Exodus 2:1–10 (ESV)
Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrews’ children.’ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’ And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Go.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. And 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. When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, ‘Because,’ she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’
So while Pharoah is trying to kill all the children of Israel, God works to raise up a deliverer from his people. Notice the divine irony. A nameless mother gives birth to a baby boy at the worst possible time, just when Pharaoh has ordered every Hebrew son to be thrown into the Nile. But instead of giving him up to death, she hides him. When she can’t hide him any longer, she does something both desperate and faithful: she places him in a little basket and sets him on the river.
That river the very place Pharoah ordered the children to be killed in, becomes the place of God’s salvation. The same Nile that was meant to destroy Hebrew sons now carries the one who will deliver God’s people. Does this not remind you of Joseph’s words in Genesis. “You meant this for evil, but God meant it for good.”
And then, in one of those surprising “coincidences” that only God can orchestrate, Pharaoh’s own daughter finds the baby. She knows exactly what she’s looking at “one of the Hebrews’ children.” But she, like the midwives before her, ignore Pharaoh’s instructions to kill the child and decides to save him instead.
Again we should feel the weight of God’s ordained irony here. Pharaoh wants to destroy Israel, and now his own daughter is paying a Hebrew woman to raise the child who will one day confront him. And this child’s name is Moses, which means means “drawn out.” That’s going to mark his whole life. He was drawn out of the water to one day draw God’s people out of slavery.
And again one day in the future, there would be another baby, born under threat of death, who would have to escape to Egypt and would one day rescue his people.
Prayer
Father, thank You for showing Your power in the most unexpected ways. Thank You that even when life feels dangerous or uncertain, You are still in control. Help us to trust You like Moses’ mother did, willing to let go, believing You will provide. Teach us to rest in Your providence, knowing that nothing can stop Your plans. We thank You for Jesus, the greater Deliverer, who came to rescue us out of sin and death. In His name we pray, Amen.