BATYA
(Adapted from the “Otzar Ishei haTanach”)
Batya and Tziporah were twins, per the Medrash Talpiyos, whom Paroh and Yisro respectively, found in the market-place. On account of their beauty, they took them home and brought them up as their daughters.
Chazal have taught that 'someone who comes to purify himself, receives Divine assistance', and that is precisely what happened to Batya. Following a strong urge to rescue the saviour of Yisrael, she saw with Ruach ha'Kodesh that she had indeed been chosen for that task.
Each morning and evening, she would walk with her maidservants beside the River Nile, and when the opportunity arose, G-d granted her request, much to her delight (Medrash Hagadol). On the occasion that she found Moshe among the bull-rushes, she had gone down to the River to cleanse herself from the idolatry practiced in her father's house. (G-d certainly chose the time to grant Batya her request with precision. We might even say that Batya 'came to purify herself' in more ways than one – Sotah 12b.)
According to Targum Yonasan however, Batya was smitten with leprosy and boils, as was common in Egypt, and she took a stroll beside the Nile to cool down. No sooner did she pick up the box containing Moshe, that she was cured of her ailment. In the Medrash Rabbah's version, the leprosy disappeared the moment she touched the box, and the Medrash adds that this phenomenon was the cause of the deep affection that she then felt towards Moshe.
Batya's maidservants, who were clearly of a less revolutionary nature, tried to stop her. When a royal edict is issued, they argued, and all the king's loyal subjects adhere strictly to the instructions, one would hardly expect the king's own daughter to disregard it! The Angel Gavriel intervened however, and crushed them into the ground, leaving one alive, because it is not etiquette for a princess to walk alone (Sotah 12b).
According to the Pirkei de'Rebbi Eliezer, Batya saved Moshe 'because' she claimed 'to save one human life is like saving a whole world'. She is called בתיה which are the same letters as תיבה (basket) to remind us that she risked her life to save the life of Moshe.
"This one is a Hebrew child", Batya declared. How did she know? She knew, the Gemara Sotah explains, because she saw that he was circumcised. And when she declared "This one" (instead of just saying 'He is a Hebrew child'), she was prophesying (without being aware that she was) that this child was thrown into the water, but that no others would. Why not? Because the astrologers, who had foretold that the saviour of the Jews would be punished through water, now declared that the pronouncement had been fulfilled, and there was no point in drowning any more babies
Batya prophesied once more (and again without being aware of what she was saying) when she said to Yocheved "Heilichi", by which she meant to say 'Take the baby', but which is also the acronym of 'Hei she'lichi' ('Here is yours') - Medrash Rabbah. And when she ordered her 'Feed this baby for me' (again instead of just saying 'feed him'), she was warning her (as if a warning was necessary) to return him in as perfect a state as she was handing him to her (Yalkut Shimoni).
Moshe had seven names, say Chazal, yet the only one the Torah ever uses is 'Moshe'. Indeed, G-d Himself calls Moshe by no other name. This was Batya's reward for the extreme act of Chesed that she performed in saving Moshe (the degree of self-sacrifice becomes evident when one considers what Paroh might have done to her had he discovered his own daughter's disloyalty) Medrash Rabbah. The Pasuk in Divrei Hayamim refers to Avigdor (alias Moshe) as the son of Batya. Now surely Moshe's mother was called Yocheved, and not Batya? True, answers the Gemara in Sanhedrin, Yocheved bore him, but it was Batya who brought him up, and that is why the Pasuk refers to her as his mother.
All the female firstborn died in Egypt too. The only exception being Batya, who had an excellent defense counsel by the name of Moshe (Medrash Rabbah). “She gets up in the middle of the night,” alluding to that infamous night of the Exodus, refers to Batya.
Nine people entered Gan Eden alive, among them two women, Serach bas Asher and Batya bas Paroh.
A wonderful Shiduch took place, per the Medrash Rabbah, when two rebels got married: Kailev ben Yefuneh (called 'Mered' because he rebelled against the plans of the Meraglim) married Batya (who rebelled against her father, Paroh). What makes this even more intriguing is the fact that Kailev was also married to Miriam, whom Batya had already met, of course, when she saved her brother, many, many years earlier.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Batya 'Moshe was not your son, yet that is what you called him. You too, are not My daughter, but that is what I will call you'. So He gave her the name 'Batya' ('bas Kah - daughter of G-d').
