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[232]
Thermuthis therefore perceiving him to be so remarkable a child,
adopted him for her son, having no child of her own. And when one time
had carried Moses to her father, she showed him to him, and said she thought
to make him her successor, if it should please God she should have no legitimate
child of her own; and to him, "I have brought up a child who is of
a divine form, 1
and of a generous mind; and as I have received him from the bounty of the
river, in , I thought proper to adopt him my son, and the heir of thy kingdom."
And she had said this, she put the infant into her father's hands: so he
took him, and hugged him to his breast; and on his daughter's account,
in a pleasant way, put his diadem upon his head; but Moses threw it down
to the ground, and, in a puerile mood, he wreathed it round, and trod upon
his feet, which seemed to bring along with evil presage concerning the
kingdom of Egypt. But when the sacred scribe saw this, (he was the person
who foretold that his nativity would the dominion of that kingdom low,)
he made a violent attempt to kill him; and crying out in a frightful manner,
he said, "This, O king! this child is he of whom God foretold, that
if we kill him we shall be in no danger; he himself affords an attestation
to the prediction of the same thing, by his trampling upon thy government,
and treading upon thy diadem. Take him, therefore, out of the way, and
deliver the Egyptians from the fear they are in about him; and deprive
the Hebrews of the hope they have of being encouraged by him." But
Thermuthis prevented him, and snatched the child away. And the king was
not hasty to slay him, God himself, whose providence protected Moses, inclining
the king to spare him. He was, therefore, educated with great care. So
the Hebrews depended on him, and were of good hopes great things would
be done by him; but the Egyptians were suspicious of what would follow
such his education. Yet because, if Moses had been slain, there was no
one, either akin or adopted, that had any oracle on his side for pretending
to the crown of Egypt, and likely to be of greater advantage to them, they
abstained from killing him.
2
Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.
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