“1 Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 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. 4 His sister
stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. 5 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. 6 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. Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 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.”
11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”
15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. 16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock. 18 When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?” 19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.” 20 “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.” 21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become an alien in a foreign land.”
23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and He remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.”
Who is going to fix this mess? Who is going to make life right? Why didn’t those who came before us do better? Well, what if we are the ones we have been waiting for? Where did all the heroes go? Why won’t they stand up and be counted? Why don’t they make change happen? But what if we are the ones we’ve been waiting for? That’s a persuasive plea. It takes our need for rescue seriously, but it is exceedingly naïve. What it gets right is that we do need rescue. What it misses is that the Lord alone is up to the task. That’s what we see all over this passage and that’s the claim of this sermon: we need rescue. The Lord alone is up to the task.
We will study this in four points. First: joining Pharaoh’s house. Second: a foretaste of things to come. Third: a stranger in a strange land, and fourth and finally: the Lord knew. First, in verses 1-10, joining Pharaoh’s house. Second, in verses 11-14, a foretaste of things to come. Third, in verses 15-22, a stranger in a strange land, and finally in verses 23-25, the Lord knew.
We begin to see what salvation actually looks like in our first point: joining Pharoah’s house. This is our introduction to Moses; verse 1, “Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son.” Moses wants us to know that his father was a Levite as was his mother. Moses was chosen for spiritual leadership because that’s what the Levites would provide. Moses didn’t opt into the calling. It was placed upon him. That’s how it goes with our callings in life—we can do nothing other than walk the path the Lord has laid out for us.
Moses arrival came amid an ethnic cleansing. The Egyptians were eliminating Hebrew baby boys. That’s the “why” behind verse 2, “When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.” It’s hard for us to grasp the infant mortality rates of that day. That’s probably what’s going on with the reference to him being a “fine child.” He was a viable baby in an age when many babies didn’t make it. He could be hidden at home three months because that’s how long many babies sleep most of the time. Once Moses was awake most of the time, a new plan was needed to avoid detection. The Egyptians likely made periodic sweeps of the Hebrew camps looking for baby boys. The family would almost certainly only hide Moses in that basket during those sweeps. You have a rough idea when the garbage truck comes or when the mailman shows up. Moses’ family has a rough idea of when the Egyptian soldiers worked their way through the camps, and that’s when they put Moses in that basket in the Nile.
This word for “basket” is an intentional one. It’s the same word used for the “ark” as in Noah’s ark. Humanity was rescued in Noah’s ark. Israel would be rescued by God through this baby in this basket, this ark. Moses’ mother didn’t know that, but Moses used this word to make clear that the Lord knew it and worked through his mother. The Lord was up to something in and through Moses’ mother’s love. That’s how it works. She simply trusted and obeyed and the Lord did the work. That’s how it goes. He, not we, is the one we are waiting for.
The Lord’s care is soon called into question, though; “Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe.” Just as women were the centerpiece of chapter one—the Hebrew midwives—so women are the centerpiece of this section—Moses’ mother, his sister, his adoptive mother—the daughter of Pharaoh. Each of them has a role to play in God’s plan and each of them does it by deeds of human decency, which matter much more than we assume.
Pharaoh likely had many, many daughters and many, many grandchildren. Kings in those days had a harem of wives who produced swarms of children so it’s unlikely that this daughter was uniquely special to Pharaoh. She was likely one of many and had come to the Nile to bathe because the waters were considered sacred. She saw the basket.
If you’re Moses’ sister watching Pharaoh’s daughter wander near the basket, you’ve got to be thinking, “seriously? What are the chances? The worst family to find this baby finds him.” It seems like the worst luck in the world. We will be seeing that throughout this Exodus story, though—what seems like the worst possible situation turns out to be the path of salvation. That’s how it goes even though our flesh hates it and the world scoffs at it. The Lord makes it that way, though, to show that salvation must come through Him and Him alone. We are not the people we’ve been waiting for. We must wait for Hiim.
Pharoah’s daughter finds baby Moses. Now she knew what her father wanted done in such a situation. He decreed, “every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile.” This would be the easiest obedience to that edict possible—she, a member of Pharoah’s family, has a Hebrew baby boy already in the Nile.
Moses’ sister, likely Miriam who we will meet by name later, understands this seeming tragedy in the making and so pops out of her hiding place and asks if she can help Pharoah’s daughter help this baby. Now Pharaoh’s daughter was no fool. Here’s a Hebrew girl who just happened to be nearby who just happens to know a Hebrew woman who can nurse this Hebrew baby. Pharaoh’s daughter almost certainly knows this girl is this baby’s sister and the nurse in question is his mother. She also knows, though, that what her father ordered is wrong. She’s a decent person. She knows that baby boys should not be drowned and so she pays Moses’ mother to nurse him and adopts him to keep him safe. You can imagine the angels laughing it up over this. “Did you hear what happened? Pharaoh is trying to kill all Hebrew babies and now the Lord is putting one of those babies in Pharaoh’s very home and making him pay for the child’s care.” There is a grand laughter to God’s plan. It is, in the end a comedy, not a tragedy.
Pharaoh’s daughter finding Moses seemed to be the worst situation possible, but it turned out to be the best. He was now the safest Hebrew baby boy in Egypt. The Lord was providing and safeguarding a rescuer for a people in need. The Lord knew what He was up to even if it wasn’t obvious to anyone else. “No one notices this because God does not reveal His counsel and intent immediately or to everyone, but keeps it secret and hidden for a time,” as Luther commented, and that’s something to keep in mind for your situation and mine. So now we have Moses in Pharoah’s house where he grows into manhood; that’s our second point: a foretaste of things to come.
What we have before us is a coming attraction for Moses’ whole life. He sides with his people against Egypt. He tries to help the Lord’s people and not only are his efforts are rejected, but he suffers as a result of trying to help; verse 11, “One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor.” It’s possible that Moses often went out to visit his people and that what we are about to focus on in this visit is just one noteworthy happening. That’s how we tell stories too, “and then one day…”
So Moses identified with his people. While most of the Hebrews wanted to be him—living in Pharaoh’s palace—Moses identified with them. “He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin,” as Hebrews 11 describes this. Choosing to be mistreated to help God’s people was and is a Christlike thing.
Moses needed to choose though and the decisive break came when he struck the Egyptian who was striking “a Hebrew, one of his own people,” as verse 11 describes. The same Hebrew verb is used for both strikes—what the Egyptian did to the Hebrew and what Moses did to the Egyptian. This same word shows up regularly in Exodus, “I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them.” “The measure you use will be measured to you,” as Jesus put it and so it will be for us all.
Moses had decided to side with his people, and he thought they would side with him. They didn’t. “Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not,” as Stephen explained in Acts 7. The people didn’t want Moses’ help. That will continue. ‘Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, “leave us alone?”’ People in need of rescue often don’t want to be rescued by the Lord or anyone else. It was possible these Hebrews here are the ones who told the Egyptians that Moses struck the Egyptian. They certainly turned on him for siding with them. Their decisive word to Moses was, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?”
Israel would quarrel with Moses regularly. By so doing, they quarreled with God. This becomes even more pronounced with Christ. The people’s quarreling with him truly was their quarrel with God. “Who made you ruler and judge over us?” continued and continues to be humanity’s quickest response. Moses didn’t know what to do with that. His best efforts as the man best situated to help were utterly ineffectual. Moses doubtlessly spent much of the next forty years pondering all this as would you or I. He would learn that yes, the people did need rescue but that the Lord alone, and not he alone, was up to the task. That’s a lesson for the noble aspects of my flesh as well as yours. Moses begins to learn this lesson by going to a foreign land and that’s our next point: a stranger in a strange land.
Moses had chosen Israel over Egypt. Now he had neither and so he ran for his life to the Midianites. This may be a sign of his loyalty to his new people. The Midianites were relations of the Israelites. They were children of Abraham too. They were descended from him and Keturah, the woman Abraham married after Sarah died. They lived very isolated lives, a bit like the Amish in our nation. This made them a natural safe haven.
When Moses arrived in Midian, he took a drink from a well where he saw another injustice. Intervening in such trouble in Egypt had cost him his home and family. Would he ever intervene again? That’s the question, and the answer is that he does and this intervention will provide him a home and family.
Moses rescues Reuel’s daughters. Reuel, or as he is later called Jethro—dual names were common in that region—invited Moses for a meal to thank him for rescuing his daughters. Notice what the ladies call Moses in verse 19, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds.” Moses is out of place in Midian too—he’s an Egyptian there, but wasn’t an Egyptian enough for the Egyptians, nor Hebrew in enough for the Hebrews. He was a man without a home. He’s a man without a country who spends his whole life waiting for the Promised Land. He is, in this, a son of Abraham, as are we, as was Jesus.
Jethro had seven daughters, which in this context is probably another way of saying “he had no sons.” My mother’s father had five daughters. In those days, you didn’t know the gender of the baby before birth. My grandfather’s father, who was Irish and lived in Chicago in the days of long-distance phone calls, told my grandfather before the birth of the fifth child, “if the child be a boy, give us a call. If she be a wee lass, drop a postcard.” They got a postcard. My grandfather had no sons. That was a sorrow, but it would have been a real hardship in Moses’ day to be running a ranch with no sons. This is a likely reason Jethro was so keen to take Moses into the fold as a son-in-law. He needed help and he knew Moses needed shelter; that’s verse 21, “Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.”
Moses and Zipporah had a son. They named him Gershom, which means “a stranger there.” Moses was and would be a stranger throughout his life—not a Midianite, not an Egyptian, not accepted by the Hebrews. It is no wonder that the law of Moses has so much to say about loving the stranger in your midst. He knew what it was like to be a stranger. Israel did as well. Jesus did too. We shouldn’t be surprised when we feel the same. The Lord has His rescuer where He wants him, but it’s not where the man wants to be, but there is nowhere any longer that he wants to be. The Hebrews are doing even worse. That tension is our last point: the Lord knew.
Just as life went on for Moses, so life went on for the Hebrew slaves. That’s how it goes. You move and time keeps ticking pushing you along a trajectory and so it is for everyone you left behind too; verse 23, “During that long period, the king of Egypt died.” The message here is that there was a new king. There was the possibility of relief. New king—new administration. There was hope but no change. “The Israelites groaned in their slavery.” However, a new king opened up the possibility for Moses to return. That’s how it tended to go—outstanding warrants were cleared because so many of them had to do with the previous king’s vendettas. You see that with Joseph, Mary, and Jesus waiting for Herod the Great to die before returning home.
The rescue plan continues to unfold but notice that it isn’t these historical developments that, in the end, unfold it. The Lord wasn’t, and never is, limited by circumstance. Rather He saved His people because, as verse 24 puts it, He “heard their groaning and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.” The Lord intervened because He had made promises and as we saw when we studied Abraham, the Lord works based on promises. This is not a picture of God suddenly realizing that something is dreadfully wrong in the world and setting it right, right away. This is a picture of a God who has been working, would work, and will continue to work in accordance with His plan now choosing to take the next step because now was the time, His time, and that’s what we are to wait on. We aren’t the people we are waiting for. We are waiting for Him.
The comfort here is that the Lord knows all this and what to do. In our pain, we wonder, “does God know?” “Does He care?” Verse 25 tells us He does. The NIV tells us “and God was concerned about them”, but the more literal is better here, “So God looked on the Israelites, and God knew.” Moses wants us to sit with that. He sat with that for forty years in Midian. “Does God care that I’m a stranger here?” God did. God does.
We must be comforted and reckon with the fact that for all our lives, “the Lord knew.” We must reckon with the sovereignty of God. He had brought this people down to Egypt. He didn’t deliver them sooner from slavery. Babies were likely drown in the Nile. Israel would have to wait for that baby floating in that basket to grow up before the Lord would use him to rescue them. Moses needed to reckon with his abortive attempt at rescue and, as we will see in the next two weeks, that the Lord later calls him to accomplish what had gone so badly. Jesus of Nazareth was crucified on a Roman cross and the Lord knew it all. We must all reckon with a plan that we don’t understand, but which the Lord most certainly does, and that’s the flip side of the phrase, “and God knew.” He not only knows our sorrow; He knows the plan.
He doesn’t need me nor you to fill His role. He’s not waiting for us to step up and be Him. Rather, He steps down to become one of us. He steps down to save us. So yes, rescue was desperately needed. It still is. The situation in this tyrannical world is worse than we could ever know, but we aren’t the people we are waiting for. We are to wait for the Lord. Amen.