#14 March 1 - Baby Moses

The Birth of Moses

Exodus 2:1-10

Amram, an Israelite from the House of Levi, married Yocheved, also from the House of Levi. And Yocheved gave birth to a son. When she saw how good (tov) he was, she hid the baby for three months. When she could no longer hide him, she took a small basket made of reeds and placed the child in it. Then she set it afloat among the reeds along the banks of the Nile. Miriam, the baby's sister, watched from a distance to see what would happen to the child.

Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe in the Nile. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to bring it to her. When she opened it, she found a baby boy, crying. She took pity on him and said, "This must be one of the Hebrew babies."

Then Miriam said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Should I go and fetch you a Hebrew woman to nurse the child?"

"Yes, go, " Pharaoh's daughter answered.

Miriam brought Yocheved, the baby's mother.

Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child, nurse him, and I will pay you."

So Yocheved took her own child and nursed him. And when he was old enough, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted him as her own son.

Pharaoh's daughter named him Moses, Moshe, because, she said, "I took him out - mee-shee-tee-hu - of the water."

~

With a partner or on a sheet of paper, answer the following questions:

• Just before this part of the story, the Pharaoh made all Hebrews work as his slaves and then made a law that all Hebrew baby boys born must be thrown into the Nile river. He did this because he was afraid that the Hebrew population would get so big that they would become more powerful than the Egyptians. Does Yocheved, a Hebrew woman, follow the Pharaoh's law? Explain your answer

• This is the moment in the Torah when we first meet Miriam, Moses’ older sister. Based on what she does in this story, how would describe Miriam?

• How is Moses saved?

• Why is the boy named Moses (Moshe)?

• In the future, when Moses is a man, God will call on him to lead the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt so they can be free. The final moment of their escape from Egypt and Pharaoh is when the Hebrews enter the Reed Sea and God causes the waters to split so they can walk through on dry land to safety. Can you see a connection between how Moses is saved as a baby and how the Hebrews are saved? Explain your answer in the comment box below on the blog.

Read the following commentary and answer the related questions:

"When she saw how good (tov) he was" - What does it mean, he was good? When Moses was born the entire house became filled with light. 

This comment comes from Rashi. He thinks it is obvious that all mothers see their newborn babies as good - so what he wants to know is what makes Moses so special? What does "good" mean here? Rashi notices that the same phrase "that he was good" is used to describe the light God creates on the first day of creation. "And God saw that the light was tov - good." So when this story says that Yocheved saw that Moses was good, Rashi thinks it means that he filled her home with light.

• How does this comment explain why Yocheved hid her baby?
• How does this comment explain why Moses is special?