Jochebed And Other Women

The lady we will study first is Jochebed, a mother who was incredibly confident, creative, and courageous! Her son was, in my opinion, the major character in the Old Testament. Therefore, Jochebed may deserve more recognition than she has been previously given. Our information of her is quite limited, with only short acknowledgments or acclamations in Exodus 2:1-3, Exodus 6:20, and Numbers 26:59. We are not told much about Jochebed. In fact, I can only say she gave birth to three children and was probably born in Goshen, Egypt, but one attribute of hers stands out; the trust she showed in God was beyond reproach.

Exodus records that the Jews had lived under duress in Egypt for 400 years. In the opening of Exodus, the Pharaoh was afraid of the Jews because of their abundantly large number. He feared they would coalesce with foreigners and form an army against the Egyptians. To stave off such rebellion, King Herod ordered all the male Hebrew babies under two years old to be killed.

Jochebed gave birth to her second son, Yekutiel, later named and known as Moses, the future Giver of the Law. She cleverly spared him from death as an infant. She had previously given birth to Miriam, the oldest, and Aaron, who became a high priest of Israel. When Jochebed gave birth to Yekutiel instead of allowing him to be murdered under a royal edict, she coated the bottom of a woven basket with tar to waterproof it. Then she sat the baby in it and set it among the reeds on the Nile's riverbank despite crocodiles, changing currents, and the risk of the basket capsizing. Yes, this baby would later become known as Moses. Have you ever stopped to realize it took four women to keep Moses alive from birth to adulthood?

Coincidentally, Pharaoh's daughter was bathing in the river while her servant girls walked along the riverbank. One maidservant saw the baby in the basket and brought it to her. Do you think all that was just happenstance? Did Jochebed simply walk down to a random spot at the river's edge, at a haphazard time, and deposit her precious cargo among the reeds. I think not. Certainly not without scouting a safe area first. Possibly, she knew where Pharaoh’s daughter liked to bathe and came up with a plan based around that schedule. It wouldn’t have been difficult to place him just a little upstream of that spot where the basket would be seen or his crying drew attention.

Miriam, sister of Moses, watched to see what would happen. Perhaps Miriam took the initiative, but more likely, her mother instructed her to approach the princess. Do you find it surprising that the Pharaoh’s daughter wasn’t suspicious? Bravely, Miriam asked the princess if she could get a Hebrew woman to nurse the child. Once told to do that, Miriam convened what had happened to her mother, Jochebed, and fetched her back to the princess and see her baby brother.

Several non-Biblical sources offer different names for the princess that directed the rescue of that baby male child. She may have been the Egyptian princess Hatshepsut, known to have a disposition strong enough to countermand her father’s decree of killing all the male Hebrew babies under the age of two. Eusebius of Caesarea said the name of the princess was Merris. Eusebius was a fourth-century Church historian and his work gave a chronological account of the development of Early Christianity from the 1st to the 4th century. Another scholar of the Bible, Josephus, a first-century historian, called her Thermuthis. Artapanus, a heathen writer, named her Merrhis, perhaps from Miriam, and frequently, Jewish writers called her Bithia, which is the name of the daughter of a different Pharaoh.

In any case, it was Jochebed's faith in God that protected her baby. Because she trusted the Lord, she knew God would take care of the child. In that way, God returned her son to Jochebed, thus granting her a reward for keeping him alive because Jochebed was chosen to nurse and care for the boy. Differing biblical scholars place the weaning from two to seven years of age, with three years being the most common impression. No matter the length of time that passes, she brought the boy back to Pharaoh's daughter, who raised him as her own and named him Moses because, as she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

After many mighty hardships, Moses was used by God as his servant to free the Hebrew people from slavery and lead them to the edge of the promised land.

Jochebed demonstrated extraordinary trust in God's faithfulness. Two lessons can be gleaned from her story. First, sometimes a mother, married or not, in dire circumstances might have to consider placing their child for adoption or foster care. Like Jochebed, they should pray and trust God to find a loving home for their child. The heartbreak of giving up their baby can be balanced by good thoughts of God's blessings.