Ark

Exodus 2:1-10

¹Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. ²The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. ³When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. ⁴And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. ⁵Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. ⁶When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” ⁷Then 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?” ⁸And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. ⁹And 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. ¹⁰When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

Before God can send a “deliverer” to His people to free them from their bondage to the Egyptians, He must first deliver Moses from the hands of the Pharaoh who would kill him simply for being born a male at the wrong time in history. This story of Moses’ rescue from being murdered by drowning in the Nile is often recounted. First, let’s look at the Pharaoh.

“Pharaoh” is Egyptian for “big house” so that reference to the pharaoh in Exodus is somewhat like using the term “the White House” in modern times, as in “The White House said today that no new legislation would be proposed.” It refers generally to the government and national leader, but only from the point of view of the office and not the man. In Exodus, Moses used “Pharaoh” more often than his other generic term for the same person, “king of Egypt,” but interchanged the two terms without any obvious intentional pattern.

Stuart, D. K. (2006). Exodus (Vol. 2). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

This is a man who is ruthlessly willing to kill anyone (including babies) if they pose a threat. He saw those baby boys as future soldiers making them fair game for extermination. The “Pharaoh’s daughter” was also an interesting position to hold. She was most likely one of possibly dozens of daughters. The pharaohs were certainly not monogamous and daughters were quite useful in making political alliances so numerous children was an asset. This woman was mostly likely unmarried at this point and free as the pharaoh’s daughter to do as she wished including adopting a Hebrew baby boy. Because of her place as one of many daughters we might consider the possibility that Moses had very little to do with the reigning Pharaoh. The king may not have known Moses at all as he grew up.

Miriam’s placement by the river was also quite purposeful. We should not suppose that Moses was simply floated down the river in hopes that he would be okay. He was probably placed in that basket (the actual word is “ark” in the Hebrew) and hidden in the reeds. His discovery by the Egyptians would have occurred during the daylight hours had he been kept at home. So at night he was probably brought back into the home and then placed there again in the morning. His mother could head down to the river to nurse him during the day when necessary. His discovery by Pharaoh’s daughter makes those daytime ark rides unnecessary and his life is sparred. That Jochebed (Moses’ birth-mother) gets paid to take care of him is yet another time when God’s sense of irony and humor comes alive.

What we are privileged to witness here is that God’s plan will always win out not matter the obstacles. Pharaoh’s desire to see all of the baby boys killed was not an issue for God. He overcame that order by placing the unwillingness to commit these murders into the hearts of the midwives and moving Pharaoh’s daughter to instantly want to adopt Moses. God’s plan for delivering His people moves forward despite us.