Jochebed: Sacrificing for Her Son

Motherhood is one of humanity’s oldest, most respected — and essential — human institutions, as Moms infuse and shape their children’s emotional, physical and spiritual well-being. Fortunately, there are numerous mother’s in the Bible whose incredible reactions, decisions and overall life trajectories provide important and timeless lessons for humanity.

This week we learn just five great mothers in the Bible whose stories offer up some important guidance worth exploring and integrating into our own lives:

The Bible tells us that Jochebed, Moses’ mother, went above and beyond to save her little boy’s life. At the time of Moses’ birth, the Egyptian pharaoh demanded that midwives kill every Hebrew boy born in Egypt — something done in an effort to control the Hebrew population.

GotQuestions.org has more about how people reacted to this disturbing decree:

The Hebrew midwives refused to participate in the infanticide and deceived Pharaoh so they could avoid killing the baby boys (Exodus 1:17–19). Moses’ mother Jochebed hide Moses in a basket of bulrushes and set him afloat on the Nile River to preserve his life (Exodus 2:3). Even Pharaoh’s own daughter disobeyed the decree when she found Moses in the basket and took pity on him, adopting him as her own child (Exodus 2:5–10). Moses was raised as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.

Jochebed made the sacrifice not only to ignore the king’s mandate and hide her son for three months, but to then selflessly release him so that he could survive and be cared for by the Pharaoh’s daughter. In an amazing turn of events, Jochebed became Moses’ nurse while Pharaoh’s daughter raised him — an effort that kept her connected to her beloved son.

Exodus 2:9-10 (NIV) tells us what happened after Pharaoh’s daughter discovered Moses in the basket on the Nile and hired Jochebad to nurse the boy:

“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. 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.’”

The mother in the Bible, Jochebed, can be seen in “The Book of Genesis” now available on Pure Flix. For families, watch “The Ten Commandments” with your children to learn more about Jochebed.

Credit: Pure Flix