Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus)
Bithiah, in Hebrew Batya (בִּתְיָה, literally daughter of God), is the name given to a character in the account of the Hebrew Exodus from Egypt in Rabbinic Midrash, as she is not named in the text. She was the foster mother of Moses, having drawn him from the Nile.
In the Bible and Midrash
In the Biblical account, she is described as the daughter of Pharaoh, and is not named. The Midrash names her Bithiah, literally daughter of God, because of her compassion and pity in saving the baby Moses. In the Midrash (Leviticus Rabbah 1:3), God says to her that because she took in a child not her own, and called him her son (Moses can mean "child" in Egyptian), God will take her in and call her God's daughter (which is what Bithiah means). The Midrash portrays her as a pious and devoted woman, who would bathe in the Nile to cleanse herself of the impurity of idolatrous Egypt. She is mentioned in Chron. 1, 4:18, as being the wife of Mered from the tribe of Judah, who is identified in the Midrash as being Caleb, one of the 12 spies. The Midrash (Exodus Rabbah 18:3) also records that she was not affected by the 10 Plagues, and was the only female firstborn of Egypt to survive.
In Islamic tradition
In the Hadith, Bithiah is known as Asiyah, one of four of "the best of women".
In movies
She is often portrayed as being the sister or wife of Pharaoh in adaptations of the story, in order to have Moses appear as Pharaoh's son. In the film The Ten Commandments, she is portrayed as the daughter of Ramses I and sister of the Egyptian pharaoh, Seti I, who raised Moses as her own son as her husband had died before they could have children. When Moses leads the Hebrews out of Egypt, she joins the Exodus. In the film The Prince of Egypt, she is shown as the wife of Seti I, and the birth mother of Raamses.
In the 1956 film she is shown as a compassionate and heroic woman, who casts her lot with the people of Israel and joins the Exodus. She takes part in the very first Passover Seder. She willingly and gladly gives up her place on her rich litter to help the weaker Israelites. When the Egyptian chariots attack, she tries to interpose herself between the charging army and the people. Her future husband Mered (see I Chronicles 4:18) dissuades her from this noble but suicidal action. When the Egyptian army drowns, it is her grieving reaction that the film shows (rather than the singing and dancing of the people, led by Miriam, that the book of Exodus tells about). Mered comforts her in her sorrow.
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1972, Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, Israel.
- Jewish Encyclopedia.com