Jochebed

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According to the Torah, Jochebed (Hebrew: ''יוֹכֶבֶד' / 'יוֹכָבֶד', Standard Yoḫéved / Yoḫáved Tiberian Yôḵéḇeḏ / Yôḵāḇeḏ ; Yah is glory/"Yahweh is glory") was the mother of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam, and the wife of Amram[1]. Jochebed is also described as being related to Amram prior to her marriage to him, although the exact relationship is uncertain; some Greek and Latin manuscripts of the Septuagint state that Jochebed was Amram's father's cousin, and others state that Jochebed was Amram's cousin[2], but the masoretic text states that she was Amram's aunt[3] - although Jochebed's relationship to Levi is not explicitly stated. In the Apocryphal Testament of Levi, it is stated that Jochebed was born, as a daughter of Levi, when Levi was 64 years old.

Textual scholars attribute the genealogy to the Book of Generations, a document originating from a similar religiopolitical group and date to the priestly source[4]. According to biblical scholars, the Torah's genealogy for Levi's descendants, is actually an aetiological myth reflecting the fact that there were four different groups among the levites - the Gershonites, Kohathites, Merarites, and Aaronids[5]; Aaron - the eponymous ancestor of the Aaronids - couldn't be portrayed as a brother to Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, as the narrative about the birth of Moses (brother of Aaron), which textual scholars attribute to the earlier Elohist source, mentions only that both his parents were Levites (without identifying their names)[6]. Biblical scholars suspect that the Elohist account offers both matrilinial and patrilinial descent from Levites in order to magnify the religious credentials of Moses[7].

It has been proposed by a number of Biblical scholars that Ichabod and Jacob may ultimately be linguistic corruptions of Jochebed, and possibly once have referred to the same individual[8]

According to Jewish legend, Jochebed's corpse is buried in the Tomb of the Matriarchs, in Tiberias.

[edit] Family tree

According to the Septuagint, Jochebed's family tree would be as follows:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Levi
 
 
 
 (Unnamed)
 
 
 (unnamed)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Gershon
 
 Kohath
 
 Merari
 
 Jochebed
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Amram
 
 Izhar
 
 Hebron
 
 Uzziel
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Miriam
 
 Aaron
 
 Moses
 
 
 

while according to the masoretic text, Jochebed's family tree would be as follows:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Levi
 
 
 
 (unnamed)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Gershon
 
 Kohath
 
 Merari
 
 Jochebed
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Amram
 
 Izhar
 
 Hebron
 
 Uzziel
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Miriam
 
 Aaron
 
 Moses
 
 
 

[edit] In Jewish rabbinic literature

Jochebed is identified by some rabbis in the Talmud with Shiphrah, one of the midwives described by the book of Exodus as being ordered by Pharaoh to kill the new-born male children[9]. In making this identification, the rabbis interpret the houses, with which the Book of Exodus describes God as having compensated the midwives[10], as having been those of priesthood and of royalty; these houses are interpreted by the Talmudic rabbis as allegorical references to Jochebed's sons - Moses and Aaron respectively[11].

The Exodus Rabbah argues that when the Pharoah instructed midwives to throw male children into the Nile, Amram divorced Jochebed, who was three months pregnant with Moses at the time, but Miriam soon persuaded him to marry Jochebed again[12]; it goes on to argue that the Egyptians estimated the date that Moses would be due to be born by counting nine months from the start of this marriage, hence allowing Jochebed to hide him for the three months that were overestimated[13]. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan identifies Jochebed as also having been wife of Elitzaphon Ben Parnach, and the mother of Eldad and Medad[14]; the text is ambiguous as to when this marriage occurred in relation to the marriage(s) to Amram.

Jochebed's name is given various allegorical interpretations[15][16]; the Leviticus Rabbah identifies her as the person named in the Book of Chronicles as Jehudijah[17], by arguing that the name should be interpreted as meaning the Jewess, in reference to her founding the Jewish nation by disobeying the Pharaoh's order to dispose of the firstborn males[18].

Some rabbinic literature attempts to resolve the textual discrepancy in which the Torah lists 34 children of Leah born in Mesopotamia, stating that two were dead, and then immediately states that there were 33 in total[19], by arguing that the figure referred only to the surviving children, and that Jochebed was the 33rd[20][21]; however, since the Book of Numbers describes Jochebed's birth as occurring in Egypt[22], this necessitated the further rabbinic argument that Jochebed was born exactly on the border of Egypt, in the gateway of the city[23][24]. Biblical scholars have instead simply proposed that the discrepancy in the enumeration of Leah's children is due to the list not originally having included Dinah, who was added by a later editor to introduce consistency with the story of the Rape of Dinah[25].

According to traditional rabbinic biblical chronology, Moses was 80 years old when the Exodus occurred, the Israelites had been in Egypt for 210 years in total, and thus in combination with the rabbinical claim that Jochebed was born on the border of Egypt, as her parents had entered it, this would require Jochebed to have been 130 years old when she gave birth to Moses[26]; rabbinical literature regards this to have been alluded to by the biblical description of the dedication of the Israelite altar, at which 130 shekel weight of silver was offered[27][28].

[edit] References

  1. ^ Exodus 6:20
  2. ^ Exodus 6:16-20, LXX - [1]
  3. ^ New American Bible, footnote to Exodus 6:20
  4. ^ Richard Elliott Friedman, Who Wrote The Bible?
  5. ^ Peake's commentary on the Bible
  6. ^ Exodus 2:1-2
  7. ^ Peake's commentary on the Bible
  8. ^ Cheyne and Black, Encyclopedia Biblica
  9. ^ Exodus 1:15-16
  10. ^ Exodus 1:21
  11. ^ Exodus Rabbah 48:5
  12. ^ Exodus Rabbah 1:17
  13. ^ Exodus Rabbah 1:17
  14. ^ Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Numbers 11:26
  15. ^ Babylonian Talmud Sotah 11b
  16. ^ Midrash Exodus Rabbah i. 17
  17. ^ 1 Chronicles 4:18
  18. ^ Leviticus Rabbah 1:3
  19. ^ Genesis 46:15
  20. ^ Genesis Rabbah 94:8
  21. ^ Exodus Rabbah 1:23
  22. ^ Numbers 26:59
  23. ^ Genesis Rabbah 94:8
  24. ^ Exodus Rabbah 1:23
  25. ^ Richard Elliott Friedman, Who wrote the Bible?
  26. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia
  27. ^ Exodus Rabbah 1:23
  28. ^ Numbers Rabbah 13:19