Shemot (Exodus 1-6:1)
LA JOLLA, California — This parsha opens the Book of Exodus. It covers the development of enslavement of the Israelites, the early life of Moses, his escape to Midian and marriage there, his recruitment by God to lead the Israelites, and his earliest encounter with Pharaoh.
I have chosen to pursue three passages, with regard to their originality in the Torah text.
I.Exodus 1:8 “A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.” I have searched the internet for instances in ancient literature of such a phenomenon, i.e. forgetting a past hero of a society. There are none.
II. Exodus 1:15 “The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives…saying, ‘When you deliver the Hebrew women, look at the birthstool: if it is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live.'”
Exploration of the Internet readily yields much information on ancient infanticide, which goes back to Paleothic times (2.5 million to 10,000 BC). In the Neolithic era (10,000 to 3000 BCE, i,e. early agricultural societies), archaeological data suggest routine infanticide to control societal numbers so their lands could support them. Estimates of frequency vary from 15% to 50%, with up to 50% of non-preferred female newborns disposed of during this era, by neglect but at least some via cannibalism.
Many first-born children were killed via sacrificial rituals to appease the gods, generally from the poor class. Sites for this include Sardinia, pre-classical Greece**, and Syria., Canaan, Moab, and Assyria. The most infamous site was Carthage. A unique feature of Carthage was that, since their ritual was expensive, it was unblemished children from rich families who were sacrificed.
In pre-Columbian South America, it was also beautiful unblemished children who were sacrificed. They were seldom newborns, and could even be adolescents. Victims from poor homes were chosen for the Incan ritual, which marked festivals and important events in the life of the emperor. They were kept in luxury, sometimes for years, before their date of execution.
Egypt, contrary to the detail in Exodus, religiously valued children of both sexes, and did not perform infanticide on their own. In fact. during the Greco-Roman period of control, they rescued abandoned babies from manure heaps, which was a common method of infant disposal by Greeks and Romans. They adopted such babies, or raised them as slaves, often giving them such names as ‘copro’* to memorialize their rescue. [1] Of some interest is that the Romans killed equal numbers of boys and girls. Limited DNA studies of extant remains suggest an “even sex ratio.” Also, disposal of an infant in Rome was ‘not horrible’ since babies weren’t considered to be fully human at birth. [3] After a child was named, the tendency became to save it.
Unfortunately, infanticide continues to this day, more or less confined to the poor classes in Third World countries. However, the infamous Chinese ‘one child policy’ of the latter half of the 20th century led to widespread abortions of female fetuses and infanticide at birth. Later the Chinese turned their practice into a profitable industry, via promotion of orphanages, from which they sold female infants and toddlers to Western couples for adoption. [2]
III.Exodus 2:1-3 “(a Levite couple…bore a son (Moses);…she hid him for three months…got a wicker basket for him…caulked it with bitumen and pitch…and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.”
The Internet records many myths and legends of a child cast adrift on the ocean or a river. The intent generally is a plea for divine intervention, i.e. for the child to survive the ordeal.
Example: An illegitimate son was born of a priestess, with father unknown. Unable to keep him, she placed him in a basket and set him adrift on the Euphrates River. A ‘drawer of water’ in Sumer rescued the child and raised him. The boy grew up to become king (2334-2279 BC), conquering Mesopotamia to create one of the first known multinational empires. He came to be known as Sargon, the Great, of Assyria.
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Notes
copro – feces (Greek)
Though ‘historical Greeks” considered adult and child sacrifice to be barbarous, the elimination of unwanted newborns via exposure to the elements was widely practiced in ancient Greece. This particularly applied to cases of congenital deformity, unhealthiness, or illegitimacy. Such was not considered murder. Roman practice was similar. The myth of Romulus and Remus held that these twin sons were tossed into the Tiber River. They were rescued and raised by wolves, later to become founders of the city of Rome.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wik/infanticide
[2] https://the monthly.com.au/issue/2010/june/127614335/anne-manne/gendercide
[3] https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-general/ancient-roman-infanticide-didnt-favor-boys-001282
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Irv Jacobs is a retired medical doctor who delights in Torah analysis. He often delivers a drosh at Congregation Beth El in La Jolla, and at his chavurah.