Christian Bible[edit]
In the King James Version of the Christian Bible the Hebrew יהּ [1] is transliterated as "JAH" (capitalised) in only one instance: "Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him". (Psalm 68:4) An American Translation renders the Hebrew word as "Yah" in this verse. The form also appears in the transcription of certain Hebrew theophoric names such as Adonijah.
With the rise of the Reformation, reconstructions of the Tetragrammaton became popular. The Tyndale Bible was the first English translation to use the anglicized reconstruction. The modern letter "J" settled on its current English pronunciation only around 500 years ago; in Ancient Hebrew, the first consonant of the Tetragrammaton always represents a "Y" sound.
In the Hebrew Bible, the Hebrew letters for Jah (YH) occurs 50 times - 26 times alone and 24 times in the term Hallelu'yah. Rotherham's Emphasised Bible includes 49 uses of Jah. In the Sacred Scriptures Bethel Edition Bible, the Jerusalem Bible, and the New Jerusalem Bible (prior to 1998) the Name "YHWH" and its abbreviated form "Yah" is found. The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, used primarily by Jehovah's Witnesses, employs "Jah" in the Hebrew Scriptures, and translates Hallelujah as "Praise Jah" in the Greek Scriptures. The Divine Name King James Bibleand the Spanish language Reina Valera Bible both employ "JAH" in 50 instances within the Old Testament.
| Bithiah | |
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Bithiah depicted in yellow. The Finding of Moses, oil on canvas, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1740, National Gallery of Scotland,Edinburgh.
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| Spouse | Mered |
Bithiah (Hebrew: בִּתְיָה Biṯyāh, literally "daughter of Jah") was an Egyptian princess, and a daughter of Pharaoh according to Hebrew tradition. The name of her father is not in the Bible, but Rabbinic Midrash makes her the daughter of one of the Pharaohs of the Exodus, (see Pharaoh of the Exodus). The Bible and Midrash assert that she was the foster mother of Moses, having drawn him from the Nile and bestowed upon him his name (Exodus 2:10).
In Jewish tradition, she was exiled by the Pharaoh for bringing Moses the Levite into the house of Pharaoh and claiming him as her own child. Bithiah left Egypt with Moses during the mass Exodus of the children of Israel. She married Mered the Judahite. Her children were Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah (the father of Eshtemoa).
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[hide]In the Bible and Midrash[edit]
In the Biblical account, the daughter of Pharaoh who rescued Moses is not named. A daughter of Pharaoh named Bithiah is mentioned in I Chronicles 4:18. The Midrash identifies the two as the same person, and says she received her name, literally "daughter of Yah" (Yah being a form of YHWH, which is often rendered in English as "LORD"), because of her compassion and pity in saving the infant Moses. It relates (Leviticus Rabbah 1:3) how God said He will take her in and call her YHWH's daughter (which is what “Bithiah“ means) because she took in a child not her own, and called him her son (Moses can mean "child" in Egyptian).
The Midrash also portrays her as a pious and devoted woman, who would bathe in the Nile to cleanse herself of the impurity of idolatrous Egypt. She is mentioned in Chron. 1, 4:18, as being the wife of Mered from the tribe of Judah, who is identified in the Midrash as being Caleb, one of the Twelve Spies. The Midrash (Exodus Rabbah 18:3) also records that she was not affected by the 10 Plagues, and was the only female firstborn of Egypt to survive the final plague.
In Christianity[edit]
Eusebius of Caesarea (Preparation for the Gospel 9.15) names her as Merris, and Eustathius of Antioch (Commentary on Hexameron MPG 18.785) as Merrhoe.
In Islam[edit]
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In the Hadith, Bithiah is known as Asiya, one of four of "the best of women". She is also known as the Pharaoh's wife, not daughter, in the Qur'an.
When Moses was born, his mother put him in an ark and placed it in the river. When this ark reached Pharaoh's palace, the courtiers took it out and got it opened before the queen. The Wife of Pharaoh was very much surprised to see a handsome and lovely child and took him in her arms. When Pharaoh (Firaun) came to know about it, he stepped forward to kill the child, but Asiya stood in the way saying:
Pharaoh changed his mind, and Moses's biological mother was appointed a wet nurse in the palace until he grew up. When Moses preached the true faith, Asiya believed in him, causing Pharaoh to persecute her. Muhammad praised the piety and virtues of Asiya, who was subjected to unbearable tortures yet was steadfast. She was nailed to a board with either iron nails or wooden stakes piercing her wrists and ankles and flogged in blazing desert heat on the Pharaoh's orders. She laid down her life, but did not forsake her religion.
Sura Al-Fajr, verse 10 refers to the Pharaoh of the nails (or stakes):
In Josephus' works[edit]
The princess of Pharaoh who saved the baby to be called Moses (Thutmosis III) from the Nile was called Thermuthis by the native Greeks.
As a name[edit]
Bithiah's name in Hebrew form (בתיה Batya) is commonly used as a female first name in contemporary Israel (see Batya Gur) and means "small stream, brook."
Please cite a source for this translation of (בתיה Batya).
I know of no other translation than (Daughter of God)
Allusions in rabbinic literature to the Biblical character Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, contain various expansions, elaborations and inferences beyond what is presented in the text of the Bible itself.
His names[edit]
One puzzle for the Talmudists was the difference in names presented at Numbers 10:29 and Judges 4:11, compared to Exodus 4:18: some thought that his real name was "Hobab" and that Reuel was his father (see Hobab); others thought that his name was "Reuel", interpreting it "the friend of God" (see Jethro—Biblical Data, and comp. the view of some modern scholars, who hold that his name was "Reuel," and that "Jethro" was a title, "his Excellency").[1]
According to Shimon bar Yochai, he had two names, "Hobab" and "Jethro" (Sifre, Num. 78). It became, however, generally accepted that he had seven names: "Reuel", "Jether", "Jethro", "Hobab", "Heber", "Keni" (comp. Judges i. 16, iv. 11), and "Putiel"; Eleazar's father-in-law (Ex. vi. 25) being identified with Jethro by interpreting his name either as "he who abandoned idolatry" or as "who fattened calves for the sake of sacrifices to the idol" (Ex. R. xxvii. 7; Mek., Yitro, 'Amaleḳ, 1; Tan., Shemot, 11; comp. Targ. pseudo-Jonathan to Ex. vi. 25 and Soṭah 44a).[1]
Previous life[edit]
According to the Talmud, Jethro together with Balaam and Job was consulted by Pharaoh as to the means for exterminating the children of Israel; and as he dissuaded Pharaoh from his design, he was recompensed in that his descendants, the Rechabites, sat with the Sanhedrin in the Temple (Talmud Sanhedrin. 106a; Ex. R. i. 12; comp. I Chron. ii. 55).[1] In Exodus Rabba 27.5 it is said that Jethro and Amalek were consulted by Pharaoh, and that both advised him to throw the male children into the river; but, seeing that Amalek was excluded from both this and the future life (comp. Ex. xvii. 14), Jethro repented.[1] Some commentators maintain that when Pharaoh asked his advisors about how to go about outsmarting/exterminating Israel, Jethro promptly fled the scene while Job remained silent and Balaam suggested to enslave them.
R. Joshua and R. Eleazar ha-Moda'i disagree as to Jethro's position in Midian: according to one, the words kohen Midyan mean that he was the "priest [of] Midian"; according to the other, "prince [of] Midian" (Mek. l.c.; Exodus Rabba 27.2).[1] The opinion that Jethro was a priest is met with in Exodus Rabba 1.35 and in Tan., Yitro, 5.
It is further said (Exodus Rabba l.c.) that Jethro, having remarked that the worship of an idol was foolish, abandoned it.[1] The Midianites therefore excommunicated him, and none would keep his flocks; so that his daughters were compelled to tend them and were ill-treated by the shepherds.[1] This, however, is in conflict with another statement, to the effect that Jethro gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses on condition that their first son should be brought up in the worship of idols, and that Moses swore to respect this condition (Mek. l.c.; Yalk., Ex. 169).[1]
Whether Jethro went to the wilderness before or after the Torah was given, and consequently what it was that induced him to go to the wilderness, are disputed points among the ancient rabbis (Zeb. 116a; Yer. Meg. i. 11; Mek. l.c.).[1] According to some, it was the giving of the Torah; according to others, the crossing of the Red Seadry-shod, or the falling of the manna.[1]
Honored by Moses[edit]
The manner in which Jethro announced his arrival to Moses is also variously indicated.[2] According to Rabbi Eliezer, Jethro sent a messenger; according to Rabbi Joshua, he wrote a letter and tied it to an arrow which he shot into the camp.[2] Moses did not go out alone to meet his father-in-law; but was accompanied by Aaron,Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel to honor Jethro.[2] Some say that even the Shekinah itself went out to meet him (Mek. l.c.; Tan., Yitro, 6).[2]
The words wa-yihad Yitro (Exodus 18.9), generally translated "and Jethro rejoiced," are interpreted by the Talmudists as "he circumcised himself"; or "he felt a stinging in his flesh"; that is to say, he was sorry for the loss of the Egyptians, his former coreligionists.[2] By an interchange of the ח with the ה, the phrase would read wa-yihad,meaning "he became a Jew" (Tan., Yitro, 5).[2]
Religion[edit]
Jethro was the first to utter a benediction to God for the wonders performed by Him for the Israelites (comp. Exodus xviii. 10).[2] Such a thing had not been done either by Moses or by any of the Israelites (Sanh. l.c.; Mek. l.c. 2).[2] Jethro knew that God was greater than all the gods (comp. Ex. xviii. 11), because he had previously worshiped all the idols of the world (Mek. l.c.; Tan. l.c.); but at the same time he did not deny to idols all divine power (Yalk., Ex. 269).[2] According to Rabbi Joshua, Moses purposely sent Jethro away so he wouldn't be present at the revelation of the Law (comp. Exodus 18.27, Hebr.).[2]
In the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible, Jethro (/ˈdʒɛθroʊ/; Hebrew: יִתְרוֹ, Standard Yitro Tiberian Yiṯrô; "His Excellence/Posterity"; Arabic شعيب Shu-ayb) or Reuel was Moses' father-in-law, a Kenite shepherd and priest of Midian.[1] In Exodus, Moses' father-in-law is initially referred to as Reuel (Exodus 2:18) but then as Jethro (Exodus 3:1). He was the father of Hobab in the Book of Numbers 10:29.[2] He is also revered as the spirtual founder and chief prophet in his own right in the Druze religion,[3][4][5] and considered an ancestor of all Druze.[6][7]
In Exodus[edit]
Jethro is called a priest of Midian and became father-in-law of Moses after he gave his daughter, Zipporah, in marriage to Moses. He is introduced in Exodus 2:18.
Jethro is recorded as living in Midian, a territory stretching along the eastern edge of the Gulf of Aqaba in what is today northwestern Saudi Arabia. Some believe Midian is within the Sinai Peninsula. Biblical maps from antiquity show Midian on both locations.[citation needed]
Jethro's daughter, Zipporah, became Moses's wife after Moses had fled Egypt, having killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave. Having fled to Midian, Moses intervened in a water-access dispute between Jethro's seven daughters and the local shepherds; Jethro consequently invited Moses into his home and offered him hospitality. However, Moses remained conscious that he was a stranger in exile, naming his first son (Jethro's grandson) "Gershom", meaning "stranger there".
Moses is said to have worked as a shepherd for Jethro for 40 years before returning to Egypt to lead the Hebrews to Canaan, the "promised land". After the Battle at Rephidim against the Amalekites, word reached Jethro that under Moses' leadership the Israelites had been delivered out of Egypt, so he set out to meet with Moses. They met in the wilderness at the "Mountain of God";[8] Moses recounted to Jethro all that had taken place, and then, according to Exodus 18:9-12a:
Following this event, it was Jethro who encouraged Moses to appoint others to share in the burden of ministry to the nation Israel by allowing others to help in the judgment of smaller matters coming before him.
These events take place in the Torah portion Yitro (Exodus 18:1-20:23).
Names[edit]
There is some disagreement over the name(s) of Moses' father-in-law. In the KJV translation of Judges 4:11, a man named Hobab appears as Moses' father-in-law, while Numbers 10:29 makes him "the son of Raguel [Reuel] the Midianite, Moses' father in law". Reuel is noted Exodus 2:16, as "a priest of Midian" who had seven daughters. Exodus 2:18 "the girls returned to Reuel their father". Reuel becomes Moses' father in law in Exodus 2:21 "Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage." One thing to consider is that there is only one Biblical Hebrew word for both "brother-in-law" and "father-in-law" (chathan).[10] It is, in fact, the word for any and all relations by marriage. If one takes into account the Biblical custom of multiple names for one person as well as Judges 4:11 calling Hobab Reuel's son, Reuel and Jethro both appear as Moses' father-in-law,[11] while Hobab may be seen as his brother-in-law. However, this is disputed among theologians.[12][13]
Jethro in Islam[edit]
Main article: Shuaib
Under the name Shuaib or Shoaib or Shu'ayb, (Arabic: شعيب; meaning Who shows the right path), Jethro is revered as a Prophet of Islam[14] though Islam attributes to him many deeds not attested in the Bible. He is believed to have lived after Ibrahim, and Muslims believe that he was sent as a prophet to two communities, namely the Midianites [15] and the People of the Wood.[16] To both the people, Shuaib proclaimed the faith of Islam and warned the people to end their fraudulent ways. When they did not repent, Allah destroyed both communities.[17][18] Shuaib is understood by Muslims to have been one of the few Arabian prophets mentioned by name in the Quran, the others being Saleh, Hud, Ishmael and Muhammad. It is said that he was known by early Muslims as "the eloquent preacher amongst the prophets", because he was, according to Islamic tradition, granted talent and eloquence in his language.[19]
Druze[edit]
Jethro (Arabic: Shuaib), Moses' non-Jewish father-in-law, is a central figure, particularly in the rites and pilgimages, of the Druze religion.[20][21] He is viewed as a Prophet in Druze belief.[22][23] Nabi Shu'ayb is the site recognized by Druze as the tomb of Shuʿayb. It is located in Hittin in the Lower Galilee and is the holiest shrine and most important pilgrimage site for the Druze.[24][25] Each year on April 25, the Druze gather at the site to discuss community affairs and celebrate Jethro's death anniversary with singing, dancing and feasting.[26][27] Another Druze shrine in Ein Qiniyye is the supposed burial place of Jethro's sister, Sit Shahwana.[28]
Jethro is revered as the chief prophet in the Druze religion.[29][30] They believe he was a "hidden" and "true prophet" who communicated directly with God and then passed on that knowledge to Moses, whom they describe as a "recognised" and "revealed prophet."[31][32] According to Druze belief, Moses was allowed to wed Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, after helping save his daughters and their flock from competing herdsmen. He is also considered an ancestor of the Druze;[33] as is expressed by such prominent Druze as Amal Nasereldeen,[34] and according to Salman Tarif, who was a prominent Druze shaykh, this makes the Druze related to the Jews through marriage.[35] This view has been used to represent an element of the special relationship between Israeli Jews and Druze.[36] The Israeli Druze also have a folktale called "Jethro's revenge on the [Sunni Muslim] inhabitants of the village of Hittin."[37]
| Amal Nasser el-Din | |
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| Date of birth | 31 July 1928 |
| Place of birth | Daliyat al-Karmel, Mandatory Palestine |
| Knessets | 8, 9, 10, 11 |
| Faction represented in Knesset | |
| 1977–1988 | Likud |
Amal Nasser el-Din (Arabic: أمل نصر الدين, Hebrew: אמל נסראלדין; born 31 July 1928) is a Druze Israeli author and former politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Likud between 1977 and 1988.
Biography[edit]
El-Din was born in Daliyat al-Karmel during the Mandate era. He headed the section for demobilised soldiers from 1961 and 1964, and became director of the Yad LeBanim memorial project for killed Druze, Bedouin and Circassian IDF soldiers in 1969. From 1964 until 1971 he served as secretary of the Daliyat al-Karmel andIsfiya Workers Council.
In 1969 his son Lutfi was killed on his last day of his national service. In 2008 his grandson, also named Lutfi, was killed during Operation Cast Lead.
Originally a member of Mapai, he joined Herut in 1971. He was on the Likud list (an alliance of Herut and other right-wing parties) for the 1973 Knesset elections, but failed to win a seat. However, he entered the Knesset on 21 January 1977 as a replacement for Akiva Nof,[1] who had resigned after leaving Likud. el-Din was re-elected in the May 1977 elections, and again in 1981 and 1984, before losing his seat in the 1988 elections.
In 1973, Amel Nasser A-Din founded the Zionist Druze Circle,[2][3] a group whose aim was to encourage the Druze to support the state of Israel fully and unreservedly.[4] Regarding Druze belief and Jewish-Druze relations, he has stated: "We believe in the same Bible as the Jews. We believe that Isaac, not Ishmael was brought for sacrifice. Mohammad is not our prophet. We are the descendants of Jethro, Moses' father-in-law.