As I began to read the book of Exodus, a book that centres on the life of Moses and God’s mighty deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt, I was reminded of Girl Guides and my days as a Brownie in my brown and yellow uniform. I’ll admit, this is a strange association with the book of Exodus, but stay with me. In Exodus 2, the story of Moses began with him being protected by women who obeyed God and looked after him in their own unique ways. I like to think of them as girl guides.
The Girl Guide promise considers and includes girls and women of all ages, creeds and walks of life. If we look at some of the guiding ladies in Moses’ early life, we see that they are indeed a diverse bunch of ladies. There were 2 Hebrew midwives called Shiphrah and Puah (Exodus 1: 15), his mother Jochebed; his sister Miriam (Numbers 26: 59), and Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 2: 5-6). Let’s take another look at this group of women again but from a different vantage point: it includes working women (the midwives); a mother (Jochebed); a little girl (Miriam); and a princess (pharaoh’s daughter). Though the majority of these women and girl were Hebrew slaves (the midwives, Jochebed & Miriam), with Pharoah’s daughter in the equation they all differed in age, roles and status. Isn’t wonderful that we serve a God who writes us in His story and can give us all a part to play that is unique to us and allows us to serve and help other people regardless of what we do, how old we are, or to whom we were born? These guiding ladies really demonstrated the blessing of obedience and sacrifice.
The midwives got it right, didn’t they? They were serving their Hebrew community in a time of upheaval. The Israelites had become slaves in due to becoming so numerous in Egypt and Pharaoh feared that if they rebelled they’d overthrow him. He therefore ordered the midwives to kill all Hebrew baby boys as a means of control and oppression. The midwives disobeyed Pharaoh’s order and obeyed God instead by preserving the babies’ lives as a result Israel kept increasing in number (Exodus 1:15-17). In their case, it was a faith-filled move based on obedience and the fear of God. It is actually written twice that they feared God (Exodus 1:17 & 21), as if to emphasize the point. And our wonderful God was kind to them (Exodus 1: 20); because they feared Him, He blessed them with families of their own (Exodus 1: 21). How blessed are we that we serve a kind God who notices our acts of obedience!
Obedience on the part of the Jochebed also required sacrifice twice and on both occasions she was rewarded for it. Jochebed gave birth to a son, Moses. And seeing that he was boy and in danger of death due to Pharaoh’s order, she gave him up in hopes of saving him, not once but twice! The first time, she put him in the river and let him go (Exodus 2: 3); now that’s some super sacrifice and hope. God blessed her with the opportunity to nurse baby Moses despite Pharaoh’s orders that all Hebrew boys were to be thrown into the river Nile. Though, she did put her baby in basket in the river and let him go not knowing what would happen to him, God gave him back to her. She even got paid for nurse her own son thanks to the quick thinking of little miss Miriam, Moses’ older sister who was a child. Mirriam had followed the basked to see who would pick it up.When Pharaoh’s daughter found the basked with the baby, she proposed to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby and that woman was none other than Jochebed (Exodus 2:4,7-9).
The second time Jochebed parted with baby Moses was when she handed him over to be raised by Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 2: 10). I doubt that either of those situations were easy, and to do it twice must have required a lot of strength and hope. Later on the narrative would reveal that she was the mother of a ministerial family. Think about it, she birthed Moses who God called to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 3: 10), Aaron who became Israel’s first high priest and birthed a lineage of priests (Exodus 28:1 & Exodus 29:9), and Miriam who became a prophet (Exodus 15:20). Thumbs up to mama Jochebed!
One of the things that makes me smile about Moses’ early life is that Pharaoh was worried about the Hebrew men and the potential of the Hebrew baby boys (Exodus 1: 10, 16& 22). But it seem that he totally underestimated the role and power of God’s girls and his own daughter. Pharoah’s oversight was a big mistake that God sovereignly used in favor of His people! When Pharaoh’s daughter saw baby Moses in the basket she felt sorry, decided to adopt him and raised him as her own son in Pharaoh’s palace (Exodus 2:5-10)!
These wonderful ladies were obedient. They sacrificed in their own ways and all played their part to take care of baby Moses who grew up to deliver God’s people from the oppression of Egypt. Let’s follow in their footsteps and promise to do our best by being true to ourselves as daughters (and sons) of God. Let’s commit to growing in our faith by studying the Word of God and let’s serve our communities well by helping the people around us. It is not an easy job but it is one one we have been called and equipped to do with God’s help (Ephesians 2:10).