The Daughter of Pharaoh and Moses
According to Jewish tradition, the daughter of Pharaoh is called Thermouthis, Merris, or Bithia. But the different names assigned to her and the lack of evidence in Egyptian records make this tradition unreliable.
A sensible assumption from Biblical chronology based on 1 Kings 6:1 and other supportive statements is that the Exodus took place about the middle of the 15th century B.C. This date points to the deduction that Moses grew under Thutmose I (1525-1508 B.C.), Thutmose II (1508-1504 B.C.), and Queen Hatshepsut (1504-1482 B.C.).
Hatshepsut was a great queen. She was the only legitimate child of Thutmose I and was married to her half-brother Thutmose II in order that he might lawfully reign after his father upon the throne. But she could not have a child with her husband.
When Thutmose II died, after a rule of four years, the priests of Amen, in a quick revolution, crowned an illegitimate son of Thutmose II, who was at that time only a boy that served in the temples. Because Thutmose III was too young to reign, his aunt Hatshepsut acted as his substitute for 22 years.
Her rule was peaceful. She built great temples and obelisks. She sent expeditions to Punt in East Africa for trade. And she sent others to Sinai and Nubia to mine gold and copper. In her affairs, she was aided by a prime minister by the name Senenmut.
Thutmose III succeeded Hatshepsut causing her violent death. He also erased her name from all Egyptian documents to delete her memory along with that of her prime minster Senenmut.
When Moses was born, Hatshepsut was merely the daughter of Thutmose I. Moses’ birth took place many years before her marriage to her half-brother Thutmose II, and more than 20 years before she started her rule, after the death of her husband.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
