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May 10, 2009
“The “Mothers” of Moses”
Exodus 1: 22 – 2: 10
Sunday, May 10, 2009
This passage describes a time when the Jews, the descendants of Jacob AKA Israel were having a difficult time living in Egypt. Life in Egypt had not always been oppressive for the descendants of Jacob. Jacob’s 11th born son had been the prime minister of Egypt and had been the one to being his father’s entire family into Egypt. But that had been over 400 years earlier. During this period the people of Israel had become a large group of slaves. And it was at this time that God was making preparations to bring them out of Egypt and into their own land. This passage announces the birth, childhood and adolescence of the one whom God had chosen and perhaps even created to bring His people out of Egypt. His name is given at the end of this passage. His name was Moses.
God chose Moses before Moses was born to be the one who would deliver the People of Israel from their oppressive existence in Egypt. So what we see in this passage is God’s working through 3 women or two women and a girl to mold Moses into the kind of person who would become a great liberator.
You may have found it ironic that this passage which I have chosen to look at on Mother’s day actually begins with references to two men. The first is Pharaoh, ruler of Egypt. This particular Pharaoh was being used by God to create a more oppressive situation in Egypt so the Jews would want to get out of Egypt. God was also using Pharaoh to create hard times for his people so certain people among the Jews could become strong and capable leaders.
Pharaoh had tried unsuccessfully to limit the growth of his Jewish slave population by instructing the Jewish midwives to kill all male babies as they were born. The midwives did not obey the decree, so this attempt of Pharaoh did not work.
The last verse of chapter 1, the first verse of our passage, tells us of pharaoh’s second attempt to limit the growth of the Jewish population. He got his entire citizenry involved. He issued a decree that any one who came across an infant Jewish male should throw him into the Nile river.
The second man to be mentioned is a Jewish man, a member of the tribe of Levi. This passage tells us that this presently unnamed man married a woman from the tribe of Levi. Later we find out that they were already married and had at least 2 children. The oldest seems to have been a daughter named Miriam. There was also a son named Aaron who was about 3 years older than Moses.
Now, having dealt with those two men who are mentioned in our Mother’s Day passage, the rest of our passage is all about women. And what women they were!
The wife of the Jewish Levite man became pregnant again and gave birth to a male baby. Now this would have ordinarily been good news for this family, but it was now illegal to let a newborn Jewish male live. So they hid the baby for 3 months. Those of you who have had babies in your families know that at 3 months or so, babies become more active and are therefore harder to hide.
When I was much younger, a friend of mine was the father of the three month old and he was excited because as he said “Now my son can do more than this (as he rolled his head slowly from from side to side).”
At 3 months, their baby was becoming much more difficult to hide. This was a woman who was in a great deal of trouble. Her mother’s instincts and her love for her child had not permitted her to allow her to son to be thrown into the river. But how was she now to preserve the life of her son?
Let me pause here for a moment so we can think about other Mothers who are in trouble. There are many of them in our time and even in our towns. The woman in our passage is unnamed at the moment but in other places we discover that her name was Jochebed. Some of the mothers in trouble in our time and place are nameless to us, some are known to us. Some are in difficult circumstances because of decisions they have made, some of them are in difficult circumstances because of decisions that others made. Jochebed was in trouble because of the decision that Pharaoh had made.
As we celebrate Mother’s day today, and in the weeks ahead, we need to pray for and search for opportunities to help mothers who are in trouble. They and their children may need our help, and like Jochebed’s son, God may have a great plan for some of those children of mothers who are in trouble.
Let’s get back to our story. Jochebed put her 3 month old son in the river. Only she first made a basket and sealed it with pitch so the baby won’t drown. We really don’t know what her intent was in doing this. Did she deliberately place the basket in the place where Pharaoh’s daughter bathed so she would find it or was that part arranged by God? We really don’t know.
There is one really interesting thing about this part of the passage in the original Hebrew version however. In the Hebrew text, the vessel into which the baby was placed is not called a basket. It is called an ark. The same word is used that earlier described the larger, wooden vessel that Noah coated with pitch and saved the human race from the flood. The author of this passage wanted his readers to understand that salvation came in this little ark made of reeds or bulrushes.
The second woman who is described in this passage was really just a girl. She is the baby boy’s older sister. And she kept watch over her infant brother. She kept an eye on his little ark, floating among the reeds near the river’s edge.
She was not strictly speaking the boy’s mother, but she was performing a mother’s role in looking after this child. You do not have to be a mother to have a great influence on the life of a child, but you can greatly assist a child and his or her mother by keeping an eye out for a child or some children. And maybe you can have some input later on in that child’s life. This older sister, whom we later learn was called Miriam, gave a great deal of guidance in connecting this baby’s adoptive mother to his birth mother.
There are many children in our lives who need us to watch out for them and place ourselves in positions where we can give some guidance to them and for them.
The third “mother” listed in this passage was the baby’s adoptive mother. For this roll, God needed someone who could get away with defying the decree of Pharaoh. Pharaoh’s daughter was able to do that. She discovered the basket, was touched by the crying infant and took him home to raise. She did not do this to help the mother of the baby, she did it to save the life of the baby.
She saw to it that he got the best education available in Egypt and was raised with the best of all that Egypt had to offer, which in that time was one of the greatest of nations and civilizations.
Sometimes, children cannot become all that they should be if they are left to depend totally on the resources of their birth families. Sometimes they need help and support from beyond their families.
Some of you might know the name of Dr. John Gerstner. He was one of my professors at Pittsburgh Seminary. He was also the Mentor of Dr. R.C. Sproul of the Ligonier Study Center and resources.
Doctor Gerstner was originally from the Philadelphia area. His family had few resources for his education, but a lady in their church paid for his college and seminary educations. Her contributions not only influenced his life, but the lives of his many students and the students of his student R.C. Sproul.
This passage describes the process God used to bring a great deliverer into being.
At the end of this passage we learn that his name was Moses. That is the English translation. The Hebrew pronounciation is Moshe or Moishe. The Egyptian pronounciation was probably Moije.
Through one woman God gave Moses life. Through another woman or girl He gave Moses guidance. Through another He gave Moses the education he needed to be the great leader of God’s people.
Moses was given his connection with his enslaved kinsmen through his birth mother and his sister. He was given his education and many privileges through his adopted mother. He was trained in the schools of the Egyptians, but he was of and for the Jews.
Each of those 3 women had a great influence on Moses.
Whose life can you influence? There are lots of children and mothers who need your help. Please keep your eyes and hearts open. God may use you to have a great influence on someone who may be very important in God’s plan.
As you honor your mothers today, remember to pray for mothers who need help and for their children.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 479006
Posted by faithpres at May 10, 2009 04:01 PM