While in the Brit Bein HaBetarim (Beraishit 15:13-6) we hear about God’s Master Plan with respect to the Jewish people going into exile and then being redeemed, one Midrashic source suggests that there was a secret tradition regarding the code words that would identify the individual who would serve as God’s Representative when the time for redemption arrived:

Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer, Chapt. 47.

R. Eliezer says: The five letters (of the Hebrew alphabet) that are doubled (i.e., there are two forms of the letter), all of them represent redemption—

כ, ך Our father, Avraham was redeemed from Uhr Kasdim, as it is said (Beraishit 12:1) “Lech Lecha MeiArtzecha…”

מ, ם Our father Yitzchak was redeemed by them from the hands of the Philistines, as it is said (Ibid. 26:16) “Leich MeiImanu…”

נ, ן Our father Yaakov was redeemed by them, as it is said (Ibid. 32:12) “HaTzileini Na MiYad Achi…”

פ, ף Our fathers were redeemed by them from Egypt, as it is said (Shemot 3:16) “Pakod Pakadeti Etchem…”

צ,ץ By these in the future, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, will Redeem Yisrael from the servitude of the four kingdoms, saying to them “Tzemach Tzamachti Lachem”, as it is said, (Zecharya 6:12) “VeAmarta Eilav Koh Amar HaShem Tzvakot Leimor Henei Ish Tzemach Shemo U’MiTachtav Yitzmach…”

(It is possible that the association between the double letters and redemption is due to the idea that is being symbolized, i.e., even if things have taken a less ideal form presently, eventually they will become better, even ideal.)

And all of them (these secret “codes”) were given to our father Avraham, and Avraham gave them to Yitzchak, and Yitzchak gave them to Yaakov, and Yaakov gave the secret of redemption to Yosef, as it is said, (Beraishit 50:24) “Pakod Yifkod Elokim Etchem” (these are Yosef’s words, and the Midrash assumes that he learned them from his father Yaakov), and Asher (one of Yosef’s brothers) gave the secret of redemption to his daughter, Serach. And when Moshe and Aharon came (to Egypt) to the elders of Yisrael and performed the signs before their eyes, they went to Serach b. Asher. (See “An Intriguing Biblical ‘Minor’ Character”) They said to her: A man came to us and performed such-and-such signs before us. She said to them: This person is not the “real thing.” They said to her: “But he said “Pakod Yifkod Elokim Etchem”! She said to them: He is the man who will in the future redeem Yisrael from Egypt. Because I heard from my father, “פ,ף Pakod Yifkod”. Immediately the people believed in their God and in His Messenger, as it is said, (Shemot 4:31) “And the people believed and they understood that HaShem had surely Remembered His People.”

When a group of people have been suffering for a long time, it is typical that false prophets and messiahs will try to assert themselves in order to influence that group’s mood and thereby gain for themselves power and prestige. Consequently, some sort of system had to be put into place by which a determination could be made regarding the legitimacy of the individual who is presenting himself for consideration. The Tora delineates criteria, including 1) the performance of wondrous deeds, 2) the contents of the person’s message and 3) wonders that he performs and events that he predicts:

Devarim 13:2-7

2 If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams–and a) he give thee a sign or a wonder, 3 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke unto thee–saying: b) “Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them”; 4 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God Putteth you to proof, to Know whether ye do love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 5 After the LORD your God shall ye walk, and Him shall ye fear, and His Commandments shall ye keep, and unto His Voice shall ye hearken, and Him shall ye serve, and unto Him shall ye cleave. 6 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken perversion against the LORD your God, Who Brought you out of the land of Egypt, and Redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, to Draw thee aside out of the Way which the LORD thy God Commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee.

Ibid. 18:18-22

18 I will Raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will Put My Words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall Command him. 19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My Words which he shall speak in My Name, I will Require it of him. 20 But the prophet, c) that shall speak a word presumptuously in My Name, which I have not Commanded him to speak, or d) that shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. 21 And if thou say in thy heart: “How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?” 22 When a prophet speaketh in the Name of the LORD, e) if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not Spoken; the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously, thou shalt not be afraid of him.

Moshe, as the first prophet sent to the Jewish people in order to help them become an independent nation and enter into a Covenant with HaShem, not only was clearly coming to the Jews in the Name of God and not some other deity, but he also performed certain miraculous actions in order to demonstrate that he was a true prophet:

Shemot 4:1-9, 29-31

1 And Moshe answered and said: “But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say: ‘The LORD hath not Appeared unto thee.’” 2 And the LORD Said unto him: “What is that in thy hand?” And he said: “A rod.” 3 And He Said: “Cast it on the ground.” And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moshe fled from before it. 4 And the LORD Said unto Moshe: “Put forth thy hand, and take it by the tail” –and he put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand– 5 That they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Avraham, the God of Yitzchak, and the God of Yaakov, hath appeared unto thee.” 6 And the LORD Said furthermore unto him: “Put now thy hand into thy bosom.” And he put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow. 7 And He Said: “Put thy hand back into thy bosom.” –he put his hand back into his bosom; and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. — 8 “And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land; and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.” …

29 And Moshe and Aharon went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Yisrael 30 And Aharon spoke all the words which the LORD had Spoken unto Moshe, and did the signs in the sight of the people. 31 And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had Remembered the children of Yisrael, and that He had Seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped. (4:29-31 repeated in 7:8-12.)

However, we can understand how these actions might not have served as the ultimate determinant for the people to believe in Moshe’s Divine Mission. Egypt after all was home to all sorts of magicians and magic. With respect to at least one of the “miracles” that Moshe did before the elders, when a similar “wonder” was enacted in the presence of Pharoah, his magicians were able to dull the dramatic effects of the miracle by copying what had been done:

Shemot 7:10-2

10 And Moshe and Aharon went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so, as the LORD had Commanded; and Aharon cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did in like manner with their secret arts. 12 For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents; but Aharon’s rod swallowed up their rods.

Despite Aharon’s serpent/rod proving more aggressive than the ones conjured up by Pharoah’s magicians, these royal wizards still managed to do something that appeared comparable. And just as Pharoah’s heart was unmoved by Moshe’s action (7:13), it is possible that there were skeptics among the Jewish people concerning whether to believe in Moshe as well, despite the wonders that he performed before them.

Another of the factors mentioned in Devarim was also as yet a non-issue when Moshe first came to the Jewish people in Egypt. There was as yet no existing body of Mitzvot that would allow for comparison with the message that Moshe was delivering. RaMBaM in Mishneh Tora, Hilchot Yesodei HaTora 9:1 posits that a true prophet would not declare that a Mitzva of the Tora has been permanently altered by HaShem:

It is clear and explicit in the Torah that it is (God’s) Commandment, remaining forever without change, addition, or diminishment, as (Devarim 13:1) states: “All these matters which I Command to you, you shall be careful to perform. You may not add to it or diminish from It,” and (Ibid. 29:28] states: “What is revealed is for us and our children forever, to carry out all the words of this Tora.” This teaches that we are commanded to fulfill all the Tora’s Directives forever. It is also said: “It is an everlasting Statute for all your generations,” and (Ibid. 30:12) states: “It is not in the heavens.” This teaches that a prophet can no longer add a new precept (to the Tora). Therefore, if a person will arise, whether Jew or gentile, and perform a sign or wonder and say that God Sent him to: a) add a Mitzva, b) withdraw a Mitzva c) explain a Mitzva in a manner which differs from the tradition received from Moshe, or d) if he says that the Mitzvot Commanded to the Jews are not forever, but rather were given for a limited time, he is a false prophet. He comes to deny the prophecy of Moshe and should be executed by strangulation, because he dared to make statements in God’s Name which God never Made. God, Blessed Be His Name, Commanded Moshe that this Commandment is for us and our children forever, and, God Is not man that He Speak falsely.

 However, at this point in Jewish history, the Jewish people as a nation had as yet not been given any Mitzvot.

Therefore the Rabbis in Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer apparently assumed that some sort of additional test or determining factor, i.e., a “code phrase”, would be necessary by which to test whether Moshe was truly God’s prophet, Sent to them to lead them out of Egyptian slavery.

What is extremely curious is the role played by Asher’s daughter, Serach, in the process of checking Moshe’s “bonafides,” by acting as the conserver of the “code,” and the one to pronounce whether the elders should take seriously Moshe’s directives.

Of course, this could have occurred by happenstance, with Serach simply being the last survivor of the earlier period. It is possible that either Yaakov or Yosef confided in all of the brothers regarding this special code phrase, and they in turn told their children, in the hope that someone would be around when God finally sent someone to help them. But if this was the case, we could imagine that the generations following Serach would also have been made aware of the secret, and there would not have been a need to seek out specifically Serach. It is more likely that she had been designated to carry out this mission by virtue of something that she had previously done.

Attention is first drawn to Serach by her being named explicitly, despite the fact that men’s rather than women’s names are listed among the seventy family members who come with Yaakov to Egypt:

Beraishit 46:17

17 And the sons of Asher: Imna, and Ishva, and Ishvi, and Beria, and Serach their sister; and the sons of Beria: Hever, and Malchiel.

Just as the mentioning of Na’ama among the listing of the children of Lemech:

Beraishit 4:22

And Tzilla, she also bore Tuval-Kayin, the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron; and the sister of Tuval-Kayin was Na’ama.

leads to the conclusion that she ended up marrying the Tzaddik of the generation:

RaShI s.v. Na’ama

The wife of Noach.

so too the Rabbis posit that Serach was special.

The earliest noteworthy achievement ascribed to Serach, and which in turn caused her to receive a special blessing from Yaakov, was her disclosing to Yaakov that Yosef was still alive—

Beraishit 45;26

And they told him, saying: “Yoseph is yet alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart fainted, for he believed them not.

Panim Yafot s.v. VaYagidu Lo Laimor Ohd Yosef Chai

There are those who interpret the word “Laimor” (saying) that it is superfluous. Therefore it hints at what the Rabbis have said (Zohar Parashat Shelach 167b) that they (Yosef’s returning brothers) commanded her to inform him (Yaakov) in order not to shock him suddenly, and this is what RaShI explains in Mishlei 25:25 “As cold waters to a faint soul, so is good news from a far country.”—that this is referring to informing Yaakov (of Yosef’s being alive), i.e., just as it is dangerous to pour cold water on someone who is weary because of the sudden cold. Therefore “Laimor” means via a messenger/representative…

Hadar Zekeinim s.v. VaYagidu Lo Laimor

Midrash—What does “Laimor” connote? Because Serach b. Asher went out to meet them (the returning brothers) and heard that they were speaking about Yosef and how he was alive. She ran ahead and told Yaakov and said to him, “He’s alive!” And as a result of the blessing from that righteous person (Yaakov, responding to her disclosing this important piece of information) she is still alive, and that is what is recorded in Seder Olam, “Serach b. Asher will live “forever.” (How literally to take the term “LeOlam,” i.e., “eternally” or simply “for an inordinately long time”, albeit with an endpoint can be disputed.)

A most lyrical and poetical account describing how Serach gently informed Yaakov that Yosef was alive by means of a song, appears at the conclusion of a Judeo-Arabic liturgical poem originating in Djerba, Tunisia, cited by Professor Ephraim Chazan of Bar Ilan University (Daf Shavu’i, Parashat VaYigash, 5759 http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/vaygash/haz.html ):

“He is alive! He is alive!

Our master Yosef, in Egypt.

He has (two sons), Menashe and Ephraim.”

Yaakov listens and asks skeptically, “What are you singing, Serach?” And Serach answers him:

“I am singing the truth, concerning our master Yosef the Tzaddik.”

Yaakov who had had his fill of wondering and mourning, asks again, “Who is this Yosef that you are singing about? Can your words be true?” And she answered:

“I am singing truthfully and wholeheartedly, regarding our master Yosef, who is living and exists. No animal consumed him (contrary to the report of the brothers in Beraishit 37:33) nor any worm (his deceased body).”

When Yaakov heard the news, he became alert, his eyes opened wide, and he blessed his granddaughter:

“Oh beautiful daughter! Oh beautiful daughter! You have healed me with respect to the light of my eyes. You shall enter the Garden of Eden alive (you will not die).

Perhaps the homiletical common denominator between Serach’s being the first to tell Yaakov the truth about Yoseph and identifying Moshe as the true redeemer is that this individual was given the responsibility, and apparently carried it out with aplomb, of setting the world aright, of assuring that God’s Master Plan as delineated in the Brit Bein HaBetarim actually takes place. While Moshe may be the designated protagonist who deals with the Jewish people en masse as well as Pharoah himself, it is Serach who functions as the transitional figure who first lets Yaakov know that it is time for him and the rest of his family to go down to Egypt, in effect beginning the exile, and then identifying Moshe who will bring the exile to its final conclusion.