The Birth of Moses

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Chapter 2 begins the story of Moses. Looking at the genealogy of Christ, we see that the father and mother of Moses were of the tribe of Levi. Amram was his father and Jochebed was his mother. He had a sister named Miriam and a brother named Aaron both were older than Moses and born before the order came out.

When Moses was born he was hidden for three months. Then when they could hide him no longer, his mother placed him in a basket coated with pitch and laid it in the reeds along the Nile River.

Miriam was placed a short distance away to guard the basket. When Pharaoh's daughter came down to the river to bathe, she finds the baby Moses. Miriam offers to get a nurse to aid Pharaoh's daughter in raising the child and goes and gets Jochebed, Moses real mother. It was the Egyptian daughter of Pharaoh that named "Moses", which means, "to be born out of the water", which of course, all children are. Pharaoh's name was Thut-Moses, which meant, "Thut is born". Moses probably had a first name like Pharaoh, but it is lost to us.

Moses grew up in the household of Pharaoh. One day he saw an Egyptian guard beating an Israelite. He killed the guard and hid him in the sand. When Pharaoh heard of this he tried to have Moses killed, but Moses fled to the country of Midian. Midian was located in the northwest portion of the Arabian Desert. It had been founded by Midian, one of the sons of Abraham by his third wife, Keturah. When Moses got to Midian he got involved in a squabble over water rights. He approached a well where 7 ladies were attempting to get water for their flocks. Local shepherds came and drove the ladies away, making them wait until all the other flocks were watered. Moses helped the ladies and got water for their flocks.

These ladies were the daughters of the Priest of Midian by the name of Jethro (Reuel). When the ladies returned home early that night, they told their father of the help that they had received from a man at the well. The father had them go out and invite Moses into their home that he might be fed and housed. This started a 40-year relationship. Moses married one of the daughters by the name of Zipporah. They had a son whom they named Gershom. Moses was 40 years old when he came to Midian and he stayed there for 40 years.


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