The birth story of Moses is narrated in the Bible, which is responsible for giving the details of this man who became in charge of bringing God’s announcement to Pharaoh, to free his people.
Moses was born in a powerful nation and in a hostile time, his parents were from the tribe of Levi, who, seeing him so beautiful, hid him for three months, after that time they took a reed box and placed the child in it and put it in a reedbed by the riverbank, where Pharaoh’s daughter found him.
The Story of the Birth of Moses
The birth of Moses occurred at a time hostile to the nation of Egypt where they lived since he was from a foreign family that was oppressed by the yoke of Pharaoh.
At a time when babies like him were sentenced to death.
However, his parents were from the tribe of Levi and were believers in God, and they hid him from everyone’s sight.
A man of the family of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi, and she conceived, and gave birth to a son, and seeing that he was beautiful, he hid him for three months (Exodus 2: 1-2)
The Parents of Moses
Moses’ parents were Amram and Jochebed (Exodus 6:20), who had other children before Moses, who were older brother Aaron and an older sister named Miriam.
His father hid him from the king’s decree, until they could no longer, and placed him in a reed casket and where they put him on the riverbank.
“But not being able to hide him any longer, he took a reed box and caulked it with asphalt and pitch, and placed the child in it and put him in a reedbed by the river bank” (Exodus 2:3).
Thus, the mother of Moses did what Pharaoh had decreed by throwing the children into the river.
“Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying: Throw into the river every son that is born, and every daughter preserve life” (Exodus 1:22)
Moses in a chest in the sea
She made a chest to protect her son from the water, making him float in the river.
His faith in God was demonstrated by believing that He would keep him from all the bad that could happen, and when he released that chest his sister saw that it was taken by a servant of Pharaoh’s daughter.
“And one of his sisters stood in the distance to see what would happen to him. And Pharaoh’s daughter went down to wash in the river, and her maidens walking along the river bank, she saw the casket in the reeds and sent one of her servants to take it. And when he opened it, he saw the boy; and behold, the child cried.
And having compassion on him, he said, “This is one of the children of the Hebrews” (Exodus 2:4-6).
Pharaoh’s Daughter has compassion
The crying of that baby moved the daughter of Pharaoh, who despite being conditioned by her culture and by the rejection of the Hebrews, did not reject him but rather she saves him from the sentence established by the Pharaoh.
“Then his sister said to the daughter of Pharaoh, Shall I go and call you a nurse of the Hebrew women, so that you may nurse this child?
And Pharaoh’s daughter said, Go. Then the maiden went and called the child’s mother, to whom the daughter of Pharaoh said: Take this child and nurse me, and I will pay you. And the woman took the child and nursed him.
And when the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, who fathered him, and named him Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the waters” (Exodus 2:7-10).
In a perfect way, God in his divine purpose made the need of Pharaoh’s daughter, be supplied by the same mother of Moses, who would take care of her son.
It could be said that God rewarded this woman who trusted in Him, who after hiding him for three months and putting him in a basket in the river saw his hand taking care of him from the bad, in such a way as to place him in a government position as a son adoptive of Pharaoh’s daughter.
Moses escapes from Egypt
It can be said that when Moses grew up he learned about the God of his ancestors, despite living in the Pharaoh’s Palace since he acquired sympathy for his fellow Hebrews to the point of defending them against the oppressive yoke of the Egyptians. (Exodus 2:11-12)
Moses saw the mistreatment of a Hebrew
The term used that “saw them in their hard tasks” means more than “seeing”, in the strict sense, it is related to seeing emotionally and seeing with compassion.
Moses was aware of his origin and did not feel comfortable with the behavior against his countrymen.
“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing instead be ill-treated with the people of God than to enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:24-25).
Moses killed the Oppressor
In this way, Moses refused to identify himself with oppressive people and preferred to be on the side of those chosen by God.
To those Jewish people that was his origin, with whom he had empathy, so he could not contain himself when he saw that act of abuse.
At the moment that Moses kills the Egyptian, it is noted that he understood the evil he had done since he had acted in anger.
To the point of hiding it in the sand while no one was looking at it, a situation that reveals a troubled conscience.
Loses credibility as a royal figure
This produced that he will gain greater strength the next day when he is rejected by his people.
By wanting to intervene in a violent fight between two Hebrews, which undermines the credibility of his image as a royal figure and his sympathy for the Hebrew people. (Exodus 2:13-14)
Moses flees
In this fact, you can see the real background of the actions of Moses in this situation. He acted as if he were a judge in that he determined that one of these men had done something wrong.
While they reproached him for what he had done with the Egyptians, a situation that frightened him, for breaking his loyalty to Pharaoh.
“When Pharaoh heard about this fact, he sought to kill Moses; but Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian” (Exodus 2:15).
Moses flees to Midian
Moses flees for his life after Pharaoh learns of the murder committed by him, a situation that emotionally terrified him.
This happens because he knew what Pharaoh was capable of doing against his opponents, and he fled to Midian, where he began his new life.
Moses decides to go southeast to Midian, since he knew Pharaoh’s security protocol since the region of Canaan and Syria had a treaty between Ramses II and the King of the Hittites.
That meant fugitives were found along the way and taken north to Syria where he could be arrested.
“And while he was sitting by the well, seven daughters of the priest of Midian came to draw water to fill the basins and give their father’s sheep a drink.
But the shepherds came and drove them out of there; So Moses got up and defended them, and gave his sheep a drink.
And returning them to Reuel their father, he said to them: Why have you come today so soon? They answered:
An Egyptian man defended us from the shepherds, and also drew water for us, and gave the sheep a drink” (Exodus 2:16-19).
Moses defends some women
In this first meeting that Moses had in the land of Midian, he meets a group of women who were mistreated by shepherds who expelled them from the well.
So he defended them, a situation that was seen favorably by the village priest who welcomed him into his home.
And he said to his daughters: Where is he? Why have you left that man? Call him to eat.
And Moses agreed to dwell with that man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah as a wife to Moses.
And she bore him a son; and he named her Gershom, because she said, I am a stranger in a foreign land (Exodus 2: 20-22)
When Moses lived on this land, he changed his life by starting a family and changing his customs from the palace to the country.
When she had her son, she gave him a name that evidenced her feelings of loneliness living far from the Egyptians and the Hebrews, not having her own land, but that of a foreigner.
Moses is called by God
As time passed, the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel cried out to God because they were tired of the yoke of slavery imposed on Egypt.
So God remembered the covenant that he had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
This situation is the prelude to what God had prepared for Moses, to whom he appears while he was grazing the sheep on Mount Horeb, wherein a burning bush he calls him for his divine plan.
the burning bush
(Exodus 3:2-6) “And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush, and he looked and saw that the bush was burning with fire, and the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said: I will go now and see this great vision, why does the bush not burn?
Seeing Jehovah that he was going to see, God called him from the middle of the bush, and said: !! Moses, Moses! And he replied:
Here I am. And he said: Do not approach; remove your shoes from your feet because the place where you are is holy ground.
And he said: I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
So Moses covered his face because he was afraid to look at God” (Exodus 3:2-6).
This encounter that Moses has with the God of his ancestors produced fear in his heart, as he was chosen for such an important task by the Almighty God, who gave specific instructions to fulfill the liberation of his people.
God speaks to Moses
Then the LORD said, I have well seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their exactators; for I have known their anguish, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and bring them out of that land into a good and wide land,
to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the places of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
The cry, then, of the children of Israel has come before me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
Come, therefore, now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, to bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.
Then Moses answered God: Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he replied:
Go, because I will be with you; and this will be a sign to you that I sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain.
Moses said to God: Behold, I come to the children of Israel, and say to them: The God of your fathers has sent me to you.
If they asked me: What is your name?, what would I answer? And God answered Moses: I AM THAT I AM.
And he said: Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: I AM sent me to you. Furthermore, God said to Moses: Thus you shall say to the children of Israel:
The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you.
This is my name forever; With him, I will be remembered forever” (Exodus 3:7-15).
Each one of the instructions that God gave to Moses was aimed at the prophetic fulfillment to which he had been born, to become that leader who would be used by God to take the Hebrew people out of slavery.
God’s command to Moses
“Go and assemble the elders of Israel, and say to them: Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He appeared to me saying: Truly I have visited you, and I have seen what is being done to you in Egypt, and I have said, I will bring you out of the affliction of Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, from the Perizzite, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey. And they will hear your voice, and you will go and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall say to him: Jehovah the God of the Hebrews has found us;
therefore we will now go three days journey in the wilderness, to offer sacrifices to Jehovah our God.
But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go except by a strong hand. But I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will do in it, and then he will let you go. And I will give these people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that when you go out, do not go empty-handed; but she shall ask each woman of her neighbor and of her guests silver jewels, gold jewels, and garments, which you shall put on your sons and your daughters; and spoil Egypt” (Exodus 3:16-22)
Faced with this encounter that Moses had with God, he still doubted that they would believe him, to which God responded by showing him several signs of his power by transforming the rod into a snake, and changing his healthy hand to one with leprosy, something that guaranteed the truth that spoke.
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Moses sees the Signs of God
“Then Moses answered saying: Behold, they will not believe me, nor will they listen to my voice; because they will say:
Jehovah has not appeared to you. And Jehovah said: What is that that you have in your hand? And he answered: A stick.
He said to him: Throw her on the ground. And he threw her on the ground, and she became a snake, and Moses fled from her.
Then the Lord said to Moses: Stretch out your hand and take it by the tail. And he reached out her hand, and took it, and it became a rod in her hand.
Therefore they will believe that the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.
The Lord also said to him, Now put your hand into your bosom. And he put his hand in her breast; and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And she said: Put your hand back in your bosom. And he put her hand back in her breast; and when he took it out again from the womb, behold, it had become like other meat. If it happens that they do not believe you or obey the voice of the first sign, they will believe the voice of the last. And if they still do not believe these two signs, nor listen to your voice, you will take from the waters of the river and you will spill them on the ground, and the waters that you take from the river will change and become blood on the ground” (Exodus 4:1-9).
This fearful Moses was the one chosen by God, but he refused to fulfill that call to return to Egypt.
Asserting that he was not dexterous when speaking, so God placed his brother Aaron as his companion before such an important task.
Aaron will speak for Moses
“Then Moses said to the Lord: !! Oh, Lord! I have never been a man of easy speech, nor before, nor since you speak to your servant; because I am slow of speech and clumsy of language. And Jehovah answered him:
Who gave the mouth to man? Or who made the dumb and the deaf, the one who sees and the blind? Am I not Jehovah?
Now then, go, and I will be with your mouth, and I will teach you what you have to speak. And he said: !! Oh Lord! send, I beseech you, through whom you must send.
Then the Lord was angry with Moses, and said, Do I not know your brother Aaron, the Levite, and that he speaks well?
And behold, he will come out to meet you, and seeing you will rejoice in his heart. You will speak to him, and you will put his words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his, and I will teach you what to do. And he will speak for you to the people; he will be to you instead of mouth, and you will be for him instead of God. And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall perform signs” (Exodus 4:10-17).
After this plan was established by God is that Moses agrees to return to Egypt, says goodbye to his father-in-law, and takes his wife and children to fulfill the call made by God that to this day is remembered as the feat made by God for freedom to the Hebrew people.
How could it be seen from the birth of Moses until he fled from the people of Egypt, that God worked in his life to prepare him and carry out the mission that was predestined in his life, which was to be the man used by God to liberate the people Hebrew from Egypt.
