“When she could no longer hide him, she took an arc 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” (Exodus 2:3).
At the muddy edge of the Nile, Jochebed knelt and entrusted to a loving God the care of her baby boy floating in the tiny ark she had made. In a situation that could easily have led to panic, she gave her daughter the duty of watching to see what would happen, and calmly walked away.
After Pharaoh’s daughter discovered the little boat and its adorable content, she desired to keep the boy and to eventually adopt him as her own son, and Jochebed miraculously became the nursemaid for her own child!
Certain that God had intervened to save her son, Jochebed was filled with gratitude. Additionally, she was convinced that her son had been saved for an important work, and she continued to commit the child to the Lord. During the years that he lived with her, and knowing he would soon be transferred to a heathen environment devoid of the truth about God, she faithfully taught Moses the ways of the Lord. She wanted him to value truth and justice. More than anything, she wanted him to be loyal to God and to love the Lord with all his heart.
Finally, the day came when Jochebed had to let him go to his adoptive mother. Only her thoughts and prayers could follow him as he became part of the royal family and went through extensive training to become a military leader.
Even though his Egyptian family educated him about the false gods they worshiped, Moses never forgot what his Hebrew mother had taught him. Because of her faithfulness, he never stopped believing in the
true God.
What an incredible impact this one humble slave woman had on the entire world! One Christian writer put it this way: “Through no other woman, save Mary of Nazareth, has the world received greater blessing” (E. G. White, Education, 61).
Dear God, thank You for the far-reaching influence and blessing Christian mothers bring to our lives!
