Abstract:
The motif from the Exodus story of Moses as a beautiful infant is considered on several
levels. Firstly, the immediate context of Exodus 2 in the Hebrew Bible and in the Septuagint is
investigated. Exodus 2 is then related to the reception of the tradition in the New Testament
and Jewish sources as well as in a patristic reading and one from the Reformation. The article
concludes that the motif of Moses’ beauty is part of a relatively infrequent but nevertheless
well-established constellation. It is submitted that this finding contributes to a reappraisal of
the idea that the motif of beauty has no place in Israel’s texts of deliverance and an investigation
of the contrary hypothesis is called for.
