Hello My Name is: Moses (and Jered and Heber and Gedor . . )

(1) A certain man of the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. (2) The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw how beautiful he was, she hid him for three months. (3) When she could hide him no longer, she got a wicker basket for him and caulked it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. (4) And his sister stationed herself at a distance, to learn what would befall him. (5) The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the Nile, while her maidens walked along the Nile. She spied the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to fetch it. (6) When she opened it, she saw that it was a child, a boy crying. She took pity on it and said, “This must be a Hebrew child.” (7) Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a Hebrew nurse to suckle the child for you?” (8) And Pharaoh’s daughter answered, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. (9) And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. (10) When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, who made him her son. She named him Moses, explaining, “I drew him out of the water.”

Many rabbis are cited declaring that the book of Chronicles is meant to be interpreted in a midrashic fashion. Subsequently, they point to the verse Chronicles 4:18 (above).

One of the main focuses of the verse is the אשתו היהדיה (Judahite woman). The end of the verse states that the children listed are the sons of Pharaoh's daughter, which the midrash address later.

However, the rabbis first want to assert that the אשתו היהדיה (Judahite woman) in this verse is יוכבד, who is Moses's biological mother. However, יוכבד was a Levite (Exodus 2:1) and not Judahite woman. The rabbis conclude that because יוכבד gave birth to Moses who brought Jews to the world (The word שהעמידה meaning to bring up). As Judahite is a general reference to all Jews and it is through יוכבד, by giving birth to Moses, that all Jews came to the world; the rabbis conclude that יוכבד is a Judahite. Therefore, if יוכבד is the Judahite woman and the mother of the subsequent sons, then this sets up at least one of the sons to be Moses (or as the rabbis conclude, all of the subsequent names are Moses).

ילדה את ירד, זה משה

One Rabbi said that ירד is a name for Moses because ירד is similar in root to the word שהוריד meaning to bring down, and Moses brought down the Torah and the Divine Spirit (השכינה) from the heavens to the earth.

Another Rabbi offers an alternative interpretation based on an assumption that ירד originates from different root then שהוריד, and that this usage is a reference those who are rulers (the sources for this linguistic interpretation are outlined below the midrash).

Using similar strategies, the rabbis draw connections from the subsequent names listed in Chronicles 4:18 to Moses.

אבי גדור

Moses was the Father of Israel

הבר

Moses was a connector.

אבי סוכו

Moses was the father of the prophets. Another Rabbi makes a connection to an Arabic word.

יקותיאל

Moses as one who brings hope.

אבי זנוח

Moses as one who caused Israel to turn away from idolatry.

Therefore, after identifying all of the names of Moses, the rabbis begin to set up the question: Why does the Torah refers to Moses as Moses?

וְאֵלֶּה בְּנֵי בִּתְיָה בַת פַּרְעֹה

"And what about Bathiah the daughter of Pharaoh"

Here the rabbis imagine a conversation between God and Pharaoh's daughter where God says:

"משֶׁה לֹא הָיָה בְּנֵךְ וּקְרָאתוֹ בְּנֵךְ"

Moses was not your son, but you called him your son.

".אַף אַתְּ לֹא אַתְּ בִּתִּי וַאֲנִי קוֹרֵא אוֹתָךְ בִּתִּי"

Even though you are not my daughter, I call you my daughter.

, "שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: אֵלֶּה בְּנֵי בִּתְיָה, בַּת יָהּ"

And it is said this is why the name בתיה is comprised of בת and יה meaning daughter of God.

This statement asserts that Bathiah the daughter of Pharaoh is included as a member of the Jewish people which allows the rabbis to include Bathiah as a Judahite woman as well, and connects the first and last lines of Chronicles 4:18.

. . .

This then leads to the question, Given all of the different names for Moses, why do we (and the Torah) call him Moses?

The last paragraph answers this question by saying (in indirect translation) that God said to Moses, "Of all the names you are called, I only call you Moses because this is the name given to you by Pharaoh's daughter. She called him Moses and God called him Moses.