Exodus 2:5, commentary and pictures

Pharaoh's daughter came down to wash at the river with her maidens walking beside her, saw the little ark among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it to her. Her steps were directed by angels to where the infant lay, and when she opened the vessel and saw the weeping child her compassion was awakened to save him and take him as her own son. By this discovery God preserved Moses' life and overruled Pharaoh's decree of death for the Hebrew male children, bringing Moses into Pharaoh's household and royal family with the standing and education that would equip him to lead Israel out of Egypt. The anxious mother had placed him in the ark to save him while Miriam watched beside the Nile with self-control and tact, and the Lord guided Miriam to gain permission to bring his own mother to nurse him without fear. Yet his whole future life and great mission were decided not in the palace but by his mother in his very early years, as in their lowly home she taught him love and loyalty to God, impressed the divine image upon his soul and planted principles that remained firm amid later influences.

The Rescue at the River

Pharaoh's daughter came down to the river to wash herself while her maidens walked along by the riverside, and when she saw the ark or basket or little vessel among the reeds or flags or river plants she sent her maid to fetch it and bring it to her. Angels directed her steps to the place where the infant Moses lay. When she opened the vessel and saw the child weeping, compassion was awakened in her, she recognized that a Hebrew mother had tried to save him, and she decided to save him and adopt him as her son. This encounter led to Moses being found and taken into Pharaoh's household and placed in the royal family, where he would soon pass beyond his mother's care into the guardianship of people who did not know God.

God thus used the discovery to preserve Moses' life and to overrule Pharaoh's decree that all the male children of the Hebrews should suffer cruel death, giving Moses an education and standing that equipped him to lead Israel out of Egypt. The anxious mother had placed the baby in the little ark of bulrushes to save him, and Miriam as a child watched beside the Nile over the basket hiding him, displaying force of character, self-control and tact that God made instrumental in preserving Moses the deliverer. The heavenly host watched with interest as Pharaoh's daughter discovered him, and the Lord God guided in all these transactions, including Miriam receiving permission to find a nurse and bringing the child's own mother to care for him without fear. The history was placed on record as part of God's guided care for minute details of life, by the same divine Instructor who gave the prophecies of Revelation and the history of Christ's life, condemnation and crucifixion, to show that all actions are seen by God and by the heavenly angels.

Mother's Formative Early Training

This moment at the river belongs to the account of Jochebed, Moses' mother, whose faith made her unafraid of the king's command, and her son became Israel's deliverer. Although he was placed where he could have been trained as heir to the throne of an earthly empire, his whole future life and great mission as leader of Israel was decided by his mother, one Hebrew woman, an exile and a slave, through her work in his very early years. That early history shows the great power a mother has to shape her child's character in the earliest years, when her influence is greater than others' and even an infant can absorb her spirit and copy her conduct, proving that the mother holds to a very great extent the destiny of her children in her hands.

In the lowly cabin home in Goshen, home and school were one and his father and mother themselves taught him in love, joining thoughts of God to every event of daily life, telling with eloquence and reverence the mighty works of God in delivering His people, and pressing on his young mind the great truths of God's providence and the future life. His mother knew he would soon pass beyond her care into the guardianship of people who did not know God, and she used the time she had with him to teach him love and loyalty to God. Lessons were illustrated by figures and symbols to fix them in memory, initiating him almost from infancy into the mysteries, wisdom and hopes of his fathers, and guiding him to think and feel and look beyond things seen and passing to things unseen and eternal.

That instruction and training formed his character, impressed the image of the divine upon his soul, and planted principles that remained firm despite the influences he later faced. It prepared his heart like good ground for the precious seed and trained his mind to see God in the words of revelation and the scenes of nature, in stars, trees, flowers, mountains and brooks, and to answer the voices of the prophets. From this education Moses came forth vigorous in body and mind, quick to perceive and strong to act. It was the same Hebrew home training given to Samuel by the faithful Hannah, to David in the hill-dwelling at Bethlehem, to Daniel before captivity separated him from the home of his fathers, to Christ in the humble home at Nazareth, and to Timothy from the lips of his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois in the truths of Holy Writ.

In dealing with developing minds and characters she deals not for time alone but for eternity, sowing seed that will spring up and bear fruit for good or for evil. Her moments are priceless, and their work will be tested in the solemn day of accounts, when failures and crimes will be traced to neglect and lives that blessed the world with genius and truth and holiness will be traced to a praying Christian mother. Children are entrusted to be trained not for earthly honor but as kings unto God to reign through unending ages.