"God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." (1 Corinthians 1:27)
Never, except in the case of the Babe of Bethlehem, of whom he was a type, has this been more fully exemplified than in the case of Moses. The outcast child of a slave father and mother, is the one chosen of God to make the haughty monarch tremble on his throne, and to be known in all ages, over all the earth, as one of the mightiest leaders of men.
Moses was born and at a most critical time for Israel. Heavy burdens and cruel bondage had only resulted in making them more hardy and fruitful, and the decree had gone forth that all the male children that were born should be cast into the river. This was more than a threat; it was actually done; for Stephen said of Pharaoh the oppressor: "The same dealt subtly with our kindred, and evil intreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end that they might not live. In which time Moses was born." (Acts 7:19-20)
How many young children perished, we have no means of knowing; but we can see how similar the circumstances attending the birth of Moses were to those at the time when Christ was born. At both times an effort was made to destroy all the male infants. "By faith Moses, when he was born, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment." (Hebrews 11:23)
They were not afraid of the king's commandment, but they took every precaution to save the life of their child. Indeed, their very efforts showed their lack of fear; for it is very evident that the decree to destroy all the male children was accompanied by a severe penalty to be visited upon all who disregarded it. But the parents of Moses would not destroy their child, no matter how arbitrary the king's commandment. "Because they saw that he was a proper child." (Hebrews 11:23)
When his mother "saw him, that he was a good the child, she hid him three months." (Exodus 2:2)
Stephen says that: "Moses was ... exceeding fair;" (Acts 7:20) literally, "fair to God." The expression just quoted from Exodus, that his mother saw that he was a goodly child, is identical with that which occurs so frequently in the 1st chapter of Genesis: (Genesis 1, also vs. 12, 18, 21, 25) "God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:10)
The Swedish of (Acts 7:20) has it that: "He was pleasing to God."
From all this it is evident that Moses had a good birthright inheritance, and that these were plain indications that God had designed him for a special work. Since the Lord has given "to every man his work," (Mark 13:34) ought not the same to be true in the case of every child? "And when he was cast out Pharaoh's daughter took him up." (Acts 7:21)
In this there was a fulfillment of the words: "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." (Psalm 27:11)
It was not accidental that Pharaoh's daughter came down to the river that day, nor that her heart was moved with compassion when she saw the little baby in the basket. That was God's way of taking up the child. Here, as in the case of Joseph, the thing that seemed the end of hope was the means used by God to fit His servant for the work He had for him to do. By being brought into the household of Pharaoh, Moses gained an experience that stood him in good stead in his afterlife.
But, after all, the secret of his success in life, and of his steadfastness in the path of duty, lay in the few years that he spent with his mother, who was hired to nurse him. How marvelously God wrought in answer to the faith of the parents of Moses. They would not tamely submit to the king's wicked commandment, and instead of suffering for their faith it was so ordered that the mother could have her child openly, and be paid good wages for the service that she so gladly rendered. It was because "they were not afraid of the king's commandment." (Hebrews 11:23)
Fearlessness delivers one from many threatened dangers. Fear invites attack, and it is the fearful soul that is lost. Confidence in God will not only give one victory over trial, but will often save one from difficulties that overwhelm the fearful. So because Amram and his mother were fearless souls on account of their faith in God, they had their son with them during the most important years of his life.
A Roman Catholic priest is reported to have said that if he could have the training of a child till it was six years old, he did not care who had him afterwards; he was sure that the impressions made on it at that period of life would never be erased, and that it would be a Catholic. The mother of Moses evidently appreciated her opportunity and did her work so well, teaching her infant son the principles of the Gospel and promises of God so thoroughly that: "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt." (Hebrews 11:24-26)
Would Jochebed have been so earnest and faithful in teaching Moses, and have improved time so well, to sharpen his mind with the Divine precepts, if she could have had him with her as mothers ordinarily have their children? It is hardly probable. There is no doubt but that the knowledge of how brief her time with him would be, of the influences which he was soon to meet, quickened and increased her diligence.
But this case is left on record for an example and a warning. It is a warning: for no mother knows how soon her child may be torn from her arms, and be thrust into conditions exactly opposite from those that she has provided. The death of a mother leaves many a child subject to influences as unlike those of its home as it is possible to conceive. And the case is an example, in that it shows how much a mother may accomplish in a few short years.
Oh, that all parents would see and appreciate what far-reaching consequences depend on how they train or neglect their children even in earliest infancy, and what a mighty power God has placed in their hands.--Present Truth, November 7, 1901--International Sunday-school Lesson for November 17--Exodus 2:1-10.
E.J. Waggoner