Moses' Mother, Sister, & Pharaoh's Daughter

Without the help of Moses’ Mother, Sister, and Pharaoh’s Daughter, Moses would have never survived. All three of these women played an important role in saving the life of a baby that would grow up to be a very important man to his people, and one that changed the course of their history. 

Moses was Hebrew, a Levite to be exact. Because of this fact, when he was born his life was in danger. At that time, the Israelites were slaves to the Egyptians. Pharaoh, the head of the Egyptians, didn’t like that the Israelites were outnumbering the Egyptians. His solution to this problem was to have all the male babies killed. Moses’ mother knew that her baby’s life was in danger because of what Pharaoh was doing. She hid her child as long as she could. Then she took a courageous step in the hopes that it would save his life.

But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.   Exodus 2:3

I can’t imagine the anguish that this woman would have gone through to do this. She didn’t know if her son would be rescued. She didn’t know if he would be found by an Egyptian and killed anyhow. She was a desperate woman who was willing to let go of her son in order to try to save him.

Moses’ sister stood watch over her brother while he was floating in the Nile. (Side note: later in Exodus Moses has a sister we learn is named Miriam. The Bible doesn’t state if this is the same sister or not.) When Moses is rescued it is his sister that speaks up to ensure that for a little while longer he is in his mother’s care. Without her being there, Moses’ mother may have never known what happened to him, and probably wouldn’t have seen him again.

It is Pharaoh’s daughter who is the final rescuer.

Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.  Exodus 2:5,6

If she wouldn’t have been in the right place at the right time, and not had compassion, Moses would not have ended up in the place that he needed to be. Being taken in by Pharaoh’s daughter put him in the right position to free his people later in life.

Moses’ mother was given another short time to be with her son. She was allowed to nurse him and take care of him as work for Pharaoh’s daughter. Of course she couldn’t let her know that she was his mother. Because of this arrangement it meant that she would again have to let go of her son and give him up in order to save him.

When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”  Exodus 2:10  

Moses’ mother loved him so much that she was willing to give him up not once, but twice in order to save his life. Now that is truly a mother’s love.