Coffee Talk Thursday: Spotlight on the Mother of Moses

I would love to have coffee with Moses’ mother. I am so curious about the time she nursed and cared for him before sending him back to Pharaoh’s house. Wouldn’t that make for a great novel? We could even put it to song:

Moses’ mother, did you know

That your baby boy will one day part the water?

Did you know

That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?

Did you know

That your baby boy has come to make you new?

This child that you've delivered

Will soon deliver you

The Bible doesn’t tell us much about Moses’ mom, except it does indicate she loved him immensely. She couldn’t bear to see her baby boy killed at the hands of the Egyptians, so she made and pitched a basket for her beloved son and put him in the river, trusting in the unseen hands of the Lord Almighty. And guess what? This trust was rewarded: the very baby she let go of came back to her. She got to nurse him. She didn’t have to fear that her son would be found and killed; she was Moses’ nurse, employed by none other than Pharaoh’s daughter.

While Moses was in her care, she knew her time with him was short. She knew where he was headed and what kinds of things he would be taught. She, a daughter of Levi the priest, knew these things would be drastically opposed to her family’s own religion and values as the people of God. She knew she had some serious work to do before sending her son to the wolves, so to speak.

Let’s use a modern example:

When your son turns three and is fully weaned (assuming the Old Testament culture of extended nursing), you must send your child to the home of someone holding a high political office whose values and religion dramatically differ from your own. Wouldn’t you pour every single second of every day into laying such a firm foundation in your child’s soul as to help him withstand much of the ungodly, unrighteous, hedonistic influences he’d soon be exposed to? If you were only given three years with your child, wouldn’t you make those three years count? Really count. What would you let go of? What would you concentrate more on?

I think if I knew time was of the essence, I would be less concerned with tidying up each day and getting the never-ending chores done and more concerned with teaching my child everything I could about the God we love and serve, the God who created him, the God who has a plan for him, the God who wants to save a nation through him. Moses’ mother knew nothing of the particular plans God had in store for her son, but I bet she grasped they were significant, seeing as how merciful God was to her and her son.

Psychologists will tell you that children don’t remember much, if anything, from their earliest years. Yet I think God used the foundation Moses’ mother laid to help shape Moses’ character. Why else would he have been sensitive to the Hebrew people when he saw an Egyptian beating his fellow man? I think some of it took.

Moses’ mom had her work cut out for her. She understood her priorities. She was faithful.

How can we be like Moses’ mother in our own homes today? What can we lay aside to spend more time teaching our children—really teaching them—about the Lord? How can we show them His love? How can we encourage them to follow His ways? They may not perform signs and wonders like Moses did, but they themselves are signs and wonders. Point them to the Father that they may lead others to Him too.