Miraculous Deliverance

 Exodus 2

            There are a number of points that bear reflection in the story of Moses’ birth and exile. First, two points of Hebrew vocabulary. NIV translates that Moses was “a fine child.” Literally, though, his mother “saw that he was good.” That’s as clear a callback to Genesis 1 as we’re likely to find. Not that Moses is somehow perfect, but certainly that the Lord is beginning something new with Israel, that the story is about to take a huge step forward, and that Moses will be the “Adam” in that story. Also, the word for “basket” in Hebrew is the same word that is used for the ark in Noah’s flood. It’s used only those two places in the Old Testament. As Noah and his family were saved from the raging waters in a “box”—not a ship which sailors have control over but an ark, a box, which depends on God’s guidance, so Moses is delivered from Pharaoh’s wickedness in the same way. God directs this basket, this box, for Moses’ salvation.

            The second thing to note is the irony: Moses is saved from Pharaoh’s command by Pharaoh’s daughter, who engages Moses’ mother to raise him, and all of this right under Pharaoh’s nose in his own household. Acts 7:22 tells us, “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” preparing him well for his role as the nation of Israel’s founding father. As one commentator put it, Moses was “the redeemer of Israel, architect of its religion, consummate political leader, lawgiver, and archetypal prophet”—all thanks to Pharaoh! At the same time, we read that Moses went out to “his own people.” He never lost his sense of identity as an Israelite because he was raised by his own mother in childhood.

            Third, Moses tried to act as Israel’s redeemer on his own terms and ended up exiled for it. Tomorrow we’ll read about his reluctance to become Israel’s redeemer on the Lord’s terms. How often have we seen that already? Humans wanting to do things there own way and in their own time only to be shown how important it is to wait on the Lord? It’s the kind of lesson we contemporary Christians could stand to learn when we expect the Lord to act in our time instead of trusting Him to work things out in His time.