This is an origin story I had never heard and I’m fairly
sure that most of you have not heard it before either.  

  

And here’s how it goes: 

  

  

Yehoshua’s father was a righteous man. He and his wife had
no children. He prayed passionately for a child, and at last, Hashem answered
his prayers.  

Yehoshua’s mother noticed that although she had become
pregnant, her husband was still not happy. He was crying and fasting even more
than before. Overwhelmed by his constant sorrow, she turned to him and said,
“You should rejoice! Hashem has heard your prayers! We are going to have a
baby!” But still, he remained troubled. Pressed daily by her concern, he
eventually revealed the reason for his sadness: a message had come to him from
Heaven—the boy who will be born to you is destined to behead you. 

  

His wife believed him, for she knew her husband was on a
great spiritual level. When the child was born, and it was indeed a boy, she
quietly made a small box, coated it, placed the infant inside, and set him
afloat upon the Nile. 

  

One day, Pharaoh held a grand feast for all his ministers.
Among the royal delicacies brought to the table was a very big fish. When it
was cut open before the king, to everyone's astonishment, a crying baby was
found inside. Struck by the wonder, Pharaoh adopted the child and raised him
within the palace. In time, the boy grew and was appointed Chief Executioner. 

  

Years later, Yehoshua’s father fell into disfavor with
Pharaoh. The king ordered the executioner to behead him and seize his wife,
children, and possessions, as was the cruel custom of the time. After beheading
his own father, Yehoshua met his mother, who revealed to him the truth of his
origins: how she had cast him into the river to save him, and how the big fish
at the banquet had swallowed him. He believed her—he remembered being told that
he had been found at a banquet inside a fish. Though he had not known until
that moment that the man he beheaded was his own father, he was overcome with
remorse and did teshuvah. From that time on, he was called 'Yehoshua bin
Nun', because in Aramaic, the word Nun means fish. 

  

And then my reactions which may have been audible: “That’s
insane!” “That’s impossible !” “Wait… is that real?” 

  

Now, full disclosure. When I read this, as you can tell,
something bothered me. 

  

I mean… it’s gripping, cinematic, spiritual—but also… what?! 

  

So I did what any good Jew does when a story sounds too epic
to be true—I started digging. 

  

And here’s what I found.