Pastor Dwight A. Nelson, Libertyville Covenant Church: "Saving Moses"

"(Pharaoh's daughter) opened it and saw the baby. He was crying and she felt sorry (had compassion) for him."

Out of fear of a rapidly multiplying group of non-Egyptian immigrants in his land, Pharaoh came up with a plan to reduce their numbers, weaken their will, use their labor and keep Egypt safe for the Egyptians. He decided to enslave the Hebrews, and so he put them to work on his great building projects. But his plan failed, because for some reason this group kept growing larger and stronger. So he decided to control the Hebrew population by putting the male children to death, and he gave the order to the Hebrew midwives to carry out. But his plan failed because the midwives would not do as he as ordered them, and the Hebrew slaves continued to grow in number. The promise of God to Abraham was being fulfilled ("I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you." – Genesis 12:2).

Pharaoh then tried one more scheme to reduce the Hebrew population: Every Egyptian was ordered to throw all the Hebrew boys that were born into the Nile.

Just at that time a man named Amram and his wife Jochebed had a baby, and maybe with more apprehension than most parents have, they quickly looked to see if this baby was a boy or a girl; they hoped for a girl so she could live. But the baby was a boy, and the boy was a fine child: healthy, precious, a good gift of God. So Jochebed hid her baby from the Egyptians for three months. One translation says, "She hid him as one would hide a treasure."

When she could not hide him any longer, she came up with a plan. She built a little ark, not a boat or basket, but an ark. The same word is used of Noah, who built an ark, and also it is used for the Ark of the Covenant in which the Israelites carried the Ten Commandments. An ark is a chest, a box, and you put something valuable in an ark so it does not get lost or destroyed. So Jochebed put Moses in an ark that she had covered with pitch, just like Noah had covered his ark with pitch. She wanted to save this baby, and she carried out a plan. She placed the ark in the river, with her daughter Miriam stationed nearby to watch.

But what kind of a plan is that? What did she hope would happen to this little ark with Moses in it? It seems like a hopeless plan to me. What if an alligator found it? What if an Egyptian who was happy to obey Pharaoh found it? This plan does not seem to me like it had a chance of working.

But maybe it was not her plan. Maybe it was God's plan. When God goes about saving people, he seems to use unlikely plans. We think of another baby, one born in a manger and then hidden in Egypt to avoid a decree of death, a baby who then grew up and died on a cross and was raised on the third day. God's plans to save people seem improbable to me.

But Jochebed the mother of Moses had faith. She believed the plan, even if she could not see just how it would work out. She acted in faith and placed Moses in the ark in the river.

What happened is that another woman came along, this one the daughter of Pharaoh. She found the ark and looked into it and the baby was crying and she was moved to compassion by what she saw. She was not just sorry for the baby, she had compassion. Somehow she was given a gift of compassion for this baby, and compassion leads people to action. So because of her compassion, she disobeyed her father, the Pharaoh. She apparently was not afraid of Hebrew babies like he was. She did not feel compelled to obey the harsh laws of the Pharaoh. Instead, she ends up doing the will of God, even though she does not know God. She ends up saving the savior of Israel, Moses, their deliverer.

It is not easy to disobey the edicts of the Pharaoh. When we were in Luxembourg we visited an abbey that sits at the base of the high rock cliffs that for centuries have been the defense of the city. Most of the city sits on top of the cliffs, and tunnels were dug deep into the rock over the centuries, with cannons placed in openings to discourage invaders.

During World War Two, the Nazis took over Luxembourg, and then ordered all the men of a certain age to join the German forces. But about 3,000 refused. They were put in the abbey, which was used for a prison. Every day the prisoners would be allowed to march around the courtyard for a brief time, for exercise. People from the city would gather on the top of the cliffs and look down to see if their father or brother or husband was still alive. It is not easy to disobey the edicts of Pharaohs and kings. But when the war ended, those who had refused to serve in the German military were vindicated, and those who obeyed the commands of the Nazis had a hard time of it when they came home. It is better to obey God than to obey Pharaoh.

The daughter of Pharaoh stood against her father, and his fear and his harsh decrees. She not only saved the baby Moses, and gave him protection by handing him back to his mother, but then a few years later, she remembered and took Moses into her home, into the royal family, adopting him as her legal son.

Because of her compassionate action, Moses' life was spared, and he was given a royal Egyptian education. Jim Bruckner writes, "her action seems to have ended the decree to kill Hebrew boys. Her action was a public display against her father's genocidal policy." Somehow her actions that came from the compassion of God won the day. I wonder what the dinner conversation was like at the royal table when she brought the young boy home, and then what was it like years later when this boy grew up and one day killed an Egyptian who was mistreating a Hebrew slave. I wonder what it was like at the dinner table for her when Moses provoked the wrath of Pharaoh.

I think God gave her a heart of compassion for the baby, and compassion is more than feeling sorry, because it moves us to act, and to have courage.

So we have the faith of Moses' mother, and the compassion and courage of Pharaoh's daughter, and that preserves the life of Moses. The plan of God, the purpose and will of God, is carried out by the compassion and faith of these two women. God is actively doing something great. The plan that did not seem to have much chance to have a good ending came to a good end. If placing Moses in a little ark of papyrus seemed hopeless, then leading the Israelites out of Egypt after the Passover seems hopeless too. But the sea parted and they walked onto dry land.

When Jesus walked up the hill carrying a cross on his back, God's plan for the salvation of the world must have seemed hopeless. No one was thinking of resurrection then. But God has a way of working his will beyond the fear and evil thinking of the Pharaohs and kings of the world.

To stay in the purpose and will of God is not always easy for us. His plans tend to be open-ended. They do not come with a guarantee of success. He does not offer us the opportunity to be in control, to "drive" events and people the way we think they ought to go. Sometimes we must wait, like Moses' mother, who had only her faith and her obedience to rely on. Sometimes we must take risks, like Pharaoh's daughter, who out of compassion acted in a way that stirred the anger of her father. But her compassion came from God, and led to the saving of Moses' life and the deliverance of Israel. God works in us and in others to do his will. He works and we respond in faith. He puts compassion in our hearts, and we must act with faith and courage.

James writes, "Consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."

Are you living out the compassion of God?

Are you acting on the call he places in your life?

Are there steps you are taking by faith that cause you to be dependent upon God?

Are you willing to do God's will when you cannot control the outcome?

The opening of the story of Moses brings us face to face with two women who did God's will because they acted on their faith and compassion.

Let them be your example this week.

Amen