Exciting Expectation
| Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, 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. 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. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl 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. Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?" "Yes, go," she answered. And the girl went and got the baby's mother. 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. 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." (Exodus2:1-10) |
Let's reflect on the three women in the story...
Moses' Mom who is not named, must have agonised over the execution of Pharaoh's horrific orders. Some commentators suggest that description of him as a "fine child" pointed to more than that he was a "bonny babe" but that he was "no ordinary child" (This is confirmed by the New Testament references to Moses in Acts7:20 and Hebrews 11:23). Maybe this is best understood as an "extraordinary destiny" rather than some idea of Moses being superior in a physical way. His mom, at great risk to herself, hides him for three months and then at great personal heartache, surrenders him to his destiny in the Nile. (I have a suspicion that she knew where the Princess bathed and what she was like and I believe she placed the basket strategically and left her daughter Miriam to watch with specific instructions...)
Miriam, Moses' sister, also deserves our admiration. She courageously extends herself by moving into the Princesses' presence and expressing her suggestion of finding a wet nurse. This must have taken some courage.
The Princess, daughter of Pharaoh is fascinating. Her adoption of Moses, who was on her father's extermination list, suggests that she was expressing her disapproval of his agenda, or that she was trying to expiate her sense of guilt for the horrible infanticide he had committed... I think this is a beautiful example of resisting evil by doing good. I also think that she figured out who Miriam was and who the "wet-nurse" was too. It is a beautiful example to us all. Maybe Moses got his sense of righteous indignation from watching her.
What can we exult in? That God gives people the courage and creativity to counter evil through beautiful acts of adoption and inclusion.
What can we exalt God for? That He provides a deliver, Moses, whose name sounds like the Hebrew for "draw out" and he would lead the Exodus out of Egypt. More than a thousand years later God would send "Jesus" ("Deliverer") to lead a Second Exodus out of Sin and Death.
