Moses’ parents “were not afraid of the king’s command” (Heb 11:23) Why not? They feared God!
As we move on in the story, let me underline something monumental. Before we focus on Moses, notice what has happened. Five very different women each play a key role in rescuing the one who will be used by God to rescue a nation. The two midwives, a young mother and her daughter, and perhaps the strangest of all, the daughter of the man trying to kill the boys, Pharaoh’s daughter! This will be a theme throughout the Bible: the strategic role of women in God’s rescue plans. Here Jochebed, the mother of the baby in the bulrushes, had been hired by Pharaoh’s daughter to care for the child at home until he was weaned. Then she brought the little fellow, seemingly still without a name, to the palace. It must have been heart-wrenching to say goodbye, but far better than the grim alternative planned for him by the king! Pharaoh’s daughter took the little fellow as her son, naming him Mosheh, meaning “drawn out” “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water” (Ex 2:10). We use the Greek form of the name, Moses. Little did she know the drawing out that God would use the boy for, when, as the apostle Paul would write, “all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized to Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Cor 10:1-2). Yes, a whole mighty nation drawn out! But there will be a few twists and turns before that happens. So time passes. We are told nothing of Moses’ education or experiences growing up in the palace, until one fateful day when he took a walk. It would change the course of his life—in fact, the whole course of history. That’s why we need to ask God’s blessing and direction every morning, “For you do not know what a day may bring forth” (Prov 27:1).