Jochabed - Defeating Fear with Faith

In 2009, Maureen Lee and her 3-year-old daughter Maya were enjoying a leisurely hike with their dog on a trail near their home. Situated some 40 miles north of Vancouver, these hikes offered amazing scenic views and a convenient place to pick berries. On June 16th 2009, as they were hiking, Maureen and Maya paused at some bushes, and when Maureen turned to pick a few berries, she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. At first, Maureen thought it was another dog coming up the trail, but as she turned, she was met with a horrifying development: what she had though was a dog was actually a 90 pound cougar flying through the air as it pounced on little Maya. The cougar and the girl rolled on the ground a couple of times and ended up with Maya in a fetal position and the cougar sinking its claws into Maya's head.

Without hesitation, Maureen launched herself at the tangled duo, wedged her body between the cougar and her daughter as the cougar now began to attack the mother's back. Once she was able to separate the two, Maureen reached around, pulled the aggressive cat off of her and hurled it as far as she could.

Scooping up Maya, Maureen then ran to the nearest house she could where they were able to call for medical help. Maya suffered only a puncture wound to the head and left arm, but had it not been for her mother's fearless response, the story would have been completely different.

Maureen's actions were not determined by fear. She jumped into action fully believing that she could defend her daughter. There was zero hesitation. Had she been paralyzed by fear, or had she even hesitated because of fear, that story could have ended very tragically.

Today, I want to see the story of a mother who, though in a situation that would generally invoke a great amount of fear and anxiety, this particular mother acted out of faith. Before we get into our passage today, I would like talk about another mother or two.

Lost in the Glow of Her Son's Fame

How many of you have heard the name "Morrow Graham"? How about "Billy Graham"? Billy Graham was an evangelist who was faithful for many years in preaching and teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to thousands upon thousands of people here in the United States and abroad.

In his biography, Billy Graham stated of his mother, “Of all the people I have ever known, she had the greatest influence on me. I am sure that one reason that the Lord has directed and safeguarded me... through the years was the prayers of my mother and father.”

A name that may not be as familiar to modern Christians, but I believe should be, is Hudson Taylor.

Hudson Taylor was a British missionary. So much has been written of this man, because he loved the Lord so very much and influenced so many people with the Gospel and his faith in God.

Hudson Taylor spent 54 years in China as a missionary. He loved the Lord and loved the Chinese people. He did what few missionaries were doing at that time - he lived among the Chinese, adopted their dress and hairstyles, and learned their culture, which he came to greatly admire. He embodied the words of the Apostle Paul who said, "I am made all things to all men, that by all means I may save some."

In fact, historian Ruth Tucker writes of Hudson Taylor that "no other missionary in the nineteen centuries since the Apostle Paul had a wider vision or carried out a more systematized plan of evangelizing a broad, geographical area."

The society of missionaries that Hudson Taylor founded, the China Inland Mission, was responsible for bringing over 800 missionaries to China and starting over 125 schools of the Gospel. These missionaries and the indigenous preachers that were trained in these schools were directly responsible for hundreds of thousands of people being saved.

Hudson Taylor is considered by many, including myself, to be a hero of the faith and an example to follow. I recommend the biography written by his son and daughter-in-law to anyone that will listen, and believe that it should be required reading for every adult Christian. The name of the book is Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret.

Though Hudson Taylor had great success in serving the Lord and influencing hundreds of thousands of souls, none of it would have happened had it not been for the faithfulness of his mother, Amelia.

Hudson was raised in a Christian home. His father was a pharmacist and a preacher; his mother was a woman described as an intensely spiritual woman who was devoted to knowing the Bible and knowing God.

As can sometimes be the case, Hudson grew up completely enamoured with the Christian faith, but as a teen, drifted far away from it. At the age of 17, Hudson had become a hard-hearted teen, given over to sin, and sceptic of all things spiritual, and disillusioned by the emptiness of religious living.

But Amelia prayed constantly for her son. One day, Hudson, a seventeen year-old living far from home, went to an old warehouse to read a booklet that promised a compelling story. Hudson knew this was a gospel tract, but was interested in the story, fully intending to skip over the spiritual parts. This is what he wrote in his journal about that day:

I sat down to read the little book in an utterly unconcerned state of mind, believing indeed at the time that if there were any salvation it was not for me, and with a distinct intention to put away the tract as soon as it should seem prosy [boring, dull]… Little did I know at the time what was going on in the heart of my dear mother, seventy or eighty miles away. She rose from the dinner-table that afternoon with an intense yearning for the conversion of her boy… She went to her room and turned the key in the door, resolved not to leave that spot until her prayers were answered. Hour after hour did that dear mother plead for me, until at length she could pray no longer, but was constrained to praise God for that which His Spirit taught her had already been accomplished—the conversion of her only son. I in the meantime had been led in the way I have mentioned to take up this little tract, and while reading it was struck with the sentence, “The finished work of Christ.” … Immediately the words “It is finished” suggested themselves to my mind. What was finished? And I at once replied, “A full and perfect atonement and satisfaction for sin: the debt was paid by the Substitute; Christ died for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” Then came the thought, “If the whole work was finished and the whole debt paid, what is there left for me to do?” And with this dawned the joyful conviction, as light was flashed into my soul by the Holy Spirit, that there was nothing in the world to be done but to fall down on one’s knees, and accepting this Saviour and His salvation, to praise Him for evermore. Thus while my dear mother was praising God on her knees in her chamber, I was praising Him in the old warehouse to which I had gone alone to read at my leisure this little book.

Not only this, but shortly afterward, Hudson Taylor learned of his sister's recent commitment to pray for Hudson's salvation three times a day until he was converted to Christ.

These two women, especially his mother, are often overshadowed by the accomplishments of her son. But without her faith and her prayer and her example, what would have become of Hudson Taylor?

Today, I want to take a look in the Bible at a mother who is often overshadowed by her son's accomplishments. The Bible tells us to give honor to whom honor is due, and had it not been for the faith of this one mother, the story of the nation of Israel would be quite different. This mother's name is Jochebed.

Jochebed is only mentioned in the Bible twice by name, and by consequence, she doesn't really stand out to us, but she should. The person who does stand out to us is a man by the name of Moses. If I were to ask, "What is Moses known for," I would get a ton of answers, because Moses' life was really interesting and he had some great accomplishments.

Moses, of course, was the man that God used to lead the Israelites out of slavery from the nation of Egypt. He did this by bringing ten plagues down on all of Egypt by the word of Moses. These plagues were lifted at Moses' word.

When Pharaoh finally let the Israelites go, only to change his mind about it and send his army out to retrieve these slaves, God used Moses to part the Red Sea so that the Israelites could cross over to safety on dry land, ns then, God used Moses to cause the waters to rush back into place, destroying 100% of the Pharaoh's army that was chasing the Israelites.

Moses led the Israelites through the wilderness for forty years; he talked to God and was given the law by which the nation of Israel would then govern itself. Moses was given the ceremonial law that would all point to the Messiah, the Chosen One, that would come from God to take away the sins of the world.

Moses was also given the moral law by which all men should live.

It was Moses that God used to influence battles; it was Moses that God used to produce water out of a rock , enough to satisfy a nation of over 1 million people.

So many things we can say about Moses, but none of that would have ever been true of him had it not been for his mother, Jochebed.

Jochebed was a faithful, God-fearing woman, and it is because of the influence of her faithfulness that Moses even lived to adulthood because Moses was born in a dark time in Israel's history. We won't read it all, but Exodus chapters 1 and 2 paint a grim picture for the children of Israel.

If you were here during the series titled EPIC, you will remember that we studied the book of Genesis and part of that study led us to see the lives of the patriarchs of the nation of Israel. Let me attempt to give you a brief rundown on this.

Abraham was called by God to leave the land of the Chaldees and to go to another place where God would make of him and his descendants a great nation. In fact, God's promise was that in that nation, all of the other nations of the world would be blessed. There is only one problem: Abraham and his wife Sarah are old, and Sarah is barren, unable to have children.

But because Abraham trusts God, he obeys. He leaves his family home and travels, letting God direct him as he goes. Throughout his journeys, God reveals Himself more and more to Abraham, and Abraham becomes known as "the friend of God." Eventually, God does keep his promise to Abraham and allows Abraham and Sarah to conceive and bare a son. Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90!

Isaac marries a young woman named Rachel. Rachel turns out to be barren also, but Isaac and Rachel pray, and God grants them twins whom they name Esau and Jacob. Despite Jacob being the youngest, it is Jacob that God chooses to bless and by whom God chooses to fulfill the promise of making a nation that will be great and bless all the other nations of the earth.

Jacob falls away from God for a season, but then commits his ways to the Lord, and God changes his name from Jacob to Israel. It is from this name that we get the phrase "the children of Israel." Obviously, it is this name that lends itself to become the name of this nation with its people being called Israelites.

Jacob, or Israel, has 12 sons. One of his sons, Joseph, ends up in the nation of Egypt as a slave because his brothers were jealous of him and sold him. Joseph goes from being a slave to being a prisoner after he is falsely accused of trying to assault his master's wife. Joseph spends time in prison, and it is known by all that he is a young man who has a special relationship with God. Because Joseph talks with God and God talks to Joseph, Joseph sees himself elevated from the prison to be the second in command of all of Egypt. Because of Joseph's leadership, Egypt becomes one of the most prosperous nations in that area of the world despite a seven-year famine.

Joseph brings the rest of his family to Egypt and talks the Pharaoh into giving his family the best part of the land. It does not take long for the sons of Israel to have children and grandchildren. They propagate and become very fruitful, growing into a strong and wealthy people group.

This is how we leave the fledgling nation of Israel at the end of Genesis. By the time of the events in Exodus, about 400 years have passed since Joseph's death, and, the Bible says, "there arises a Pharaoh that did not know Joseph" and did not remember how God had used the children of Israel to be a blessing to Egypt.

This Pharaoh sees the Israelites as a direct threat. They are becoming more and more and soon, he fears that they will outnumber the Egyptians and take over their land. So what he does is that he enslaves them. The Israelites are forced to work in the harshest and most difficult of manual labors. But still, they continue to multiply.

So Pharaoh comes up with another solution. Let's read about it in

Exodus 1:12-22 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. 13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: 14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: 16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. 17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. 18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? 19 And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. 20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. 21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. 22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

And this is the context into which Moses is born. All the people of Egypt were to be on the lookout for newborn Israelite boys and if found, drown them in the Nile River.

The Trial of Jochebed's Faith

Exodus 2:1-2 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. 2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

Moses is born in a really bad situation, but despite that, I want us to focus on Jochebed's faith as she navigates this situation.

Moses is born, the Egyptians are under strict orders to kill any male baby, so Jochebed hides Moses for three months. Talk about a quiet baby! But after three months, Moses gets to be to loud and unhide-able.

Exodus 2:3-4 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. 4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

When I use to read these passages and when I would hear the story of Jochebed (who's name we find out in Exodus 6) and how she hid Moses, I always assumed it was done out of fear. Think about it. Wouldn't it be the logical conclusion to think that Jochebed hid Moses out of fear of the Egyptians? Wouldn't it make sense that Jochebed, out of fear, would put baby Moses into a basket and put him in the river, for him to hopefully be found and cared for by someone?

But it wasn't until much later that I noticed something in the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews 11:23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.

Did you notice the reason Jochebed hid Moses? It wasn't fear; in fact, here we read that she and her husband were not afraid of the kings command. They hid Moses out of faith, not fear.

This command from the king, to kill all Israelite baby boys, to hand over the babies to the midwives to throw them in the river, was a trial of faith for Jochebed and her husband. It hung over Jochebed for nine months. For all that time, the thoughts ran through her head about what she would do, how hard it would be to make either decision. To disobey the king would mean the death of her whole family. The trial of faith was this: "Do we obey what we know is right, or do we do what the king says even though we know it is wrong, but preserve our lives in the process?" Instead of acting out of fear, Jochebed and her husband decided, out of faith, to do what they knew was right and trust the outcome to God.

The Foundation of Jochebed's Faith

Too often, we read these Bible stories and we forget that these were people. It is easy to read about these people and forget that they were people like we are. Jochebed had feelings, she experienced stress and worry. She had problems, but in the midst of it all, she had a confidence and a hope. But it wasn't just a hope that was aloof and baseless. There was a foundation for it.

For one, Jochebed knew that the children of Israel would never perish. God had promised it to Abraham. The nations that would be a blessing to Israel would in turn be blessed by God, but those that cursed Israel would be cursed by the Lord.

Jochebed was also probably aware of the promise that God had made Abraham about them being in Egypt.

Genesis 15:13-14 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

It would not have been a hard thing for Jochebed to take into account how many years the Israelites had been in Egypt and that the time of their departure was approaching. We see this in the book of Acts as well.

Acts 7:17-20 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, 18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph. 19 The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live. 20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months:

Notice what verse 20 says about Moses. It says he was "exceeding fair." Those that study this in the Greek have commented that that phrase directly translates as "fair unto the Lord." The word fair meaning good looking, but the word that is translated exceeding is the word theos. This is the same word we get the word "theology" from - theology being the study of God. Moses, to his parents, looked to his parents as a person that God would use.

Jochebed had faith, not only in the promises that God had made Abraham, but she had faith that this little boy would be a boy that was used by God. It is possible that she even saw her son as the one that God would use to lead Israel out of Egypt. Whatever the case was, Jochebed believed that God had a special purpose for her son, so she hid him from the Egyptians for 3 months.

Exercising More Faith

After 3 months though, Moses is getting to be too big to hide. Perhaps he is babbling a little louder and fussing a little bit more. So again, in faith, Jochebed does something that at first glance seems very risky.

Exodus 2:3-4 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. 4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

What are referred to here as bulrushes were actually the papyrus plants. These plants are made of highly absorbent fibers and when Jochebed wove these fibers together, she made a water resistant basket for Moses to be put in to which she added another layer of protection the with pitch and the slime which would harden to become a waterproof coating.

When I was a kid, I would here about this part of the story, and in my head I imagined Jochebed kissing Moses lovingly on the head and placing him in a basket on the Nile river and watching him float away as she instructed her older daughter, Miriam, to follow closely and see what became of the baby in the basket. Honestly, that is how it was taught to me. That is the image that the Sunday School teachers conjured up as they explained the Story of Moses. But look at what it actually says. Verse 3b-4 "...she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit [to know] what would be done to him."

She didn't put this basket in the river to float off, she put it in the flags. The flags of the papyrus plant were the top parts of these reeds that the Egyptians grew all along the Nile river. So Jochebed puts the basket with Moses in the river, yes, but not in a place where he is going to float off. She places him in the middle of the reeds of the papyrus plants. These will keep him there in that place, and should the water level rise and fall, should there be any splashing, the coating on the little ark that she has made will keep Baby Moses dry.

Then, she sets up her daughter Miriam in an observation post a good distance away, because Jochebed didn't just put Moses in the river all willy-nilly; she put him in a specific spot where a certain thing happened, and a certain person frequented on a regular basis. Notice the next few verses.

Exodus 2:5-6 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. 6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.

Jochebed has strategically placed her son in a place where the Pharaoh's daughter will see him. And, she also instructed her daughter on what to say.

Exodus 2:7-10 Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? 8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. 9 And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. 10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

Picture the scene with me. Jochebed, full of faith in God that he has a plan for her 3 month-old baby puts him in a basket among the papyrus plants along the Nile river. She does this close to the palace where she knows that the princess goes to wash. She leaves the baby there, but not alone. He is under the watchful eye of his sister, Miriam.

Sure enough, the princess and her maids go out to bathe and see the basket. It is retrieved from the brink of the river and low and behold, it's a baby! Immediately, she was able to tell that this was not an Egyptian baby. It had the mark of an Israelite boy, and Pharaoh's daughter is moved with compassion as she realizes what the fate of this baby is supposed to be.

Upon seeing this, Miriam, having been instructed by her mother, makes herself known as she approaches the princess and says, "I see you found a baby! You are no mother yet, but I could probably get one of the Hebrew women to to nurse the baby and take care of him until he's weaned."

Pharaoh's daughter thinks this is a great idea, and agrees. So who does Miriam go and get? Her mom! Moses' mom! Jochebed comes to the princess, and Pharaoh's daughter tells her, "Raise this baby for me; nurse him, and I'll pay you for it."

Not only did Jochebed get to keep her son with her for longer, but now she is even getting paid to take care of him.

When Moses was born and Jochebed saw in her son that God could use him in a mighty way, Jochebed didn't say, "Well, I'll just throw him in the river, and if God wants to use him, then I guess he will take care of him." That is not faith. I don't know what that is, it it isn't faith. Maybe fanaticism...

But instead, she acted. She acted prudently and wisely. She set Moses in a place where another woman who would possibly have a mother's heart would see a beautiful and helpless baby and maybe have compassion on him. But not just any woman, the Pharaoh's own daughter.

Jochebed's Faith Rewarded

Jochebed was then rewarded because of her faith in God. She was able to spend the first couple of years with her son. It seems that she was in regular contact with Moses for a great deal of his formative years as well, for when Moses became an adult, he knew his heritage well and he refused to be called the son of the Pharaoh's daughter. This kind of thing could not have "just happened," so thinking through this situation, it is very possible that Moses' own mother taught him regularly as a child and as a teen who he was as a descendant of Israel, who God is, and what God's promises were for God's people.

Not only that, but while all the other Hebrew men were being worked as slaves, Moses resided in the palace, went to the best schools, and as a member of the royal family, learned to be an administrator over a nation - skills that he would help him as he followed God's will for his life and eventually led the million+ population of Israel out of Egypt and toward the Promised Land that God had prepared for them.

Moses was a direct result of his mother's faith.

Conclusion

Moms, and dads, as we journey through life, all of us—like the parents of Moses—will have our faith tried. Just like with Jochebed, the situation was not a surprise for God. This was a remarkable thing she endured and overcame, and it was only through faith that she did. From the beginning, I am sure she was tempted to give in to fear and anxiety or think only of self-preservation, but in the end, she acted on faith, doing what was right and letting God handle the outcome.

Because of this, her faith was rewarded. Because of this, even her actions are included in the list of what is now known as "the Hall of Faith" in Hebrews chapter 11.

Moms and dads, are you praying for your sons and daughters? Are you teaching them about God? Are you placing them in His hands and letting God determine their future, or are you trying to control that outcome?

The best thing that you can do as a parent is to live out true faith in God in front of your children.

Invitation

Invite parents to pray for their kids, kids to pray for their mothers, and families to pray together.