Courageous women come fast and furious in the first chapters of Exodus. First, Shiphrah and Puah defy the king’s order to kill baby boys. When this attempt to reduce the Hebrew population fails, the king gives all Egyptians authority to throw them into the Nile river. Then, a brave mother saves her son despite the edict.

²² Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.” ¹ Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, ² and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.

Ex 1:22–2:2

While the Levite woman man and woman are not named in this narrative, we do learn they are called Amram and Jochebed in later chapters (Ex 6:19–21; Num 26:58–59) and they had three children in total.

Jochebed (which means “the Lord is glory”) saw that her son was fine. Other translations say he was beautiful (also Acts 7:20). The word used to describe him—tob—means “good, pleasant, agreeable.”¹ God uses this same word in Genesis to describe his creation:

And God saw that it was good (tob). 

Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31

This word also characterizes Rachel (Gen 24:15-16), Rebekah (Gen 26:7), Saul (1 Sam 9:2), David (1 Sam 16:12), Abigail (1 Sam 25:3) Bathsheba (2 Sam 11:2), and Esther (Est 2:7) who are called beautiful or handsome. Jochebed’s baby was apparently extremely good looking.

I have so many questions about absent details in this story!

Since all mothers think their baby is beautiful what was special about this one? Does it follow that if he had been a homely, ordinary-looking baby, that Jochebed wouldn’t want to save him? Maybe she was simply motivated by pure maternal love and stubbornness.

I suggest that God’s spirit prompted Jochebed to defy the law and save her child. God had a plan for him—later named Moses—to become the deliverer of his people (Ex 3:10) and he chose to use his mother (and some others) to ensure his safety.

What amazes me is that she HID HER SON THREE MONTHS!

I just witnessed the first three months of my granddaughter’s life. It included hours of crying, sleepless nights, endless laundry, constant feeding, holding, rocking—a full time job. And the first 8 weeks especially were rough. 

Consider that Jochebed and her husband had no bottles, disposable diapers, formula, baby monitors, electronic swings, white noise machines, or breast pumps. What if she had difficulty producing enough milk? Or the baby had colic? How did they do it?

Weren’t they also supposed to labor in the fields or make bricks all day? Where did they get the strength? And how did no one get wind of a baby next door? Why didn’t anyone report it? Today neighbors might be unaware of a newborn across the fence but not then. Perhaps the baby was naturally quiet and contented. But infants can detect the stress of their parents. How could Jochebed not be anxious?

The whole family, dad Amram, sister Miriam, and brother Aaron must have assisted. Extra hands may also have been needed such as a wet nurse. But then the word would have gotten out. They would be complicit. And why help Jochebed save her baby when surely other moms wished to save theirs as well?

I have to believe there was divine intervention keeping the eyes of the oppressors away and giving supernatural strength to endure. But as difficult as it was to hide a newborn, it could only get harder with a cooing, babbling, laughing, and rolling baby.

But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

Exodus 2:3

How could she do that? What about crocodiles? Or the carcasses of other dead things? Did she know that the king’s daughter bathed in that spot? Was that her plan? Or did she simply release her son trusting that God would do something?

Any mother or aunt or even a babysitter knows that this was incredibly hard to do. This is the act of a desperate mother who’s willing to put her own desires aside to provide the best chance of life for her child.

Ironically, Jochebed actually obeyed the king in this instance by putting him in the Nile, except that she first placed him in an ark—a “tebah.” Yes, you read that correctly. Her little basket is the same word used to describe the ark that Noah built to save the animals during the worldwide flood.

So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.

Genesis 6:14

According to the Strong’s Lexicon, “In both instances, ‘tebah’ signifies a means of divine preservation and deliverance.”² As God saved Noah, his family, and two of all the animals from the flood waters in an ark, God saved this baby out of the river waters.

Jochebed would not have been able to keep her baby alive without the assistance of her daughter, Miriam, and the king’s daughter (we’ll explore them next). After letting him go, her child was returned to her to continue nursing him publicly and without fear until he was weaned (Ex 2:4–10). And she even got paid to do so!

But she also knew her time with him was limited. She had to let him go again to live in the palace. To let another name her child. Did she ever see him at a distance in chariots? Did Moses remember her? The author of Hebrews answers some of my questions. Jochebed acted by faith (Heb 11:23).

I offer several applications to Jochebed’s story:

• God has delivered us through the ark of Jesus into the safety of his family and eternal life (Rom 7:25).
• When God has a plan for us or someone close to us, he will enable us (with courage) to carry it out (Acts 4:13).
• It takes selflessness and faith to let someone go so that they might flourish and fulfill God’s plan for them. (Jn 1:35–37)
• We can trust God with our loved ones believing he will take care of them and bring them to safety (Is 54:13).
• God uses us to rescue those who are helpless and have not rights (Pr 31:8–9).
• Even small acts of righteousness can stem the tide of evil (3 Jn 1:11).
• God uses the lowly to bring down the mighty. (Luke 1:52)

Which application do you relate to? How can you imitate Jochebed?

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1. https://biblehub.com/hebrew/2896.htm ↩︎
2. https://biblehub.com/hebrew/8392.htm ↩︎