Shemot 5766: Pedagogic Redaction
Exodus 2:10 She named him Moses, explaining, “I drew him out (MShITIHuW) of the water.” This verse is instructive of how the Torah sees history. It’s possible the Moshe was the name given to Moses after the incident at the Reed Sea (Yam Suf). It’s also possible that it is related the Egyptian name suffix “Mas”. In any event, the Torah here attempts to explain how Moses got his name. However, there is a problem with the etymology. The explanation “I drew him out” (MShiTIHuW) teaches that the root of Moses’ name is MShH, but this would make Moses’ name, Moshe, mean “He who draws out”! Was the daughter of Pharaoh unaware of Hebrew grammar? Did Moses’ name not translate from the Egyptian explanation properly? Or is the Torah using Moses’ given name to foreshadow his future. “He who was drawn out of the Nile shall draw his people out of the Reed Sea”. This is what I love about the Torah and why I’m not a literalist. I don’t believe that Pharaoh’s daughter actually foreshadowed his future when naming him. She should have named him NiMSheH or something like that. In fact, most Biblical etymologies are stretches. It really enforces my believe that the Torah is a folk history. These stories were told over and over again from the time of the Exodus until they were written down 2500 years ago. It’s hard to argue otherwise since the Torah is really the only literature that has survived from that time. The Israelites may have been literate, but we don’t start finding any quantity of literature until the time of the Maccabees (200 BCE). In any case, these etymologies are the heart of the Torah. The Torah isn’t satisfied to know someone’s name. The Torah wants to teach you what his name means. Did Naomi really name her sons Machlon and Chilyon (Illness and Devastation)? Maybe, but that’s why I don’t think the Torah’s purpose is history. Well, it’s doesn’t teach what happened but how to understand it. Moreover, it’s well-known that Moses does not appear in the Haggadah, the retelling of the Exodus at the Passover seder. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Torah was worried that Moshe’s name, He who draws out, could lead people to believe that He had saved the Hebrews in Egypt. So, it changes the meaning by having the daughter of Pharaoh name him as having been drawn out. Moses is no longer the savior, but one of the saved. It is this kind of radical thinking that makes careful study of the Torah so rewarding. Have a caring week! -Benjamin |
