Exodus 2:1-11: A man from the Levi tribe married a woman from the same tribe, and she later had a baby boy. He was a beautiful child, and she kept him inside for three months. But when she could no longer keep him hidden, she made a basket out of reeds and covered it with tar. She put him in the basket and placed it in the tall grass along the edge of the Nile River. The baby’s older sister stood off at a distance to see what would happen to him. About that time one of the king’s daughters came down to take a bath in the river, while her servant women walked along the riverbank. She saw the basket in the tall grass and sent one of the young women to pull it out of the water. When the king’s daughter opened the basket, she saw the baby and felt sorry for him because he was crying. She said, “This must be one of the Hebrew babies.” At once the baby’s older sister came up and asked, “Do you want me to get a Hebrew woman to take care of the baby for you?” “Yes,” the king’s daughter answered. So the girl brought the baby’s mother, and the king’s daughter told her, “Take care of this child, and I will pay you.” The baby’s mother carried him home and took care of him. And when he was old enough, she took him to the king’s daughter, who adopted him. She named him Moses because she said, “I pulled him out of the water.” After Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were hard at work, and he saw an Egyptian beating one of them.
In Australia, Mother’s Day date changes every year. Mother’s Day is always the second Sunday in May, so the date will change every year. Mother’s Day has evolved into big business for retailers. If you hate all the commercialisation behind the day that celebrates mothers around the world, imagine how Anna Jarvis – the woman behind the holiday – would feel now. She worked so hard to get the world to give mums everywhere a shoutout. But before her death, even she had to admit she had some regrets about starting Mother’s Day.
Mother’s Day was first celebrated in Australia in 1910, according to the National Library of Australia. “Australia celebrated ‘Mother’s Day’ yesterday for the first time,” reads an excerpt from The Leader and Orange Stock and Station News in 1910. “At special services held in Sydney, white carnations were worn,” it continued. Mother’s Day in Australia is not an official public holiday. Why is it Mother’s Day and not Mothers’ Day? There is a reason ‘mother’ is singular. Anna Jarvis was very intentional about the name of her holiday. It’s Mother’s Day – as in one mother.
BEFORE we look further at our Bible text, I want to tell you little story. It starts out one afternoon when a man came home from work. As he drove up and parked his truck in the driveway he noticed his three kids, ages 6, 4, and 3 were all outside playing in the mud and there were a couple of empty cereal boxes and lolly wrappers strewn all over the yard. The front door to the house was open and so were the doors to his wife’s car. Walking into the house the man found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over; the TV was blaring out some cartoon show. A pile of sugar was in his recliner and the family dog was foaming at the mouth, running around in circles (obviously it had been licking the sugar). There were dirty clothes scattered all over the living room and his kids’ toys were as well. In the kitchen dishes filled the sink and a broken jug that had once contained cordial was all over the floor. The refrigerator door was wide open, and it looked like the dog had also probably dragged out several items including at least a dozen eggs. The man was really getting worried now. Had something happened to his wife? He quickly ran up the stairs, stepping over more toys and piles of clothes, and opened the bedroom door. There he saw his wife, curled up in bed, still in her pyjamas, reading her favourite book. She looked up and smiled at him and asked him how his day was. He looked at her totally confused and said, “What has happened here today?” She smiled again and answered, “Well, you know how every day when you come home from work and ask me what in the world I did all day? Well today I didn’t do it.”
Mothers have one of the most important roles in all of the earth. George Washington, first president of the United States, said about his mother, “All I am, I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in this life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.” President Abraham Lincoln said “I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” President William McKinley said, “By the blessings of heaven I mean to live, die and in all things please God, in the faith of my mother.” The great preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said, “I cannot begin to tell how much I owe to the solemn word of my good mother. All the books of the world could not contain her godly influence upon me.” And John Calvin said this, “The noblest calling in the world is that of mother. She who rears a family of God-fearing sons and daughters whose immortal souls will be exerting influence throughout the ages… long after paintings have faded and books have worn thin, deserves the highest honour that men can give.”
Over the last decade or so we’ve heard all the calls for men to return to being fathers to their children. But the need for mothers to be mothers is just as great. I’ve read the Bible many times and I can tell you that there’s nothing more important to the future of the Church, and there’s nothing more important to the future of this country than Godly parents doing what God has called them to do. And in our text here, I think we see a model of motherhood. Let me give you the background and set up the story.
The people of Israel were enslaved to Pharaoh
The people of Israel have been in Egypt for a long time, and they began to multiply and grow in number, and as they did that, the Pharaoh began to get a little nervous. He was afraid that they would become too powerful. And so, he enslaved them. He put them into slavery, but they were still having babies and growing in number, so he produced an idea. He gave an order that ever boy that was born to the Hebrews was to be thrown into the Nile River. And so, when Moses was born, his mother hid him away for three months. That’s verse two from our text, and it’s interesting because it doesn’t say anything about Moses’ day doing this. This was his mum. I don’t know why Moses’ dad wasn’t involved in any of this, but there’s no mention of him. And then in verse three, when she could hide him no longer, she made a little basket and floated him down the river. And people say, “Why in the world would she do such a thing.” And you’ve got to realise that she’s Hebrew, she’s been taught from the day she was born about how God saved Noah in an ark. So what does she do? She builds an ark, and trusts God to save her son.
Moses in the basket, found by Pharaoh’s daughter
Now it’s also interesting to me that we don’t even know Moses’ mother’s name until we get to Exodus chapter 6. Her name was Jochobed, and she’s only mentioned by name twice in the entire Bible. And this is God’s way of saying to us that motherhood isn’t some high-profile occupation where your face is always plastered on TV and your day is filled with signing autographs. You don’t get your own line of Nike shoes named after you. But don’t let that cause you to think it’s not a key role. Society has a way of exalting the non-important and diminishing the most important. Think about it, What’s more important to our society: Teachers or movie stars? Teachers right! Out of those two, who gets paid the most? Who’s always asked their opinion on things? Who’s more important, the soldier or the professional athlete? But who makes the money? Who do we always see on the news or being made much of? Don’t let your lack of celebrity status ever lead you to believe that mothers aren’t important. Nothing in this world today is more important than the role of shaping the next generation. And mothers have more impact on that than anyone!
And notice something else here… Jochobed builds an ark for her son, puts him in, and she trusts God. Mums, sometimes things are going to come, and you’ve got to just trust God. Things are going to come that are completely out of your control. And so, you’ve got to do the best you can, do whatever you can, but you’ve got to trust God. None of us have a perfect contingency plan for every single issue that’s going to come up in the lives of our families. And just when you think you do, something pops up. BAM! Something serious happens. And we must learn to be thankful in these situations because they force us to rely upon God, they force us to stop thinking we’re the masters of our own universe. These situations drive us to our knees, which is exactly where we need to be.
So let this story encourage you today: you might be going through something… your family might be facing a crisis, but God is bigger than that. Pharaoh’s plan was to kill Moses… God had a bigger plan! And Jochobed… she had no way of knowing what God was going to do, but she trusted Him. She knew Him and His word, and she trusted Him.
In verses four to ten, we see God’s plan in action. Pharaoh wanted to kill Moses, and God ends up having Moses raised in that very house, right under Pharaoh’s nose. And not only that, but God also had Moses’ own mother nurse him.
And we don’t know how long that went on, or how long Jochobed had with her son Moses, but verse eleven tells us something particularly important. It tells us that when Moses was grown, he went out and looked upon HIS people.
Acts 7:20-23: During this time Moses was born. He was an exceptionally beautiful child, and for three months his parents took care of him in their home. Then when they were forced to leave him outside, the king’s daughter found him and raised him as her own son. Moses was given the best education in Egypt. He was a strong man and a powerful speaker. When Moses was forty years old, he wanted to help the Israelites because they were his own people.
The Bible never specifically tells us how Moses learned he was Jewish, but it does give us some rather good clues as to how that happened. Just think about it… when he was three months old, he was taken in by Pharaoh’s daughter. Jewish history and faith in God weren’t taught there, but his mother was called in to nurse him. And at age 40 he sides with his people.
Hebrews 11:24 – 25 says, “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.”
Faith comes by hearing – how did Moses know he was one of the Hebrews? How did he hear to have the faith to do these amazing things he ended up doing? His mother that’s how! And that’s the third lesson that we see here. As parents, none of us know how long we’re going to have with our kids. It seems like yesterday that mine were in nappies, now my eldest daughter is now in her sixties. And I can’t slow time down. But Moses’ mum obviously knew how to redeem the time. Like I said, we don’t know how long exactly she had with her son, but she obviously used it very well. Mums, instruct your children. Teach them right from wrong, good from bad, teach them how to make decisions that will glorify and honour God. And so most importantly; teach them about God, and His son Jesus who came to die for our sins. Teach them – not just by saying words, but by living out your life considering the faith you have.