“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command” (Hebrews 11:23).
As we continue our tour through the Hebrews 11 “Faith Hall Of Fame,” we now stop to look at a person who is surely one of the most important and influential individuals within the Biblical record. That person is Moses. While the miraculous events of Moses’ life often draw the most attention, it’s important to note that Moses’ life and ministry grew out of events that transpired long before he was born.
In previous studies, we briefly examined the life of Joseph from the Biblical book of Genesis. We saw how Joseph rose to a prominent position of leadership within the ancient Egyptian government and how he resettled his family in Egypt to save them from the effects of a devastating famine. Unfortunately, things changed over time, and a new leader arose who did not hold the same respect for Joseph, or the people of Israel…
“And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, ‘Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.’
Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses” (Exodus 1:6-11).
However, that plan failed to produce the desired result…
“But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel” (Exodus 1:12).
Since Pharaoh, the Egyptian king, was not in the habit of giving up easily (as he would demonstrate later), he came up with a scheme that was even more ruthless…
“Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; and he said, ‘When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live'” (Exodus 1:15-16).
So Pharaoh’s solution was to eliminate the source of this “problem” by simply murdering every male child born to a Hebrew mother. This may have seemed like the perfect solution to Pharaoh, but as we’ll see, there was one critical detail he overlooked.