The Bible in Art: Moses’ Birth 

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Verses for Consideration: Exodus 2:1-10

1 Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses,saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

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“What would have happened if . . . ?”

We may have heard that question more than once. Returning to find their house leveled by fire, a family shudders to think, “What would have happened if we had been home?”

A grandmother sighs a prayer of thanks as she surveys a fallen oak tree: “What would have happened if Corey hadn’t been sick today and had been playing in the yard as usual?”

It might make us shudder to think what might have happened if the authorities had gotten to Moses before Pharaoh’s daughter did. What would have happened to the nation of Israel, trapped in slavery in Egypt? What would have happened to the promise of a Savior? What would have happened to us if there had been no Savior?

Moses was saved in a miraculous way. God was in control. And God was carrying out his plan to fulfill his promise. Over the years the family of Jacob had grown into a great nation-exactly as God had promised. Now he was ready to take them to the land of Canaan, a land they would possess as their own-exactly as he had promised. There he would raise up one who would be the Messiah, who would offer his life as a sacrifice to take away the guilt of all mankind-exactly as he had
promised.

What happened to the baby Moses is an interesting story. But it’s more than that. It shows us that God holds the reins of the world in his hands, and he guides the world to accomplish his purposes and to fulfill his promises. He has promised that he loves us. He has promised that he will work for our good in all things. He has promised that a home in heaven is waiting for us.

Though we may not always understand the things that happen to us, we know that God is working to accomplish his good purpose for us and for his kingdom.

Prayer: Lord, help us hold tightly in faith to all of your promises, most important, the ones that announce to us your free and full forgiveness of our many sins. Amen.

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Title: The Finding of Moses (1655-60) 

Artist: Sébastien Bourdon