"MOSES PRESERVED" (An Article by Christian Henry) ~ 8/25/26

“And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.” (Exodus 2:1-3)

In Exodus, the land of Egypt (where the Israelites are enslaved) has recently promoted a new ruler. This Pharaoh had no knowledge of or respect for Joseph, the once-leader of Israel, and because of this sought to bring them down. He feared their vast numbers (remember God’s promise to Abram) and how they could oppose the Egyptians one day, so he decreed that all male babies were to be thrown in the Nile as a form of population control. If there were no males, then there would shortly be no more pure-blooded Israelites.

Soon after, two descendants of Levi wed and had a child, and when the child’s mother saw it was a baby boy, panic set in. She attempted to hide him, I assume by putting him in a closet or dressing him up as a girl when Egyptian officials were around; whatever the case, it wasn’t a permanent solution. Three months into his life, his mother could hide him no longer, so she placed him in a reinforced basket on the river's edge to drift downstream, where hopefully someone could take better care of him and keep him from harm. Imagine the heartbreak involved here! A mother was unable to care for her beloved son, so the best she could do for him was send him away, with tears streaming down her face. Some couples go through something similar today, when they realize they can’t provide for their child and give them up for adoption; only in the Exodus case, the basket could have capsized, or an evil person might’ve recovered him.

Thankfully, nothing befell the babe other than the best-case scenario. A daughter of Pharaoh came to the river to bathe, where she found the basket among the reeds, discovered the baby boy, and took pity on him. She immediately identified this child as a Hebrew but chose not to drown the baby, as her father would’ve wanted, instead choosing to raise the little guy. Now the child’s sister was standing not far off, maybe because she was told to, but I think she just wanted to look out for her brother; she saw the whole thing and offered to go into town and find a nurse for the baby. His sister went into town and found their mother, reuniting the pair. Pharaoh’s daughter then offered payment for nursing the baby, which I’m sure she considered refusing because seeing him safe and happy was enough.

She nursed the child past his infancy, I assume from inside the palace, and got paid for it (something mothers do out of love for free). The child grew into toddlerhood, and she brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, where he became her son and was named Moses. And the rest is history, as Moses would go on to lead the nation of Israel out of Egypt and toward the Promised Land. He would become one of the most important figures in the history of Christianity, penning the first five books of the Bible and speaking to God directly many times.

Moses’ early days were extremely perilous. He was born amidst threats against Hebrew children like him. His mother couldn't keep him safe, so she sent him adrift on the river, where anything could happen. He was found by a caring woman, one willing to overlook his heritage, who could uniquely keep him safe. Throughout Moses’ early life, even in the most treacherous circumstances, he was cared for. God preserved a pivotal Hebrew leader, Moses, because He knew what he would become: someone who would lead His people to deliverance from slavery. The simple truth is that God is always directing your life because He knows where your life will end up. Often, the storm around us seems to grow stronger by the minute, but even in these difficult times, we need to trust that God is working it for a reason and that He will see us to where we need to be. Moses needed to live and be raised in Pharaoh’s palace to serve God as He intended fully, so adjustments were made, and the baby was preserved.

Going a step further, God's providing care for His servants is pictured in Moses’ sister. She followed downstream to see that her brother was safe and cared for if needed. This is how intimately God cares for even His smallest servant. He will see us through.