 (This is a creative interpretation of a desperate mother whose faith guided her through an act of surrender, sacrifice, and the ultimate reward of the Lord.)
My name is Jochebed. I am a Hebrew, mother of three, living in perilous times. We are in slavery under the Pharaoh of Egypt. His most recent decree commands that all male children born must be mercilessly killed. And herein lies my desperate dilemma: I have a newborn baby boy. The God of Israel has chosen our people as His own. Yet we suffer in bondage while we wait for deliverance that has been promised. In my heart, I know God loves and cares for His children, so the hope of freedom keeps us alive. Except that there will be no hope for my baby boy if they find him.
I hear the wailing cries of mothers’ broken hearts as the Egyptian guards ransack our city and take the lives of the innocent. I grow more fearful each day I try to hide my baby boy from this treacherous fate. As I pray to God, something within me knows that my baby is special, he is chosen, he has purpose, so I am desperate to find a way to save him. Dear God, what can I do?
What if…what if he could have a chance to live? What would that look like? Where would that be? How could I ensure that he would be safe without me? Then, God inspires this thought: Prepare a basket. Hide him inside. Send it afloat on the river. Perhaps someone will find him, care for him, rescue him.
But what if…what if he doesn’t make it? What if he drowns? What if he starves? What if an animal finds him first? What if he never finds a mother to care for him? I can’t bear the what-ifs. Yet, I have no other choice.
With a final kiss and a pleading prayer, I send my baby boy away. Into an unknown fate, where the what-ifs terrify me. My arms and my heart ache as he drifts away. I send my older daughter, Miriam, to look on and watch as I close my tear-filled eyes, praying for God’s protection and providence for my son. I weep as I walk home, empty arms, empty soul, grieving a loss that will surely pain me forever. I fall to my knees as I enter my home, crying out to the God of Israel, “It’s not fair! You gave him to me. He has a purpose. Dear God, rescue him!”
Later, I’m startled as Miriam rushes into the house, sharing the incredible news that the Pharaoh’s daughter found my son! She heard him crying and had compassion on him and picked him up and comforted him. Thank you, Father! You rescued him. You answered my prayer.
While I processed this news and felt such relief, what I heard next was almost impossible to comprehend. Miriam approached the princess, asking if she needed a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for her, and she said yes. And now, by order of the princess, I’m hired to retrieve and care for MY baby boy!
Is there a God in Israel? I KNOW this to be true. He has seen my heart, heard my plea, answered my prayer, and returned my son to me. I am privileged to care for him until He is weaned, for God has a plan and a future for my son in the Pharaoh’s house, and I trust that God will rescue our people as He has rescued my son, Moses, for a great purpose this day. All thanksgiving, glory, honor, and praise to the God of Israel!
My name is Jochebed, and this is my rescue story. What’s yours? “Moses was a very meek man above all the men that were upon the earth… Unto him will I speak mouth to mouth, and by vision, and not in dark words, but he shall see the similitude of the Lord.” (Numbers 12:3,8)
This article has undergone ministry review and approval.
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