Jochebed (Bible)
Jochebed is the mother of Moses , Aarons and Miriam in the Old Testament .
etymology
The Hebrew name יוֹכֶבֶד Jocheved means " YHWH is weight / weight". The fact that the mother of Moses bears a name that contains the divine name YHWH seems to contradict the fact that this name is only revealed to Moses later in Ex 6,3 EU . However, it is already reported that Abraham ( Gen 15.7 NIV ), Isaac ( Gen 26.24 NIV ) and Jacob ( Gen 28.13 NIV ) heard the name.
Biblical report
According to Num 26.59 EU , Jochebed is a daughter of Levi and was born in Egypt. Her brothers are called Gerschon , Kehat and Merari ( Gen 46.11 EU ). She is married to her nephew Amram , a son of Kohat. It is noteworthy that later this form of marriage between relatives is forbidden in Lev 18.12 EU (according to the Septuagint , she was not his aunt, but his cousin). Their children are Moses, Aaron and Miriam.
The birth of Moses is told in the book of Exodus ( Ex 2 EU ). His mother is not mentioned by name. She hid her child for three months because Pharaoh had ordered all the Hebrew boys to be thrown into the Nile. After three months they set Moses out on the Nile in a rush box which she had sealed with pitch and tar, where it was found by Pharaoh's daughter. Moses' sister suggested that she fetch a Hebrew wet nurse to nurse the child. Pharaoh's daughter consented and Moses' sister brought her mother over. She has now been rewarded by Pharaoh's daughter for breastfeeding her own child. When Moses grew older, his mother took him to Pharaoh's court.
Rabbinical tradition
The Targum pseudo-Jonathan identifies with Jochebed the Hebrew midwife Shifra mentioned in Ex 1.15 EU , while the midwife Pua, also mentioned there , is identified with Mirjam. The Targum also reports that Jochebed married Amram at the age of 130, but that she miraculously became young again. In addition, she was also married to Elizafan, Parnak's son. From this marriage the sons Eldad and Medad mentioned in Num 11,26 EU arose. The statements as to whether this marriage was before or after the marriage to Amram are contradictory, because it is said that Jochebed married Elizafan after Amram divorced her, but before she gave birth to Moses.
literature
- Edgar Kellenberger: Amram and Jochebed. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (Eds.): The Scientific Biblical Lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Exodus 6:20, LXX .
- ↑ Targum Pseudo-Jonathan to Ex 1 on Sefaria.org (en)
- ↑ Targum Pseudo-Jonathan to Ex 2 on targum.info (en)
- ↑ Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Num 11 on targum.info (en)