Who raised Moses?

Now, I wonder how many of you in this hall tonight have passed through an experience like that of Moses. Probably most of you are somewhat younger than he was when he made his remarkable choice. There are two striking things to be noted in verse 24: "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to 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." How old was he when, as the Holy Ghost says here, "he was come to years"? We are told exactly how old he was in the seventh chapter of the Acts, where the Spirit of God, by the mouth of Stephen, says, "And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel" (Acts 7:22). Perhaps you would not call a man of forty young; but he was not old, when the total age of the man is taken into consideration, "for Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated" (Deut. 34:7); so that at forty he would be, so to speak, quite in the days of his youth. I fully admit that he was not a giddy man of the moment, nor as frivolous as most of us were at twenty or twenty-five. I think he had come to the time of life when he had his head screwed on rightly, if you understand me. He had a real sense of what things were. He was forty years of age, — the number in Scripture of probation, or perfect testing, — and, mark you! when this man turned to God, he was no novice as to the world and its unsatisfactory pleasures. When Moses turned right round to God, — when he turned his back on the world, — on the idolatry of Egypt, and upon the brightest prospect that mortal man on earth ever had, — he was a man who knew exactly how to appraise things at their full and true value.

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.

Moreover, Moses was evidently an exceedingly clever man. He was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," and the Egyptians were not fools. It would puzzle our builders to do what they did — to put up the Pyramids, and rear the mighty structures that were common enough in the days of Moses. There was a good deal of wisdom current. The world was not quite such a baby in those days as men in their conceit now-a-days are wont to think it was. There was a great deal more wisdom in those days than we are wont to credit the world with; and "Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." He was a scientific, accomplished, and intellectual man; but more than that, "he was mighty in words and in deeds." As a speaker, an orator, who could address his fellows, — spite of his own humble estimate of himself (Ex. 4:10), — he was clearly at the top of the tree. In the forum or the fight, in the amphitheatre or the battlefield, he could meet with any man who came against him. He was mighty "in deeds" as well as "in words." He was an all-round accomplished man of the world, who had few, if any, equals — a man that men could be proud of. That man had the ball at his foot. He had the world before him. He was not only the king's favourite, and the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter, but was within touch of the throne; and as a man, he was evidently what you may call the world's man, — a notable man among men, from whom they expected much.

Let us not be afraid to have faith for our children, to lay hold upon God for them before they are able to lay hold upon Him for themselves. People say, A child must believe for himself. You cannot believe for him. Yes, you can in a very real way, as Moses' parents believed for him. Suppose they had not believed for him. Suppose they had said, If he were large enough, he might trust in God; but we must cast him into the river. That would have been the end of Moses as far as human power was concerned. But what a place they put him in! You know how he was taken from the river's brink by Pharaoh's daughter, adopted by her, and then put back under his mother's care until he was of sufficient age to go permanently back to the king's court. Every advantage was given to him; but God's tender care had given him also all the benefit of a mother's love and training in the fear of God and His ways. How diligently that dear mother must have made use of her time! How she must have instilled into his mind the promises of the God of their fathers! How she must have taught that young child that he was identified with those bondsmen who yet were the people of God! How she must have told him of the promises of God, that He would visit them and bring them up out of that land, and give them an inheritance! No doubt she made faithful and diligent use of her opportunities; and, as Pharaoh's daughter said to her (in a higher sense than Pharaoh's daughter meant, she heard another Voice saying,) "Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages." What wages has a faithful mother, if she has spent time and strength and prayers in bringing up her children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord!

Moses comes to years. His feet are upon the steps that lead up to the throne. He was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds." He had every opportunity that a great civilization could give. What opportunities, what a chance to reform Egypt! — to make it a place where the children of Israel could have their inheritance, instead of some vague, intangible thing in Canaan that might never materialize!

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.

Woman-like, for princesses have mother instincts as much as their lowly sisters, she has compassion on the child. She recognises that it is one of the Hebrews’ children, one that is lying under the sentence of death. The sister of the babe comes forward and offers to bring a nurse of the Hebrew women for the child.

The offer is accepted. The Hebrew nurse is engaged to rear the child. The terms are explicit, “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” (Ex. 2:9).

The daughter of Pharaoh, the very despot who had issued the decree to destroy the male children, is the one who is used of God to honour the faith of the parents, who “were not afraid of the king’s commandment” (Heb. 11:23). The very mother herself was the Hebrew woman who was hired as nurse to bring up the infant.

She had chosen the best spot in which to leave the ark, for Pharaoh's daughter came there to bathe, bringing her female attendants with her. Seeing the ark among the reeds, she sent a maid to bring it to her. Her woman's heart was tenderly affected in seeing the beautiful child and hearing him weep. She knew immediately that he was a Hebrew child, but how could she obey her father's decree that the child must be drowned? In fact, before she had time to consider what she should do, the child's sister appeared immediately and asked her if she should go and get a Hebrew woman who could nurse the child for her (v. 7).

Pharaoh's daughter would not be acquainted with Hebrew women, and the suggestion of Moses' sister was to her a providential opportunity of possessing a child of her own, with a more natural mother to nurse the child. The immediate suggestion of his sister also averted the alternative that Pharaoh's daughter might have considered, in having the child put to death.

The child's sister brought her own mother to Pharaoh's daughter, who asked her to take the child and nurse it for her with promise of payment for this (v. 9). Thus, not only was her child preserved alive, but she was privileged to nurse her own child and receive payment for so doing! Very likely she would hear a voice higher than that of Pharaoh's daughter, saying “Take this child away and nurse him for me.” Since she had faith in the living God, she would certainly rear the child for His glory rather than for the pleasure of Pharaoh's daughter.

Those first few formative years would have an inerasable effect on the boy who was to become great among the Egyptians. But the day came when his mother had to give him up to be recognized as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. This would certainly be traumatic for the mother.

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 now behold a wonderful move in the providential ways of God. The daughter of Pharaoh is guided by God to this very spot and, most wonderfully, her heart is so moved by this babe who can only weep, that she determines to bring him up for herself. How came it that such a thought as this entered into her heart? Can we doubt that God put the desire there? Oh! beloved, how our God has been looking after us when we could do nothing nor knew anything about ourselves so far as His service was concerned. Take another wonderful instance. When Daniel and his three companions purposed in their hearts that they would not defile themselves with the king's meat, God saw their hearts and put His hand on another man's heart, to wit, the prince who had charge of them and the result was they were enabled to carry out their resolve. So here we have the heart of Pharaoh's daughter moved towards this babe and she determined to bring him up for herself. "For herself" was a mistake for she did not know she had been given the privilege of bringing him up for God. Probably, she was the only person in the land of Egypt who would dare do such a thing. Who else would have dared to act against the commandment of the king? Yet another interesting matter seems to come to light here. God was to need a man who could read and write and what chance had any of the bondslaves of the children of Israel to obtain an education like this? All the Egyptians cared to teach them was to make bricks. Writing perhaps had not got far beyond the royal courts in the days when Moses lived in this world. So to Pharaoh's court he goes in this unusual but divinely ordered way, that he may receive the necessary education to fit him for his great work for God. He exchanges bondslavery for royalty, destined to be a king, yet not king in Egypt but "king in Jeshurun" (Deut. 33:5).

It is evident that Moses had been born with the necessary aptitude to imbibe this teaching for we read of him, "And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds" v. 22. The ability to progress like this was not doubt given him of God though it took many years to bring it into evidence. Few of us have had an education like this but then, very few are needed for such great work. It is not a matter of secular education here, but ability for the particular service God has ordained for us. Men like J.N.D. and G.V.W. had the privilege of such an education and how they devoted it to the service of their Master. Most of us have had a lesser education than such men but let us be assured we have all had the necessary education for the work we are called to do. All is right if in the hands of God for it matters not how clever we are naturally, if God is not using us our efforts will be in vain. Nor does it matter how simple we may be, if God uses us we will effect His will. The point is, Are we using what God has given us to serve Him? Thus this great scholar and leader is prepared and reared in the court of Pharaoh in view of that particular service he would one day render for God.

With the passing of time, Moses could no longer be hid; but faith is never lacking in resources, for it ever lays hold upon a God who "is a rewarder of those who seek Him out." The mother of Moses therefore "took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink." Her actings were maintained on the high level of God's wonderful movements, and with His marvellous design for the emancipation of His people from the house of bondage.

Another personage now comes under the sovereign power and direction of God; none other than Pharaoh's daughter. No doubt she was moved by her own inclinations, and sought only her own pleasure, as she went down to the river to bathe; yet unknown to herself she was to be the divine instrument to defeat the hostility of her father and foil his plans, and also to ensure under her royal patronage the retaining of Moses under the tender and affectionate care of his parents. It was in this environment, and not in Pharaoh's court or in the colleges of Egypt, that the future deliverer of God's people was trained and prepared for the great destiny that lay before him; and can we not say that this training proved superior to all the powerful influences of Egypt?

No doubt Moses became a finished product of the highest education that Egypt could afford, and his accomplishments are noticed by the Spirit of God through Stephen, who tells us that he "was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds" (Acts 7:22); but all this learning was not of the slightest use to him as the deliverer chosen of God, nor as the king in Jeshurun to order the course of the people of God in the wilderness. The "wisdom of Egypt" would have been baffled to make a way through the Red Sea, and entirely barren of every resource to meet all the exigencies of the wilderness. Egypt's learning could not have furnished the ability to bring water out of the rock or provide the manna to meet the needs of that vast host in the wilderness.

"Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, 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. 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 the child grew and she brought him to 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." (Ex. 2:7-10) The beautiful faith of Moses' mother here meets its full reward; Satan is confounded; and the marvellous 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.

But we open Exodus 2, and we at once discover two things. First that there were still among the children of Israel men and women of faith. This is made plain in Hebrews 11:23, where the faith, not of Moses, but of his parents is cited. Moses was born and, according to our chapter, his mother hid him for three months, seeing he was a "goodly child." The verse in Hebrews reveals that his father as well as his mother saw that he was "a proper child," and having the eye of faith fixed on God, they were not afraid of the king's commandment. A greater than Pharaoh commanded their allegiance.

The second thing we notice is that again God makes the wrath of man to praise Him. The wicked design of the king prepared the way for the future deliverer of Israel to be brought into his own house and court, and gain an experience of Egyptian customs and ways that stood him in good stead, when, as the fruit of God's discipline he was ready to act in the name of Jehovah. The story of Moses in the ark of rushes is so well known that one need hardly call attention to the skill of the Divine hand, which ordered that Moses should be nursed by his own mother, that she should be paid wages for doing so, and that finally he should be adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. Little did the Pharaoh of that day think that his design of death was preserving in life the man whom God would use in the days of his successor to overthrow the might of Egypt. But so it was.

Pharaoh's daughter called him Moses, meaning, "Drawn out," because she drew him out of the river. It was however an appropriate name since God had drawn him out, or rather called him out, to be a servant of His in a very special way.