Midrash su Esodo 2:3

(Ib., ib., ib.) She took for him a box of bulrushes. Why bulrushes? Said R. Elazar: "Infer from this, that wealth is as dear to the righteous as their own body. The reason therefore, is because they do not stretch their hands for things that do not belong to them." R. Simon b. Nachmeni said: "She made them out of bulrushes because it is soft, and could stand (and not be overthrown) by a soft or hard thing. And daubed it with slime and with pitch. We are taught: Slime was inside and pitch outside so that this righteous (Moses) shall not smell the bad odor. (Ib., ib., ib.) And she put the child therein and laid it (basuff) amidst the flags, by the brinks of the river. R. Elazar says: "She put him in the Red Sea." R. Simon R. Nachmeni, however, said: (Ib. b) "She put him in the reeds, as it is written (Is. 19, 6) Reeds (Suff) and flags shall wither."

There was an incident involving Miriam daughter of the baker, who was taken captive with her seven sons. The emperor took them and placed them behind seven partitions. He brought the first and said to him: ‘Prostrate yourself to the idol.’ He said to him: ‘God forbid, I will not prostrate myself to the idol.’ He said to him: ‘Why?’ [He responded:] ‘Because so it is written in our Torah: “I am the Lord your God”’ (Exodus 20:2). Immediately, he took him out and executed him.
He took out the second and said to him: ‘Prostrate yourself to the idol.’ He said to him: ‘God forbid, my brother did not prostrate himself and I will not prostrate myself.’ He said to him: ‘Why?’ He said to him: ‘Because so it is written in our Torah: “You shall have no other gods before Me”’ (Exodus 20:3). Immediately, he issued a decree against him and they executed him. He took out the third and said to him: ‘Prostrate yourself to the idol.’ He said to him: ‘I will not prostrate myself.’ He said to him: ‘Why?’ He said to him: ‘Because so it is written in our Torah: “For you shall not prostrate yourself to another god”’ (Exodus 34:14). Immediately, he issued a decree against him and they executed him. He took out the fourth and [the son] recited his verse: “One who sacrifices to gods shall be destroyed” (Exodus 22:19). He issued a decree against him and they executed him. He took out the fifth and he, too, recited his verse: “Hear Israel, the Lord is our God the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). Immediately, he issued a decree against him and they executed him. He took out the sixth and he, too, recited his verse: “For the Lord your God is in your midst, a God great and awesome” (Deuteronomy 7:21). Immediately, he issued a decree against him and they executed him.
He took out the seventh, who was the youngest of them all. He said: ‘My son, prostrate yourself to the idol.’ He said to him: ‘God forbid.’ He said to him: ‘Why?’ He said to him: ‘Because so it is written in our Torah: “You shall know this day, and restore to your heart, that the Lord, He is the God in the heavens above and upon the earth below, there is no other” (Deuteronomy 4:39). Moreover, we took an oath to our God that we will not exchange Him for another God, as it is stated: “You have exalted the Lord today [to be your God]” (Deuteronomy 26:17). And just as we took an oath to Him, so He took an oath that He would not exchange us for a different nation, as it is stated: “The Lord has exalted you today [to be a people of distinction for Him]”’ (Deuteronomy 26:18).
The emperor said to him: ‘Your brothers had full days, full lives, and experienced goodness, but you are young, you have not had full days, you have not had a full life, and you have never experienced goodness. Prostrate yourself to the idol and I will do good things for you.’ He said to him: ‘It is written in our Torah: “The Lord will reign forever” (Exodus 15:18). And it says: “The Lord is king forever, nations have been eliminated from His land” (Psalms 10:16). You will cease and His enemies will cease. Flesh and blood lives today and dies tomorrow, is wealthy today and poor tomorrow; but the Holy One blessed be He lives and persists forever and for all time.’ The emperor said to him: ‘See your brothers slain before you. I am casting my ring to the ground before the idol, lift it so everyone will know that you heeded my voice.’ He said to him: ‘It is a shame for you, emperor; if you fear people, who are your equivalent, will I not fear the King of kings, the Holy One blessed be He, the eternal God?’ He said to him: ‘Is there a God in the world?’ He said to him: ‘Woe are you, emperor, have you seen a world without a master?’
He said to him: ‘Does your God have a mouth?’ He said to him: ‘Regarding your gods it is written: “They have a mouth but cannot speak” (Psalms 115:5). Regarding our God it is written: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made; [by the breath of His mouth, all their hosts]”’ (Psalms 33:6).
He said to him: ‘Does your God have eyes?’ He said to him: ‘Regarding your gods it is written: “They have eyes but cannot see” (Psalms 115:5). Regarding our God it is written: “They are the eyes of the Lord ranging throughout the land”’ (Zechariah 4:10).
He said to him: ‘Does your God have ears?’ He said to him: ‘Regarding your gods it is written: “They have ears but cannot hear” (Psalms 115:6). Regarding our God it is written: “The Lord listened and heard”’ (Malachi 3:16).
He said to him: ‘Does your God have a nose?’ He said to him: ‘Regarding your gods it is written: “They have a nose but cannot smell” (Psalms 115:6). Regarding our God it is written: “The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma”’ (Genesis 8:21).
He said to him: ‘Does your God have hands?’ He said to him: ‘Regarding your gods it is written: “They have hands but cannot feel” (Psalms 115:7). Regarding our God it is written: “My hand, too, laid the foundation”’ (Isaiah 48:13).
He said to him: ‘Does your God have feet?’ He said to him: ‘Regarding your gods it is written: “They have feet but cannot walk” (Psalms 115:7). Regarding our God it is written: “His feet will stand that day on the Mount of Olives”’ (Zechariah 14:4).
He said to him: ‘Does your God have a throat?’ He said to him: ‘Regarding your gods it is written: “They cannot produce sound with their throats” (Psalms 115:7). Regarding our God it is written: “Sound emerges from His mouth”’ (Job 37:2).
He said to him: ‘If there are all these attributes in your God, why does He not rescue you from my hand, like He rescued Ḥananya, Mishael, and Azarya from the hand of Nebuchadnezzar?’ He said to him: ‘Ḥananya, Mishael, and Azarya were upright, and Nebuchadnezzar was a king worthy of having a miracle performed through him. But you are not worthy, and we have been condemned to death at the hand of Heaven. If you do not execute us, there are many executioners for the Omnipresent, many wolves, lions, snakes, leopards, and scorpions to attack us and kill us. But ultimately, the Holy One blessed be He is destined to exact retribution from you for our blood.’ Immediately, he issued a decree against him to execute him.
His mother said to him: ‘By the life of your head, emperor, give me my son and I will hug him and kiss him.’ He gave him to her, and she bared her breasts and nursed him with her milk. She said to him: ‘By the life of your head, emperor, execute me first and then execute him.’ The emperor said to her: ‘I will not heed you because it is written in your Torah: “An ox or a sheep, it and its offspring you shall not slaughter on one day”’ (Leviticus 22:28). She said to him: ‘You absolute fool, have you already fulfilled all the mitzvot and only this one remains?’ Immediately, he commanded to execute [the son]. His mother fell upon him and was hugging him and kissing him. She said to him: ‘My son, go to Abraham your patriarch and say to him: So said my mother: Do not be overly impressed with yourself and say: I built an altar and sacrificed Isaac, my son. My mother built seven altars and sacrificed seven sons on one day. Yours was an ordeal, mine was an action.’¹⁸¹Your was a test to see if you were willing to sacrifice your son, but you did not actually sacrifice him. My sons were actually killed. While she was hugging him and kissing him, he issued a decree against him and they executed him upon her. When he was executed, the Sages calculated the age of that child and it was discovered that he was two years, six months, and six and one half hours. At that moment, all the nations of the world screamed out and said: ‘What is the God of these people doing to them that they are killed on His behalf all the time?’ In their regard it is written: “For we are killed all day long for You” (Psalms 44:23).
Sometime later, that woman went mad and she fell from the roof and died, to realize what is stated: “She who bore seven is miserable” (Jeremiah 15:9). A Divine Voice was calling out, saying: “The mother of the children is joyful” (Psalms 113:9). The Divine Spirit was crying out and saying: “For these I weep.”

Observe that the Holy One, blessed be He, did not divulge the existence of Moses until he was three months old, as it is said: She hid him three months, and when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes (Exod. 2:3). She then placed the child within the ark and set it in the Nile. Then it is written: The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe (ibid., v. 5). Our sages of blessed memory said: She went there to cleanse herself of the idolatry practiced in her father’s palace. Others maintain that she had been suffering from leprosy, but when she stretched out her hand toward the righteous one, she was cured.

And Pharaoh commanded his officers day by day, to go through Goshen to search for the new-‎born infants of the Israelites. And in their searching, if they found a male child, they would ‎take it from the lap of its mother and cast it into the river, but if it was a female child, they left ‎it with its mother; and thus did the Egyptians unto the children of Israel all the days. And at ‎that time the spirit of God came over Miriam, daughter of Amram, the sister of Aaron, and she ‎went around prophesying through the house, saying: Behold a son will be born unto us from ‎my father and mother this time, and he will deliver the children of Israel from the hands of ‎Egypt. And when Amram heard the words of his daughter he went and reclaimed his wife, and ‎he brought her back into his house, for he had separated from her, after Pharaoh had ‎commanded that all the male children of the house of Jacob be cast into the river. And Amram ‎reclaimed his wife in the third year of their separation, and she conceived; and after seven ‎months she bare a son, and at the time of his birth the whole house was filled with a great ‎light, like unto the light of the sun and the moon in their shining. And when the woman saw ‎that he was so comely and pleasing to behold, she concealed him in her innermost chamber, ‎and kept him hidden for three months. In those days all the Egyptians were united in their ‎purpose to destroy the Hebrews, and the Egyptian women went to Goshen among the ‎Hebrew women, with their infants upon their shoulders. For in those days the Hebrew women ‎concealed their male children from before the Egyptians, so that they should not destroy them ‎from the earth, and, therefore, the Egyptian women came to Goshen with their babes that ‎could not speak, and when they entered the houses of the Hebrews they caused their babes ‎to cry, and the babes hidden in the innermost chamber would answer, and then the Egyptian ‎women went and told it in the house of Pharaoh, and Pharaoh sent his servants to take the ‎children and to slay them; thus did the Egyptians unto the Hebrew women all the days. And it ‎was at the time, in the third month of Jochebed’s concealment of her son, that the thing was ‎made known unto Pharaoh’s household. And the woman hastened to remove her son before ‎the officers came, and she procured an ark of bulrushes, and she daubed it with slime and with ‎pitch, and she put the child therein, and she placed the ark among the flag near the bank of ‎the river, and his sister Miriam stationed herself at a distance to know what would become of ‎him and of her prophecy. And the Lord sent on that day a scorching heat into the land of Egypt, ‎which burnt the flesh of men like the sun when in his zenith, and it annoyed the Egyptians ‎exceedingly,