Jochebed (Moses' mother) was a Failure
(Part of the Biblical Failures Series)
--If you don't have much time, scroll down and start at the section titled, "The Story Goes Gray"--
Introduction
Many of us view Moses as a great man of God. He was an amazing leader who led Israel out of slavery and into the Promised Land! How grand it must have been to be the mother of such an amazing person.
Or not.
Jochebed was a failure.
It's a Boy! -- was NOT a celebration.
Or, at least, she probably thought she was. As far as we know, Moses was the second male child born to Amram and Jochebed. The conditions surrounding their births were very different. By the time that Moses was born, it was illegal for male children to live. In a spirit of heroic and loving motherhood, Jochebed managed to hide Moses for three months! (See Exodus 2). As any mother of an infant knows, this was no small achievement! But things changed, and after three months, his parents had to face the agonizing realization that if they tried to hide him any longer, he would be found, and if found, murdered. As my pastor mentioned this morning, Jochebed had to be willing to give up her motherhood of Moses in order to save his life. "In order for Moses to live, someone else would have to raise him." (Thomas Lorimer)
Losing Her Baby
Imagine the thoughts and feelings that Jochebed must have struggled with. If she puts him in the Nile, he is going to cry. If he cries, people will find him. If the wrong person finds him . . . He will die. It must have been a tremendous internal battle. Jochebed certainly realized that she may never see her baby again. But practically, their options were few. If they keep him, he will die, guaranteed. If they try to let an Egyptian find him, he has a very slight chance at living. But the Bible gives us a clearer perspective in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 23. "By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict." Jochebed had faith in a great big God, and she trusted that God was in control. Though she would have to give her child up, and she may never see him again, she believed that God could take care of him.
Irony upon Irony
This story is full of irony. I find it comical that Moses' parents actually found a creative way to obey the law. The law stated that all Hebrew boys should be thrown into the Nile. That's exactly what they did -- they just put a boat underneath! lol.
But I'm sure that on that day they were not smirking to themselves about how clever they had been. Who wouldn't be crying on the day you see your baby for the last time? An interesting note is that Moses' parents did not turn their backs on him. Miriam, his sister, "stood at a distance to see what would happen to him" (v 4). By chance (or an act of God), the daughter of Pharaoh shows up! The hand of God is clearly evident. She has compassion and decides to adopt this child as her own. Miriam, obviously old enough to allow God to give her a clever wit, shows up (and no one is surprised?) and offers to find a Hebrew to be a nurse mother to raise the boy for the princess. The princess agrees. And in a powerful irony that only God can create -- Jochebed was hired by the princess to raise Moses! She's getting paid to raise her own son!
Losing Her Baby the Second Time
Or not. No, in a very real sense, this baby was no longer her child. She had in fact lost her motherhood of him in order to save his life. And when he was old enough, Jochebed lost her child again. She had to give him to Pharaoh's daughter. I have no idea whether this would have been harder or easier than the first time. Perhaps some of you mothers will be able to tell me. But I imagine that this loss was harder. Mothers often worry about their children, and I imagine that Jochebed was very afraid. Which is worse, to lose your child to death, or to lose your child's soul? The only danger she faced the first time was that her baby would die. But now she is turning over a young and impressionable child to an evil tyrant - to be trained in state, in court, and in politics. Moses would be trained to be exactly the kind of person that the Hebrews hated. Mom, isn't this harder than death? Jochebed had but a short time to try to instill every value she possibly could in this young boy. And then he was gone. Gone to be indoctrinated as a communist leader. Gone to a Muslim suicide bomber training camp. Gone to be trained by the enemy. ... Worry ...
The Story Goes Gray
So far, the story has been amazing. God has turned things inside out and done some really awesome miracles! But what happens now? She is no longer Moses' mother. She does not know what will happen. But the possibilities certainly don't look good. We don't really know what all Jochebed knew of Moses after that. But let's imagine what she might have known. After such a long time, how he had turned out? Would he turn on them and become a regular Egyptian? Perhaps a glimmer of hope comes when she hears that Moses is not really acting as the son of the daughter of Pharaoh, but has come down to see his fellow Hebrews. But hope turns to dispair, when just as quickly, she receives news that her son is a murderer. It sounds more like he has become an angry rebellious young man, who both turned against Pharaoh and against his own people. No, he didn't become who she had hoped. And in all too short a time, her little baby Moses has become a murderer and a fugitive.
Jochebed, You're a Failure
A murderer and a fuguive. With a price on his head, her boy flees from the country. And it's very likely that he's never heard from again. Not from his mom, anyway. He worked in the desert for 40 years, and certainly couldn't come back to visit. While it is possible that Jochebed had already passed away before Moses became a murderer, we can be quite sure that she was dead before he returned on God's business. Assuming she was still alive, the last she knew of her son was that he had turned out awful. She must have spent all too much time scolding herself for not telling him one more story about God, for never telling him that one important truth she forgot, for not doing enough ... for not being good enough. How could she have failed after God had given him back to her? But she had. She had failed as a mother, and her son was lost.
What About You? -The Rest of the Story
The story could end there. And perhaps it has for you. It may seem as though all is lost, and your children are lost forever. Perhaps you are crying, like Jochebed, "Why didn't he just die when he was a baby? Then he would have gone to heaven! Now his soul is lost, and however will he come back to God again?"
But the Bible never gives us this idea of Jochebed. Instead, she appears in God's "Hall of Faith", as someone who trusted and believed God to do what she could not! God had worked in Moses' life when it was impossible, and God could do it again! I imagine that Jochebed spent more hours than any of us could count praying for her son. Mom couldn't do anything for her boy anymore, but she could pray. She could pray ... she could pray until the day she died. I have heard so many testimonies about the power of a praying mom. Don't give up! Jochebed felt like a failure too. But her son was Moses, leader of Israel!
If you can do nothing else, pray hard! The God of Moses and his mom is still God today! I remind you that Jochebed never saw her son amount to anything. But we did. We see the rest of the story,
"By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible." - Hebrews 11:24-27
