The end of the previous chapter leads us nicely into this chapter where a Levite man and wife married and soon afterwards, she conceived and bore a son. In view of Pharaoh’s edict this caused a problem – what to do with a baby boy. The parents were Amram and Jochebed (chapter 6:20) and Jochebed, the mother, saw that he was a beautiful child, so she hid him for three months (v1,2). This was not an easy situation; it was difficult all round. The child was named Moses, he had an older brother Aaron and an older sister, Miriam. One assumes that the edict had not been made when Aaron and Miriam had been born. The parents were believers and trusted in God. Hebrews 11:23 describes the faith of Moses’ parents: “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.”
As the months passed it became more difficult for her to hide her baby, so they came up with a cunning plan, but they were really trusting in God to protect him. It was quite precarious to put him in the river, just how long could he survive there? God was clearly at work. Miriam was put on guard to see that her little brother came to no harm, and I guess they would feed him and change him when required. He was placed in ark of bulrushes daubed with asphalt and pitch. I believe that the word used here was ‘a papyrus basket’ and it is only used elsewhere for Noah’s ark and that certainly floated, serious precautions were taken to ensure it did not sink and the baby drown. It is interesting that normally baby boys were put into the river to drown but not this one.
She laid it in the reeds by the riverbank and Miriam kept watch. It probably wasn’t long before Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the river to bathe and her maids saw the ark in the reeds. They told Pharaoh’s daughter, and she opened the basket and saw the child and the child cried, babies do. This could have caused a problem even for Pharaoh’s daughter as she recognised that this was a Hebrew child (v3-6), but she had compassion on him and took him in.
Of course, this was all in God’s plan, for he had great things for this child to perform, although we might never have planned it this way, it shows what a great God we have. He does the impossible and the improbable to bring about His purposes. Someone has said that God places us today with a view to where He wants us tomorrow.
Miriam was very astute and she asked Pharaoh’s daughter did she want a nurse for the child, and on her positive response, she went for their mother (v7-10) and Pharaoh’s daughter said to Jochebed, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So, she took the child and nursed him for the daughter of Pharaoh. She obviously had him for some time, because he grew and eventually, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter who named him Moses, taking him as her son. ‘Moses’ meaning, ‘I took him out of the water’. I wonder if he had no name during his formative years, or maybe Pharaoh’s daughter named him before handing him over to the care of his real mother.
What a miracle this was! What an amazing God! Just imagine bringing up your own son and getting paid for it! Probably the forerunner of Child Benefit or Family Allowance!!
Moses’ mother trained him in his formative years, vital years for any child. There came a time of heartbreak though, when she had to give him to Pharaoh’s daughter as her son. He was trained as a Hebrew initially, learned about the true God and who his fellow countrymen were.
Moses became the ‘adopted’ son of Pharaoh’s daughter, brought up in the palace as a prince. Josephus, the Jewish historian said that he was heir to the throne of Egypt and led the armies of Egypt in battle against the Ethiopians. He was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22). Thus, having been taught initially by his mother, he would be educated in both Hebrew knowledge as well as Egyptian.
When Moses was forty years old (Acts 7:23) he went out to his brothers and sisters, the Hebrews, and saw their plight (v11). He saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews, so he looked around to see if anyone was watching, and thinking no-one was watching, killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand (v12). His furtive actions showed that he knew what he was doing was wrong, but he was supporting his fellow Israelite who was being ill-treated. That, of course, didn’t make his actions right and it would come back to haunt him later the very next day.
In Hebrews 11:24-26 we are told what took place in his mind and by faith, he decided to identify with the Israelites rather than considering his Egyptian privileges. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and, “…. choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.”
His early upbringing by his mother was more important than his later upbringing in the palace of Egypt. He had been taught about Almighty God and considered He was far more important than the pleasures of Egypt even though it could mean suffering.
There is a great lesson here about parents and children and how we bring them up. Parents have a great responsibility. We might think that we have difficulties but consider the problems they had. His mother didn’t have very long initially to influence him at all and even as his ‘nurse’ she would have had to share responsibility with Pharaoh’s daughter, but she clearly influenced him, and his decisions show that.
The very next day Moses saw two Hebrews fighting. He spoke to the one who was in the wrong and asked why he was striking his companion (v13,14), who replied, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” This struck fear into Moses, and he realised that he had been seen the previous day.
Moses must have thought they would respect his position, but these two men didn’t. Maybe he thought he had the right to do what he did but clearly, he didn’t. Of course, that wasn’t the end for Moses, God still had plans for him, and He still used him greatly. All this was part of his character building by God.
Pharaoh got to know what Moses had done and sought to kill him even though he was his adopted grandson. Pharaoh’s loyalty was to the Egyptians. Moses had to flee for his life, and he went to the land of Midian and sat down by a well where he was met by the seven daughters of the priest of Midian who had come to draw water for their father’s flock (v15-19). Shepherds came to drive them away, but Moses helped the girls to water the flock. One assumes that this happened on a regular basis and that the shepherds were from elsewhere. They returned to their father Reuel, and he was surprised that they returned so soon. They told him that an Egyptian had delivered them from the hands of the shepherds and helped them to draw the water from the well.
Moses must have thought that God’s plan for him was now over, but nothing could have been further from the truth. This was all part of God preparing him for the work He had for him to do.
I believe it was D.L.Moody who said that Moses spent his first forty years learning to be a somebody, the next forty years learning to be a nobody and his last forty years learning how God can use a nobody. One would have thought his first forty years as a prince would be perfect preparation, but God was still working on him.
I believe that Midian was on the west and east side of the Reed Sea, modern day Saudi Arabia on the east side and Egypt on the west. You may remember that later, Joseph was sold to Midianite (Ishmaelite) traders. Midian was a descendant of Abraham and his second wife, Keturah (Genesis 25). The priest of Midian being a descendant of Abraham was probably a God-fearing man with seven daughters prepared to work, drawing water to water their father’s flock. Moses was obviously still dressed as an Egyptian because they recognised his garb.
It is clear that God had led him here. It was not just pot luck that he came here. Very much like Eliezer, Abraham’s servant who was sent to find a wife for Isaac. He said, “I being in the way, The LORD led me” and it seemed that the same LORD was going before Moses.
The priest asked his daughters where the man was and why they had left him at the well. He told them to go and get him and bring him home for something to eat (v20-22). Moses was content to live there, and the priest gave Zipporah his daughter as a wife for Moses. They had a son and named him Gershom. In many ways this was a come down for Moses, from a palace to a priest’s home.
In the space of a few verses a lot has happened. Moses has arrived at a well, been taken into the priest’s home, married one of the priest’s daughters and they have had a child who they have named Gershom meaning ‘stranger’, for he was a stranger in this land and been taken in. He no longer was a prince in a palace, but he was now a working man. All this was good preparation for his future.
In verses 23-25 we read that the king of Egypt (Pharaoh) died, I don’t know if this would have been Moses’ adoptive grandfather or maybe he had already died, and this was one of his offspring. We mentioned earlier that Josephus, the Jewish historian said that Moses would have been heir to the throne. Moses having left Egypt under a cloud; one assumes that another prince would take over. It seemed that the children of Israel were not being treated very well at all, they were in bondage and made to work extremely hard in adverse circumstances (see chapter 1). God, however, had not forgotten them and they cried out to Him. God had not forgotten His covenant with their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and he turned toward them in their affliction. Maybe for a time they had forgotten God and were wallowing in their misery.
