(His wife from the tribe of Judah gave birth to Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soko, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah.) These were the children of Pharaoh’s daughter Bithiah, whom Mered had married. – 1 Chronicles 4:18

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 1, 2019): 1 Chronicles 4

Family histories are often fun, if not always accurate. And maybe it is not always wise to dive all that close into the tale. Just ask Elizabeth Warren. I think maybe we misunderstand the role that family history plays in our lives. And sometimes the important meaning disappears if we look too closely. For Warren, she grew up with the story of American First Nation blood that ran through her veins. It was something that she was proud of, even if she no longer lived or celebrated First Nation culture. For Warren, this blood connected her with the ancient history of North America. In our preciseness, we lose sight of that fact. We want to know how much blood, but that question really makes little sense. The connection is based more on the stories than it is on the percentage of blood.

Personally, based on my last name and the stories of the distant past, I self-identify as part of the Irish diaspora. I have no idea what the actual percentage of Irish blood that I carry might be. I know that there is also English, German, and Dutch blood present. It might be that one of those, or even some other origin, may be more prominent in my blood than my Irish connection. But the make-up of our blood might prove to be less important than the stories that we tell of our ancestry.

Ezra is writing the Book of Chronicles from the other side of the Babylonian Captivity. The people of Judah are beginning to return home and rebuild the nation. And part of the purpose of Chronicles to tell the family history stories of the country. And here, we have a hint toward what was a remarkable story.

Everyone knew the story of Moses the Law Giver, the one who had freed the slaves in Egypt and molded them into a nation. But what they maybe didn’t know was that there was a connection between the Tribe of Judah and the tale of Moses. And that connection was found in an Egyptian princess named Bithiah.

The Jewish historian Josephus argues that the name of the Princess that pulled Moses out of the Nile was Thermuthis. According to the story, Thermuthis suffered rejection because she claimed this Hebrew baby as her own, and decided to raise Moses within the Royal family. But according to the Jewish Midrash, at some point, Thermuthis changed her name and was called Bithiah. Bithiah is a Hebrew name meaning literally “daughter of Yah(weh).” Exactly when this royal name change happened, we aren’t sure. But also according to the Jewish family history, Bithiah not only raised one Hebrew child, but she also married into the Tribe of Judah and raised other Hebrew children; ones to which she had given birth. Her husband’s name was Mered. Mered, by the way, had at least two wives; Bithiah and an unknown woman of Judah.

When Moses was exiled, it is said that Bithiah went with him, leaving Egypt to live and possibly even die in the wilderness just beyond Egypt. Is the story true? Maybe, and maybe it is a family history at which we shouldn’t look too closely. The Bible tells us nothing more other than Mered married an Egyptian princess. The rest of the story is held in the legend of the nation.

One important thing is to note that Bithiah’s name here in 1 Chronicles tells us that the story of Bithiah, Moses, and Mered was one that shaped Jewish belief enough to be found in the religious commentaries of the Jewish faith. And the story of Bithiah was as crucial to the Jews as our own family histories are to us.     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 5