Question:
When Moses was found on the water in a basket by the sister of the pharaoh. She tried to keep it secret that he was Hebrew. If that is the case why would they name him Moses which is a Hebrew name. Don’t we think that the pharaoh would been suspicious?
Answer:
It should be remembered that Moses was the first person to be named by that name, previously no man was called by that name, all Jews named after him today are named after him, but when Moses was named after that name, there was not yet a Jewish name. Therefore, there was no reason to fear that Pharaoh would find out that Moses was Jewish by his name.
However, it is still necessary to ask that the name Moses was given since he was drown out from the water, as the Torah said exodus 2:10, and from word מן המים משיתיהו)) is in the Hebrew language, so it is still difficult why Batya did not fear that Pharaoh would discover that Moses was one of the children of the Jews.
This question was answered by the Eben Ezra and in the דעת זקנים מבעלי התוספות, who indeed wrote that Batya called him ‘Monis’ which is an Egyptian name given according to the reason that he was drown out from the water, and translated into Hebrew is Moses.
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