Jochebed.

The mother of Moses.

She put her baby in a basket and sent him down the Nile River. I wonder what that felt like. I wonder what thoughts were running through her head. I wonder what the other moms thought and said about her. I bet the whole predicament made her absolutely sick to her stomach.

Can you imagine?

She was in a hopeless situation and didn’t see any other way out. She didn’t have a choice. Her love for her son was more important than her love for herself. When a mother is in a desperate situation she will do just about anything to save her child regardless of what anyone else thinks. That’s her baby.

So she did what she had to do to save his life. She put him in a basket. She placed the basket in the river, and she placed her trust in God’s hands.

We know how this story ends. Moses led God’s people out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, and eventually he received the Ten Commandments – because of a praying, believing, fearless, and loving mother.

Thank God for Jochebed. Thank God for her faith. Thank God for her love. And thank God for the compassion that Bithiah (Pharoah’s daughter) showed that sweet, helpless baby floating down the river.

“5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.

6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” Exodus 2:5-6 (KJV)