The Births of Moses and Christ

The story of Moses' birth denotes an other-worldly transit into the rushes of the Nile where as an infant his basket (barque/ark) came to rest upon Mother Earth.

Another connotation alluding to this is the story of the dog-faced Saint Christopher (Christopher means 'Carrier of Christ'), whom carried the infant Jesus 'across a river', only to feel the weight of the world on his shoulders during the journey. While Jesus' birth is not typified by a basket set upon a body of water, it is worth mentioning that birth itself is the end of a journey through a watery abyss. For nine months, the child is carried within the womb - within a liquid mass, that in turn is carried inside a human body that consists of 2/3 water. To come to rest within a manger indicates the completion of the journey through a watery abyss, reaching land within a makeshift ark which the manger itself implies. A manger is an animal feeding trough. Again, it is no mistake that the term birth is so close to the term berth.