we learn that she is traveling with Jacob and his family. This means that at some point she had returned to her native land. Jacob had gone there as well, sent by Rebecca to escape the anger of his twin brother, Esau, whom he’d cheated out of the paternal blessing. Jacob took up residence with Laban, his mother’s brother. There he fell in love with Laban’s younger daughter, but ended up marrying both sisters (who in sisterly rivalry also gave him their servants as concubines or secondary wives, to achieve more children).
     It is possible that Rebecca had died and Deborah then elected to return to the home of her childhood. But given Rebecca’s fierce love for Jacob, it seems probable that she asked Deborah to go back so that she could watch over Jacob. The request could have been made long before Rebecca’s death.
     Deborah then would have become the nurse for a whole new generation of Rebecca’s family. She would have cared for the children and likely assisted at their births, even though she is not specifically listed as a midwife. After years of experience, she was probably skilled. Rebecca’s own delivery of Esau and Jacob had been difficult. Deborah may well have assisted with the births and illnesses of other servants and neighbors in addition to those of Jacob’s children.
     It is not surprising the Deborah’s death was the occasion of much grief. But this death also deprived the family of an experienced nurse/midwife. This may have been a precipitating factor in the death of Rachel, Jacob’s beloved wife, in childbirth a short time later.

      Regarding medicine in Biblical times: The Hebrews shared many traditions with other people in the Ancient Near East. One was the tradition of the priests who were also trained to respond to a variety of illnesses. In the Pentateuch, it is the priest and the midwife who were held responsible for communal health. In the days of Jacob and Rebecca, however, there was no priesthood yet in the worship of Yahweh. The nurse/midwife may have been especially important under those circumstances.

     Deborah’s qualities are mostly pulled from what we can infer from the story. She was loyal and faithful. She must have had some courage and daring to leave her homeland in the first place. Later she left the familiar place of a lifetime to follow Jacob. Then, at what must have been an advanced age, she went with Jacob once again as he prepared to face Esau.
     Deborah’s personality was such that her employers grieved deeply for her loss. There is every reason to believe that she was a skillful nurse and midwife. Thus Deborah may deserve being accorded the honor of being the first medical professional to be mentioned in the Bible.