Jochebed knew as long as she trusted Jehovah, she had nothing to fear. Joseph had saved the country from a famine, but eventually, he was forgotten by the Egyptian rulers, the Pharaohs. A number of miracles were performed for Jochebed in connection with the birth of Moses: she bore him at the age of one hundred and thirty, and God restored her youth and her beauty. She was so scared of losing her son that she placed him in a basket in one of the most dangerous places imaginable. He went from her arms to the arms of Pharaohs daughter. Act out Pharaoh's daughter finding Moses. [5] Jochebed is also called Amram's father's sister in the Masoretic text of Exodus 6:20, but ancient translations differ in this. And down through the ages mothers have gone to great measures that required courage to guide and protect their children. (2021, September 4). Here then, we have Moses' own parents, living in a relationship clearly condemned as abomination under the Law of Moses. When she could hide him no longer She either purchased or made a basket out of papyrus and covered it with an asphalt type material that made it watertight. Yet another tradition explains that she shiprah her actions before God (i.e., performed good deeds that were pleasing to the Lord). But among all the poor Hebrew slaves, there was one couple who did not despair. For others, a family member rebels against the Gospel plan of salvation. Lit. Amram was the Levite man who was Moses father. The child, found by the pharaoh's daughter while bathing, was reared in the Egyptian court. By Harold S. MartinA Bible Helps Booklet No. The wording she placed it among the reeds (ibid.) Jochebed placed Moses in a basket and released him in the flow of River Nile. We must put on the shield of faith and believe that God is sending the trials to prepare us for even greater blessings. Hebrews 11:23, 2:1 A man of the family of Levi married the daughter of a descendant of Levi. The second lesson is for heartbroken people who have to turn their dreams over to God. After Moses was born, Yocheved hid him at home for three months. Moses just happened to cry at the right time? Learn Religions. Numbers 26:58-59 These are the families of the Levitesand Kohath begot Amram. Miriam, the baby's sister, watched to see what would happen. She hid Moses for a period of time, but as the childs lungs developed it became impossible to hide him. About 1486, the reigning Pharaoh tried to kill Moses when he sought identity with his people Israel, but Moses escaped to Midian. She had to walk away. Meet Miriam: Moses' Sister and Prophetess During the Exodus. She appears briefly in The Prince of Egypt under the name 'Yocheved', voiced by (and resembling) Israeli vocalist Ofra Haza. It is interesting to consider that, in Leviticus 18:12, such marriages were forbidden, but this was before that injunction. Did Amram marry his aunt? And works His sovereign will. Her thoughtful nature was consistent throughout the Bible story of Moses in the basket. (NET), Hebrews 11:23 By faith, when Moses was born, his parents hid him for three months, because they saw the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the kings edict. Jochebed's name means, "Honor of God" or "God is glory". Why did she do this? And the years of the life of Amram were a hundred and thirty seven years. The Scripture says, And, behold, the babe wept (Exodus 2:6). Jochebed, his biological mother, loved her son and kept him as long as she could after he was born. However, when Amram married his aunt, this was before the Torah had been goven on Mount Sinai, soits laws didn't apply yet. So what happens when you trust God, eyewitness account: Miriam is near by, watching and.. Exodus 2:5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself by the Nile, while her attendants were walking alongside the river, and she saw the basket among the reeds. Someone is always crying. "We cannot save our little boy from the forces of death,"Moses' parents decided, "but God can.". The Jews had been in Egypt for 400 years. When he saw that Pharaoh had decreed that all the boys be cast into the Nile, he proclaimed: Are we laboring in vain? (we give birth to sons who will eventually be killed), and so he divorced his wife. When Moses was about to die, he addressed God and begged for his life. I was in shock. As she raised her children, she implanted the seeds of hope in their hearts. First of all, God began to move upon the heart of the pagan daughter of a pagan king, so that at the exact time the baby Moses lay by the rivers edge, Pharaohs daughter came to this very place to take a swim. "the written Torah." . And rides upon the storm. This portrayal emphasizes the painstaking attention that Jochebed paid to every detail in the ark. I would have wondered if he would be safe? not an ordinary child Hebrew for fine is tov(TOE v)= means good, beautiful Its the same word that used in the Creation account in Genesis 1:4(light), 10(land and sea), 18(sun, moon, stars), 25(animals), 31(mankind, looked and said=very good). Her hometown was probably Goshen, in the land of Egypt. At that same time, Pharaoh's daughter was bathing in the river. Jochebed is identified by some rabbis in the Talmud with Shiphrah, one of the midwives described by the book of Exodus as being ordered by Pharaoh to kill the new-born male children. Jack Zavada is a writer who covers the Bible, theology, and other Christianity topics. So Jochebed got her own child back, at least for a while. Hold on to things and people with open hands, like Jochebed they know when to release and. Pharaoh only decreed against the males, but you have decreed against both the males and the females [since all the Israelites withdrew from their wives, neither sons nor daughters would come into the world]. 2:12 state that he married a Levite woman. Amram married Jochebed who was also from the tribe of Levi, one of Jacobs 12 sons. Moses was a fortunate and blessed man. First, some background. The next day the Egyptian women would say that I nursed the one who speaks with the Shekhinah [the Divine Presence] (Ex. [18][21], According to Josephus Flavius the birth of Moses was an extraordinary event because Jochebed was spared the pain of child-bearing due to both her and Amram's piety. But Exodus 2:5 says that the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. The afflictions of life are like driving through a tunnel. We can only get through that kind of disappointment by turning it over to God like Jochebed put her child in his care. To save her son's, Moses' life, she made a wooden . But who is she? Moses, the great law-giver, was born within what would soon be seen as an unlawful union. It was Jochebed's love and devotion to Moses that preserved his life and allowed him to lead the greatest salvation event in Old Testament history. Would he forget our family? God saw to it that the baby should weep at this very moment. According to Jewish legend, Jochebed is buried in the Tomb of the Matriarchs, in Tiberias. Pharaoh decreed only for this world, but you decreed both for this world and the next [a baby that was born and died as a result of Pharaohs decree would merit the World to Come, but an unborn child would not attain this]. Their heartbreak at giving up their baby is balanced by God's favor when they obey his command not to kill the unborn. The question of Jochebeds kinship to Amram arises from the statement in Ex. Whats the Definition of faith? "teaching," "study," or "learning." It was by faith that he was hidden, not by fear! Instead of letting him be murdered, she took a basket and coated the bottom with tar, to make it waterproof. Ex. The Rabbis say that when the daughter of Pharaoh asked of Jochebed: Take [helikhi] this child and nurse it for me (Ex. During the few years, Jochebed was permitted to nurse her son, she would have had a profound influence upon him. Two lessons emerge from her story. The prophecy of 400 years of bondage (Gen 15:13) was coming to a close. Go then, earthly fame and treasure, One of the explanations of this discrepancy is that Jochebed completed the number seventy; she was not included in the list because she was still in her mothers womb (Gen. Rabbah 94:9). Rabbah 1:25). The restoration of maidenhood also included the resumption of her fertility. Lesson two study group Questions (Click Here). (Isaiah 18:2 writes that the Egyptians made their boats, skiffs out of this material. Another midrash has Jochebed building a little canopy for Moses inside the ark, for she said to herself: Perhaps I will not see him under his wedding canopy (BT Sotah 12ab). Jochebed lived in a critical time. Ed, Issue 46, Winter 2023, Women of Influence Surrounding the Life of Moses. ), wife of Amram and mother of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam (Num. We learn that secret by reading Hebrews 11:23, which says, By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw that he was a proper child, and they were not afraid of the kings commandment. Moses was hid in his home for three months, and then in the reeds by the river, not because Jochebed could not bear to see her child perish, or because she loved him too much to cast him into the river. The time of darkness is planned by our Heavenly Father to bring praise and glory to Him in the great day when Jesus returns. Pharaohs daughter, although a heathen princess, had a womans (a mothers) instinct, and one thing that touches a womans heart is a crying baby. She and her husband, Amram lived around 1571BC to 1613BC or 2,433 years after Creation. God always honors such faith as theirs. And so, when we have done all we can do, we must calmly trust in the Lordeven though to us there seems to be no way out. In the midrashic account, the daughter of Pharaoh saw that Moses was hungry when she drew him from the river. Exodus 1:10-14 describes the hardships placed upon the Hebrew people. T. Moses died. We dont know but we hope that she too was alive to see the Exodus. I wonder. Yes, Miriam is watching from a distant place on the shore, but she, his mother had to let him go. We are to walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Thus it was easy for Amram and Jochebed to add up the years of Israels stay in Egypt, and see that the time of deliverance which God had promised had almost come. 31 December 1999. A little boy spent many hours making a small boat and then he took it to the lake. The name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and to Amram she bore Aaron and Moses, and their sister Miriam. Would he be treated differently because he was Hebrew? But this couple worshipped Jehovah God. Life comes with the pain of losses, of giving up and letting go and we are rarely ready to let go. (The length of Amrams life was 137 years.) She was probably about the same age as Amram or maybe even younger. According to another interpretation, Jochebed named her son Tov or Tobiah, which was what his parents called him until Pharaohs daughter renamed him Moses (BT Sotah 12a). Loved her son that she shiprah her actions before God ( i.e. performed! 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