She held a baby the law forbade her to keep.  During his first three months of life, she loved him in secret.  Her beautiful baby boy, a child she could never show another.  His every noise–every cry, every yawn, every coo–she had to harbor.

The amount of faith and courage she had was surreal.  For twelve weeks–weeks when a baby learns to smile, laugh, babble–God allowed her to softly, quietly, delicately raise her sweet son.

But after those weeks, she could no longer conceal him.  Thus she began making a papyrus basket; she would not give up.  Moses’ mother knew she could be punished at any moment or that an Egyptian could discover her son and kill him, but she refused to stop.  With the basket completed, she navigated to the Nile to say goodbye to her beloved son.  She placed him in the river, relinquishing her child’s life to the Lord.  She didn’t look back–she couldn’t–but Mariam, her daughter, remained vigilant over that basket.

Mariam witnessed a miracle that day, one that began there and spanned decades after those moments.  Moses’ carefully crafted cradle sailed into Pharaoh’s domain, and Pharaoh’s daughter happened to see it in the distance.  When the content of the basket was revealed–a beautiful baby boy–Pharaoh’s daughter was filled with compassion.  She knew this was a Hebrew infant; a child of a race whose sons’ lives were being executed by her father’s decree.  But this Egyptian woman would not allow this baby to die.  Instead, she named him after the way she found him, Moses, meaning “drawn out.”

At the appropriate time, Mariam used her voice to inquire whether she should find someone to nurse Moses, and Pharaoh’s daughter delegated her to do so.   Filled with joy, I’m sure Mariam ran to find her mother.  Because of her mother’s faithful surrender, the Lord blessed her.  She chose not to kill her son as the law said, but protected him until she was desperate.  Not only was she reunited with her son, but she got paid by the kingdom to take care of the child she earnestly hid from them!

She got to see him through childhood, to watch him grow up.  All of that because she had the faith to place him in the river.

Jochebed, Moses’ mother, remains nameless until a genealogy is given in Exodus 6.  In Hebrews 11:23, the author defines Jochebed’s actions disclosing, “By faith, Moses, when born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because…they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”  After protecting him as long as they could, Jochebed and her husband Amram faithfully placed Moses into one of the world’s most dangerous rivers.  The amount of faith they had perplexes me!  They did not know the outcomes of Moses’ fate, but they trusted in the Lord and He delivered them out of their affliction!

I cannot comprehend the situation, but I can understand this: our God is miraculous.

“And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.  God saw the people of Israel–and God knew.” Exodus 2:24-25.

 Not only did God deliver Moses, but He used Moses as a forerunner to deliver His people!  He used Moses’ messy and broken life to bring His people out of a sea of suffering.

All this because his mother had the strength to place him in the river.

For Further Reading:

Exodus 2

Psalm 34:19

Hebrews 11

Acts 7

Jeremiah 32:27

Psalm 77:14