| “ | Your shoulders should not bear a burden, old woman. | ” |
—Moses to Yochabel | ||
Jochebed was a Hebrew slave from the tribe of Levi, born in Goshen. She married Amram, and was the mother of Miriam, Aaron, and Moses. When Pharaoh Rameses proclaimed a death sentence upon all newborn Hebrew males, she saved the infant Moses by setting him adrift in a basket with her daughter Miriam following it. The baby is found by Bithiah and raised a Prince of Egypt.
As an older woman, still enslaved to perform grueling manual labor, her garment is caught beneath a stone and she is too weak to free herself. The overseer refuses to halt construction, dooming her to be crushed by the huge moving bricks. She is saved by an older Moses who witnesses her plight and, though she is a stranger to him, uses his authority as Prince of Egypt to countermand the overseer. When Moses finds out of his true heritage he visits Yochabel, who confirms he is Hebrew. Moses is exiled; on his return he learns that his birth mother died from old age during his absence.