February 6 Daily Devotional

Exodus 1–2

We remember that Jacob was called Israel. His descendants are called Israelites or the children of Israel. They lived in the land of Goshen for a long time. During that time their number increased until they became a strong nation. Each of the twelve sons of Jacob was the father of a tribe, and Joseph was the father of two tribes, which were named after his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. As long as Joseph lived, and some time after that, the people of Israel were treated kindly by the Egyptians out of love for Joseph, who had done so much for them. But after a long time another king began to rule who did not know anything about Joseph. He did not like it, that this large nation of people was living in Egypt, and having some of the best land.

He said to his people, “Behold the people … of Israel are more and mightier than we are.” If there should be a war, they might join with our enemies and fight against us. “Come on, let us deal wisely with them.” He set them to hard work in making brick and building cities for the Egyptians. Taskmasters were set to watch them and to compel those that did not work hard enough. They were treated as slaves. But the more Egyptians afflicted them, the more they grew and increased. When the king saw this, he thought of a still more harsh way to prevent their becoming stronger. He ordered that whenever a son was born in the house of an Israelite, he should be cast into the Nile river. The girl babies were allowed to live.

In those evil days a lovely child was born. He was the son of Amram and Jochebed. Instead of throwing the little boy into the Nile, his mother hid him for three months. When she could no longer hide him, she made a little ark of reeds or bulrushes, plastering it with tar and pitch to keep the water out. She knew that at certain times the daughter of Pharaoh would come down to the river for a bath. She placed the child into the ark and placed it among the reeds that grew near the bank of the river. A sister by the name of Miriam, who was about twelve years old, was told to watch what would happen to the child. The king’s daughter with her maidens came down to the river. She noticed the ark with the child and was moved with pity. When Miriam saw that the princess was petting the baby she stepped up and said, “Shall I go and call a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?” “Go,” the princess said. So she called her mother, and the king’s daughter gave her the boy to nurse him for her. When he had grown up to about three or four years of age, his mother brought him back to the king’s daughter. She adopted him as her son and called his name Moses, which means “drawn out,” for she had drawn him out of the water.