And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. And now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. And she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman. And she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child.
And behold, the baby was crying. And. And she took pity on him and said, this is one of the Hebrews children. Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you? And then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, go.
So the girl went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages. So the woman took the child and nursed him. And when the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. And she named him Moses because she said, I drew him out of the water.
So that's God's word for us this morning. Please pray with me.
God, thank you for this memorial weekend just to take time to have off and to remember and pray, God, that you would bless this time as we meet to hear from you and to worship you here in your house. I pray God that you would help me to be a good communicator of your word this morning. And Lord, help everyone here to have ears and hearts to receive what your spirit is saying. And it's in Jesus name that we all ask and pray. Amen.
Okay, so as we study the life of Moses in our Bibles, we'll be focusing on the account that Exodus gives us about Moses from his birth all the way to his confrontation with Pharaoh just before the first plague in chapter seven. And so, that being said, it's important that we understand a little more about the book of Exodus before we kind of jump into this book. So Exodus is one of the five books found in the Pentateuch, and it's at the beginning of the Bible. And the Pentateuch includes the first five books, I.e. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
And the Pentateuch contains the law of God given to Israel, and it records the events from when God created the heavens and the earth in Genesis all the way to the events at the end of Moses life just before Israel entered the promised land, which is what actually Aaron preached on last week. So historically, biblical scholars and Jewish tradition have held the view that Moses is the author of not only Exodus, but of all five books of the Pentateuch. The books of the Pentateuch reference Moses taking record of the events that occurred during his lifetime. And they also contain details that only Moses would know, including some of the details we're reading about in this chapter. And the word Exodus that the book is named after.
It actually means to depart. And that's because Exodus tells the story of when God helped his people to depart out of slavery of Egypt and to the wilderness. So Exodus is a historical narrative. That's its genre, which means everything that's listed in this book is historical events that are put into chronological order pertaining to God's activity and the way that Israel responds to God. And all of it is meant to be taken literally.
Exodus specifically informs the reader about God's deliverance of Israel from among Egypt and the events that followed one year after in the wilderness. And the purpose of Exodus is to show God's faithfulness to his covenant promises and as well as his redeeming love to his people by delivering them from slavery, that God's people may dwell with him. So Exodus begins with hardship and a need for God, but then it ends with God dwelling among his people in the tabernacle, as they are free people. And so like one of the overarching, overarching themes of Exodus is God as a father and as a king. And this father and king is redeeming for himself a people who will worship him and serve him in the land that he has promised, as he dwells with them for their good, for his glory, and for the world's blessing.
That would be what would sum up this book entirely, that God is doing this to bring about good for his people and glory for to the ends of the earth. And all of this is tethered upon the covenant of blessing that God has made to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the book of Genesis. And it's also tethered upon a covenant of the law which happens in the middle of Exodus, as God brings his people out into the wilderness and he does so through Moses. So Exodus overall is a continuation of the story of Genesis, as God is further revealing who he is to Israel and really to all of mankind. He is the covenant keeping God who seeks to make Himself known to his people whom he loves.
And as people who have the whole Bible to understand who God is today, we have to take into account that at the time that Moses wrote the book of Exodus, all that is recorded within its pages was truly a wondrous revelation of who God is and just how powerful he is as the only true God. So all they had to recall was what was passed down by their ancestors and the stories of God's account before Moses recorded all these things. And it was likely that they knew these stories well. But the events of Exodus were certainly on a whole different level of displaying God's faithfulness and his power and his glory to not only Israel, but to all of the world. That actually, the Bible says, left other nations trembling in fear when they heard what God did through splitting the Red Sea and through the plagues in Egypt and through freeing his people.
So Exodus reminds Israel of what God has done and who he is, so that the new generation of Israelites who were about to enter or essentially wander in the desert for 40 years and then would enter the promised land, that they would enter it by faith, remembering who God is and remembering what God has done. And the servant that God chose as his mediator for all the awesome and wonderful works described in Exodus is none other than Moses. And so we'll be studying Moses birth here in chapter two. But before I start reading through this, we need to understand what's going on in chapter one, because it's very important to understand chapter two. So as a quick summary, 400 years has passed since the time of Joseph was over with God's people in Egypt since he had passed.
And Scripture tells us that the Israelites had multiplied and grew exceedingly strong during this 400 years. And over time, a new king was placed in Egypt who actually forgot about Joseph and about the ways that God used Joseph to bless and save Egypt and to bless the nations who came to Egypt for food. And this Pharaoh, who is now king, feared that Israel had grown too mighty in comparison to Egypt. So he decided to enslave them with heavy work and with building new Egyptian cities for the glory of Egypt. And Scripture tells us that they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves, and they made their lives bitter with hard service.
And to make things worse, Pharaoh commanded the Hebrew midwives to kill every son that was born to the Hebrew women at this time. But instead of the midwives following through with this wicked commandment, Scripture tells us the midwives feared God rather than Pharaoh, and instead they let the male children live. So talk about like an incredible example of godly women that we learn about in chapter one. And because of their faith, God's people continued to multiply and to grow stronger. And the Lord even gave families to the midwives, like Scripture says specifically that he's seen their faith, and he blessed them because they feared God more than Pharaoh.
But after failing once, Pharaoh actually doubles down on his wicked plans by giving another commandment to Egypt. And that is that every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile. Now the horror and pain that must have followed this commandment like it had to be absolutely devastating to God's people. Their homes were likely broken into and the baby boys that were born were torn away from their mothers and then cast into the Nile. And scripture actually doesn't give us a lot of description on this because I think some wicked deeds are even too evil to write.
And so as readers of this, we have to understand the context of this time was immense anguish and pain and bitterness and sorrow for God's people. And during this time, scripture says Israel was groaning because of their slavery. And they actively cried out to God for help. Their situation seemed hopeless and their need for help was very, very great. They needed rescued, they needed protection for their children.
They needed a new land to have as their own. And most of all they needed a deliverer. But who could deliver Israel from such wickedness and desperation? That is the question that is building up to our passage of study today here in chapter two. And the dawning answer reveals itself in the first couple verses of our text.
So go ahead, get a Bible, look with me. Chapter two, verse one, it says now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. So already here Jewish readers ears would be like perking up as they read this, because both this man and this woman are descendants of the tribe of Levi. And at this point God's people knew that God had chosen the Levites to be set apart as priests to perform all the ordinances and sacrifices that are prescribed in the law pertaining to living a holy life and the forgiveness of sin. And so the son of a Levite father and mother, it implicitly communicates that God would set this person apart from for his purposes as a priest and a mediator for God's people.
For that is what the Levites were. And this man and woman who are later named in chapter six as Amram and Jochebed, whose names actually mean friend of God and God is her glory. They are the ones who would raise up this child. And it is through this couple who gets married in a time of desperation that God blesses with a son. And so verse two goes on to say, the woman conceived and bore a son.
And when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. Now the word fine in this Verse is also translated beautiful or good. It's a universal Hebrew word that is used to describe things that are morally good and pleasing to the eye. And it's also the same word used in Genesis after God created the heavens and the earth, and then he looked up and saw his creation, and he said that he saw that it was good. So the book of the Hebrews also tells us that the act of Moses parents hiding their child for three months was like actually an act of faith, that they didn't fear Pharaoh's edict, but instead they feared God.
So this also tells us that like Pharaoh's wicked edict to cast male infants into the Nile, like, it continued throughout these three months, but through the faith of this couple and by the grace of God, this child was not found. So continuing on the passage, it says verse three, when she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and dabbed it in bitumen and pitch, and she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the riverbank. So as you can imagine, hiding a baby is no easy task for anybody. Like, especially I think, for somebody at this time where they don't have soundproof walls or baby machines to like dry out any music or draw out the sound of, you know, a baby crying or anything. So this was no easy task.
But after three months, it became apparent that hiding this baby would no longer prove to be the wisest course of action. So as a side note, I want you to notice how this passage begins to just like zoom in on the faith of this mother. So it kind of started out as mentioning both parents, but now the text is just gonna zoom in on talking about the faith of this mother. And I think this is important because God fearing women have like, already been recognized in chapter one, through the Hebrew midwives and through the actually mothers, the Hebrew mothers giving birth in the face of Pharaoh's edict. And so now we continue to learn that this specific mother is being highlighted for her bold faith in the face of adversity.
And so I think scripture is clearly communicating that it is the faith of godly women that God uses to lay the foundation for, for God's chosen deliverer to be born. And to all the women here, like, I hope this is a great encouragement to you and a humble reminder that God can use your acts of faith as you fear him to accomplish his will in the face of evil and of danger. Like, it is the pride of Pharaoh that thought by removing the Hebrew boys, he's going to solve this problem of Israel's growth. But ironically, what Scripture points out and what he didn't take into account was that the God fearing women would be the ones who would thwart Pharaoh's plans. To the women here in the church, don't miss this point.
God desires to use your faith for his purposes and glory in the face of evil in ways that only women can. Like just as God used these God fearing women in the face of evil, so he can use you in the face of evil in ways that honor him and bring life. And I really think the scriptures here, beginning in Exodus, really do highlight this of the faith of the women and how God used them to bring about this child. And so do not forget that Moses was born and delivered by the hands of godly women who feared the Lord more than they feared man. So as we see this child's mother, she made a plan to protect her son and keep him alive.
She weaved together a basket of bulrushes, which is actually a papyrus reed that she probably found on the river. And then she dipped this weave together basket into bitumen and pitch, which is like concrete and tar that would be used to just waterproof the basket. And so not only was this used to like waterproof a basket at this time, but actually in the book of Genesis, God commanded Noah to do actually the exact same thing with the ark, to cover it with pitch and bitumen in ways that would make it waterproof. So I think the author's actually putting this in here to kind of give like a callback to God's deliverance through Noah's ark and how God would do the same for this baby boy. So after putting this basket together that could now float, this mother planned a day and a time to, to put the child inside the basket and lay the basket among the reeds of the Nile river.
So verse four tells us that Moses older sister named Miriam, who is also part of this plan, that she stood at a distance to know what would be done to him, which again, another woman that God is using as part of this. And so before I keep reading to further process what's going on at this plan, I think it's important that we even just kind of look specifically at this mother's plan was actually like an act of faith that was fueled by hope in God to save her son. It was also fueled by her love for her son and whom she fought to protect and to nurture. And I bring this up because in the midst of like a hopeless and bitter situation, this mother could have just Chose to, like, give up. Like, she could have just said, this is hopeless.
Like, how am I supposed to protect this baby boy? Or, how will this baby boy ever survive? As all of Egypt is looking to find the baby boys within the area and to throw them into the Nile, she could have thought to herself, there's nothing that I can do to save him. But that's not what this mother does. Like, actually, she, by faith, makes a plan, and I'd say a wise plan to save her son.
And she depends upon God to, like, carry out that plan, trusting that he is going to show up and do something to save her son, which is what we see God do. So all that to be said in our human agency, we're not to just, like, passively depend on divine intervention and just sit and wait for God to do something. And we're also not to just, like, sulk in sullen despair in the midst of persecution or hardship. Instead, we are to act in wisdom and in faith on what seems like the best course of action that would honor the Lord, would also put our trust in him. And that's exactly what we see Moses mother do here in this passage.
And she does what she can by weaving together this basket, coating it in tar and pitch so that it'd be waterproof, and then has a plan to put him into the bank so. So that he would be safe in this basket. And so by doing so, Moses mother also put Miriam in place to stand by and keep watch since she was a young girl and probably would be, like, much less of a suspicious watcher over Moses as Moses was in this little basket. Now, another question I got for you guys is, how many of you have seen movies about the life of Moses? Talking about Prince of Egypt, Ten Commandments.
Those are kind of the big two. There's one, I think, with Christian Bale. But both of these are very popular Exodus movies, very much so. I had things that I'd watched from these movies, just assumed were correct. But as I began to study this passage, something really dawned on me that these shows had lied to me.
Okay, so in any of these movies, like, they usually open up baby Moses and his mother putting him down in a basket. And then we see, like, baby Moses taking this roller coaster ride through the rapids, dodging the hippos and the crocodiles, which I've always just had that picture in my head, like, okay, baby Moses is floating along, and he shows up at the right place. But as we read this passage, I began to realize, wait, it says he was put among the reeds by the riverbank, and then that he was found among the reeds at the riverbank. So as I put two and two together, I'm like, wait, Moses was not, like, floating on his own little trip down the river, like, these movies are lying. So maybe that's not as shocking for you.
For me. But it took me some time to kind of process that. That. That's not what's going on here. I think Scripture is telling us that actually Moses was strategically placed in a specific place in the reeds on the bank that his mother had already planned out.
And so the fact that this happens just shows us how much this mother's wise and faithful plan was already drawn out before and how much God blessed it in order to bring about this providence for. For this baby. So looking back at her text, verse 5, it says, now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and while her young women walked beside the river, she saw the basket and among the reeds, or saw the basket among the reeds and her servant women, and took it. And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. And she took pity on him and said, this is one of the Hebrews children.
Now, one of the most royal and powerful people of Egypt, a potential heir to the throne, is the one who comes down to the river to bathe just at the right time when Moses has been placed at this bank. So for Pharaoh's daughter, like her own father, is the one who's put forth this wicked edict to kill all of Israel's baby boys. So a large question that I'm sure would be, like, looming in the hearers who have never heard this story would be thinking, like, what is this princess now going to do when she sees this baby? Better yet, like, what will she feel when she sees this baby? She's probably going to feel a lot of hate and anger towards the Hebrews and these children, since that's clearly what her father feels.
But when Pharaoh's daughter takes the basket from her servant woman and opens it up, God's word says, behold, the baby was crying, and she took pity on him. The word for pity can also be translated as compassion. So she sees the baby and she has compassion on him. This is clearly a providential reaction that only God could have brought at this moment, because out of all people, it's Pharaoh's daughter, the princess of Egypt, who lays her eyes on this Hebrew baby boy. And she sees the same beauty and goodness that his mother had seen earlier in the passage.
And Instead of hate, her heart is filled with compassion. So surely this is an evidence of God's kindness and his grace in the midst of uncertainty. And so, as we keep reading in verse seven, then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, go. So the girl went and called the child's mother, and Pharaoh's daughter said to her, take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.
So the woman took the child and nursed him. So we don't know how old Miriam is at this time, but like, it is just at this right time, after she sees Pharaoh's daughter filled with compassion for Moses, that she then like, speaks up and offers this idea to the princess where she says, shall I go get a Hebrew nurse for you to nurse this child? And you've got to be thinking like, speaking up could ruin this entire moment that has unfolded. Like baby Moses is providentially in the right place, right time. Pharaoh's daughter, right place, right time, sees her, sees him, takes him, looks like she is just holding him and receiving the baby that has come to her.
And then Miriam decides that she's going to speak up. And so this could actually cause things to go south. But actually we see that Miriam's request seemed good to Pharaoh's daughter. And Pharaoh's daughter then says, go. Which really is like, what incredible quick thinking and boldness for Miriam.
And so she, Miriam then goes back, gets her mom with, I'm sure, like so much excitement and joy as she tells her mom that not only has Moses been found, but he's been found by Pharaoh's daughter, and that she wants to keep him. And not only that, but also Pharaoh's daughter is willing to go ahead and have this mother come back and to nurse this child. I mean, this would had to been just like mind blowing, overwhelming good news for this daughter and for Moses mother to hear. And so Pharaoh's daughter tells her to go and then tells this mother that she will nurse him or sorry, ask Moses mother to take the child and to nurse him, and says that I will give you your wages if you do this. So not only does Moses mother get her child back, but she's also offered wages to be paid in order to continue to nurse this child.
And so again, stacked on top of another thing, of another thing, of another thing, of just God's providential good hand to provide for baby Moses and for this family, like I can't imagine like how excited and just overwhelming with joy this mother must have felt when she is reunited with her son and sees that he's safe and that now she's going to be paid to be reunited with him for a time. So just this, I think this is just highlighting like God's goodness and just providence over this plan with layer on top of layer on top of layer. And so God blessed this faith filled plan and provided above and beyond for her son. And so in the midst of bitterness and uncertainty, the God of Israel had showed up and graciously delivered her son from a sentence of certain death. So this mother receives her child back in her arms and nursed him for likely another three to four years.
And since that's what was common before weaning a child at that time, it was usually like another three to four years. Text just tells us that once the child is older, his mother would then have to say goodbye and give her son back to Pharaoh's daughter that he may live and be safe from harm. And so all these ways we see God's providential hand respond to this mother's plan of faith to save her son from certain death. Surely a great application for us to take from these verses is trust in the good providential hand of God. Even when things look dark, the bleakness and uncertainty of this mother's son and family, it didn't change her faith from trusting in the Lord to deliver her son.
And that's exactly what we see the Lord did for her. We too should not cease to trust in the Lord by faith in the face of uncertainty. Who knows how God may answer your prayers or bless the plans that you make by faith in order to bring about an unexpected providence. This is the God who is and who loves to meet his people where they are at and provide help that only he can give. God is more than able to provide for our needs as we depend on Him.
And in fact, God delights in using the seemingly lesser and weak people of the earth to display his awesome deliverance and glory. So don't lose hope. Trust in the good providential hand of God even when things look dark. Our last verse of this passage then ends by saying, when the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. And she named him Moses because she said, I drew him out of the water.
So here our passage arrives at a key place in this story, out of this entire passage and tells us that this baby boy who is saved from certain death is none other than the great prophet Moses. The great prophet whom no other prophet would compare. The one whom would know God face to face and perform many signs and wonders by the power of God. This entire story in chapter two is important because Moses would be God's messenger and leader in delivering Israel from the bondage of slavery. And this is where it all begins.
And his name is given by the Pharaoh's daughter, Moses. So Moses name has both Egyptian roots and Hebrew roots. The word Moseh in Egyptian language is actually close to a verb that means to bear forth. And then it's also similar to an Egyptian noun that means child. So it's likely that's what like Pharaoh's daughter is meaning when she says I drew him out of the water, as she was thinking that she has borne forth a child from the water and she is the one to save this child from the water.
And so whether Pharaoh's daughter was like aware of the Hebrew roots is unknown. It's likely she wasn't, but maybe she was. But anyways, the name of Moses has some very clear connections to the Hebrew verb that means he who is drawn. Which Moses who wrote this I think is primarily picking up on on the Hebrew roots about the one who is drawn, because it's clearly more significant to who Moses is and what Moses would do. For Moses would draw out God's people from their slavery through splitting the Red Sea.
And he would be the one to lead them in freedom with the Lord in the desert. Pharaoh's daughter. She rightly understood that she had drawn Moses up out of the water. But what she didn't perceive is that this was a small deliverance of what God would do through Moses in the years to come, as he would deliver all of Israel from among Egypt. And by the will and understanding of the Lord, Moses has given a prophetic name that the Lord will use to fulfill in the days to come.
And that is where the story of Moses birth ends. And so that being said, my final application for you from this passage that I think speaks loudest from God's word this morning, is trust in the God who draws out deliverance in the midst of uncertainty and bitterness for those who fear him. From beginning to end of this passage, the Lord is declaring. He is the God who draws out deliverance for his sons and daughters who fear his name. God sees the injustice taking place.
He sees the bitterness and pain his people are going through. He sees the uncertainty that his people face. And through it all, he says he will deliver us. The birth of Moses is not only the beginning of God's plan of deliverance. But through the birth of Moses, in the most humble and unexpected way possible, God will raise up another prophet who will deliver his people and put the Lord's power and glory over on display through many signs and wonders.
And all of this should sound very familiar because it's pointing to an even greater prophet and mediator than Moses. One day a baby boy would be born in the town of Bethlehem to a simple yet God fearing couple in the most unexpected way, in a humble manger. The times would be uncertain as God's people would be under the oppression of another nation who would treat them cruelly and cause them to suffer. Their governor would seek to kill him by commanding all male babies to be killed. And yet God would deliver him from this governor's hand and this baby boy would grow to one day deliver his people.
And this baby boy is none other than Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God. And though he willingly laid down his life as a sinless atonement on the cross, and by doing so he has provided deliverance from the slavery of sin for all of mankind. Jesus rose again from the grave three days later, providing freedom from the bondage from sin for all who put their trust and faith in him. Jesus is our great deliverer and whom Moses represents and foreshadows in our passage today.
Jesus draws out deliverance and in the midst of uncertainty and bitterness for all who fear him as their Savior and as their God. And if you're here, but you haven't made Jesus your deliverer, then understand from this passage, Jesus died to set you free. He sees you in your sin. He sees you in your pain. He sees you in your uncertainty.
And he has made a way of escape, just as God did for Moses and for Israel. He can do the same thing for you if you will repent from your sin and put your trust in him today. If you're here and you believe in Jesus as the Lord of your Savior, as your Lord and Savior, remember you serve a God who has delivered you from your sin. He is worthy of all praise and there is none like our God who answers our prayers and works through our plans as we live by faith. May you continue to walk with the Lord, remembering He is your deliverer.
He is your God who has drawn you up out of the water that you may be saved and that you may have fellowship with him. Just as God has done for Moses and for Israel. So to close us, I just want you to hear God's word speak to you from Psalm 18 and it richly speaks of God's deliverance found for Moses, for Israel, and for all of God's people who believe in Jesus. So hear Psalm 18, verses 16 to 19, as God speaks these words to you. He reached down from on high and he took hold of me.
He pulled me out of the deep water and he rescued me from my powerful enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me. And they confronted me in the day of my calamity. But the Lord was my support. He brought me out to a spacious place and he has rescued me because he has delighted in me. Amen.
Please pray with me as I close this out.
God, thank you that you are our deliverer. The Lord, you show yourself as faithful and as mighty to save for Moses and for all of God's people. And you show yourself mighty to save through Jesus, who has died in our place and who is alive. So God, we thank you for delivering us from our sin. And we thank you that you are a good God of good providence, even when we can't see it and even when times are uncertain.
We know, God, that you are with us and that you work all things for our good and for your glory. And so I pray for your people here. God help us to trust in you as our deliverer wherever we find ourselves in life. And Lord, for any who do not know you here, I pray that they would put their faith in you as their personal deliverer in Christ Jesus. So we thank you for your word.
We thank you for this morning we pray. Help us to go out here walking by faith with this message and truth written on our hearts and on our minds. And Lord, please bless the rest of our time here. This morning we pray in Jesus name, Amen.