The Princess who saved Moses

The story of Moses and the Princess who saved him in Egypt is known in Christianity, Judaism and Islam. But who was the royal who saved such an important figure in the Abrahamic religions?

The story of Moses is written in the Book of Exodus in the Bible and Torah. Called Thermouthis, Bithiah, Merris or Merrhoe, she was the daughter of the ruling Pharoah who found baby Moses in the Nile River and gave him his famous name.

In Exodus, it is written: “Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked beside the river; she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to fetch it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and lo, the babe was crying. She took pity on him and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrews’ children.’ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’ And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Go.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed him. And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son; and she named him Moses, for she said, ‘Because I drew him out of the water.’ ”

At the time, the Pharoah ordered all newborn Israelite boys to be murdered to decrease their population. To save her son, Moses’s birth mother, Jochebed, hid him, and he ended up being found in the Nile River by the Pharoah’s daughter, where she had gone to take a bath. He was raised alongside the Egyptian Royal Family.

Bithiah knew Moses was Hebrew but chose to save him against her father’s orders. Afraid that Moses would not take her milk, so she called for a wet nurse (who is believed to have been Jochebed) to nurse the baby.

She was said to have devoted herself to her adopted son and eventually converted to Judaism. When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, the Princess went with him toward the Promised Land.

Of course, at the time, the Princess had no idea the important role her adopted son would play in rescuing the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt and leading them back toward the Promised Land. Moses went on to become one of the most important figures in Christianity and Judaism and was the prophet God presented the Ten Commandments to on Mount Sinai.

• Please note that Muslims refer to the Princess as the wife of the Pharoah, Asiya. As I am a Christian, I wrote this highlighting the teachings I was taught but did not want to ignore how she is known in Islam.