Long ago a wicked king, called Pharaoh, ruled over Egypt. He first made the Israelites slaves, and then when they multiplied so, he ordered them to throw every newborn son into the great river Nile.
But there was one godly father and mother who had a beautiful baby boy and they just couldn’t throw him into the river. They had faith in God and so were not afraid of the king’s command. They hid their little son for three months, but after that they thought he was getting too big to be hidden any longer. We are sure they asked God to take care of their little boy.
The poor mother gathered some bulrushes that grew along the river bank and made a basket called an ark, covered it with pitch, and put her little son in it. Then she left it floating among the rushes at the edge of the river. His sister stood afar off to watch what would happen.
Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the river to bathe and seeing the little ark, she sent her maid to fetch it. When she looked in and saw the baby, he was crying. She felt sorry for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
The baby’s sister came up at that moment and asked her, “Shall I go and call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for thee?” Pharaoh’s daughter said, “Go;” so she went and called her mother. Perhaps Pharaoh’s daughter thought what a nice kind nurse she was, though she did not know she was the baby’s real mother.
“Take this child away and nurse it for me” she said, “and I will give thee thy wages.” So the mother took the child and raised him. Then she took him back to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She called him Moses because she drew him out of the water.
When he grew up Moses was called of God to deliver his people from their slavery. He led them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and for forty years across the wilderness to the borders of Canaan, their promised land. Then after those many years of faithful service, God took this servant home to heaven.
ML-02/13/1977