daughter of Pharaoh

Pharaoh's daughter rescued the infant Moses from the Nile and adopted him as her son.

The daughter of Pharaoh, unnamed in the biblical text, played a significant role in the early life of Moses. When Moses was born, his mother hid him for three months to protect him from Pharaoh's decree to kill all Hebrew male infants. When she could no longer hide him, she placed him in a basket and set it among the reeds of the Nile River. Pharaoh's daughter discovered the basket while bathing in the Nile and recognized the child as a Hebrew. Moses' sister Miriam, who was watching nearby, offered to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the child, and Pharaoh's daughter agreed. Miriam brought Moses' mother, who was then hired by Pharaoh's daughter to nurse the child. When Moses grew older, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him as her son and named him Moses, saying, "Because I drew him out of the water" (Exo 2:5-10). This event set the stage for Moses' upbringing in the Egyptian royal court and his eventual role as the deliverer of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage.