Exodus 1:8-2:10
Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, ‘Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.’ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labour. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labour. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.
The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ‘When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.’ But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, ‘Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?’ The midwives said to Pharaoh, ‘Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.’ So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, ‘Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.’
Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him for three months. 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. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.
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. 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. 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?’ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Yes.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 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. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, ‘because’, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’
Reflection
There seem to be so many messages in this passage. First I noticed that the more faithful the Hebrews were to God the more that God stood by them even in the tough times. A bit of a stubborn attitude seems to go a long way here, even if it is in a negative direction at times.
God has blessed the Hebrews, just as he had promised Abraham. The people were strong and multiplied. The Hebrews multiplied to the point that the Egyptians began to fear their numbers. The Egyptians feared that the Hebrews would side with the Egyptian enemies at some point. So, in answer to this problem, the Egyptians enslaved the Hebrews and made the world of the Hebrews hard and laborious.
Even this action did not squelch the fears of the Egyptians. So next the Egyptians decided to control the male Hebrew population by killing all the males at birth. The passage really doesn't tell us if this worked but it suggests that it didn't by telling the story of how Moses was saved from death. Before we move to the story of Moses salvation in the waters, I would like to suggest that one thing we can draw from the enslavement of the Hebrews was their faithfulness to God and God's faithfulness to the Hebrews, even in the midst of persecution formed a tight relationship between God and his people.
This faithfulness reminds me of the Iraq Christians who have held to their faith even in the midst of severe persecution. In the United States and most of the West, Christians are not tested like this for their faith as Christians. Maybe we are made fun of from time to time but we are not threatened by death for our beliefs. As the Hebrew baby boys were threatened by death for their faith in God, so too are the Iraq Christians and the Egyptian Coptic Christians threatened by death for their faith. I think it's important that we stand not only with Christians but with all people that are threatened by death and persecution for their beliefs. God did not create humans to fight and kill one another. This we must oppose on all levels. Yet we can rest assured that in this rally for life in the face of death, God will walk with us just as God has always walked with the weak and the persecuted and the ill and the poor and the homeless and those in any kind of need.
Now think of Moses. Even how Moses was selected by his own people to be set aside for salvation. And salvation came through the midst of the waters. Moses mother saw that he was a fine baby and set him aside for three months. Then he was hidden in a vessel that could stay in the reeds of the water.
How has God set you aside for life? How has God saved the people through the floods of the days of Noah? How has God gifted each of us with past, present and future lives walking in the presence of a saving and gracious God? How has God come to each of us through the Savior Jesus to grant eternal life with God in a relationship of love and life? Oh, how God loves us so much to be with us in and through the waters of our baptism that we may walk in new life with God eternally.
Yes, just as Moses was drawn out of the water by Pharaoh's daughter; we too are drawn out of the water and gifted with an eternal relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are each and every one called and gifted and sent into this world in which God has set us to proclaim the Gospel and the love of God in Christ Jesus. We are sent into all situations, good or bad, happy or sad. Yes we are sent with the power of God by our side to proclaim life in the face of death. We are sent to proclaim salvation in the face of the cross. We are sent to tell all the world of the resurrection life of God in Jesus that all people may know that they are loved by a gracious God who comes to save. That's our God!
So the question becomes... whose are you? God sees you as a wonderful child and has selected you to be God's own. God brings you through the death of the waters and pulls you up to eternal life with God. God gives you blessings even in the midst of painful situations and leads you in joy and hope to be with God, forgiven through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and in the company of the Holy Spirit to live eternally with God. You belong to God because God loves you.
Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuJWQzjfU3o
Prayer
Lord of the past, present and future; may I always look to you as my Father, my Savior, my Guide in life's situations. As you have drawn me out of the water; lead me to do your will in the way you would have me do it with the people that you give to me in this life... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen
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