Pharaoh’s Daughter: The Adoptive Mother’s Sacrifice

Abstract

In Exodus 2, Moses has two mothers; his Hebrew mother, who nurses him and the daughter of Pharaoh, who financially supports his Hebrew mother, adopts him, and names him. Pharaoh’s daughter appears in scholarly discussions, yet little attention is given to her role as mother of Moses. Indeed, this motherhood is downplayed in the biblical texts, and also in biblical scholarship, wherein the daughter of Pharaoh is absent from many discussions of biblical mothers and is at times relegated beneath the birthmother in commentaries. This article argues that we should remember and celebrate the daughter of Pharaoh as a mother of Moses.

Human Reproduction and Infertility in the Hebrew Bible

“…Adoption and surrogacy in the Hebrew Bible are both emergent themes in the field of biblical studies (Quine 2021; Zucker 2021, respectively). An analysis of these themes in texts such as the Book of Esther and the Book of Ruth, would certainly be fruitful.…”