Jochebed

Exodus 2:3 -- "But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile."

 

Through out all of it's numerous pages, the name Jochebed is only mentioned two times in the entire Bible. But this one Hebrew woman's actions would have a huge impact on an entire race of people in her life-time and an entire world after it.

What did she do? In a move that might be considered desperate, she hid her baby boy in a papyrus basket in order to save his life. After Pharaoh had ordered that all male babies be thrown into the Nile, Jochebed did everything she could to hide her precious new-born from certain death. And when conventional means were no longer effective, she took it upon herself to put her son in the Nile - and gave him an intriguing start to what would become a life-changing role in the history of the Hebrew people.

But Jochebed's impact on the life of Moses would not end there. Once discovered by none other than the Pharaoh's own daughter, she was again his mother - but in the form of a hired wet-nurse.

Wow! So she was able to give her baby boy a solid foundation as a woman of God - AND she got paid for it! Isn't that a hoot?!

Just think about the importance of an infant's first few months/years? He or she learns to speak, develops personality .... learns the human ropes so to speak. And in this particular infant's life, he was given very Hebrew roots before being transplanted into Egyptian soil.

No doubt Moses was young when weened and handed over to a life as the grandson of a Pharaoh who had ordered his death. But just think about all the wonderful little precious seeds one can plant in the span of a year or two? How many of those amazing little God-fearing seedlings took root in the heart of Moses?

We will most likely never know all the particulars of Moses's life before his young adulthood, but it's clear to us as he grew older that he didn't see Hebrew slaves through the same eyes as did the rest of his royal family. And some of that has got to be due to an opportunity to be loved and nurtured by one humble and desperate God-fearing woman called Jochebed.

There are TWO amazing things about Jochebed that really stand out in my mind: The first is that she had to virtually give up something so precious, so dear and sweet to her as her own flesh and blood. She did not know what her baby's  future would hold once she put him in that basket to be swept along to the whimsey of the Nile currents. She did not even know if he would ever come back out of the river. But she put him there - against a screaming mother's instinct to keep him OUT of crocodile infested waters.

The second thing is that she just kind of ... fades into the background after that. We see that her effort is not only rewarded with the life of her baby being spared, but in an amazing gift from God, she's given more time with him as his mother. That's all we hear of her. And yet, there can be no doubt that her actions and love helped to shape the life of a key player in the amazing plan of God for His chosen people. Whatever we know of her is only that. When Moses leads the Hebrews out of Egypt, she doesn't come along and claim any credit for the events surrounding the Exodus. She doesn't ask for God to reward her for her bravery or selflessness. We never hear that she has any relationship with Moses AFTER giving him up - TWICE!

And in spite of her name being mentioned only two times in the whole of the Bible, there can be absolutely no denying that she played a part in something great. Something HUGE!

Can we do that? Can we give up something so big in our lives simply for the glory of God? Can we lay it, earnestly, humbly at the altar with every heart-string of which we are woven and NEVER once ask for another peek at it?

Could be -- that's EXACTLY what we are supposed to do.