Sermon Tone Analysis

A Mother’s Faith – Jochebed

Elements of the story:

Heroine: Jochebed

Accomplices: Midwives

Villain: Pharaoh

Accomplices: Egyptian slave master, citizens

Story: Jochebed’s story echoed the story of the Israelites.

(Does it echo yours?)

A baby is always a blessing.

So, when Jochebed realized she was pregnant, it should have been a time to celebrate.

She already had a son, Aaron, and a daughter, Miriam.

She would be happy whether this child was a boy or girl.

But Pharaoh, who knew nothing about her, had stolen the joy she should have felt at being blessed with a child and replaced it with fear.

He was a powerful king, but she resolved that tyrant wouldn’t defeat her.

God had blessed the Hebrews in Egypt, but looking at it from the outside, you would have never known it.

Years before, Jacob, his sons, their wives and children moved there to escape a famine.

The Pharaoh at time was delighted to protect and provide for Joseph’s family, and they, like Egypt as a whole, thrived.

Now, four hundred years later, no one remembered Joseph, but they couldn’t help but notice his family.

They filled the land.

They were hard workers and lived peacefully.

But they weren’t Egyptians and hadn’t assimilated into the Egyptian culture.

Pharaoh knew it and he saw them as a threat.

9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”

NIV

Pharaoh decided on a strategy to oppress the Israelites so they would be too weak, too discouraged to want or have more children.

He turned them into slaves.

He put masters over them and forced them to build Pithom and Rameses as store cities.

He thought the brutal work would steal their strength, but it didn’t.

It made them stronger.

He was ruthless and did everything he could to make their lives harsh and bitter.

Nothing worked.

The more he oppressed them the more they multiplied.

Seeing that didn’t work, Pharaoh’s ruthlessness turned into infanticide.

He summoned the Hebrew midwives and told them,

16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”

17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.

18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this?

Why have you let the boys live?”

19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”

20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous.

21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

NIV

Pharaoh’s rage increased.

If the midwives wouldn’t kill the baby boys, his loyal citizens would.

22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile but let every girl live.”

NIV

Jochebed had to be careful.

She would hide her pregnancy as long as she could, then when she could hide it no longer, she would hide herself.

The Egyptians who lived nearby where always looking for pregnant women.

She knew they reported whenever they heard a baby was born.

She watched, heartbroken, as Egyptian guards burst into every home after a baby was born.

If it was a boy, they took them away to kill him.

She didn’t know what she would do if God gave her a boy.

If He did, she knew she would never allow the guards to take him away.

She may have been a lowly woman, but she had faith in God.

Her God was greater than Pharaoh.

The day came and her baby was born.

She shed tears of joy and sadness, as it was a boy.

None of her neighbors knew she was pregnant, although some close friends may have suspected it.

There was no celebration, no well-wishes, gifts or blessings from the elders.

This was all part of her carefully devised plan.

Over the previous three months she had her children bring in discarded clothing and rags.

Her husband secretly brought in dirt and sticks, a little at a time.

She fashioned a small enclosed space in the corner of the room where they baby would seep and where she could hide her baby if anyone came in.

She used the clothing and rags as padding as a sound barrier inside it and neatly stacked all their extra clothing on top of it.

It looked like a pile of clothes and bedding.

It worked, for a while.

This should have been a joyous time for her, but instead she woke up each day wondering if this were they day when they would come and take her son away and cast him in the Nile river.

She was afraid, but she also had faith.

She would not allow the fear a place in her heart.

She prayed and trusted God to protect her boy.

Every mother loves her children and thinks they are beautiful.

Yet as she looked at her son, she somehow knew in her heart that she wasn’t just beautiful to her, he was beautiful to God.

Then it happened.

She had hidden him for three months.

He had grown bigger and it was harder and harder to muffle his cries.

He was lying on the bed out it in the open.

The curtain was drawn so no one could see him.

Jochebed forgot it was time to feed him.

He let out a loud cry.

She ran to him and quickly began to nurse him.

He calmed down.

She called out.

“Miriam, come.

Look at the window and be ready, like we practiced,” she said.

Miriam peaked out the curtain.

“Momma, they’re coming!”

Jochebed quickly tucked her baby into the enclosure, closed the makeshift door and prayed he had eaten enough.

He smiled, eye lids heavy, falling asleep.

She moved the clothes into place, sat on the bed and Miriam climbed into her arms.

“I’m sorry, Miriam, this is going to hurt,” she said.

“It’s okay, momma, I understand,” Miriam said.

Jochebed pinched Miriam’s legged until it was red, and she began to cry.

The door flew open and two Egyptians guards rushed in.

They paused as their eyes adjusted to the darkened room.

They saw Jochebed holding Miriam, who was crying.

“What are you doing here?

Why did you burst into my house?”

Jochebed asked indignantly.

“Someone heard a baby cry.