The Way
A Basket on the Nile
A baby drawn out of the river
Story
A man from the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she bore a son. Seeing what a beautiful child he was, his mother hid him for three months. But as his cries grew louder, she could hide him no longer. She wove a little basket from papyrus stalks and coated it with tar and pitch.
On the bank of the Nile, where sunlight broke on the water, the mother laid the baby in the basket and set it gently among the reeds. Then she turned away, looking back again and again, her feet unwilling to leave. While the reeds whispered in the wind, the baby's sister stood at a distance, holding her breath to see what would become of him.
Just then Pharaoh's daughter came down to the river to bathe. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to fetch it. When she opened the lid, the baby was crying. Her heart went out to him. This is one of the Hebrew children, she said. The sister stepped forward and asked whether she should go and call a nurse from among the Hebrew women, and the princess told her to go. The sister brought the baby's own mother. So the baby went back to his own mother's arms, and there he was nursed and grew. When the child was older, the princess took him as her son and named him Moses, saying, I drew him out of the water.
Walk this scene on the map →God's Words
This must be one of the Hebrew babies.
Shall I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?
I drew him out of the water, so his name will be Moses.
The sayings are fresh renderings of the original meaning in today's language. Text: Ex 2:1–10
Background
The name Moses sounds like the Hebrew word masha, to draw out. Others think it comes from an Egyptian word meaning son or born of, as in the name Thutmose. The names of his parents, Amram and Jochebed, appear in Exodus 6:20.
Pause and Reflect
Do I believe God cares even for those I cannot protect?