So Jochebed got her own child back, at least for a while. The midrash portrays Jochebed as a wise woman who was righteous and God-fearing. I was in shock. The story of Jochebed is thought to be described in the Book of Exodus (2:110) although she is not explicitly named here. Pharaoh decreed only for this world, but you decreed both for this world and the next [a baby that was born and died as a result of Pharaohs decree would merit the World to Come, but an unborn child would not attain this]. She was convinced that her son would be used for an important work. Her name in Hebrew means "bitterness." Miriam was the first woman in the Bible to be given the title prophetess. Adoption is a wonderful way to unconditionally love someone but it comes with a painful price tag (as well see in our story). (NET), Exodus 6:20 Amram married his fathers sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Storms may howl, and clouds may gather, Amram and Jochebed had no fear of the kings decree. He became afraid that if an enemy of Egypt waged war against them, the Israelites would side with the enemy against Egypt. To protect Moses from Pharaohs command that every male Hebrew child be killed, she placed him in an ark of bulrushes on the river. Features thousands of biographic and thematic essays on Jewish women around the world. The woman conceived and bore a son, since she conceived before this second marriage? According to tradition, Moses' parents, Amram and Jochebed (whose other children were Aaron and Miriam), hid him for three months and then set him afloat on the Nile in a reed basket daubed with pitch. First, some background. The only woman who judges, Deborah "used to sit under the palm treeand the sons of Israel came up to her . (Her name is first mentioned in Exodus 6:20.) What are some areas of your life you need to stop holding on to and start trusting God? In the New Testament, she is praised for her faith in God.[3]. The narrative of her pregnancy with Moses is amusingly incorporated in an exegesis relating to the time of the Rabbis. The conditions described in the first two chapters of Exodus indicate that indeed those were dark days for the Children of Israel. Thus Jochebed nursed her son until he was old enough and brought him to the Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted him as her son. She was Levi 's daughter, and Kehot, Amram's father, was Levi 's son. Marriages with aunts and nieces have been common in many countries, and are not forbidden by any natural instinct. Transition to our next woman of influence, JochebedMoses mother. And when the little crib was brought to Pharaohs daughter, she saw that it was a little Hebrew baby. In Thy service pain is pleasure, There is nothing immoral in marrying your aunt unless the Torah explicitly forbids it. She is described as the daughter of Levi, born to him in Egypt (Num. According to another midrash, Moses rejected the breasts of the Egyptian women because he said: God will speak with me. Exodus 1:14 concludes by saying, All their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour. But even this severe treatment did not serve to decrease the number of the Children of Israel, and so in desperation, the Egyptian king decreed that every male child born to the Hebrews should be cast into the river. The Scripture says, And, behold, the babe wept (Exodus 2:6). And so Jochebed did what she could. Faith is one of the most frequently used words in the Christians vocabulary, but it may be one of the most misunderstood words. When hiding him was no longer possible, she placed him in a waterproof basket and set him adrift among the reeds, hoping he would be saved from Pharaoh's death squads. Those must have been precious years. Jochebed's story is one of trust, courage, and faith. The ruler had thought sparing women was safe, but the midwives, the Hebrew mother, the daughter of Pharaoh, and Miriam, all work together to spare one child5. (NET). Years passed. Rabbah 1:16). Answer (1 of 15): Yes, it was forbidden in Lev. The Pharaoh's daughter agreed and so Miriam called her mother, who was appointed to take care of him. Rabbah 1:26). Exodus 6: 20 We must remember that the young woman was the kings daughter, and that the hatred for the Israelites was bred into the very core of her being. My mother Jochebeds teeth were blunted by [the death of] two of her children in her lifetime; will more of her teeth be blunted by my death? But this argument, too, was of no avail (Deut. Hebrews 11:23 BY FAITH they hid MosesThey saw life through the eyes of faith. The sage, who wanted to awaken them, said: A single woman in Egypt gave birth to sixty myriads from a single stomach. There was a pupil there named R. Ishmael son of R. Yose, who asked him: Was this really so? He [Rabbi] replied: This is Jochebed, who bore Moses, who is deemed the equivalent of sixty myriads of Israel (Song of Songs Rabbah 1:15:3). Miriam, who was six years old at the time, said: Father, father, your decree is harsher than that of Pharaoh. She was curious, what could be in it? The Torah relates that the midwives did not fulfill Pharaohs command because they feared God, who rewarded them for their actions: He established households [battim] for them (Ex. Yet another tradition explains that she shiprah her actions before God (i.e., performed good deeds that were pleasing to the Lord). 14:1: The wisest of women builds her house is applied to Miriam (Midrash Proverbs 14:1). Would he forget our family? Perhaps there would be some shade too from the sun in the reeds. 6:20). Text says she went to bathe in the Nile. F. Hebrew 11:23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. Amram married Jochebed who was also from the tribe of Levi, one of Jacobs 12 sons. She saw that he was a beautiful child, and hid him for three months. The story of Moses' mother is found in chapter two of Exodus, Exodus 6:20, and Numbers 26:59. Like Jochebed, they trust God to find a loving home for their child. Years she had to love and influence her child for God. It was by faith that he was hidden, not by fear! This would be shallow water, away from the currents that would have carried him down the Nile. Here is part of the irony of the passage: What was perceived by many to be a womanly weakness compassion for a baby is a strong enough emotion to prompt the (this) woman to defy the orders of Pharaoh. How will you be encouraged by Jochebed to boldly face your fears today? His sister stationed herself at a distance to find out what would happen to him. The Rabbis identify Jochebed with Shiphrah, one of the two Hebrew midwives (Shiphrah and Puah) who delivered the children of the Israelites during the Egyptian servitude. Jochebed knew also that God had foretold the bondage in Egypt which they were now experiencing. After three months Jochebed was forced to obey the decree of Pharaoh. The story is familiar to many, but so that we have it clearly in mind, we summarize it here. Conservative scholars date the "Exodus," a landmark in Israel's history, at 1446 B.C. Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. It took faith to place the child in the river. In the Rabbinic retelling, when Amram returned his wife, Jochebed was a hundred and thirty years of age, but signs of youth appeared on her: her body became smoother, her wrinkles were straightened out, and her former beauty was restored. Rabbah 7:3; Ex. She is noted among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. Life comes with the opportunity to learn the art of Releasing when we have no control, of dealing with extenuating circumstances that we can do nothing about. Women of Influence choose to: Truth: Let it go and trust God. By faith, Jochebed and her husband Amram hid their son Moses even against the king of Egypt's edict that all Hebrew boys should be put to death at birth. In 1571 BC, Pharaoh Ramesses I ordered the extermination of all of the Israelites ' newborn babies to avert a prophecy that one of them would lead the Israelites out of slavery. Possible that he was alive during the Exodus, remember Moses was 80 years old then. She did . There are several data points we have to nail down in order to properly defend the Bible 's assertion that 600,000 men left Egypt with Moses in the Exodus. Answer (1 of 23): Re your query: According to Exodus 2, Moses' mother gave him back to Pharoah's daughter. Some, its likely all of us, know the pain of giving up, letting go of someone, or something precious to you: A relationship, a job, a dream. She and her husband, Amram lived around 1571BC to 1613BC or 2,433 years after Creation. According to the Book of Numbers, Jochebed was born to Levi when he lived in Egypt. She was the daughter of a Levite, and she married Amram, another Levite ( Exodus 2:1 ). The Pharaoh had decreed that all their baby boys were to be thrown into the Nile, because he feared that they might become too powerful. And works His sovereign will. Jochebed: Mother of Moses. Lit. The babys own mother. Help us elevate the voices of Jewish women. Jochebed, more commonly referred to as the mom of Moses, is an important biblical character when studying mothers in the Bible. Jochebed is usually lost in the shadow of her famous son, Moses, and although she is many times forgotten when studying Exodus 2:1-10, surely in Heaven Jochebed is well known. Exodus 2:1-2. and Jochebed knew as long as she trusted Jehovah, she had nothing to fear. Jochebed made a decision, and she made a plan. A type of non-halakhic literary activitiy of the Rabbis for interpreting non-legal material according to special principles of interpretation (hermeneutical rules). In the midrashic exegesis, the Egyptians counted the months of her pregnancy only from her return to Amram; they did not know that she was already in the third month (see above), and so Moses could be hidden in his parents home until he had had time to grow and develop. [Amram lived 137 years]. And so, when we have done all we can do, we must calmly trust in the Lordeven though to us there seems to be no way out. Moses' sister, Miriam, accompanied her younger brother when he led the Hebrew people in their escape from slavery in Egypt. A number of miracles were performed for Jochebed in connection with the birth of Moses: she bore him at the age of one hundred and thirty, and God restored her youth and her beauty. Pursuing her life passion to teach the Word of God, train leaders and connect people in community, Dianne Miller has dedicated years as a teaching leader in Bible Study Fellowship as well as directing Womens Ministries at the Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia and Northwest Bible Church, More, The Net Pastors Journal, Eng. Finally, when they did speak, they concluded that Job was among the worst of sinners, and that he suffered as a result of deep sin in his life (Job 4:7). Resources Lockyer's All the Women of the Bible Chapter 2. . There arc three arks mentioned in Scripture. Jochebed was aware, when she was expecting a new arrival in the family, that if the child should be a boythe decree was that the male baby would have to perish in the Nile Riverand if the parents disobeyed, they too were subject to death. I took him to the pediatrician and I knew it was a urinary tract infection, wed get the pink bubble gum antibiotic and hed be fine. Also read Numbers 26:58-59. And the woman took the child, and nursed it (Exodus 2:9). For others, health deteriorates, death takes a loved one, and plans for the future are shattered. Clearly Jochebed and Amram married before the prohibition was given, but it is a bit of a shocker that for all those Israelites who knew the law looking back on it with hindsight. He is the author "Hope for Hurting Singles: A Christian Guide to Overcoming Life's Challenges.". [17][18] Biblical scholars have instead simply proposed that the discrepancy in the enumeration of Leah's children is due to the list not originally having included Dinah, who was added by a later editor to introduce consistency with the story of the Rape of Dinah. She chose bulrushes, a soft and flexible material that is capable of withstanding contact with both soft and hard objects. The A type of non-halakhic literary activitiy of the Rabbis for interpreting non-legal material according to special principles of interpretation (hermeneutical rules).midrash portrays Jochebed as a wise woman who was righteous and God-fearing. [23] According to biblical scholars, the Torah's genealogy for Levi's descendants, is actually an aetiological myth reflecting the fact that there were four different groups among the Levites the Gershonites, Kohathites, Merarites, and Aaronids;[24] Aaron the eponymous ancestor of the Aaronids couldn't be portrayed as a brother to Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, as the narrative about the birth of Moses (brother of Aaron), which textual scholars attribute to the earlier Elohist source, mentions only that both his parents were Levites (without identifying their names). That Jochebed could still be bearing children at the age of forty-eight might seem unlikely by modern standards. Moses was a prophet during biblical times. Truthfully, there is a certain amount of pain, a loneliness pain, when they leave home to go to college, when they get married, when they start their own life. Just so, when we get beyond our depths, and when we get in deep water, we cry out to God for help. We don't know but we hope that she too was alive to see the Exodus. What to do? Moses said: The mouth that will speak with God will not nurse something impure [the milk of non-Jews]. Jochebed which in Hebrew means: Jehovah is glory both she and her husband were from the tribe of Levi the priestly tribe. Although her jealously later in life led to . There was the risk of him being discovered, or washed away in an errant wave. PO Box 391 1 Several rabbinic commentaries attest to this and comment that maidenhood was restored to Jochebed at the time of her marriage to Amram. Jochebed Mother of Moses. Likewise, we have nothing to fear when we learn to rely on God. Yet the Bible reveals that Levi and his son and grandson all had very long life spans. Keep him quiet? (Genesis 1:7-10) Pharaoh gave the midwives an order to kill any boy that was born of the Hebrew women . On the foundation of Gods promise not to destroy Israel, and on the basis of a four hundred year servitudethe parents of Moses believed that God would preserve him and use him for His purpose. She was probably about the same age as Amram or maybe even younger. Born into a Levite family, Moses' natural parents, Jochebed (mother) and Amram (father) reared Moses until he was about 3 months old. He lived 137 years. Have you ever worked in the baby bed nursery at church? I wonder if she picked him up, cuddled him to stop his cries; did he smile at her and melt her heart? All must work for good to me. Hebrews 11:23 and Exodus 2:1-2 and 6:20. Jesus says to us, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:31-32). One such mother is Jochebed in the Bible. 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