Exodus 2:1-10, “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.
The 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.’”
Genesis begins with the birth of the world, Exodus begins with the birth of a nation (through the birth of its first leader). We see the Israelites in a state of emergency. They are no longer in control of even their children. The Egyptians have taken it all away from them.
Yet Moses’ mother managed to get around the law regarding all male babies to be executed. We all know God had an intended purposes behind the salvation of this child.
It it also mildly interesting to note that Moses is a name of Egyptian origin, not Hebrew. We all know why that is so, but I don’t think we typically think of that fact. At least I don’t. . .
