By Jim Barnette, Ph.D.
Samford University and Brookwood Baptist Church, Mountain Brook
When Life is Expendable
Exodus 1:16–17, 22–2:9
The fear of God leads us to respect all human life. (1:16–17)
An outright attempt at genocide is the Pharaoh’s response to the growing Israelite population. Pharaoh commands two midwives to kill all male children born to the Israelites. The midwives do not cooperate because they “fear God” more than they feared the new king. “Shiprah” and “Puah” are nowhere else named or known, yet we remember them by name because of their courageous faith. These women obeyed God’s will and they were blessed with families themselves (see v. 21). This is the first sign of the triumph of God over Pharaoh, and it is from this initial victory that Moses, the great deliverer, comes on the scene.
The New Testament parallel to this passage is “the Slaughter of the Innocents,” when Herod sets out to eliminate all the young boys who are potential rivals for power (see Matt. 2:16–18). This story, therefore, points to the Christ story, for the baby Jesus is born exactly in such jeopardy. This jeopardy for our Lord persists until carried out on Good Friday in a state execution.
We should do what we can to protect others. (1:22–2:3)
A nameless mother looks at the baby and sees “that he is a fine baby.” The word for “fine” is more often translated in the Old Testament as “good” and is the same word used in the creation account (see Gen. 1:31). The birth of this baby is a new act of creation. The world begins here again, emerging out of the chaos that “the new king” had decreed. The woman makes a waterproof basket out of bitumen and pitch. “Reeds” were often used as papyrus for writing material, but they were also used for baskets and vessels of various kinds, particularly boats. The word used here for “basket” is frequently used in the flood account. The basket therefore looks back to Genesis. This new “ark” floats on the Nile, the river that had been intended for baby Moses’ death.
We should do what we can to provide for others. (2:4–9)
The reaction of the unnamed princess to the baby is surprise and immediate recognition: “A Hebrew!” Moved with compassion, she spares the baby entering into an alliance with him and prepared to be his protector. The princess knows what she is doing, rescuing a child from the slave community and under a death sentence from her father. By her grit and savvy, she delivers the baby who would one day deliver his people. The baby is formally returned to his own biological mother to be weaned, for which she was paid.
There might be a bit of humor to the narrative here: Jochebed is being paid from royal funds to look after her own child. After this period of nursing the baby was to be adopted by the royal princess — the daughter of Israel’s oppressor. Moses came to be educated in Egyptian lore (see Acts 7:22) and the faith of his parents.
Though raised in an Egyptian household the fact that Moses was nursed by his Hebrew mother establishes an ethnic solidarity with his Israelite people. Because Miriam went immediately to Jochebed and we can know that the entire experience was a deliberate scheme to secure Moses in the care of the princess. For her providential savvy Jochebed is portrayed as a woman of superior wisdom and courage.
Of course the ultimate wisdom of the entire plan must be laid at the feet of the Almighty God whose hand was moving through all of the endeavors of these feeble humans.
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