Exodus 2:1-25 NKJV
2 And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. 2 So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. 4 And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.
5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. 6 And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”
8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the maiden went and called the child’s mother. 9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
11 Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12 So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?”
14 Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”
So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!” 15 When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.
16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. And they came and drew water, and they filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 Then the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
18 When they came to Reuel their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”
19 And they said, “An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.”
20 So he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”
21 Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. 22 And she bore him a son. He called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”
23 Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. 24 So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.
The early life of Moses reads like a novel, full of intrigue and plot twists. Perhaps that’s why Hollywood has tried to tell the story multiple times. But none of Hollywood’s embellishments are needed to make this story inspiring, or to make God’s governance of the events of history any more remarkable than it already is.
Moses’ parents resisted Pharoah’s wicked command to kill their newborn baby boy. But eventually they realized that the only way to spare him was to give him up, surely hoping and praying that the Lord would cause Pharoah’s daughter to take pity on the boy when she saw him floating in that basket among the reeds. Indeed, the Lord saw to it that she did, even permitting Moses’ own mother to care for him for a while longer before handing him over to Pharoah’s daughter to become her adopted son, who was then trained in all the learning of the Egyptians.
When Moses was forty years old, he presumptuously decided that it was time for him to do something about the sorry state of his Hebrew brothers, assuming from the extraordinary circumstances of his life that he would be God’s chosen instrument to save the Israelites from their misery. But as it turned out, neither the Lord nor the Hebrews were ready for Moses to be that deliverer, and he was forced to flee for his life and live in exile for the next forty years.
This chapter teaches us some valuable lessons as we seek to carry out the will of the Lord. We learn to commit our children to the Lord and to trust in Him to govern the outcomes of their lives, as Moses’ parents did. We also learn to wait patiently for the Lord to call a person into His service rather than trying to jump into His service without such a call. He did eventually call Moses, through whom He eventually delivered Israel. But when it came to our salvation from sin, God the Father called Jesus even before He was born (cf. Ps. 2:7, 110:4) and ratified it at His Baptism, announcing it publicly, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Matt. 3:17).
Let us pray: Father in heaven, protect Your children in times of trouble and help us both to wait for Your deliverance and to trust in Your timing; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.