Jochebed: The Mother of Moses (Exodus 2:1-10)
Mom, Dad, and my brother Kyle moved me into my dorm at the beginning of my freshman year in college. Florence, Alabama, and Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, are about seven hours or so apart. Because we got a relatively late start leaving home, we stopped in Columbia, Tennessee, and spent the night.
I slept next to the bathroom in that hotel room, and I woke up around 6:00 that next morning to my mother’s sobs in the bathroom. Dad was in there with her, and Mom just kept saying through her sobs, “My baby is leaving home.” Dad spoke firmly, but not at all unkindly, and said, “Cathy, after we drop Justin off, you can cry all the way home if you want, but you are not to cry in front of him. Don’t make this hard for him.”
I pretended to be asleep when Mom and Dad came out of the bathroom. No, Mom didn’t shed a single tear when they left me in Alabama, and she only found out I knew about that episode a few years ago.
Let’s be perfectly honest: It’s not easy for a momma when her kids leave home. How many of you can remember your mother’s tears when you left home? How many of you mommas cried rivers when your children left home—when you dropped them off at college, when they entered the military, or when they got married?
However, imagine for just a moment that your child isn’t simply leaving home; instead, you’re placing your three-month-old baby in a basket, placing him in the Nile River, and hoping for the best? That was Jochebed’s situation.
But that’s not exactly true, is it? Jochebed didn’t simply hope for the best; she had a firm reliance on the Almighty God: “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict” (Heb 11:23). Jochebed’s faith stands as a testament to divine trust. This Mother’s Day, we wish to learn one simple truth from Jochebed: “The faithful rely on God.”
Scripture (Exodus 2:1-10)
verse 1:
A Levite man married a Levite woman. We learn more from this couple in Exodus 6:20 and Numbers 26:59: The man’s name was Armam and the woman’s name was Jochebed; she was his aunt, and she was the daughter of Levi.
verse 2:
Jochebed saw that her son was “fine,” so she hid him for three months. She hid him, of course, because of Pharaoh’s edict that all the males born to the Hebrews were to be cast into the Nile (Ex 1:22).
Imagine hiding a baby for three months. Don’t you think people around Jochebed knew she was expecting, and don’t you think they could count to nine months? Think about the lengths Jochebed went through to keep her baby quiet, and babies don’t like being quiet! Those three months themselves speak to Jochebed’s faith.
verse 3:
When Jochebed could no longer hide her baby, she waterproofed a basket, placed him inside of it, and placed the basket in the river. The Hebrews used the same word for “basket” and “ark.” Just think about that: God had saved mankind through an ark, and in 80 years, he will rescue his people through a baby pulled out of an ark.
There’s more irony here; Pharaoh had commanded that the Hebrew children be cast into the Nile, and Jochebed placed her son in the Nile.
verse 4:
Miriam watched what would happen to the child. Jochebed didn’t stay behind to watch; her pain had to be intense. Yes, she trusted God immensely, but trusting God doesn’t preclude tears and sorrow.
verses 5-8:
Pharaoh’s daughter just happened to be going down to the river to bathe, and she found the baby. Miriam got Jochebed as a wet nurse for the baby.
Everything that happened here is absolutely the providence of God; there’s no other explanation for this situation happening as it did.
verse 9:
Pharaoh’s daughter paid Jochebed to be a wet nurse for the baby. Egyptian’s often paid for wet nurses when they adopted a child, and the provisions paid were normally food and clothing.
verse 10:
Jochebed brought the boy back to Pharaoh’s daughter. Wet nurses were normally employed for three years, so this child was likely with Jochebed for three years. Pharaoh’s daughter named the boy “Moses”—the word “Moses” sounds like the Hebrew for “to pull out” or “retrieve.”
Application
“The faithful rely on God.” Jochebed greatly relied on God, and the author of Hebrews praised both her and her husband for their faith. How can you, like Jochebed, be faithful and rely on God?
There’s really only one thing you need to do: You Trust God
Put your trust and confidence in God. When she was living at home, Tammy would get in the car to drive somewhere, and her mother would say, “Be careful. You have my whole life in that car.” Well, imagine putting your whole life in a basket and putting that basket in the Nile River. That’s precisely what Jochebed did, but she wasn’t reckless, for, as the author of Hebrews wrote, she trusted God.
If you want to be a man or a woman of faith, you trust God. Don’t simply believe there is a God and that Jesus is his son; act on that faith. That’s what Jochebed did: “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict” (Heb 11:23). Moses’ parents weren’t praised for believing God is real; they were praised for acting on that faith.
Act on your faith, too. Abel did: “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain” (Heb 11:4). Noah did: “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household” (Heb 11:7). Abraham did: “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac” (Heb 11:17).
Put your faith into practice. When the tempter comes, by faith resist him. When tragedy strikes, by faith put your hand in the hand of the One who calmed the sea. When the stresses of life surround you, by faith go to the Creator in prayer. When the world goes crazy, by faith stay true to divinely-inspired Scripture. When your friends and family urge you just to miss “one” Sunday, by faith assemble with the saints.
What would the author of Hebrews write about you? Would he write that by faith you persevered in the face of tragedy? Would he write that you by faith obeyed God in spite of opposition from your family? Would he write that you kept your morality when the world went crazy? How are you living your faith? Do you need to come this morning and begin living by faith?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.