Exodus 2:10
And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.
The verse records that after being drawn from the water the child grew for a time under his mother's care and was then brought to Pharaoh's daughter, becoming her adopted son and a grandson of the king in the royal household. His Hebrew mother, strong in faith, had placed him as a babe in an ark of bulrushes to save him from the decree of death, and after his discovery at the river she was paid to nurse her own child without fear until he was about twelve years old. The decree against the Hebrew boys was thus overruled to place him in Pharaoh's family, showing the Lord guiding even minute details of life while all human actions are seen by Him and the heavenly angels. There he received a most thorough palace education to make him wise as the Egyptians understood wisdom and fit in many ways for leading Israel out, yet it did not qualify him for God's appointed work, which required further fitting in adversity as a shepherd in Midian where Christ taught him humility, faith, and unwavering trust. Those short early years under his mother laid the foundation of his greatness and kept him faithful under the court's corrupting influence, for she trained him not for an earthly throne but for loyalty to God, and those implanted principles were never renounced.
Transfer to Pharaoh's Household
The child grew under his mother's nursing and care and was then brought to Pharaoh's daughter, becoming her adopted son in the royal family. As her son he was raised as the king's grandson.
The rescue that led to this adoption came after his anxious Hebrew mother sought to save him as a babe from Pharaoh's cruel decree of death for all the male children of the Hebrews by placing him in a little ark of bulrushes. Miriam watched nearby while the heavenly host watched with interest, Pharaoh's daughter came to the river and discovered the babe, and Miriam obtained permission to find a nurse. She brought the child's own mother, and her decision to adopt him after he was rescued from the water placed him in the royal family.
That nurse was his own mother Jochebed, a Hebrew exile and slave, strong in faith and unafraid of the king's command. She was paid to bring up her own child and could care for him without fear until he grew. She kept him until he was about twelve years old, when he left her care.
The verse thus marks his passage at about twelve from his Hebrew kindred and lowly cabin home in Goshen to Pharaoh's household and the guardianship of people who did not know God. There as heir to an earthly empire he received the education and advantages of the royal family. Pharaoh intended him to become a leader of Egypt's armies and possibly to inherit the throne.
Providence and Palace Training
Pharaoh's cruel decree of death for all the male children of the Hebrews was overruled to place Moses in Pharaoh's own family, where he could receive the education and training that prepared him to lead Israel out of Egypt. The anxious Hebrew mother sought to save her babe by placing him in a little ark of bulrushes while Miriam watched, while the heavenly host watched with interest, until Pharaoh's daughter came to the river and discovered him, and Miriam received permission to find a nurse and brought the child's own mother, who could then care for him without fear until he grew and was brought to Pharaoh's daughter to become her son. The Lord God guided in all these transactions, in the minute details of life as much as in the greatest affairs, by the same divine Instructor who guided the prophetic records of Revelation and the history of Christ's life, condemnation, and crucifixion. The history was placed on record to show that all human actions are seen by Him and by the heavenly angels.
In that royal place as the king's grandson he received a very thorough palace education in which nothing was neglected that could make him a wise man as the Egyptians understood wisdom. He had the greatest advantages of the best schools in the land, was learned in all things necessary for a general of armies to know, gained superior abilities, and was taught to expect praise and flattery because of them. That palace education helped him in many respects for his life-work of leading Israel out of Egypt, but it did not fit or qualify him to do God's appointed work of delivering them from cruel bondage. Pharaoh intended him to become a leader of Egypt's armies and possibly to inherit the throne, yet those advantages only prepared him in part.
He was not yet ready for the work God had for him, but needed further experience in adversity and poverty. The most valuable part of his fitting came later while employed as a shepherd, when as he led his flocks through mountain wilds and valley pastures the God of nature taught him the highest and grandest wisdom. In the school of nature with Christ Himself for teacher he learned humility, meekness, faith, trust, gentleness, goodness, longsuffering, and humble living that bound his soul closer to God, and in the solitude of the mountains he learned simple, unwavering faith and constant trust in the Lord that all his instruction in the king's palace was unable to impart or give him. Though offered royal honor and pressured to adopt Egyptian worship amid the court's corrupting influence, he remained faithful to God and did not hide that he was Hebrew, and even the prospect of a crown could not draw him from loyalty to God.
Mother's Formative Influence
Before the transfer Moses spent his first years in the lowly cabin home in Goshen under the Hebrew system where home and school were one, with instruction not from stranger lips but from loving parental hearts, chiefly his mother. She kept him until he was about twelve, being even paid to nurse and bring up her own child, and she used that time to associate thoughts of God with all daily events and to recount with eloquence and reverence God's mighty works and dealings in delivering His people. She faithfully taught him love and loyalty to God, faith, truth and justice, God's requirements, His providence and the future life, and the true, the good, and the beautiful. Those lessons were illustrated by figures and symbols to fix them in memory and to guide thinking, feeling and anticipating beyond things seen and transitory to the unseen and eternal.
She dealt patiently and perseveringly with his developing mind and character, sowing seed for good that would bear fruit for eternity and impressing the image of the divine upon his very young soul. That training made him vigorous in body and mind, quick to perceive and strong to act, with a heart prepared like good ground for the growth of the precious seed. His mind was trained to see God in revelation and nature, so that the stars, trees, flowers, mountains and brooks spoke to him and the voices of the prophets heard throughout the land met a response in his heart.
Those only twelve short early years with his Hebrew kindred laid the foundation of his greatness through the influence of one little known to fame, and that short early training shaped his whole future life and the great mission he fulfilled as Israel's deliverer and leader. The principles of truth implanted then were not later renounced but remained with him all through life. They kept him from corruption when he later faced great temptation amid the court's corrupting influence, for though offered royal honor and pressured to adopt Egyptian worship he remained faithful to God and did not hide that he was Hebrew, and even the prospect of a crown could not draw him from loyalty to God. She trained him not for an earthly throne as heir to an earthly empire, but to be a Christian and a king unto God to reign through unending ages.
His history therefore illustrates a mother's power to mold a child's character when her influence is paramount, for his mother held his destiny in her hands. Jochebed protected and cared for him, strong in faith and unafraid of the king's command, and he became Israel's deliverer, showing a mother's responsibility and influence in shaping her child. No other work equals the work of the Christian mother, and a mother's moments are priceless because her work decides between failure and crime and a life that blesses the world with truth and holiness.