Lately i have been thinking a lot about a lady called Jochebed. She does not appear in the famous hall of faith in Hebrews 11.. if my opinion counted, i think she definitely does.. so who is Jochebed?. She is the mother of Aaron, Miriam and Moses. This lady comes onto the scene in Exodus.
A man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child , she hid him three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch , put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him. (Exodus 2: 1-4 NKJV)
Just to give a bit of context to when Jochebed makes her entrance into the bible , she is living at a time when Israel is under intense and terrible bondage and slavery by their Egyptian masters. The Pharoah in her time is afraid that the Hebrews keep increasing in numbers and may one day turn against them and so to manage his fears, he tortures them immensely. Despite the affliction, the Hebrew slaves only keep multiplying. His fear drives him to decree an edict that all baby boys born should be killed. Only the baby girls should live.
Any mother can imagine how terrible and horrific it was to be in such a time. No mother wants their baby killed at birth because they are a boy. Did they have the luxury of scans to check which gender the baby was? I highly doubt. Pregnancy in itself is not a walk in the park for most and i can imagine the nine months of fear and dread that you will birth a baby boy who will be killed!
That was the story of Jochebed, except that she hid her baby boy. She would not subject him to Pharoah’s evil edict and decided to risk it all to save her beautiful baby boy. Where did she gets the guts? the boldness to risk it all as a slave? I have thought about this and my only response is her boldness to save her son’s life must be rooted in her deep faith in God. Jochebed had to be have faith in God to dare to save her son’s life.
When she could hide him no more, we see her put him out on the river Nile. Now think with me, alligators, rhinos and all kinds of animals could easily eat her baby, but Jochebed entrusts her baby to the Lord. She puts him out on the river , prayerfully and hopeful that God in His greatness , if it is His will to save her son’s life will do it even in her absence! What a faith !!!
I cant imagine how desperate, broken and pained she must have been to put her baby in the basket onto the river and abandoning the baby to His heavenly Father. Jochebed may have reasoned that she had done all she could, and now God would have to show Himself on behalf of this baby.
Its in letting go of the baby in that river Nile,that we see the mighty hand and wonders of the God to whom she had entrusted her baby. Many of us are uncomfortable with letting go and letting God, surrendering ourselves completely to Him. But in this story of Jochebed, its only when she relinquished her baby to God on that river that a solution she could never have imagined came her way.
It’s so happens that Pharoah’s daughter is taking a boat ride on that same river about the same time Jochebed has left her baby out on this river. This is God’s grace. She sees the baby basket and she takes the baby. The baby’s sister Miriam is watching on the sidelines to see what will happen to her baby brother. She boldly asks the Princess if she can get her a nurse who is the baby’s actual mother. Pharoah’s daughter pays Jochebed to nurse her own baby!
Seriously, many of us struggle to completely surrender, but its only when we relinquish our idea of control of that impossible difficult situation that we can witness and experience God’s power and might in our lives in ways that will leave us in awe of His goodness, grace and kindness.
Jochebed’s act of faith is a lesson and an encouragement for me and for you to surrender to God completely. You know that situation you need to give completely to God and trust Him to be God in and for you.
Hallelujah.
My Heart, God's Garden 