A Mom's Faith and Courage in Crisis
Notes
Transcript
Amidst the trials and tribulations of the day, life still happens, one day at a time...
In Exodus 2:1-10 we read of the birth of the great servant of God and deliverer of Israel, Moses. Moses’ entrance into this world was fraught with peril, humanly speaking.
The Pharaoh of Egypt, one who did not know of Joseph (or did not care), sent the descendants of Jacob into slavery. The travails they experienced are written down in Exodus 1.
Even under oppressive conditions, God was blessing the Israelites, making them a great people through their affliction. They were continuing to multiply and to spread out in the land, so much so that the people of Egypt were in dread of the sons of Israel. The solution of Pharaoh was to have every boy born to Israel killed at birth by the midwives who helped give birth (Exodus 1:15-16). The midwives feared God and did not do as the Pharaoh had commanded them, and the people continued to multiply, becoming numerous. Then the Pharaoh commanded his own people to make sure that all Hebrew male babies were to be cast into the Nile River—the inference is to drown them. Pharaoh actually had his own people become a vigilante squad, who would hear of a birth of a male child and report it. They became the eyes and ears of Pharaoh. But one child would be born that Pharaoh couldn’t kill.
Faith and Courage in God on Display, Exodus 2:1-4.
Faith and Courage in God on Display, Exodus 2:1-4.
Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi.
The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.
In Exodus 2, we hear of a wedding of two descendants of Levi, Israelite slaves in Egypt. In light of the times, this marriage itself was an act of great faith and love. Their names are not given here, but in Exodus 6:20 we discover they are Amram and Jochebed. The text only points out that from an ordinary man and an ordinary women, whose names there was no need to mention, God raised up a redeemer unto His people.
To have normal marital relations in this climate of danger when Jewish babies were being killed would have also taken great faith.
The focus in Exodus 2:1-10 is the events surrounding the birth of Moses, but later in chapter 2 and then in Exodus 7:7 we learn that Moses has a sister, Miriam, who was the oldest, and a brother, Aaron, who was three years older than Moses. Moses, in his humility, does not share all that he knows, but shares the basics of God’s preservation of his life. It is other Scriptures that point to the faith of his mother and his father, as well as the courage they displayed. The statement in the NASB says that his mother saw him that he was “beautiful” (NLT “special”; ESV “fine”); she made a joint decision with her husband to hide the baby Moses for three months.
In Acts 7:20, Stephen tells us that Moses “was lovely in the sight of God”.
Hebrews 11:23 says it was by faith that Moses was hidden by his parents for three months, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. Since the parents acted by faith, and faith comes through the Word (Romans 10:17), Moses’ parents must have had some communication from the Lord that he was special to him. In these three months, he was nurtured by his parents, but it soon became more difficult to hide the baby from the prying eyes and ears of the Egyptian people. His lungs probably were quite developed and could cry out loudly with the best of them.
But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.
We are now told what his mother chose to do at this point. What she does is obey the letter of the law, but not its spirit. She prepares Moses for being put into the Nile River by first making him a woven basket of papyrus reeds, readily available, then covered the whole exterior with tar and pitch, which when dry would be watertight. She placed Moses into the basket and then set it among the reed by the banks of the Nile. This was a protected place, where the current would be calm due to the plant life around, and the contents of the basket protected from predators both on land and in the water, at least for a little while. Here again is an act of faith and great courage in light of the prevailing conditions of the day. Her actions were because of her faith—not because she lacked faith. It is in this basket—the OT word is only used here and in reference to the ark of Noah, where life was preserved within. As Noah’s ark was God’s instrument for preserving one savior of the human race, Moses’ ark proved to be His sovereign means of preserving another savior of the Israelites.
His sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.
The sister, Miriam, stood at a distance to see what would happen to her baby brother; She was probably given this task by her mother, who loved her son, yet trusted God. It was a sensible action. Miriam didn’t have to wait long...
Faith and Courage in God Rewarded, Exodus 2:5-10.
Faith and Courage in God Rewarded, Exodus 2:5-10.
The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, with her maidens walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid, and she brought it to her.
When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
Pharaoh’s daughter comes down to bathe at the Nile, along with her maidens walking on the shoreline.
The daughter of Pharaoh (Thutmose I) mentioned here was probably Hatshepsut who was a very significant person in Egyptian history (v. 5). She later assumed co-regency with Thutmose III and ruled as the fifth Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty (1503-1482 B.C.). The ruling class in Egypt was male dominated, and it took a very forceful woman to rise and rule. Queen Hatshepsut adopted certain male mannerisms to minimize objections to her rule including the wearing of a false beard that appears on some Egyptian pictures of her.
Because of the quantity of water available, this was probably a full bathing experience; some scholars believe it may have been a religious act on the shores of the river. It was not uncommon for Pharaohs and other Egyptians to bathe ceremonially in the Nile, considered sacred by the Egyptians.They believed that its waters possessed the ability to impart fruitfulness and to prolong life. Whichever it was, this would mean that this was a secluded and safe spot. She observed in the nearby reeds the basket and sent one of her maids to retrieve it and bring it to her.
Opening the basket, she saw the child and the little one started crying. The baby’s tearful cries touched this princess’s heart. Her pity for the baby is in contrast to that of the pitiless Pharaoh and is a memorial to her forever, also demonstrating God’s closely watching over this child. Her exclamation—a cry, rather than a statement of fact-- acknowledges that this baby is a boy who is under the death sentence of Pharaoh, yet like his mother before her, she has looked at this child and knows that he should be preserved. She observed from examination that this was a Hebrew child, finding him circumcised after the manner of God’s covenant with Abraham. She would have noticed in the physical results the difference from the Egyptian practice of circumcision.
Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you?”
Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go ahead.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother.
Miriam asked Pharaoh’s daughter if she would have her find the baby a wet nurse to nurse the child for her. That was a step of faith for her, for what guarantee would she have that the princess would even respond to her? By her question, she steered the princess to consider the needs of the baby boy. Pharaoh’s daughter gave immediate permission for Miriam to “go” discover a wet nurse, and Miriam went to her own mother and brought her to the princess.
Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.
An agreement was made and Moses’ mother, who had acted in faith was rewarded for her faith by God. Not only was she commanded to keep Moses for the princess until he was weaned, but she would be paid to do so. Even though Moses’ mother loses her son, she gives him up for God’s greater purposes. She has the opportunity to provide Moses with the most intimate relationship he knew as a nursing babe. Pharaoh’s daughter wanted the son as her own, even choosing his name, but biologically and emotionally he bonded to his Hebrew mother, and lived with his Hebrew family in his formative years. By keeping him, the princess realized that she was preserving him from sure death, even if at this point being returned to his real mother—whether she knew it or not.
The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
This verse indicates that when Moses grew to proper age, sometime between the age of three and five, that his mother presented him to Pharaoh’s daughter as a son. Moses has now been saved, cared for by the princess’s provisions and now becomes her son by adoption, giving him the name “Moses,” effectively removing him from the danger of execution under the king’s command; instead he will be housed and raised up safely in the king’s own quarters!
It is ironic that an Egyptian woman would name Israel’s future deliverer and saves him from certain death, because she certainly knew of Pharaoh’s decree. Yet over all this, God’s actions and words display His wisdom, ingenuity, power, and ability to thwart all plans made to abolish His people. Now He will use all the forces and wisdom that the Egyptians can offer to train His chosen leader and deliverer right in the very palace of the king and his people.
The fact that Moses later chose to identify with the Israelites rather than the Egyptians is remarkable in view of all his Egyptian privileges and background. It points to the strong influence his parents must have had on him beginning very early in his life, demonstrating that we should never underestimate the power of parental influence even early in life.
God has preserved a deliverer through the faith and courage of a mother (and father). Moses would need to remember those early lessons in the years ahead as God trained him as His choice leader for the nation of Israel transitioning from bondage to freedom.