Exodus 2:1-22
2Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman.2The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him for three months. 3When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. 4His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.
5 The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. 6When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. ‘This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,’ she said. 7Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’8Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Yes.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed it. 10When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses,*‘because’, she said, ‘I drew him out* of the water.’
11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and saw their forced labour. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsfolk. 12He looked this way and that, and seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13When he went out the next day, he saw two Hebrews fighting; and he said to the one who was in the wrong, ‘Why do you strike your fellow Hebrew?’ 14He answered, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Then Moses was afraid and thought, ‘Surely the thing is known.’ 15When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses.
But Moses fled from Pharaoh. He settled in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well. 16The priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17But some shepherds came and drove them away. Moses got up and came to their defense and watered their flock. 18When they returned to their father Reuel, he said, ‘How is it that you have come back so soon today?’19They said, ‘An Egyptian helped us against the shepherds; he even drew water for us and watered the flock.’ 20He said to his daughters, ‘Where is he? Why did you leave the man? Invite him to break bread.’ 21Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah in marriage. 22She bore a son, and he named him Gershom; for he said, ‘I have been an alien* residing in a foreign land.’
This story is one I remember well from Sunday School as a child. As a child, I'm sure my attention would have been drawn directly to Baby Moses and how his life unfolds. Now, as a mother of two small children, my thoughts turn to Moses' mother, his biological one that is, whose courageous act saves her baby's life. How outrageous that she is nursing her baby "for" this other woman, yet how overjoyed she must be that her baby is alive (safe from being killed), that she will be able to take care of him as a baby, and that he will have safety and privilege as he grows up (for a while at least).
It's difficult to comprehend the injustice found throughout this text. Given the helpless circumstances Moses' mother found herself in, I imagine she must have cherished every moment she had with her baby, knowing that one day she'd have to give him up (again) and bring him to Pharaoh's daughter. In the present moment I find myself with more time with my two children, 42 hours a week more, to be exact. There are parts of each day where I'm able to cherish and appreciate that time, but often the insanity of trying to work and take care of a one and three year old at the same time gets the best of me and I become frustrated, negative, and overwhelmed. I'm grateful that my family is healthy and that my husband and I have jobs that allow us to work from home. Our situation is almost best case scenario in today's world. Still, when I'm going about my day, it's easy to lose sight of the big picture. It's also easy to beat myself up, but at the end of the day all I can do is try to forgive myself and ask God to forgive me and help me to do better the next day to cherish my two children and my many other blessings.