Jochebed: Perfect love empowered Moses’ mother to smother fear

Exodus 2; Numbers 26:59

The dreaded day finally arrived. It was time to deliver Moses back to his adopted mother Bithiah, Pharaoh’s daughter.

As the biological mother of Moses, Jochebed was nearly paralyzed by a tsunami of emotions: disdain for Pharaoh’s decree to kill all newborn Hebrew boys; fear that her entire family would be killed because she had defied orders; worry about the safety of her Hebrew son and whether he would be treated differently in the Egyptian king’s palace; and, joy that God would bless her and her husband Amram to produce such a gorgeous baby boy toward the end of the 400-year captivity of the Israelites in Egypt.

Jochebed, whose name means Jehovah-glorified or Glory is Jehovah, lived with her family in Goshen, in a close-knit Hebrew, intermarrying community. She was the aunt to her husband, Amram, and both parents were from the tribe of Levi. She had agreed to bring the boy to the palace after he was weaned. It hurt to relinquish care of her baby even though she already had two other children, Miriam and Aaron.

A deal is a deal, though. How could this Hebrew woman living in slavery in Egypt complain about being paid to nurse and nurture Moses. Imagine that! Being paid to nurse your own child by the daughter of the wretched ruler who called for the murders in the first place.

Rather than focusing on the negative, darkness, why not appreciate the miraculous blessings? Jochebed told herself as she reviewed all the events leading up to this day.

by DJ Michael
  • Moses survived his birth despite Pharaoh’s determination to squash any potential threat to his reign.

How can overpopulation of an ethnic group be a threat? Yet, Pharaoh issued a decree to the midwives to kill all male babies born to Hebrew women. Thankfully, the nurses disobeyed and retorted that the women delivered so fast there was no time to kill the fetuses. Undaunted, Pharaoh instituted stricter measures by ordering the drowning of the Hebrew boys in the Nile River after their birth. The king’s behavior in the Old Testament foreshadowed future generational efforts of the Pharaohs to kill the Messiah with a decree to murder Hebrew boys.

  • For three months, Jochebed and Amram successfully hid the healthy, rambunctious baby.

In the New Testament, Mary and Joseph had to hide the Messiah in Egypt. When the Holy Spirit moves on behalf of His chosen ones, they may be required to “hide” or “fly under the radar” to keep enemies from destroying the miracle.

 Plan B kicked in only when it was nearly impossible to hide Moses any longer. Jochebed started creating a basket big enough to hold her baby. Made of papyrus, she plastered it with bitumen and pitch so that it could float on bodies of water. She made sure the miniature boat was as strong as Noah’s Ark.

  • Baby Moses survived the perils of the Nile River.

Yes, sheer desperation forced Jochebed to place her innocent baby in a basket on a river famed for its predators like crocodiles and hippopotami. Her only goal was to protect her precious baby from the royal death sentence issued against all male Hebrew newborns. Her only goal was to save her child’s life; there was no other, better option.

Jochebed understood that in desperate times like this, you must act devoid of intentions. Doing nothing would have condemned Moses to death at the hands of the Egyptian death squads. If her son were meant to die, at the very least, she wouldn’t have to witness the unbearably painful scene of his execution.

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God had blessed Amram and Jochebed with a daughter, Miriam, who served as a lookout for the basket. She watched Pharaoh’s daughter come out to bathe in the Nile with her entourage of women and held her breathe as the princess spotted the basket. Miriam sighed with relief when Moses began to cry as the top was pulled off the basket and Pharaoh’s daughter picked him up to console him.

  • Jochebed was hired by Pharaoh’s daughter to nurse and wean her new-found son.

The New Living Translation of Exodus 2: 6-10 describes the scene:

“This must be one of the Hebrew children,” the princess said when she opened the basket and saw the little boy crying.

Pharaoh’s daughter, Bithiah or Bityah, meaning “daughter of Yah,” had enough influence to kill Moses or keep him alive. The Bible says she had come to bathe ceremonially in the sacred Nile River. Her compassion for the baby was a strong enough emotion to push her to defy Pharoah’s orders.

Then the baby’s sister approached the princess. “Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” she asked.

 “Yes, do!” the princess replied. So, the girl went and called the baby’s mother.

“Take this baby and nurse him for me,” the princess told the baby’s mother. “I will pay you for your help.” So, the woman took her baby home and nursed him.

Later, when the boy was older, his mother brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her own son. The princess named him Moses (Moshe), for she explained, “I lifted him out of the water,” Exodus 2:10.

Little did Bithiah know that one day this baby would become a prophet who leads the Hebrews through the Red Sea on dry land.

Jochebed had to let Moses go AGAIN. She had to trust God AGAIN. Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

While the Pharaoh thought that sparing girls was safe, the midwives, the Hebrew mother, Bithiah, and Miriam, all worked together to spare one baby boy who later would deliver the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and lead them to the Promised Land.

Written by TMCH and COH

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Sources:

Jochebed: Faith and Strength in Difficult Times. Chabad.org.

Kimbrough, Marjorie L. “Jochebed: She Knew It Would Take a Village.” Women of the Bible for Women of Color. Urban Spirit LLC. 2021.

Miller, Dianne. Women of Influence Surrounding the Life of Moses. Bible.org.

Mindel, Nissan. Yocheved. Kehot Publication Society. Chabad.org.

Posner, Menachem. Why did Jochebed put Moses in the Nile? Chabad.org.

Shurpin, Yehuda. Is Moses a Jewish or Egyptian Name? Chabad.org.

Smith, Jordan. Iowa Bible & Archaeology (University of Iowa). March 11, 2022.

Three Lessons from Jochebed. Hebrews12Endurance.com.

Who was Moses’ Mother?” Got Questions Ministries. www.GotQuestions.org.

Wikipedia. Jochebed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jochebed#References.

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