King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 17 notes
1And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
2And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
I don’t get it, which parent does not see the child as a goodly child 🧒.
Every parent adores their little ones. Dake’s describes him as “very fair”... Moses was indeed very beautiful even as a baby 🤱
3And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.
This law, it indeed was in force and must have been very stringent for Moses’s parents to take this step. Does that therefore imply that, like Jesus, Moses’s age mates in Egypt had been killed?
4And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.
Aww.. This Miriam who watched over her junior brother and gave her life in essence.
80 years later she was to challenge him only to find out he was a senior in the spirit.
5And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.
6And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children.
She gave her son up to another for adoption.
Rather than lose him, she was willing to let him go in order to gain him.
7Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?
8And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother.
It was a very wicked and cruel regime.
A slave-master relationship automatically existed between every Egyptian and Israelite, no matter if they were royalty or not.
It’s much like the slave trade, and all blacks were seen as being inferior.
This pattern has been etched in the sands of history from time immemorial.
9And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it.
Oh what divine providence. How many other women hid their children 🧒.
The mother of the child becomes the nurse. Oh what love would be shown to this child 🧒,
she knowing that as soon as he is nursed, her own child will be taken away to the castle to learn the culture of kings and royalty 👑.
10And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.
I did not birth him, nor was he in the water of the womb, but birthed from the water 💦 of a river.
11And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.
How did he know he was Hebrew? Obviously evidence was given by his mother whiles nursing him that he was a Hebrew.
12And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.
13And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?
14And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.
15Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.
This very complex turn of events is explained very simply.
The investigation that had to be carried out before concluding on Moses as guilty, the confusion in the palace about what Moses had done.
His mother’s tears 😭. Sad moments — he was going to be a fugitive forever, never to return home 🏡 and never to be seen by both his mothers.
Egypt 🇪🇬 was the superpower of the time, and if they are on the look out for you, there is no come back.
16Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.
The many stories and happenings that took place by wells.
Including that of Jesus.
Well it’s understandable — wells were life, where water was drawn daily for survival.
17And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
18And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?
19And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.
Reminds me of Jacob.
Could not God have revealed himself to Moses and sent him to deliver Israel 🇮🇱?
He easily could have, but Israel needed to stay in Egypt 🇪🇬 until the fullness of time.
20And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.
21And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
22And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.
Similar to his father Israel, their history is filled with stories of being in strange lands and marrying and establishing themselves there.
And often becoming even greater than the natives.
23And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
And now a new king 👑 comes to power and continues the enslavement without questioning it or its history.
Was it that they cried to God by reason of their bondage and God heard, or was it that they cried in pain and anguish and God heard their pain though it was not directed at him, yet because of his covenant he remembered?
Interestingly God’s covenant was with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whiles the rest by birth were participants of the covenant.
Even after the death of the old king, the law and system of oppression continues without question because it benefited the oppressor.
We must stand up for what we believe in even if it has been the norm or we came to meet it.
The fact that something has been in existence for long and has become the norm doesn’t mean that it is right, nor must be accepted without question.
We must be bold to stand up for what we believe in.
24And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
25And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.