Комментарий к Шмот 2:3

ולא יכלה עוד הצפינו AND SHE COULD NO LONGER CONCEAL HIM, because the Egyptians calculated the period from when he (Amram) took her back. She, however, bore him after a term of six months and one day — for a woman who gives birth to a child in the seventh month may do so in incomplete months (i. e. the seventh month of pregnancy may not be completed) (Niddah 38b) — and they (the Egyptians) made enquiry regarding her at the end of nine months (the normal term of pregnancy, but in this case three months after the child’s birth; therefore “she could no longer conceal him”).

בחמר, on the inside,

ותשם בסוף, a place where the people passing would not see her deposit the basket; in spite of this, the reason why she chose the reeds was that she thought the decree of babies having to be thrown into the river had been fulfilled by placing him within the river’s domain.

ולא יכלה עוד הצפינו, “and she could no longer hide him.” According to Rashi, the Egyptians who had been aware of Yocheved’s pregnancy had miscalculated, expecting her to give birth after 9 months. This is based on Sotah which claims that she had been pregnant with him already for 3 months before Amram remarried her. The Egyptians assumed that her pregnancy did not predate her remarriage, so that she could not have been due to give birth to a live baby at the time she did. There is therefore no need to postulate that Moses was born after a mere six months’ pregnancy. Had he been born after a six month pregnancy, under these circumstances, Yocheved should have been able to hide him for 6 months, not merely three, unless we assume that the Egyptians were keeping a close check after Yocheved had been remarried for six months. Under such circumstances, according to the view that Moses was indeed born 3 months premature, this occurred three months after her remarriage.

One who gives birth in the seventh month can give birth to a live child, even though the seven months are incomplete, and are only six months and one day.

V. 3. הצפינו, Hiphil. Warum konnte sie ihn nicht länger verbergen? Weil sie es nicht länger bewirken konnte, dass andere ihn verborgen ließen, (dies liegt im Dagesch), sie hatte die Macht nicht über ihre Umgebung. Der Knabe war schon über das erste Vierteljahr hinaus, war schon entwickelter, jeder wollte mit ihm spielen, und wenn das Kind auch nicht schreit, so wird es zum Krakeln und Jauchzen gebracht etc. Sie konnte es nicht verhindern, dass nicht jeder sich mit ihm zu tun machte, und da konnte es nicht geheim bleiben. —

ולא יכלה עוד הצפינו, “she could not (successfully) hide him any longer; Rashi comments here that the Egyptians had kept track of when Yocheved had finished serving as the King’s midwife, and calculated the earliest date that she could give birth to a child from her husband. At the end of nine months they checked her out. They had allowed for the fact that she might have been three months pregnant when appointed as midwife. This explains why she felt safe hiding her baby during the first three months.

ולא יכלה עוד הצפינו, “and she could not hide him any longer;” according to Rashi, she had given birth to him one day into the seventh month of her pregnancy. The Egyptians had demanded to examine her on the day following. If you were to ask that according to the Talmud in Sotah 12 Yocheved was already 3 months pregnant when her husband remarried her, how could Moses have been born after a six month pregnancy? We must therefore say that the Egyptians examined her already after six months after she had remarried. This would be nine months after she had become pregnant from her husband. The Egyptians knew that sometimes babies are born and survive after being born during the seventh month of pregnancy. Moses, on the other hand, was born three months after Yocheved had been remarried. This is why she could not hide him for longer than an additional three months.

גמא PAPER-REED — In the language of the Mishna it is called גמי (Shabbat 78a), and in old French junc. It is a flexible substance that offers resistance to the pressure of both soft and hard things (Sotah 12a).

ובזפת, on the outside, so that the water would not get inside the basket.

Tar on the outside. . . so that the righteous [child] should not have to smell. . . Rashi added a reason in Parshas Noach (Bereishis 6:14): “With Moshe’s box, since the water current was mild, it was sufficient to have [just] clay on the inside and on the outside.” See [Rashi] there.

גמא, von גמא schlürfen, eine Pflanze, die viel Wasser trinkt, היגאה גמא בלא בצה (Job 8. 11). סוף, Röhricht, das בַסוֹף, am Ende des Trockenen, an der Grenze des trockenen Erdbodens steht, wo Wasser und Land zusammenstoßen. Wenn diese Erklärung richtig ist und hier wirklich eine Pflanzenart nach der Örtlichkeit ihres Vorkommens bezeichnet ist, so wäre dadurch vielleicht eine Benennung deutlicher gemacht, die sonst rätselhaft erscheint. חציר heißt Gras und חצר Umhof (nicht Hof in unserem Sinne, sondern der ganze freie, ein Gebäude umgebende Raum, verwandt mit עצר ,עזר usw. So auch עזרה im מקדש, parallel dem חצר des משכן, der ganze den Tempel umgebende Raum). Im großen ganzen besteht die Pflanzenwelt da, wo sie noch keine Menschenhand berührt hat, aus zwei Elementen: יער und חציר, Wald, und der von Bäumen nicht eingenommene Raum ist mit חציר bedeckt, Bäume und sie umgebende Gräser. Wir haben schon früher יער in seiner Lautverwandtschaft mit יאור Fluß, insbesondere der auf Speisung durch den geschmolzenen Gebirgsschnee angewiesene Nil, betrachtet. Die Grundbedeutung beider ist: Ansammlung von Wasser. Daher auch das verwandte קערה ,קער: Schüssel für Flüssigkeiten. Wälder haben ja ihre wesentliche Bedeutung als Flüssigkeitsansammler. Alle Fruchtbarkeit ist von der Regenmenge bedingt und diese von dem Waldreichtum. יער ist daher eigentlich der vegetabilische יאור, speist das חציר, die ihn umgebenden niederen Gewächse, Gräser. Eigentümlich hängt mit סופה סוף: Sturm, zusammen. Möglich ist סופה eben das über סוף, über die Grenze Hinüberschreitende, wie שוף das plötzliche Hervorschlüpfen, und wäre dann סופה die plötzlich aus ihrer bisherigen Grenze hinüberstürmende Luft, während סערה den Sturm mehr als Wirbel bezeichnet, verwandt mit סחר ,סהר.

תיבת גומא, “an ark of bulrushes;” seeing that the basket resembles in texture and colour the bulrushes along the river Nile, it was suitably camouflaged. The Talmud tractate Sotah, folio 12, uses this example as proof that the righteous consider their belongings as even more important than their bodies. [She used inexpensive material, as the chances that both Moses and the basket would be lost to her were overwhelming. Ed.] This is not a reflection on the righteous being tightfisted with their money, but a result of their being careful not to acquire any possessions illegally.

תיבת גומא, a basket made from the kind of reeds that grew along the banks of the river Nile and served as camouflage.

בחמר ובזפת — with pitch (זפת) outside, but with slime (חמר) inside, in order that that righteous child might not smell the disagreeable odour of the pitch (Sotah 12a).

ותשם בסוף; which was על שפת היאור, near the embankment of the river. People walking along the river would not automatically be able to spot the basket from the outside, but people bathing in the river would be able to see it. Yocheved had not entered the water to hide the basket from all directions. This is why the daughter of Pharaoh saw the basket while she was bathing in the river. Her maidservants, who were only walking along the embankment, had not noticed the basket and who was inside it.

ותחמרה בחמר, “she daubed it with slime (and pitch)”. She put the former on the outside and the latter on the inside; in order that it would not attract attention of passers by. Even though the pitch was evil smelling, if she had put it on the outside, being black it would have attracted too much attention. However, Rashi¸ makes the opposite point; he says that the זפת she applied on the outside so that Moses would not have to inhale its unpleasant odour, whereas the slime was on the inside. Ibn Ezra considers the word חמר as referring to a type of bulrushes.

ותחמרה, “she made it waterproof from the inside;” the letter ה at the end does not have a dagesh.

ותשם בסוף AND SHE PUT IT IN THE FLAGS — It (סוף) has the same meaning as אגם. old French rosel. Another example of the word is (Isaiah 19:6) “And reeds and flags (סוף) shall wither”.

ובזפת, “and she tarred it from the outside;” if the bitumen had been on the outside, the waters would dissolve it gradually. She had intended to recover Moses from there as soon as she had been examined and not been found pregnant anymore.

על שפת היאור, “by the banks of the river.” She had been unable to step into the Nile waters to completely cover that basket and hide him from all directions. She could only hide him so that he could not be seen by river traffic passing by. This is why the daughter of Pharaoh did not discover him until she had descended to actually bathe in the river. Her servant maids walking alongside the river bank did not see the basket. (Rash’bam.)