Who was Moses' father?
Moses' father was Amram, a Levite, and his mother was Jochebed — the same couple who also gave Israel Aaron and Miriam. Behind that short genealogical line stands one of the bravest acts of faith in the Bible, and a family whose three children all became servants of God.
Amram the Levite
The plainest answer comes from the reference works, which identify Amram by tribe and by his three children:
Morrish Bible DictionaryLevite, father of Aaron, Moses and Miriam. Ex. 6:18, 20; etc.
Amram was not from just any branch of Levi. Commentators note which family he belonged to, and what that family would later be given to do:
VariousAmram and Jochebed, according to Exodus 6:18-20, belonged to the tribe of Levi and to the family of the Kohathites. It was a family which in the future would perform such important duties in relation to the tabernacle.
A marriage the law would later forbid
Jochebed was not only Amram's wife. Writers point out the close family tie between them, and how a later command in Leviticus changed the standing of such a union:
C E StuartJochebed was Amram's own aunt, his father's sister. By the law of Leviticus, such unions as Abraham and Sarah, Amram and Jochebed, and Jacob and Rachel, were distinctly forbidden (18:11-12, 18).
The same writer draws out what this means about how God dealt with people before and after the law was given:
C E StuartWhat, then, was lawful to Abraham and Amram, was, to their descendants, by the law made unlawful.
Amram's place in the line from Jacob
Amram's name also does work in a long-debated question — how many years Israel spent in Egypt. God had told Abraham that his descendants would come back "in the fourth generation," and the family line in Exodus 6 supplies exactly that count:
Morrish Bible DictionaryA much shorter period is implied in Gen. 15:16, which says of Israel in Egypt that "in the fourth generation they shall come hither again;" and if we turn to Ex. 6:16-20 we find exactly four generations, thus: Jacob's son Levi. Levi's son Kohath. Kohath's son Amram. Amram's son Moses.
The father's faith, not the mother's only
Exodus 2 tells the story of the hiding of the baby from the mother's side, so Amram can easily be forgotten. The New Testament corrects that impression:
F. B. HoleThis 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.
Commentators differ on which parent led the way. One writer sees Jochebed as the driving force, while still refusing to push Amram into the background:
George C WillisThe wife seems to have been the moving spirit here, and perhaps this is hardly to be wondered at, as Jochebed was Amram's aunt. (Ex. 6:20). But there is no suggestion that Amram did not have his rightful place in that little home in Egypt.
What that home gave him
Moses had two educations pulling against each other — the palace of Pharaoh, and a few short years in a slave family's house. Writers ask openly which one would win:
VariousWill it be the one imparted during the few years at his father's home where Amram and Jochebed assuredly did not neglect to speak to Moses of the Lord and of His promises to His people? Or will it be the one provided at the court? Will the many years at the court erase even the memory of what Moses had heard in his parents' home?
The answer is written into the rest of Moses' life, and one writer traces it right back to those first three months:
The Bible TreasuryHow must he in riper years have derived strength from this godly acting of his parents and have been indebted to them for this their first training him in the nurture and admonition of the Lord! The commencement of our course gives a colour to the whole of it.
Summary
- Amram — a Levite of the Kohathite family, husband of Jochebed, father of Aaron, Moses and Miriam.
- His line — Levi, Kohath, Amram, Moses: the four generations God promised Abraham before Israel would return to Canaan.
- His marriage — Jochebed was his aunt; what was lawful for Amram was later made unlawful under the law for his descendants.
- His faith — Hebrews 11:23 credits the hiding of the baby to both parents; they answered to a greater authority than Pharaoh.
- His fruit — a few years of teaching in a slave's home outweighed a lifetime of Egypt's court, and all three of his children became honoured servants of God.