God's People - Time in Egypt: Moses' Mother Part II

The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said. Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.” ~ Exodus 2:5-10

Jochabed doesn't hand Moses over once. She does it twice. First, when she puts him in the water, and second, after he is weaned, she gives him back to Pharaoh's daughter a final time to be raised by her.

The princess herself makes a decision not once, but twice, to defy her own father's law. She knows that the child is a Hebrew child and takes him out of the river to save him.

And then, after time has passed, she has no second thoughts and takes him into her home as her son and names him.

Both women disappear from the story, and the story of Moses will go on without them. And yet, without their story - in fact without the story of five women - Moses' life would have taken a very different turn.

I'm not sure I'd be as courageous as these women. Defying a tyrant; handing over my child to another as second time after getting precious time with him for a while.

But knowing the alternative...

I admit I am a huge second guesser of decisions I make. Self-doubt seems to be my comfy spot!

I can only imagine how much second guessing I'd do with such a life-changing decision!

I will probably continue to second guess and dither about some of my decisions for the rest of my life. But I can rest assured that love and faithfulness of God is more like the love of Moses' two mothers: fierce, protective, and all encompassing.

No second guessing at all.

Prayer: God of love: your fierce love for us is like the love of a mother who is swept away by devotion to her child. While we realize that not everyone has been fortunate to have that kind of love from a mother, we know that we have that from you. Amen.

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