Exodus 2:1-10 God’s Providence with a Child

Introduction

Last Week

Good Pharaoh died

New Pharaoh is bad

Enslaves Israel

Orders Hebrew baby boys be killed

Opening Anecdote

When you look at the millions of movie superheroes that exist now in the Marvel Universe and the DC Universe and all the other ones, you often see them begin or circle back to the origin story of the character. This is very important to understanding the character in how they respond to things. I took a sociology class and something I learned is that there are millions of factors that determine why we are how we are as individuals. Your parents or lack of parents. Your siblings or lack of. Your friends or lack of. Your schooling or lack of. Your hobbies. Your exposure to technology. On and on, these things mold us and shape us to be a certain way. Of course, we know that it is God’s hand that uses these things to shape us, and He makes no mistakes.

Today we are going to look at the first part of the origin story of Moses. We will see a glimpse into his infant hood that certainly shaped him to be who we will see him as. Overall, what I want you to take away from this message is this: God can use anyone for His purposes, even a child from a broken family who was almost killed simply because he existed.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 2

Now a man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman. 2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son; when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with asphalt and pitch. She placed the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. 4 Then his sister stood at a distance in order to see what would happen to him.

5 Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe at the Nile while her servant girls walked along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds, sent her slave girl, took it, 6 opened it, and saw him, the child—and there he was, a little boy, crying. She felt sorry for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.”

7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a Hebrew woman who is nursing to nurse the boy for you?”

8 “Go,” Pharaoh’s daughter told her. So the girl went and called the boy’s mother. 9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the boy and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

The Child’s Departure v.1-4

Moses’ Family

I want to explore Moses’ parents a little more. Yes here, the only description we get is “a man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman.” But Exodus 6 shines more light into this man and woman:

Exodus 6:20 CSB

Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years.

Now we have names and we see something strange: Amram married his aunt. Later in the Levitical law (Leviticus 18) we will see that this type of marriage was forbidden in the eyes of God. The truth is that the Jews simply did not know if this was evil at this time because they didn’t have the Law yet. We do not know if this was culturally acceptable at the time or not. However, that does not change the fact that we know that was a sinful union.

Moses and Aaron’s mom was also their great aunt. This isn’t just weird for us culturally, this is morally wrong. Why doesn’t God choose someone who comes from a “pure” family line? Why not a man who whose mom is his mom and whose dad is his dad? Because, from the very beginning of Scripture, God is trying to teach us something: He will use sinful, crooked people from really messed up pasts for His glory.

What we will see in Moses’ s life is that his background does not matter as much as whether or not he was faithful. This is true for us as well: your faithfulness to the Lord is what matters, not where you have come from or where you are. You could get older, marry, be a horrible spouse and go through a horrible divorce and guess what? God can still use you in mighty ways. You must simply leave your baggage behind and submit to the Lord.

God uses the worst home life. The worst parents. The worst friends. The worst everything! All these things can shape us to still be godly people, as long as we submit to the Lord in them. Many look at their upbringing or their family life and they curse God — “How could you make me go through this?” But, what if you had to go through that to shape you into who God wants you to be? We must be more concerned about who God wants us to be than who we think we should be.

God pours His grace out on any kind of person with any kind of background. The most ordinary, the weakest, the most sinful and foolish— He uses all of those people still. He makes them godly husbands, godly wives, missional workers, strong pastors, devoted missionaries, loving sons and daughters. He uses us because His grace is that powerful and that extraordinary.

The Baby in the Basket

Now we see that Moses’ mother, Jochebed, loved Moses and did what she could to protect him. Ultimately, her sending Moses down the Nile in the basket was a great display of her faith in God.

She could not control the river, nor what part of the river her child would go down. She just had to trust that God would keep her boy safe. And God did.

It is important to note verse 4 where we see Moses’s sister, Miriam, was older and watching where her baby brother would go. She was concerned for her brother and so she watched him along the Nile.

The Child’s Protection v.5-9

Floating to Royalty

And it just so happens that at that time, the daughter of the King of Egypt was going down to the Nile to learn herself. Sure enough, she found this basket, containing a baby, stuck in the reeds.

Some would call this happened-stance, but I call this God’s sovereign grace. He orchestrated this to occur.

When the Pharaoh’s daughter saw the baby boy crying, she realized he was a Hebrew boy and she felt compassion for the boy.

Loving Your Neighbor

When Jesus was teaching and He said that we must love our neighbor as ourselves, who does He mean by “neighbor”? Well, Jesus answers this question in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Luke 10:29–37 (CSB):

30 Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. 34 He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’

36 “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

37 “The one who showed mercy to him,” he said.

Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”

So, who is our neighbor? It is who is there. Jesus isn’t saying “Only love those who live next door to you as yourselves,” but “love everyone who is with you as yourself.”

Here, we see an Egyptian woman displaying this attribute by loving this baby as herself when she only had reason not to.

Her own father sent out the decree to kill Hebrew boys and yet she is willing to take in this child. This is a slight side note, but we as Christians are very much so pro-life people. But if you really want to live out that stance, it should lead you to adoption. We must be an adoptive people Just like Pharaoh’s daughter is.

Family Briefly Reunited

Now it seems that Miriam followed the baby boy all the way down the Nile until it reached Pharaoh’s daughter. She then intervenes and says to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a Hebrew woman who is nursing to nurse the boy for you?” Pharaoh’s daughter is so gracious and compassionate that when Miriam brings Jochebed to her, she is willing to pay Jochebed wages to nurse him.

During a time when Hebrews were enslaved to Pharaoh, we see this beautiful moment of unity between races. We see a glimpse into what was before when Israel and Egypt lived at peace.

This points us, then, to the future when God’s people would no longer be a certain race Or from a certain place. Instead, God will use Christ to break down the dividing walls of hostility between any races and unite them all under one banner.

We see this even in the book of Revelation 7:9

Revelation 7:9 CSB

After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.

We should strive to be good samaritans to all people of all nationalities and races. Not because it makes us look like good people or because humanity is the most important part of this world, but because it glorifies our Creator when we live that way. This is how God will have us to live for eternity in Heaven — amongst those from all over the world.

A good way to start is showing honor to people who are not like you by not mocking them, the way they look; not stereotyping their cultures. This pushes people away and paints a crooked picture of the Lord. Mind your words and how you treat one another. Love your neighbor as yourself.

The Child’s Name v.10

This leads to Jochebed being reunited with her son for a brief amount of time. She nursed the boy until he was old enough to not need to be nursed and then Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him.

Once again, we see God’s sovereign grace playing out in giving Jochebed a chance to see her son again and spend time with him, and in that she gets to know what happened to her son. She can rest easy knowing he is safe.

God did not have to provide that for her, and yet He did.

And finally we see Pharaoh’s daughter name this boy “Moses” which sounds like “drawing out” in Hebrew. She names him this because she drew him out of water.

These were a very straightforward people. The names were very literal.

And that is Moses. A baby boy from a broken, sinful family whose father was not around, that we know of, and who was almost killed upon his birth. Moses was a nobody and yet God used him for one of the greatest acts of salvation seen throughout history. God guided him and grew him to be a godly leader. God spoke with him, like He would a friend.

Moses to Christ

Even still, it would be wrong to overemphasize Moses without mentioning the One greater than Moses. Yes Moses was pretty great, but he was still sinful and would mess up very bad.

There was a greater Deliverer who came named Jesus Christ. Jesus came from a town that people only know about because He was born there. He lived in a town that people only know about because of Him. Jesus lived perfectly, and yet suffered terribly. He intervened for His people in an even greater way. Rather than just leading them to salvation, Christ is their means of salvation. He came Himself and bore the cross on our behalf to save us from any condemnation.

Moses was only a picture of Christ. Christ is our salvation.

Do not put your hope in your background. What you look like. Your skills or talents. Do not put your hope in the amount of money you have. Don’t put your hope in the things you have. Truly, none of this matters. Instead, put your hope in Christ and He will never disappoint you. You will still suffer and struggle, but you will have a real enduring hope through it all.