St. Alban the Martyr

Hannah Watches Pharaoh's Daughter Find Moses


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Here we see the infant Moses, who has been placed in the Nile in a reed basket because Pharaoh has ordered the death of all male Hebrew babies, discovered by Pharaoh's daughter, who will adopt him and raise him in the royal household. In the background is his elder sister, Miriam, who has been watching to see what will happen to the child. She will intervene to offer the child's own mother as a wet nurse for the child. The reference Exodus chapter 2 verse 4 is "And his sister stood far off, to witness what would be done to him".

No one in this scene is called Anna or Elizabeth. (Pharaoh's daughter is not named in the Bible; in the Quran she is called Asiyah.) Probably the reference is to Anna as their significantly older sister, sixteen when James was born, helping to look after young James and Thomas.

Look next at the panel below, where Samuel is dedicated to serve in the Temple.