Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 23
Moses was a Chaldean by race, born in Egypt after his ancestors migrated there from Babylon to escape a prolonged famine. He belonged to the seventh generation and was raised as royalty. The Egyptian king, alarmed by the Hebrew population boom, feared a revolt and ordered that Hebrew girls be spared—since women were considered unfit for war—but that all newborn boys be killed. Moses’ parents hid him for three months, their natural love outweighing the king’s cruelty. When they could no longer keep him safe, they placed him in a papyrus basket and set it among the reeds at the river’s marshy edge, while his sister Miriam watched from a distance. That same day Pharaoh’s daughter came to bathe and perform purification rites at the river, longing for a child of her own. Hearing the infant’s cries, she had him brought to her, took pity, and looked for a nurse. Miriam stepped forward and offered to find a Hebrew woman who had recently given birth; the princess agreed. Miriam fetched the baby’s own mother, who was hired as a wet nurse under the pretense of being a stranger. The princess then named the child Moses, explaining, ‘I drew him out of the water,’ for the Egyptians call water ‘mow’ (Acts). Indeed, the name Moses means ‘the one drawn out of the water,’ as if he had been destined to die in it. Clearly, before this adoption the child had already been circumcised and named Joakim by his parents. The mystics add that he received a third, heavenly name after his ascension: Melchi. As he came of age, Moses was taught arithmetic, geometry, rhythm, harmony, metrics, and music by Egypt’s leading scholars, together with the symbolic philosophy enshrined in hieroglyphic script. Greeks resident in Egypt supplied the rest of a royal liberal-arts curriculum, as Philo notes in his Life of Moses. He also mastered Assyrian writing and celestial science from both Chaldean and Egyptian experts, which explains why Acts says he was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Eupolemus, in his work On the Kings of Judaea, credits Moses as the first wise man to teach grammar to the Jews, from whom the Phoenicians received it, and the Greeks in turn from the Phoenicians. As Moses matured, his zeal for his ancestral heritage sharpened his judgment until he intervened to kill an Egyptian who was unjustly beating a Hebrew. The mystics claim he did this by a mere word, just as Peter later struck down Ananias and Sapphira with a word for withholding the price of their land and lying about it (Acts). Artapanus, in his treatise On the Jews, relates that Pharaoh Chenephres imprisoned Moses for demanding Israel’s release. By God’s will the prison doors opened at night; Moses went straight to the palace, found the king asleep, and woke him. Terrified, the king ordered Moses to speak the name of the God who had sent him. Moses whispered it in the king’s ear; the king fell speechless, but Moses revived him. The Jewish tragedian Ezekiel corroborates this upbringing in his drama Exodus, putting these words in Moses’ mouth: When our people multiplied, Pharaoh devised a ruthless plot, forcing us into brutal brick-making and building fortified cities for his own glory. He then decreed that every Hebrew male infant be thrown into the deep river. My mother hid me for three months, but when she could conceal me no longer she laid me in a basket among the reeds at the river’s edge. Miriam kept watch. Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe, saw me, took pity, and recognized I was Hebrew. Miriam approached and asked, ‘Shall I find a Hebrew nurse for you?’ The princess eagerly agreed. Miriam ran and brought our mother, who took me in her arms. The princess said, ‘Nurse this child for me, and I will pay you.’ She named me Moses, because she had drawn me from the water. When I outgrew infancy, my mother—now a palace servant—told me my whole story, revealing my lineage and God’s gifts. Throughout childhood I enjoyed royal food and education as if I were her own son. But upon reaching manhood I left the palace. I witnessed an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, killed the Egyptian, and buried him in the sand. The next day I tried to mediate a quarrel between two Hebrews. One challenged me: ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ Fear seized me: ‘How has this become known?’ I fled, became a shepherd, and was thereby trained for leadership; for tending flocks prepares a man to rule the gentlest of peoples, just as hunting trains one for war. From there God led him to the command of the Hebrew people. The Egyptians, repeatedly stubborn, were repeatedly warned, while the Hebrews watched safely and learned God’s power. The Egyptians refused to heed the signs, blinded by folly, but later they understood. When the Hebrews departed, they carried off great Egyptian wealth—not from greed, as critics allege (God does not stir His people to covet another’s goods), but first as overdue wages for centuries of unpaid labor, and second as a just recompense, repaying the Egyptians in kind for their enslavement of Israel. Whether one views this as wartime plunder—the just spoils of victors over the vanquished, since the Hebrews had come as famine-stricken suppliants and were enslaved like captives without pay—or as peaceful restitution of long-withheld wages, the seizure was fully justified.
Greek
Μωυσῆς οὖν ἄνωθεν τὸ γένος Χαλδαῖος ὢν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ γεννᾶται, τῶν προγόνων αὐτοῦ διὰ πολυχρόνιον λιμὸν ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος εἰς Αἴγυπτον μεταναστάντων. ἑβδόμῃ γενεᾷ γεννηθεὶς καὶ τραφεὶς βασιλικῶς περιστάσει κέχρηται τοιαύτῃ. εἰς πολυανθρωπίαν ἐπιδεδωκότων ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τῶν Ἑβραίων δείσας ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς χώρας τὴν ἐκ τοῦ πλήθους ἐπιβουλὴν τῶν γεννωμένων ἐκ τῶν Ἑβραίων κελεύει τὰ μὲν θήλεα τρέφειν αὐτούς (ἀσθενὲς γὰρ εἰς πόλεμον γυνή), διαφθείρειν δὲ τὰ ἄρρενα εὐαλκῆ νεότητα ὑφορώμενος. εὐπατρίδην δὲ τὸν παῖδα ὄντα τρεῖς ἐφεξῆς κρύπτοντες ἔτρεφον μῆνας οἱ γονεῖς νικώσης τῆς φυσικῆς εὐνοίας τὴν τυραννικὴν ὠμότητα, δείσαντες δὲ ὕστερον μὴ συναπόλωνται τῷ παιδί, ἐκ βίβλου τῆς ἐπιχωρίου σκεῦός τι ποιησάμενοι τὸν παῖδα ἐνθέμενοι ἐκτιθέασι παρὰ τὰς ὄχθας τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἑλώδους ὄντος, ἐπετήρει δὲ τὸ ἀποβησόμενον ἄπωθεν ἑστῶσα τοῦ παιδὸς ἡ ἀδελφή. ἐνταῦθα ἡ θυγάτηρ τοῦ βασιλέως, συχνῷ χρόνῳ μὴ κυΐσκουσα, τέκνων δὲ ἐπιθυμοῦσα, ἐκείνης ἀφικνεῖται τῆς ἡμέρας ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμὸν λουτροῖς καὶ περιρραντηρίοις χρησομένη, ἐπακούσασα δὲ κλαυθμυριζομένου τοὺ παιδὸς κελεύει προσενεχθῆναι αὐτῇ καὶ κατοικτείρασα ἐζήτει τροφόν. ἐνταῦθα προσδραμοῦσα ἡ ἀδελφὴ τοῦ παιδὸς ἔχειν ἔφασκεν Ἑβραίαν γυναῖκα μὴ πρὸ πολλοῦ τετοκυῖαν παραστῆσαι αὐτῇ τροφόν, εἰ βούλοιτο· τῆς δὲ συνθεμένης καὶ δεηθείσης παρήνεγκε τὴν μητέρα τὴν τοῦ παιδὸς τροφὸν ἐσομένην ὥς τινα ἄλλην οὖσαν ἐπὶ ῥητῷ μισθῷ. εἶτα τίθεται τῷ παιδίῳ ὄνομα ἡ βασιλὶς Μωυσῆν ἐτύμως διὰ τὸ ἐξ ὕδατος ἀνελέσθαι αὐτό (τὸ γὰρ ὕδωρ μῶυ ὀνομάζουσιν Αἰγύπτιοι), εἰς ὃ ἐκτέθειται τεθνηξόμενος. καὶ γάρ τοι Μωυσῆν τὸν ἀποπνεύσαντα τῷ ὕδατι προσαγορεύουσι. δῆλον οὖν ὡς ἐν τῷ ἔμπροσθεν χρόνῳ περιτμηθέντι τῷ παιδίῳ οἱ γονεῖς ἔθεντο ὄνομά τι, ἐκαλεῖτο δὲ Ἰωακείμ. ἔσχεν δὲ καὶ τρίτον ὄνομα ἐν οὐρανῷ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάληψιν, ὥς φασιν οἱ μύσται, Μελχί. ἐν δὲ ἡλικίᾳ γενόμενος ἀριθμητικήν τε καὶ γεωμετρίαν ῥυθμικήν τε καὶ ἁρμονικὴν ἔτι τε μετρικὴν ἅμα καὶ μουσικὴν παρὰ τοῖς διαπρέπουσιν Αἰγυπτίων ἐδιδάσκετο καὶ προσέτι τὴν διὰ συμβόλων φιλοσοφίαν, ἣν ἐν τοῖς ἱερογλυφικοῖς γράμμασιν ἐπιδείκνυνται. τὴν δὲ ἄλλην ἐγκύκλιον παιδείαν Ἕλληνες ἐδίδασκον ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, ὡς ἂν βασιλικὸν παιδίον, ᾗ φησι Φίλων ἐν τῷ Μωυσέως βίῳ, προσεμάνθανε δὲ τὰ Ἀσσυρίων γράμματα καὶ τὴν τῶν οὐρανίων ἐπιστήμην παρά τε Χαλδαίων παρά τε Αἰγυπτίων, ὅθεν ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι πᾶσαν σοφίαν Αἰγυπτίων πεπαιδεῦσθαι φέρεται. Εὐπόλεμος δὲ ἐν τῷ περὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ βασιλέων τὸν Μωυσῆ φησι πρῶτον σοφὸν γενέσθαι καὶ γραμματικὴν πρῶτον τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις παραδοῦναι καὶ παρὰ Ἰουδαίων Φοίνικας παραλαβεῖν, Ἕλληνας δὲ παρὰ Φοινίκων. εἰς δὲ τὴν ἀνδρῶν φύσιν ᾄξας ἐπέτεινε τὴν φρόνησιν, τὴν συγγενικὴν καὶ προγονικὴν ζηλώσας παιδείαν, ἄχρι καὶ τὸν Αἰγύπτιον τὸν τῷ Ἑβραίῳ ἀδίκως ἐπιθέμενον πατάξας ἀποκτεῖναι. φασὶ δὲ οἱ μύσται λόγῳ μόνῳ ἀνελεῖν τὸν Αἰγύπτιον, ὥσπερ ἀμέλει ὕστερον Πέτρος ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι φέρεται τοὺς νοσφισαμένους τῆς τιμῆς τοῦ χωρίου καὶ ψευσαμένους λόγῳ ἀποκτείνας. Ἀρτάπανος γοῦν ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἰουδαίων συγγράμματι ἱστορεῖ κατακλεισθέντα εἰς φυλακὴν Μωυσέα ὑπὸ Χενεφρέους τοῦ Αἰγυπτίων βασιλέως ἐπὶ τῷ παραιτεῖσθαι τὸν λαὸν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου ἀπολυθῆναι, νύκτωρ ἀνοιχθέντος τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου κατὰ βούλησιν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐξελθόντα καὶ εἰς τὰ βασίλεια παρελθόντα ἐπιστῆναι κοιμωμένῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ ἐξεγεῖραι αὐτόν, τὸν δὲ καταπλαγέντα τῷ γεγονότι κελεῦσαι τῷ Μωυσεῖ τὸ τοῦ πέμψαντος εἰπεῖν ὄνομα θεοῦ καὶ τὸν μὲν προσκύψαντα πρὸς τὸ οὖς εἰπεῖν, ἀκούσαντα δὲ τὸν βασιλέα ἄφωνον πεσεῖν, διακρατηθέντα δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ Μωυσέως πάλιν ἀναβιῶναι. Περὶ δὲ τῆς ἀνατροφῆς τοῦ Μωυσέως συνᾴσεται ἡμῖν καὶ ὁ Ἐζεκίηλος ὁ τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν τραγῳδιῶν ποιητὴς ἐν τῷ ἐπιγραφομένῳ δράματι Ἐξαγωγή γράφων ὧδε ἐκ προσώπου Μωυσέως· ἰδὼν γὰρ ἡμῶν γένναν ἅλις ηὐξημένην δόλον καθ’ ἡμῶν πολὺν ἐμηχανήσατο βασιλεὺς Φαραώ, τοὺς μὲν ἐν πλινθεύμασιν οἰκοδομίαις τε βαρέσιν αἰκίζων βροτούς, πόλεις τ ἐπύργου, σφῶν ἕκητι δυσμόρων· ἔπειτ’ ἐκήρυσ’ ἡμῖν, Ἑβραίων γένει, τἀρσενικὰ ῥίπτειν ποταμὸν ἐς βαθύρροον. ἐνταῦθα μήτηρ ἡ τεκοῦσ’ ἔκρυπτέ με τρεῖς μῆνας, ὡς ἔφασκεν· οὐ λαθοῦσα δὲ ὑπεξέθηκε, κόσον ἀμφιθεῖσά μοι, παρ’ ἄκρα ποταμοῦ, λάσιον εἰς ἕλος βαθύ. Μαριὰμ δ’ ἀδελφή μου κατώπτευεν πέλας· κἄπειτα θυγάτηρ βασιλέως ἅβραις ὁμοῦ κατῆλθε λουτροῖς χρῶτα φαιδρῦναι νέον. ἰδοῦσά δ’ εὐθὺς κἀλεοῦσ’ ἀνείλετο, ἔγνω δ’ Ἑβραῖον ὄντα· καὶ λέγει τάδε Μαριὰμ ἀδελφὴ προσδραμοῦσα βασιλίδι· θέλεις τροφόν σοι παιδὶ τῷδ’ εὕρω ταχὺ ἐκ τῶν Ἑβραίων; ἡ δ’ ἐπέσπευσεν κόρην. μολοῦσα δ’ εἶπεν μητρί, καὶ παρῆν ταχὺ αὐτή τε μήτηρ κἄλαβέν μ’ εἰς ἀγκάλας. εἶπεν δὲ θυγάτηρ βασιλέως· τοῦτον, γύναι, τρόφευε, κἀγὼ μισθὸν ἀποδώσω σέθεν. ὄνομα δὲ Μωυσῆν ὠνόμαζ’, ὅτου χάριν ὑγρᾶς ἀνεῖλε ποταμίας ἀπ’ ᾐόνος. ἐπεὶ δὲ καιρὸς νηπίων παρῆλθέ μοι, ἦγέν με μήτηρ βασιλίδος πρὸς δώματα, ἅπαντα μυθεύσασα καὶ λέξασά μοι, γένος πατρῷον καὶ θεοῦ δωρήματα. ἕως μὲν οὖν τὸν παιδὸς εἴχομεν χρόνον. τροφαῖσι βασιλικαῖσι καὶ παιδεύμασιν ἅπανθ’ ὑπισχνεῖτο, ὡς ἀπὸ σπλάγχνων ἑῶν· ἐπεὶ δὲ πλήρης κύκλος ἡμερῶν παρῆν. ἐξῆλθον οἴκων βασιλικῶν. ἔπειτα τὴν διαμάχην τοῦ θ’ Ἑβραίου καὶ τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου διηγησάμενος καὶ τὴν ταφὴν τὴν ἐν τῇ ψάμμῳ τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου, ἐπὶ τῆς ἑτέρας μάχης φησὶν οὕτως· τί τύπτεις ἀσθενέστερον σέθεν; ὃ δ’ εἶπεν· ἡμῖν τίς σ’ ἀπέστειλεν κριτὴν ἢπιστάτην ἐνταῦθα; μὴ κτενεῖς δέ με ὥσπερ τὸν ἐχθὲς ἄνδρα; καὶ δείσας ἐγὼ ἔλεξα· πῶς ἐγένετο συμφανὲς τόδε; φεύγει δὴ ἐντεῦθεν καὶ ποιμαίνει πρόβατα προδιδασκόμενος εἰς ἡγεμονίαν ποιμενικῇ· προγυμνασία γὰρ βασιλείας τῷ μέλλοντι τῆς ἡμερωτάτης τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιστατεῖν ἀγέλης ἡ ποιμενικὴ καθάπερ καὶ τοῖς πολεμικοῖς τῇ φύσει ἡ θηρευτική. ἄγει δὲ αὐτὸν ἐντεῦθεν ὁ θεὸς ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν Ἑβραίων στρατηγίαν. ἔπειτα νουθετοῦνται μὲν Αἰγύπτιοι πολλάκις οἱ πολλάκις ἀσύνετοι, θεαταὶ δὲ Ἑβραῖοι ἐγίνοντο ὧν ἕτεροι κακῶν ὑπέμενον ἀκινδύνως ἐκμανθάνοντες τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ θεοῦ. ἔτι δὲ Αἰγύπτιοι ἀκοῇ μὴ παραδεχόμενοι τὰ τῆς δυνάμεως ἀποτελέσματα, δἰ ἀφροσύνην οἱ νήπιοι ἀπιστοῦντες, τότε, ὡς εἴρηται, ῥεχθὲν δέ τε οἱ νήπιοι ἔγνωσαν ὕστερόν τε ἐξιόντες οἱ Ἑβραῖοι πολλὴν λείαν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐκφορήσαντες ἀπῄεσαν, οὐ διὰ φιλοχρηματίαν, ὡς οἱ κατήγοροί φασιν (οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀλλοτρίων αὐτοὺς ἀνέπειθεν ἐπιθυμεῖν ὁ θεός), ἀλλὰ πρῶτον μὲν ὧν παρὰ πάντα τὸν χρόνον ὑπηρέτησαν τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις μισθὸν ἀναγκαῖον κομιζόμενοι, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τρόπον τινὰ ἠμύναντο ἀντιλυποῦντες ὡς φιλαργύρους Αἰγυπτίους τῇ τῆς λείας ἐκφορήσει, καθάπερ ἐκεῖνοι τοὺς Ἑβραίους τῇ καταδουλώσει. εἴτ’ οὖν ὡς ἐν πολέμῳ φαίη τις τοῦτο γεγονέναι, τὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν φέρειν ἠξίουν νόμῳ τῶν κεκρατηκότων ὡς κρείττονες ἡττόνων (καὶ τοῦ πολέμου ἡ αἰτία δικαία· ἱκέται διὰ λιμὸν Ἑβραῖοι ἧκον πρὸς Αἰγυπτίους· οἳ δὲ τοὺς ξένους καταδουλωσάμενοι τρόπον αἰχμαλώτων ὑπηρετεῖν ἠνάγκασαν σφίσι μηδὲ τὸν μισθὸν ἀποδιδόντες), εἴτε ὡς ἐν εἰρήνῃ, μισθὸν ἔλαβον τὴν λείαν παρὰ ἀκόντων τῶν πολὺν χρόνον οὐκ ἀποδιδόντων, ἀλλὰ ἀποστερούντων.