Lent Day 37

“Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
   Exodus 1:22

This is the decree that Pharoah had issued at the time of Moses’ birth. Despite this decree, Jochebed, Moses’ mother trusted God to protect her son. When she could no longer hide Moses, she put him in a “papyrus basket coated with tar and pitch.” The next part of the story is what sticks out to me, she placed her beloved baby boy “among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.” This is the same Nile that Pharoah ordered the Hebrew boys to be thrown into. 
Moses’ older sister, Miriam watched to see what became of her baby brother. Questions flood my brain; what if no one came? What would Miriam have done? But we don’t have to wonder because verse 5 of Exodus 2 says, “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.  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.”

Pharoah’s daughter knew about her father’s orders concerning the Hebrew boys. Yet, she tells Miriam, to find a Hebrew woman to feed the baby. Without God’s protection, our story could have ended here.  If Pharoah’s daughter had obeyed her father’s decree the baby would have been thrown into the Nile. Instead, God’s plans for Moses were for him to live.
Imagine Jochebed’s delight when Miriam shares with her mother how Pharoah’s daughter is the one to find her baby boy. Plus, she has requested for Miriam to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the child with pay. During this time, the Hebrews were being oppressed by the Egyptians, worked harshly, and were definitely not paid. Now Jochebed had her son, Moses’ with her and was being paid to care for him.

I learned a few things while studying this passage: apparently, Pharoah’s daughter cared more about the abandoned child than about her father’s decree. Moses is the name Pharoah’s daughter gave to the child upon his return to her, which means “I drew him out of the water.”  Jochebed trusted God with Moses when he was three months old and again when she returned him to Pharoah’s daughter.
Lord, may I have trust in you like Jochebed. Let me trust You completely with each detail of my life. Even when things do not make sense, let my heart be reminded that You are in control. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Written by Dawn Whitmore