Ark of bulrushes

A painting by Konstantin Flavitsky of Pharaoh's daughter finding Moses, who is in a basket.

The ark of bulrushes daubed with asphalt and pitch, in which the infant Moses was laid (Ex. 2:3), is called in the Hebrew תֵּבָה (tebah, modern teiva), a word similar to the Egyptian teb, meaning "a chest". It is also the same word used for Noah's Ark. The bulrushes (Hebrew: גֹּ֫מֶא‎‎ gome) were likely to have been papyrus stalks (Cyperus papyrus), daubed with bitumen and pitch (which probably refers to the sticky mud of the Nile).^[1]

The ark containing the three-month-old baby, Moses, was placed in reeds by the river bank (presumably the Nile) to protect him from the Egyptian mandate to drown every male Hebrew child,^[2] and discovered there by Pharaoh's daughter.

A similar story is told of Sargon of Akkad.^[3]

See also

• Reed boat

References