oppression had not the result expected of reducing their number. On the
contrary, “the more the Egyptians afflicted them, the more they multiplied
and grew” (Exodus 1:12).
The king next tried, through a compact secretly made with the guild of
midwives, to bring about the destruction of all the Hebrew male children
that might be born. But the king’s wish was not rigorously enforced; the
male children were spared by the midwives, so that “the people
multiplied” more than ever. Thus baffled, the king issued a public
proclamation calling on the people to put to death all the Hebrew male
children by casting them into the river (Exodus 1:22). But neither by this
edict was the king’s purpose effected.
One of the Hebrew households into which this cruel edict of the king
brought great alarm was that of Amram, of the family of the Kohathites
(Exodus 6:16-20), who with his wife Jochebed and two children, Miriam, a
girl of perhaps fifteen years of age, and Aaron, a boy of three years,
resided in or near Memphis, the capital city of that time. In this quiet
home a male child was born (B.C. 1571). His mother concealed him in the
house for three months from the knowledge of the civic authorities. But
when the task of concealment became difficult, Jochebed contrived to bring
her child under the notice of the daughter of the king by constructing for
him an ark of bulrushes, which she laid among the flags which grew on the
edge of the river at the spot where the princess was wont to come down
and bathe. Her plan was successful. The king’s daughter “saw the child;
and behold the child wept.” The princess (see PHARAOH’S
DAUGHTER [1]) sent Miriam, who was standing by, to fetch a nurse.
She went and brought the mother of the child, to whom the princess said,
“Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages.”
Thus Jochebed’s child, whom the princess called “Moses”, i.e., “Saved
from the water” (Exodus 2:10), was ultimately restored to her.
As soon as the natural time for weaning the child had come, he was
transferred from the humble abode of his father to the royal palace, where
he was brought up as the adopted son of the princess, his mother probably
accompanying him and caring still for him. He grew up amid all the
grandeur and excitement of the Egyptian court, maintaining, however,
probably a constant fellowship with his mother, which was of the highest
importance as to his religious belief and his interest in his “brethren.” His
education would doubtless be carefully attended to, and he would enjoy all