Who adopted Moses in the Bible?

At forty years of age, what was Moses' position? It was a very remarkable one. He was the child of Hebrew parents, and owing to the cruel injunction of the king, that all the male children should be destroyed, he should have perished in infancy by being flung into the river. This injunction his parents had disobeyed "by faith," and the child was put by his mother in a cradle, and laid in the flags by the river's side. Pharaoh's daughter, as she went to bathe in the river, saw this ark or cradle, and had it brought to her. When the ark was opened, "the babe wept," and her womanly heart was touched, and she adopted the child. Moses' own sister then came forward, and asked Pharaoh's daughter if she should fetch a nurse. She commanded her to do so, and Moses' own mother was brought. "Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages," the astonished mother hears, but from that time Pharaoh's daughter claimed the child, "and he became her son" (Ex. 2:1-10). She raised him from infancy to childhood, and from childhood to manhood, as being her own son; and what was the result? When Moses came to be forty years of age, he was within direct touch of the throne of Egypt, and with every prospect of ascending it. Pharaoh had no son, and Pharaoh's daughter had no children, and, in the event of her death, there was no doubt that her adopted son would have ascended the throne of Egypt, and would have been the monarch of the ruling nation in the world at that moment.

Just as God raised up Joseph to bring the children of Israel into Egypt, so he raised up Moses to take them out. God used the daughter of the very monarch who ordered the destruction of the male children of the people of Israel, to protect the infant Moses. A more powerful patron could not have been found. She adopted him, and trained him in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.

"And a man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived and bore a son. And she saw him that he was fair, and hid him three months. And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of paper reeds, and cemented it with bitumen and pitch, and put the child in it, and laid [it] in the sedge, on the bank of the river. And his sister stood afar off to see what would happen to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe in the river; and her maids walked along by the river side. And she saw the ark in the midst of the sedge, and sent her hand-maid to fetch it. And she opened [it] and saw the child, and, behold, the boy wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is [one] of the Hebrews' children. And his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call thee a wet-nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the damsel went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give [thee] thy wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it. And when the child was grown, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses* and said, Because I drew him out of the water " (vers. 1-10).

We now pass on to consider the action of God in response to the faith of His people. "And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it," etc. (v. 5.) It is exceedingly beautiful and instructive to see God thus behind the scene arranging all for His own glory. The daughter of Pharaoh was acting from her own inclination, and for her own pleasure, and knew not that she was an instrument of the divine will. But everything — her going down to the river to bathe, the time of her doing so — all was according to the purpose of God in respect of the child who was to be the deliverer of His people. Accordingly she saw the ark, had it fetched, opened it, and saw the child; "and, behold, the babe wept." (v. 6.) Even the tears of the babe had their object, and they were not shed in vain; they excited the compassion of this royal woman, as she said, comprehending the secret, "This is one of the Hebrews' children." (v. 6.) The sister who had been anxiously watching to see what might become of her baby-brother, receives the word of wisdom at this critical juncture, and said, "Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother." (vv. 7, 8.) The child Moses, who had been exposed on the river in consequence of the king of Egypt's decree, is thus restored to his mother under the protection of Pharaoh's daughter. And there he remained until he had grown, and then Jochebed "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." (v. 10.) His very name shall declare the power of Him who had saved him from death, brought him out of the waters of judgment in His sovereign grace and love. Thus the man of God's choice, the one He had marked out as His chosen instrument for the deliverance of His people, and to become the mediator of His covenant with them, finds shelter under the roof of Pharaoh. During this period he became learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds." (Acts 7:22.)

In due time his mother brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She it was that named the little boy Moses. The word Moses means, “Drawn out.” “And,” she said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

The child was beautiful. Acts 7:20 states he was (literally) "beautiful to God." For three months he was hid and then his own mother prepared the ark of bulrushes and laid him in the reeds at the river's brink, in the place of death. The word "ark" is the same as in Gen. 6:14 and the pitch with which it was daubed reminds us likewise of Noah's ark. The dark waters were kept out. It was not alone the natural love of the mother which acted, but faith. "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the King's commandment" (Heb. 11:23). What faith this was! First they saved the child by faith for three months and then the mother's faith prepared the little casket, the place of safety, and in faith committed the ark of bulrushes to the river's brink. But while faith depends on God's power and trust in God's Word, it also fears nothing. They were not afraid of the king's commandment. And God acted as He always will in answer to faith. He guided Pharaoh's daughter to the very spot where the child rested with his sister standing afar off. Her faith did not fully measure up to the faith of the mother; but even this was God's leading. According to Jewish tradition the name of Pharaoh's daughter was Thermoutis. The weeping babe stirred her compassion. And what these tears accomplished! Not the smiling face, but the tear-stained countenance of sorrow, lead to the far-reaching results of deliverance. How it reminds us of Him who was the Man of Sorrows, who wept and went into the dark waters of death and judgment.

The mother receives her child again, whom she gave up in faith, and then the child becomes the son of Pharaoh's daughter, who gave him the Egyptian name "Moses," which means "saved from the water." The beautiful faith of Moses' mother here meets its full rewards; Satan is confounded; and the marvelous wisdom of God is displayed. Who would have thought that the one who had said, "if it be a son, then ye shall kill him," and, again, "Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river," should have in his court one of those very sons, and such a son. The devil was foiled by his own weapon, inasmuch as Pharaoh, whom he was using to frustrate the purpose of God, is used of God to nourish and bring up Moses, who was to be His instrument in confounding the power of Satan. Remarkable providence! Admirable wisdom! Truly, Jehovah is "wonderful in counsel and excellent in working." May we learn to trust Him with more artless simplicity, and thus our path shall be more brilliant, and our testimony more effective. (C.H. Mackintush, Exodus)

God had sworn to Abraham that his seed would be afflicted four hundred years by an oppressive nation, but that He would bring them out with great substance (Gen.15:13-14). As the end of this time drew near a new Pharaoh arose who greatly increased the oppression, commanding the drowning of every boy born to the Israelites. Yet God intervened in this very thing, Moses being born at this time (v.20), a child "lovely in the sight of God" (N.A.S.B.), hidden and nourished by his parents for three months, then adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. Certainly neither she nor Satan had any idea that this child was ordained of God to be Israel's deliverer, though the Egyptians unwittingly helped this matter along by training Moses in all their wisdom, he becoming mighty in deeds and words.

But what should she do with it? The infant's sister (Miriam, we suppose) now stepped forward, and offered to call a nurse of the Hebrew women. Pharaoh's daughter consented; a nurse was got. The child's own mother was now commissioned to care for it, and to bring it up as the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter. How Jochebed's faith was rewarded. Her infant, hitherto in danger any moment of death pursuant to the king's decree, was now to be preserved from death by the will of that king's own daughter.

How had God worked! He had guided the steps of the princess to the bank of the river; He had attracted her attention to that little mysterious-looking ark of reeds; He had moved her with compassion when she looked upon the weeping infant; He put it into her heart to bring it up as her own son.

We have seen faith blessed in the saving of Moses, and providence at work in the king's daughter, who made his own mother his nurse, and adopted him as her son and had him instructed, as Stephen said, in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, mighty as he was too in his deeds and words.

Moses acted something like this. In the providence of God he was adopted as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. By an ordinance of Pharaoh the male children of the Israelites were to be cast into the river Nile, and be destroyed. God foreseeing everything, actually raised up the daughter of the very man, who made the decree, to be the preserver of the infant Moses. It was a brilliant position for him. He had his feet, as it were, on the very threshold of the throne of Egypt, the world’s mightiest kingdom at that time.