She saw the basket among the reeds and . . . she opened it and saw the baby. Exodus 2:5–6
It had been an awful week for Kevin and Kimberley. Kevin’s seizures had suddenly worsened, and he’d been hospitalized. Amid the pandemic, their four young children—siblings adopted from foster care—were taking cabin fever to a new extreme. On top of that, Kimberley couldn’t scrounge up a decent meal from the fridge. Oddly, at that moment, she craved carrots.
An hour later, there was a knock at the door. There stood their friends Amanda and Andy with an entire meal she’d prepared for the family. Including carrots.
They say the devil is in the details? No. An amazing story in the history of the Jewish people shows God is in the details. Pharaoh had commanded, “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile” (Exodus 1:22). That genocidal development turned on a remarkable detail. Moses’ mother did indeed “throw” her baby into the Nile, albeit with a strategy. And from the Nile, Pharaoh’s own daughter would rescue the baby whom God used to rescue His people. She would even pay Moses’ mother to nurse him! (2:9).
One day from this fledgling Jewish nation would come a promised baby boy. His story would abound with amazing details and divine ironies. Most importantly, Jesus would provide an exodus out of our slavery to sin.
Even—especially—in the dark times, God is in the details. As Kimberley will tell you, “God brought me carrots!”
The Birth of Moses
2 1 Now a man of the tribe of Levic married a Levite woman,d 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a finee child, she hid him for three months.f 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrusg basketa for him and coated it with tar and pitch.h Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reedsi along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sisterj stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank.k She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.
7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”
8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She namedl him Moses,b saying, “I drewm him out of the water.”
INSIGHT
- What stories can you tell where you’ve seen God in the details?
- How did that help strengthen your faith?
Names are important in the Bible, and Moses’ name is no exception. When Pharaoh’s daughter named him, it honored both his Hebrew origin and his soon-to-be Egyptian upbringing. In Egyptian, Moses may relate to the word for “son.” Yet Moses also sounds like the Hebrew word translated “to draw out,” which the author of Exodus connected to Moses coming out of the water (Exodus 2:10). Even more intriguing, however, is that Moses’ name doesn’t mean “drawn out,” but “the one who draws out.” The name Pharaoh’s daughter gave the little infant looked forward to the redemptive work God would accomplish through him when he was fully grown.
PRAYER
Thank You, Father, that You show up in the little things as well as the big things. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen!!
Read: Exodus 2:1-10 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Isaiah 59-61; 2 Thessalonians 3
