2 Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. 3 When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. 4 His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.
5 The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said. 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” 8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. 10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses,[a] “because,” she said, “I drew him out[b] of the water.”
Over the next few weeks we will be studying Moses and the early part of the Exodus. As I explored options for this time following the Resurrection, I ran across the concept that the Exodus of the Israelites was noted as the Easter Story of the Old Testament.
It is an apt comparison for the following reasons:
The people are helpless from saving themselves, and God intervenes.
As a result, those who have been saved enter into a new covenant between them an God.
During their travels, God demonstrates that his love is greater than their sinfulness.
Just as the New Testament is written with the understanding that the Resurrection of Christ is the defining moment in God’s merciful dealing with humankind, the Old Testament defines this as the turning point in the relationship between God and the people of God.
Until now, the covenant was only between God and individuals. From this point on, the covenant is between God and the people of God.
And so we begin with today’s text – the birth of the hero of the Exodus. Like Jesus, the ruler of the land, Pharaoh in this case, sets out to destroy the male sons of the Israelites.
In the case of Jesus, Herod is given a distinct warning, someone has been born who is more powerful than him. And so he seeks to destroy what he does not understand.
In the case of Moses, there is no threat. The Israelites have done nothing to upset the status quo. And yet they become the people who Pharaoh uses as a scapegoat, enslaving and blaming them for the fears he and his people feel. They are, essentially, the ones who are different.
While we do not know the exact actual name of the Pharaoh who set the Israelites up as slaves, and then commanded that the infants be killed, we accept the story as real, in part because we have seen over the centuries that this is exactly what a corrupt leader does.
Leaders who have no real strength of character always choose to demonize one or more groups of people. This distracts others from their behavior, and it lets them be in control of the situation.
An example, also involving the Hebrew people is the growth of Nazi Germany during World War II. Hitler gained control first by choosing a people to become the problem and the enemy of the “normal” citizens of Germany. After World War I, inflation became rampant, and Hitler blamed the Jewish bankers, stating they were the ones controlling the economy. Since there had been Anti-Semitism in the past, it was easy to use the same people to make the Jews the enemy.
But we see it repeatedly in stories of “Ethnic Cleansing” in wars still going on around the world. Any time we see a leader blaming a group of people for the problems, we need to be a bit like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, and look to see what is behind the curtain.
And so we come to the story of Moses, which begins in chapter one, but comes to a climax here. God’s people are in trouble and they need someone to intervene. And while God’s name is never mentioned, God intervenes (with help from a few others) by having Moses rescued by one of Pharaoh’s own daughters.
Which brings us to a very interesting point. Pharaoh has considered women of so little consequence as to be of no consequence. And yet, as we move through this passage and the ones that precede it, it is the women who thwart his plan. First the midwives who will not kill the infants, then his mother and sister who create a plot to save him, and finally Pharaoh’s daughter, who goes against his will and draws him out of the water and raises him as one of her own.
Now, many babies might have been rescued by Egyptians in just such a way. We do not know. We only know the story of Moses.
So, what do we learn from this story.
First of all, there is a right and a wrong, and the declaration of a corrupt leader doesn’t change that. Later the Israelites will receive the commandments from God, but they know in their hearts that killing babies is wrong.
It is our responsibility to live our lives in the right instead of the wrong. As we remember the death and resurrection of Jesus, we can ask ourselves the question, what is right and what is wrong. If Jesus saved us, how should be act?
As Christians, Jesus set the standard. More important than the law is the intent behind the law. Love God. Love our neighbors. And Jesus defines our neighbor through the parable of the Good Samaritan. Who was the Good Samaritan? The very people whom the Israelites considered to the enemy.
Pharaoh’s daughter got it. This is a baby of the enemy, and yet she saved it out of the water and put him in his own mother’s hands, even paying her to care for him.
If we choose to act as she did, we are living out what Jesus called us to do.
The second thing we need to take away from this story is the presence of God. God is there even in the places where we do not see his name. He is a whisper instead of a shout.
There is not a single mention of God’s name in this story. But there is not a minute when he is not present. He is present in saving the innocent children. He is present in the birth of Moses. He is present in his Mother and sister, and the woman who rescues him from the water.
There are many circumstances in our lives when we don’t hear God’s name. But God is there. We see God’s hand in the sun and the stars, and the spring which even now is beginning around us. But we also see God in the people who touch our lives. Those who are loving and compassionate and caring, reflect his goodness, even when they don’t speak his name. St. Francis of Assisi said it well, “Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary, use words.”
Finally, this story reminds us that even in the darkest of times, God has a plan. The Israelites were slaves under a cruel and corrupt leader at the time of the birth of Moses. Fast forwarding to the birth of Jesus, they were once again under a cruel empire, with excessive taxes and cruel and corrupt leaders.
And at the darkest moment, God was already at work.
To apply these lessons to our lives, we need to be people of action.
First. Not only do we need to treat people with love and compassion, we need to be willing to be used by God in the lives of the downtrodden. We need to be like the midwives and mother, and sister, and daughter, willing to risk in order to save.
Second. We need to listen for the whisper of God’s name. In today’s world, people want to tell us there is no God. But in our children and grandchildren, in the blooming of the trees and the greening of the earth, in the stars and in all life around us, we can see the truth of God’s existence. And, as we reach out to others, a simple kind act speaks louder of the existence of God than any words you can say.
Finally, we need to believe God has a plan.
God has a plan for us, and God has a plan for this church, and God has a plan for this community, and God has a plan for this nation. No matter how dark the days or how confusing the world is, God has a plan.
It is whispered here in the birth of Moses, and it will be shouted in the plagues, just as it was whispered in the manger and shouted from an empty tomb.
No matter how dark the night, God has a day prepared, a day when the sun will Shine and God’s name will be declared.
God. Has. A. Plan.
Place your full trust on it. Let it overwhelm you. Let it carry you out of the sanctuary and into your life knowing that you are carried within it.
Let us pray.
