When looking up the word brilliant, as an adjective it means: shining brightly; sparkling; glittering and lustrous. It tells of the brilliant lights of the city, distinguished; a brilliant performance, or haven shown great intelligence, talent, and quality, one that is vivid or bright. One that is a gem, especially a diamond, having any of several varieties of the brilliant cut.
It can also be used to describe something considered outstanding, exceptional, or magnificent. Most of all brilliant is often used in an informal way to mean excellent or awesome.
Then when I looked up the word RESILIENT: it means buoyant, strong, tough, volatile, rebounding, never giving up and consistent, and this reminds me of our mothers.
When we look at the birth of Moses: it is a picture of a believing, courageous mother.
This is a picture of a Godly Mother, and this passage covers the birth of Moses, but it focuses upon the mother of Moses.
It tells us how she saved Moses from being killed by the king, it tells us of how she trusted God to take care of her baby boy. Moses mother was a Godly mother, a young woman who trusted God with all her heart.
When we survey the pages of human history, Godly mothers were few. When searching history it was a few Mothers who truly believe God, Godly mothers who have the courage to stand up for God and His demand for righteousness and purity.
Nevertheless, Godly mothers do exist. There are some Godly mothers that can be found. There are some mothers within every generation who have given all they are to God, who are totally committed to follow after the righteousness and purity demanded by God.
This is the subject of the present Scripture, the birth of Moses is the picture of a believing and courageous Mother who cared about her child.
In verse 1 it tells us she She was a Hebrew, of Levi's tribe: a slave of the lowest social rank and position imaginable.
And if we were to remember, Israel had probably been enslaved for a century or more, and he parents of Moses were therefore slaves when they married. This meant that both mother and father
• worked as slave-laborers, as beasts of burden.
• were abused and yelled at, they were probably beaten at the whim of slave-masters.
• were poor, even poverty-stricken.
• lived in a small, poorly furnished house or shanty.
• had few, if any, possessions to call their own.
Moses' mother had no social standing within society, no decent clothes, no possessions, no rank, and no position.
She was a slave. She worked in the brickyards or in the fields or as the servant of some wealthy Egyptian. Yet God was to use this humble mother, this enslaved woman, beyond imagination. She was to give birth to one of the greatest men who had ever lived.
Moses mother is a great example to us. That no matter how lowly or far down we are; God can still use us. God can use us no matter how bad our...
• past • present • rank • position • abilities • heritage • education or how our finances are.
If we will only do what Moses' mother did, if we would only believe God and follow after God, God will accept us and use us to bless the lives of others. (And I know that it’s Mother’s Day, but God will use anybody that will allow him to be the head of their lives) God always uses the lowly who truly trust
and follow after Him.
In verse 2 Moses' mother was a courageous, righteous woman. At some point, she became pregnant and bore Moses. This was her third child.
Moses had one sister. There was Miriam, Moses' only sister, who was a young lady when Moses was born, probably somewhere around thirteen to sixteen years old. And then there was Aaron, Moses' only brother, who was three years older than Moses.
Notice this that the king's law to drown all newborn boys was not in effect at Aaron's birth. And as stated, he was a three-year-old boy, alive and well, when Moses was born. The law was obviously passed right before the birth of Moses.
Picture for a moment the uneasiness of Moses' parents when his mother discovered that she was pregnant. Just imagine their concern, their anxiety, their fear, and uncertainty—wondering what would happen if the child was a boy.
What would they do? What could they do? Month after month—for nine long months—they would have prayed and wondered, trying their best to figure out what they would do if the child was a boy.
Then, finally, the day came, and their worst fears became a reality: a baby boy, Moses, was born. Notice what his mother did: she did the courageous, righteous thing. As a mother she hid the child for three months. Why? What would make her risk her own life to save her child's life? The same thing that has driven many mothers to save their child's life when the child was threatened:
But notice the phrase "goodly child" which means fine child. This referred to Moses' physical appearance, meaning that he was a beautiful child. But it can also mean that he was fair in the sight of God." In fact, the Greek actually says this in Acts 7:20: "[Moses] was fair in the sight of God."
This would seem to be the true meaning of the statement in Exodus.
The point is this: Moses' mother was a courageous, righteous woman, and when she looked at Moses, God gave her a sense that her child was special. He was a gift, a very special gift from God.
His life was important to God; therefore, she had to be courageous and do the righteous thing: she had to save her child's life, as any good mother would do.
God's purpose for the child was even more important than even her love.
So, she needed to save the baby, she wanted to save the child not only because she loved him, but also because he was a special gift from God.
Therefore, she hid Moses for three months. Day after day and week after week—three long months—she hid Moses from the authorities she hid him from the neighbors, she hid him from the family, in fact, she hid him from everyone who might be a threat.
She hid the child at the risk of her own life. Moses' mother was a godly woman, a courageous and righteous woman.
She followed what Deut 5 and 29 said when it says "O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever.
She followed Acts 5:29 ("Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men)" (Acts 5:29).
How many mothers see their children as Moses' mother did? How many see them as a gift from God, as very special and important to God? What a different world this would be when mothers followed the example of Moses' mother:
I’ve learned something from this lesson and that is Children are the gift of God. and Godly mothers know that they are a gift. I don’t care how they act, I don’t care where they go, and I don’t care how they look, mothers know that their children are a gift.
And God mothers know that their Children must be taught the Word of God and the promises of God. They must be taught to follow after God.
That’s why the scripture says "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 6:7).
(2:3-4) Moses' mother was a woman of great wisdom, a woman who planned ahead and trusted God completely. The day came when the baby Moses could no longer be hidden in the house.
Why? Because they were bound to be periodic patrols up and down the streets to keep the slaves under control. This always happens when any people are being kept in subjection. There also must have been an periodic house-to-house search just to make sure no newborn children were being hidden.
Here’s why Babies cry; so there was great danger that Moses' crying might’ve been heard by a patrolling guard or that he might be discovered by some guard searching their family's house.
There was even the possibility that some neighbor, hoping to receive a reward or to be favored by the Egyptians, could snitch on the child.
The day came when Jochebed (Joke-Ka-Bed) Moses mother could no longer be hidden. Jochebed (Joke-Ka-Bed) had to do something. She had to be wise, she had to trust God, completely trust Him to use her plan and save her child.
So this is what she did.
? She made a watertight ark-like basket.
? She put Moses in the basket and placed the basket among the reeds of the Nile River. No doubt, she knew right where Pharaoh's daughter (and probably other Egyptian officials) bathed and swam.
She knew that Moses could be saved from the king's death threat only if some Egyptian official could find him, have compassion, and keep the child as his or her own.
This is when she placed the ark-like basket in the Nile River, she was trusting God to cause some Egyptian authority to find the baby and save him.
She then had the oldest child, Miriam to stand some distance away, keeping watch over the child (Exodus 2:4).
She did all she could, and she trusted God, and he bless them. The brilliant and resilient of Moses' mother was so great that she is listed in The Great Hall of Faith in Hebrews:
"By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment”.
When situations beyond our control strike us, we need to lean and depend on God to see us through.
When situations beyond our control strike us, we need to trust God to keep us when we can’t keep ourselves.
4. (2:5-8) it is said that:
? Pharaoh's daughter discovered the ark-like basket. She came down to the river and began to bathe. And she noticed the basket floating among the reeds and asked one of her servants to wade in and get it.
When Pharaoh's daughter opened the basket, the baby immediately began to cry. This touched her heart and she was moved with compassion for the crying child.
She knew that the child was a Hebrew baby.
? At that very moment, Moses' sister demonstrated great courage: she walked up and suggested that Pharaoh's daughter have a Hebrew woman nurse the child for her.
Pharaoh's daughter agreed with the suggestion: she instructed Miriam to go and find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby boy for her.
Miriam went and brought her own mother (Moses' mother Joke-Ka-Bed) and brought her to the princess.
The point to see is God's sovereignty—God's Spirit was hovering all around the small basket and the little baby lying in it.
Note how everything worked out for good:
The reeds held the basket close to shore and kept it from floating downstream with the current.
No crocodile or passing dogs came along to threaten the child.
Pharaoh's daughter herself came to bathe.
The very person who was most likely to feel compassion for a small baby came along, the daughter of Pharaoh himself.
Pharaoh's daughter glanced in the right direction to see the basket.
The baby began to cry at just the right moment, right when Pharaoh's daughter lifted the lid to the basket.
Her father, the king, to let her keep the child.
This mother had prayed and trusted God to save her child and to use him in God's service. And God was doing just that. God was looking after and taking care of the baby, because of this Mother.
Moses' mother was witnessing the guiding hand of God. She was experiencing just how God works all things out for good to those who truly love and follow after Him.
Now look at the reward: because Moses' mother had her faith rewarded. The most that she could have hoped for now happened. She was employed to nurse Moses (Exodus 2:9).
When Miriam brought her mother to Pharaoh's daughter, the princess hired her to look after Moses. Notice that Moses' mother was even paid wages to care for her child, but she didn’t care because she was happy to be with her child.
Moses' mother saw God work all things out for good: her son was not only saved.
When Moses reached a certain age, his mother took him to the princess, and Moses became the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
Pharaoh's daughter who named the child Moses and the name Moses means "I drew him out of the water." Note how God took the evil plan of Pharaoh, twisted it, and worked it out for good.
God caused Pharaoh to give food, shelter, and clothing to the very child who was to take the lead in freeing the Israelite slaves, the very thing Pharaoh was trying to prevent.
And it was all because this mother was brilliant to listen to God and resilient in following God’s Word.
I’m reminded of a story about a young man who would come home late every night.
He was a young man who was loved the ways of the world, and he wouldn’t give into the ways of God.
But His mother had made it a rule, she said that as long as my son was out at night that she would not retire or go to bed until he came home." That was her rule, she said, "I will never to go to sleep until my son made it in the house.
If he did not come home till five o’clock in the morning, She sat up, and when he was out all night She didn’t get any sleep; but whenever he came home She always met him with a kiss.
It was said that She threw her arms around his neck. And she treated him just as if he was a kind, attentive and good child.
Sometimes he would be out all night. Those nights He knew that his mother would not go to bed.
One night he came home under the influence of liquor. And I kissed him.
The next night he came in smelling like drug, and as though he had been partying all night long.
His mother had been praying and fasting for him and one Thursday night he came home early about 8:30, and mom said son you look different tonight.
And the son said, well, Moma I was out drinking with som of my friend and his car broke down out in the country, so I started to walk home.
As I was on my way I heard the sound of music coming from this old wooden building. I thought it was a party, but the music sound a little different.
I went into the building and I heard a man talking like saying that God can save anybody. The closer I got to him the sober I felt. About time that I touched his hands I felt the presence of of God and I know that it was because of your brilliance to serve God, and your resilience not to give up on me.
He said Moma I have been converted,’ and then She fell on his neck and embraced him, and wept over him tears of joy. I can hear her saying you don’t know what joy it gave me. I cannot tell you. You don’t know what a load it took off my heart. You don’t know how I praised God that my prayers had been answered."
