Jochebed Series

The second grade teacher had been giving a lesson on science. She had explained about magnets and showed how they would pick up nails and other bits of iron.

Now it was question time, and she asked, “My name begins with the letter M and I pick up things. What am I?

Billy, a little boy on the front row waved his hand and proudly answered, “You’re a Mother!!”

Mother’s are very special people in our lives.

When I stop to think about it, I am always amazed at how much my mom sacrificed for me when I was growing up.

Being a mom is not an easy thing to do.

Sometimes they need to make difficult decisions.

There was an article in one of the magazines where a one year old had such a serious medical condition that only an experimental medical procedure MIGHT help her. Otherwise she would die in a short time. Certain members of the family were strongly opposed to going ahead with it. The parents were agonizing over what to do. Do they run the risk of her dying from the surgery or go ahead with it? It was a difficult decision which they ended up making in favor of the surgery. After a long process the little girl started to recover and now she is four years old.

This morning, we look at a mom who had to make a difficult decision for the safety of her child

Her name was Jochebed

Our story goes way back into the beginning chapters of Exodus

The Hebrew people where living in the land of Egypt under the reign of Joseph.

Now we need to remember that Joseph was the brother that was sold into slavery by his brothers, became Potiphar’s servant, and eventually became Pharaoh’s right hand man.

He brought his father and whole family to Egypt b/c of the great famine that was taking place.

Eventually, Joseph dies as well as the Pharaoh and a new Pharaoh takes over.

One who is not so appreciative of the Hebrew people

The Hebrew people become slaves to Pharaoh

And day in and day out their task is to make bricks for the Pharaoh’s buildings

Well, God continues to bless the Hebrew people and they become numerous.

Pharaoh, fearful of the Hebrew people, forces all male babies born to be thrown into the Nile River.

The girls could live, but the boys where killed.

With the twin’s birth quickly approaching, I am reminded of our other three children’s births.

I can not imagine taking any of my boys and throwing them into a river to die.

The pain and the suffering that these Hebrew people faced while they were at the hands of the Pharaoh.

And thus, a woman named Jochebed decided to hide her baby boy and tried to save his life.

As our story goes, Jochebed hid her son, Moses, for three months.

When she realized that she couldn’t hide him any more, she made the difficult decision to make a papyrus basket for him and coat it with tar and pitch.

She then placed him in the basket and sent him down the Nile River

I can not even fathom the agony and dread that Jochebed must have felt.

How hard for her to set her baby afloat in the powerful Nile River.

What if the basket tipped over and the baby drowned?

What if he simply floated there for days on end and die of exposure to the sun and heat?

Even more horrible, what if one of the many crocodiles living in Nile and sunning along the bank sniffed out this morsel in a basket and ripped him up and ate him?

But Jochebed had no choice.

If she kept him at home, Pharaoh’s soldiers would come for sure and execute her precious baby.

That day must have been the darkest day of her life.

Moses did go down the Nile River

But our story doesn’t end there

He was found by the Pharaoh’s daughter and she took Moses and raised him

Jochebed even got to nurse Moses for a while before he needed to return to the Pharaoh’s daughter.

Being a mom today and in Biblical times was not easy.

Jochebed sent her heart, her flesh, her soul down that river

She had to make a difficult choice

But Jochebed also trust Moses into God’s care.

How strong is your walk with God?

If it’s not strong now, it will never withstand the challenges of the future.