Hidden Figures: A Mother's Sacrifice

Exodus 2:1-10

1 Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

Hidden Figures: A Mother’s Sacrifice

Heavenly Father, I pray that you decrease me in this moment… And You increase in Your people’s sight… Hide me behind your veil, so that the hearers of this word do not see me… but only hear from you… May this word fall on tilled soiled and take root on fertile ground…

Let the words of my mouth… And the meditation of my heart… Be acceptable in your sight… Oh Lord, my Strength, and my Redeemer. Amen

INTRO

I heard a story of a little girl that was to speak a memory verse at a children’s program. The little girl practiced over and over her memory verse to the point she could say it without reading it from the card. When the time came for the little girl to say the verse in front of everyone, her mind went blank… Her mother, sitting front and center came to the rescue by mouthing, “I am the light of the world.” The little girl face begin to shine and she shouted out “My mother is the light of the world.” (PAUSE AND LAUGH)

Although this was a funny story about a little girl’s blunder… Truth be told, most Mothers ARE indeed a light in this world full of darkness… See Mothers carry the brunt of the emotional, psychological, and educational well-being of their children. This isn’t to say fathers do not care or fathers do not take on this role, but mothers carry an unfathomable burden in child rearing.

For those that are parents… Those that aspire to be parents… And those that have parents… Parents sacrifice a lot…

If we are to be honest with ourselves, we could never repay our parents for the sacrifices they made for us. This goes double and triple for our mothers. From the moment she found out she was pregnant our mothers turn into Superheroes – doing everything in the power to keep us safe for the 38 weeks and 4 days we are growing in their bodies. Mothers continue to sacrifice their bodies and endure labor pains just to ensure we are born into a healthy environment. Mothers continue to sacrifice their sleep to spend numerous restless nights with their children just to ensure they are fed and rested as newborns. Only for their sons to grow up and marry another woman. (JOKINGLY STATED)

Our mothers make sacrifices…

Here we find in the text a mother making an ultimate sacrifice… We find a mother begrudgingly making this sacrifice… This mother we know is Moses’ mother… This mother… This mother… whose identity is HIDDEN… But her value is not… This HIDDEN figure in the text identity isn’t revealed until you read a little further in your Bibles… We find out in verse 10 that this is Moses’ mother… But we have to skip to Exodus 6:20 and Numbers 26:59 to discovery her name is Jochebed… Jochebed is a Hidden Figure in this text… But Jochebed importance is front and center…

In order to appreciate this moment in the text… we have to go back to Exodus Chapter 1… Chapter 1 opens by telling us the names of the sons of Israel… Israel or Jacob is the son of Issac… Issac is the son of Abraham… Jacob is the grandson of Abraham… Jacob had twelve sons… And Joseph was his favorite… Can I teach Bible for a minute?

Joseph was the 11th of Jacob’s sons, but he was the firstborn of Rachel - The Wife Joseph loved the most… Jacob is given a special gift from God and he has the ability to interpret Dreams… He has these dreams of his brothers’ sheaves of wheat bowing to him… and then the Sun, Moon, and 11 stars bow down to him… And just like the annoying little brother he is.. he goes and started bragging and rubbing it in their faces… His brothers devises a plan to kill him but instead they sell him into slavery...

This slavery into Egypt ends up being a blessing for Joseph… Long story short, Joseph interprets the dreams of Pharoah and Pharoah elevates Joseph to be second in command of Egypt… When a famine hit the world… Egypt was the only land to have food because Joseph developed storehouses… Josephs brothers and family eventually move to Egypt… The evil act of Josephs brothers saved the entire bloodline of Isreal...

When we get to Exodus 1, Joseph, his brothers, and everyone in that generation has died… A new Pharoah has come to power and he knows nothing about Joseph and his previous influence… This King does not like the fact that the Hebrews are numerous… In fact, 1:10 says he fears they may decide to join an enemy country if war breaks out… So his response is to put them into slavery and treat them harshly… This plan didn’t work and the Hebrews continued to grow in numbers… So the Pharoah calls on the Hebrew midwives to kill all of the baby boys at birth… The Hebrews feared God and lied to Pharoah… And the Hebrews continued to increase in numbers… I guess with all of this backbreaking laborious work, the Hebrew men found additional energy once they got home… (Pause LOL)

Exodus 1:22 says, 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.

And that brings us to the text of the hour.

A pregnant Jochebed and the rest of the pregnant Hebrew women by law… are to hand over their sons to be killed at the hands of the authority… The King has placed a target on the back of these boys simply because of their race at birth… Now I don’t have to say it… But we know of another society that doesn’t always appreciate and respect people born of a particular melanated hue… Who don’t get super spiritual on me… Black and Brown bodies are being stripped from the mothers too soon no matter how old they were.

I said I wasn’t going to preach on that today...

Moses’ mother makes the ultimate sacrifice for her baby after learning the Pharaoh’s edict to kill all newborn Hebrew boys. Moses’ mother risks putting her baby in the Nile instead of having him thrown into the river. She risks watching something terrible happen to him because she knew something was special with him. No, she did not know Moses would lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt. She did not know he would be one of the greatest prophets to live. Or did she… Let us explore in today’s text: A mother’s sacrifice, it cannot be ignored.

Transition #1

A Mother’s Intuition… (Vs. 2:1-2)

The text says 1 Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.

We are introduced to a man of the tribe of Levi marries a Levite woman… The man is Moses’ father, Amram, and we already learned this is Moses’ mother, Jochebed. This Levite couple had other children.... Their oldest daughter was Miriam… and their oldest son was Aaron… Jochebed and Amram have their two children… But the Lord blesses them with a third… Now this third son was conceived during a period of terror of the Hebrews… The text doesn’t say if she became pregnant prior to the decree… Or if she was already pregnant when the decree was made… But I can assure you, that the last few months of Jochebed’s pregnancy was spent praying for another girl…

No mother… wants to prepare herself to have her baby boy stripped from her arms and thrown into the Nile river… No mother… wants to prepare herself to LOSE the thing she has protected for 38 weeks and 6 days inside her belly just for it to be snatched away at birth… But this woman… This Hidden Figure in the passage has to hope for the best AND mentally prepare herself for the worst.

I can’t imagine losing one of my children. I don’t know what it’s like to give birth and I can’t imagine what a mother feels at the moment she gives birth… The pain… The joy…

But can you homiletically imagine what Jochebed and all of the other Hebrew women had to go through… Trying not to build an emotional attachment… Just in case the blessing of a pregnancy turns into a curse of a son… This unbearable pain

But through it all… This Hidden Figure but not Hidden Value grabs hold to her baby boy and SEES something special… The NIV says she sees that he is a fine child…The CSB says she Beautiful and the NLT says he is SPECIAL…

Let this be a moment to remind mothers AND fathers to see how fine and beautiful and special their sons are before the world tells them

The text lets us know that she hid him for three months. This Hidden Figure, but not Hidden Value of a mother hid her son at a risk or losing her own life… She deliberately disobeyed the king because she saw something SPECIAL and BEAUTIFUL and FINE in her son… Jochebed protects her son from the world around him.

Parents need to protect their children from the music, movies, and especially the internet until the child is mature enough to handle it…

Growing up being protected from Adult Conversations…

This risk of pregnancy and birth of a son mirrors the risk of an unmarried teenage mother in the New Testament. This mother by the name of Mary was visited by an angel and told she was going to give birth to the Lord’s baby… The shame this would have brought on to Joseph and his family was insurmountable… to the fact that Joseph could have called off the wedding and had her stoned… But just like Jochebed saw something special in her baby, Mary KNEW something was going to be special with her baby… And that baby was born to die for you and me...

Transition #2

The text tells us this Hidden Figure, but not Hidden Value of a mother was prepared to do the unthinkable… The text tells us in verse 3 But when she say that she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

A Mother’s Plan (V 3)…

After denying the king and all the king’s men access to her baby boy for three months… Jochebed KNEW she could hide him no longer… After risking her own life for three months… Risking her family’s lives for three months she knew it was time to remove him from the home…

As a father of young children and a 10 month old… I have no idea how she was able to hide that baby for three months… Y’all hear us as were coming down the hallway. (PAUSE)

But she hides this baby for three months out of sheer will and determination… Now she has to make the 2nd hardest decision of her maternal life… To willingly get ride of the baby she has protected in the womb for 39 weeks and 2 days… Then grew attached to him for three months… How can a mother, who loves her son, willing give him away…

Here is the shout, because this mother knew that she could not appropriately care for this baby… she was prepared to let the will of the Lord be done. She was prepared to let God intervene and prayerfully place this beautiful and fine and special baby boy into a loving home…

I don’t judge anyone that gives their baby up for adoption with hopes of giving the baby a better life than you can provide. Tough decision.

But Jochebed has to be clever and discreet… She uses the talents of weaving and crafting that God has given her to skillfully put together a basket made of papyrus and … A plant from out of marshlands used to carry The Hebrew word used for this special basket here is “te-va(h)” which translate to ark and casket… (PAUSE)… She places Moses in what will either be is transportation to safety… OR is transportation to his doom… Jochebed has made this decision to commit her son back to the Lord… What she is doing in this moment is demonstrating the words of Jesus when he prays in Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not me will, but yours be done.”

Lord there are situations in my life that I cannot handle and I give it back to you… Not my will, but yours be done.

And this isn’t the final piece to this part of the puzzle… Moses’ mother had a plan of WHERE she would release him… She knew to place him in an area that should could be concealed, but the baby would be revealed… Jochebed takes the baby to a part of the Nile that the princess will bath in… The text says 5“Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it.

Okay… See yall don’t know when to shout… Pharaoh’s daughter is going down to the place where she must commit her ritual bath… So this place has to be guarded and protected… in fact… As Pharaohs’ daughter goes to bathe, she keeps several attendees with her to insure no one is there that’s not suppose to be there… Only people that are suppose to be there are those that have access… AND by LAW… Anyone there that was not suppose to be there was committing an offense and could be severely punished…

Pharaoh’s daughter was aware of her father decree to kill baby Hebrew boys… but the text says 6 “She opened the ark, saw the baby. He was crying and she felt sorry for him. ‘This is one of the Hebrew Babies.’ she said.”

She can tell this because as a Hebrew boy… This baby was under covenant with God because of his circumcision. Here’s your shout… Instead of Pharaoh’s daughter taking him to her father to be killed… She felt compassion for this baby… She spares this baby…

I’m so glad to serve a God that shows compassion to those He is under covenant with. God’s Word won’t return to Him void.

The third Hidden Figure but not Hidden Value person arrives in this text… There is a young woman… A young girl that has her eye on the basket… And jumps into action and asks, 7 Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you? We know this girl to be Miriam… Moses sister… And I am convinced that A part Jochebed’s plan had a lot to do with Miriam having access to Pharaoh's daughter. I believe that Miriam was a person that had access to Pharaoh’s daughter. I believe that Miriam was a person that had access to intimate conversations of Pharaoh’s daughter. I believe that Miriam knew that Pharaoh’s daughter was without child and desired one… I believe that this day, Miriam was on divine assignment as an attendee of Pharaoh’s daughter…

I believe that in verse 8, Miriam was already prepared to get the baby’s mother.

Because of this we are taken to our final point on this Mother’s Day celebration. A Mother’s Sacrifice leads to

A Mother’s Reward

By faith, Jochebed defied the Pharaoh… By faith, Jochebed sets him in this ark on the bank of the Nile River… The very river he was suppose to have been thrown into to die… By faith, Jochebed is granted permission to nurse her baby boy… And the text shows us something interesting… Jochebed receives a few stimulus checks for her duty…

And it is so fitting that Pharaoh’s daughter names the boy Moses… An Egyptian word meaning “I drew him out of the water.” Moses receives new life when he came out of the water… And that’s just like many of us today… We received new life once we came up out of our water baptism…

Closing

God is always with you. The Bible says in Hebrews “God will never leave you nor forsake you.” Isn’t that good news for us today? Jochebed sacrifice reminds us of the importance mother’s play in our lives. Our heavenly father wants to invite you into his family to care for you. He has already provided His Son to be the ultimate sacrifice. Follow these three simple steps: (1) Accept the Lord as your Savior; (2) Believe in your heart that Jesus was raised from the dead; and (3) Confess with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord and Savior.

It is our faith that pleases God… Right now… I come before you… wherever you if you follow the instructions in Romans 10:9 “declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

This isn’t about adding members to Loving Grace… This is about adding souls to the Kingdom… Say this prayer with me…

(Short prayer… Alter call… Then membership…)

Sinner’s Prayer

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Name. Amen

Communion

Luke 22:15-20

And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

Benediction

May the Lord Bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face Shine upon you and be gracious to you… May the Lord turn His face towards you and give you peace. Amen.