The Love of a Mother: A Story from Exodus 2
Understanding the Context in Exodus
If you got your Bibles, open up there to the book of Exodus. Before we read from Exodus 2, it is kind of important to understand the setting and the context that builds up to Exodus chapter 2.
If we think back or flip back to Genesis, in the book of Genesis around chapter 42, we read that there was a famine in the land of Israel and in the land of Egypt and people were starving and people needed food.
But if you know the Bible and you know Genesis, you know that there was a man named Joseph that we read about in Genesis and his brothers sold him into slavery. We remember that story. They sold him into slavery and he got sold into slavery and he was in Egypt. And Genesis tells us that story of Joseph. It is a great story if you have never read it.
But then what we see happens is Joseph is in prison in Egypt, but God miraculously raises him to power. God gives him ability to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. And he has a dream that nobody could interpret, but Joseph could. And Joseph interpreted and said what it meant was that there would be seven years of plenty, plenty of food, but then there would be seven years of famine. And then Joseph shared that the Pharaoh would be wise to appoint a man to oversee storing up food in the seven years of plenty. And we, those of us that know the story, know that Pharaoh saw that God had His hand on Joseph. And Pharaoh promoted Joseph—this young boy that was sold as a slave into Egypt. He promoted him to the number two person in the whole land. The only man that was above Joseph as far as ranking and influence and power was Pharaoh himself.
Well, we remember Joseph—he was wise. God was with him. He stored up food. So all the people would come from all over to get food to Egypt. And Joseph was in charge of all that.
Well, we remember in Genesis 42, Joseph’s brothers, their dad Israel or Jacob said, “We need to get food. Go to Egypt. I hear they are giving food out there.” And he sent his brothers and his brothers did not know that their brother who they sold was the one in charge in Egypt. And a lot of us know the story. The brothers came and eventually Joseph told them who he was and Joseph forgave them and Joseph gave them food. And then in Genesis 46, we see that Jacob, their father, who was renamed Israel, he decided to move back—he decided to move to Egypt with all of his family and he knew Joseph was there and he knew they would have food. And what the Bible tells us in Exodus 1 is that when Israel came with his family, there were a total of about 70 people in all of Israel—between his sons and their kids and so forth.
Well, as we go on in Exodus chapter 1, right before the chapter that we are going to read today, we read that Joseph died, his father died, his brothers died, but Israel as a nation continued to grow. In Exodus 1, we see they were fruitful and they multiplied and they got very, very big as a nation, but they were living in Egypt.
Well, Exodus 1:8 tells us that a new king arose in Egypt. The old Pharaoh was gone. Joseph and all his brothers and dad were gone and there was a new king and he did not know any of them. All he knew was there was this nation Israel that was huge and had a massive population. And verse 8 of Exodus 1 tells us he was fearful that they would eventually join another enemy and overtake Egypt because they had that many people. They had grown from 70 to many, many, many thousands. So they—Exodus 1 tells them—they the king ordered for them to be afflicted, but Israel kept growing as a nation even though they were in bondage in Egypt.
Exodus 1:15, the king gave orders to the Hebrew midwives. Watch what he said. He said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”
This king was so scared about the way Israel was growing that he told Shiphrah and Puah, two of the midwives, he told them to kill all of the baby boys as they were born.
We go to Exodus 1:17, what we see in Exodus 1 is the midwives feared God. So they did not obey the king. They did not kill the boys. Then in verse 18 of Exodus 1, it says, “So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, ‘Why have you done this thing and saved the male children alive?’ And the midwives said to Pharaoh, ‘Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.’” Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them.
So the midwives did not obey the king’s orders. So Israel continued to grow. It is interesting. Pharaoh wanted to make a name for himself, but in the Bible, Pharaoh does not get a name right here. But you know who does get a name? Those two midwives. Their name is mentioned because they feared God. I think that is really cool.
But Pharaoh, he still had this problem. This new king of Egypt—Israel continued to grow. So in Exodus 1:22 right before the chapter we are about to read it says, “So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, ‘Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.’”
Can you imagine how evil this was? This king was so scared and so fearful of this nation that since the midwives would not kill them at birth, he said, “If it is a boy that is born to the Israelites, throw him in the river so he will die.” Evil.
Now, sadly, today, there are still millions and millions of babies that do not get to live before they are born. Not the same situation as this, but certainly a hard thing to imagine.
When I think about this story, I cannot imagine living in a setting like that where baby boys are born and they are thrown in a river to die. That is the setting that we get to as we are about to read Exodus 2. So as we read that, keep that setting in mind.
Reading Exodus 2
And I do invite anybody that is able, would like to stand with me in the reading of the Word of God. We are in Exodus chapter 2, and we are going to begin reading there in verse 1. There the Word of God says,
“And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him. Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrews’ children.’ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?’ And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Go.’ So the maiden went and called the child’s mother. Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed him. And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, ‘Because I drew him out of the water.’”
Thank you. You may be seated.
The Sacrificial Love of Moses’ Mother
You know here when we read this passage, one thing we see and we read about is the love of a mother.
A mother—she will do anything and everything to love and to protect her children. A loving mother—she will do anything. And that is what we read about here. We read about Moses’s mom. She is in a situation that I cannot imagine for any mother to be in. All the baby boys are being ordered by the government to be thrown in the river, but she is not going to do it. The Bible says she hides him three months, but then it gets to the point where she cannot hide him anymore. So she has to make an ark for him to hide in. We read about Moses. We read about Moses’s mom and her name in Numbers. In Numbers 26, it says, “The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt. And to Amram she bore Aaron and Moses and their sister Miriam.” So we read about Moses’s mom’s name, Jochebed. And we read that Moses had a sister Miriam and Moses had a brother Aaron as well.
But what an amazing picture we get of the love of a mother in this story of Moses’s mom. First understand when she is hiding him for three months, I cannot imagine what those three months were like for her because everybody knows that all the baby boys have to be thrown in the river. Again, it is hard to imagine, but everybody knows it. And you know, babies cry. So I have got to imagine she had many close calls. And understand, she was just trying to find a way for her son to live. But understand every time he cried or someone came around, that put her life in danger. But she would have rather died and give her son a chance to live than live and her son died because that is the love of a mother.
It says in Exodus 2:3, “But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank.” It got too dangerous for her to hide her son, and she got to a point where she had to make, I would imagine, the toughest decision of her life, to leave her son by the riverside.
And it uses a word in the Hebrew that is only used one other time in the Old Testament, I believe. And it is used when it is talking about Noah building the ark. It uses that same Hebrew word for what she put Moses in. Almost what you picture is like some kind of box with holes that was like a little boat. And just like God protected Noah and protected his family during the flood, God also protected Moses. Amen.
But it all began with the love of a mother. I have got to imagine when he was hiding for three months with her, when he was in that little boat by the river’s edge, I have got to imagine she was praying a lot. “Lord, protect my son.”
In verse 4, we see that Moses’s sister, Miriam, stood at a distance when Pharaoh’s daughter came up. I would bet that Moses’s mom told Miriam, “Listen, I need you to keep an eye on him for me.” And it says there in verse 5 and 6, “Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrews’ children.’”
This was a critical point. Her mom had left Moses there. And this point was critical because Pharaoh’s daughter could have done anything. And remember, Pharaoh’s daughter, it was her dad that was ordering the throwing of the babies into the river. But Pharaoh’s daughter had compassion on this baby.
And then what we see next is really cool. It says, “Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?’” Moses’s sister was pretty slick, was she not? She said, “Can I go call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women?” Well, who did she call? Her mom, who was also Moses’s mom. And talk about God rewarding the courage of Moses’s mom and the way that she loved her son. God allowed her to nurse Moses and then Moses became a child to Pharaoh’s daughter.
I cannot imagine what that was like for Jochebed as she had to give up her son knowing he lived real close by but lived in Pharaoh’s home instead of in her home. But that is the love of a mother. The love of a mother will do anything for her child—even if it meant keeping him alive, then she could not raise him. I cannot imagine what that would have been like. But it is interesting the irony in this passage. The new king, Pharaoh of Egypt, he was so scared of Israel that he wanted to kill all the baby boys. Meanwhile, what God did is He raised up the deliverer for Israel right in Pharaoh’s home. Is not that something? God used this situation that was so hard for Moses to end up growing up in Pharaoh’s home and to prepare Moses to one day lead God’s people.
There Is No Love Like the Love of a Mother
As I think about that and I think about how she loved, it gives us that great example of the love of a mother. Something that I thought about is there is no love that is quite like the love of a mother. There is no human relationship that I know of that loves the way a mother loves her child. Amen.
There is something so special about the love of a mother. And if you got the love of a mother in your life, what a blessing because there is nothing quite like the love of a mother.
You know, every time when we come to Mother’s Day, I cannot help but think about Crystal and the amazing mother she is to Isabella and Greenley and Gabriel. And I cannot help but think about my mother, Linda Anne Hoffman Riley. And I know for y’all some of y’all have some amazing memories too of your own mother.
You know, my mother was amazing. She raised all seven of us and she raised us well and she loved us so much. I remember being young. She was at everything there was for us. All of pretty much all of us played all kinds of sports, were in all kinds of different things. She was at every single thing for all seven of us. I remember growing up as a boy. She kept our house in order. Can you imagine raising seven kids? I cannot imagine. She had paper bags—those old paper bags you used to pack lunch in—lined up. Man, she made sure we learned work ethic. We were like a little army doing chores around the house for her. She had us—she put us to work every night. Someone would set the table. Someone would hand wash the dishes. No dishwasher. That is right. Someone would clear the table, someone would sweep the floor, someone would wipe the counter. She taught us work ethic and knew that every Saturday we had chores for a few hours and she would come around with a flashlight to make sure we dusted properly. You and she would—that is the only other time I have had a flashlight check was when I was a waiter in the restaurant. And she was harder than my managers on that.
She was an amazing mother and she loved us so very much. I remember when I was a little boy in the fourth grade, I got an F on a paper. That is right. And I did not think—I did not really think it was that big of a deal. And I came home and she is like, “How was school today?” And I said, “I got an F.” And she looked at me, she said, “You what?” I really did not think it was that big of a deal. And she said, “Get in that car right now.” It was not a car. It was more like a bus because we had nine of us. She drove me up to the school. And you better believe that that guy that was my teacher, he saw a mother coming out of it. He was not going to tell her no. So he let me retake it. And all I remember is she started studying with me after that. And from fourth grade to 9th grade, not because I am smart, because I am not that smart. Because my mom worked with me. I got all A’s. Fourth grade to 9th grade. I went from an F student to all A’s because I had the love of a mother helping me.
Spelling Bee. I could not spell that well, but I was one of the kids that was going to be in the spelling bee contest. She studied with me for hours every night. Helped me to win every year. There is—and she did that for all seven of us. There is nothing quite like the love of a mother.
My mom passed away when I was 13. She had breast cancer, but I remember when I was 13 and breast cancer had come back. She had it when I was about eight the first time and it came back when I was 13. And at that time, running was a big part of my life. And I was running my second marathon. It was the Marine Corps Marathon. And I will never forget, this was a month before my mother died. She had been taking chemo and radiation. She had a turban on her head. She was pale in color. It was cold out in DC in October. And I will never forget seeing her at so many mile markers along that course being pushed in a wheelchair cheering for her son. That is the way a mother loves. They will be there for anything for their kid and they will do anything for their child.
I remember three days after the marathon, I had a junior high cross country championship for all for Western North Carolina. And I had beaten those boys all year, but I had just ran 26 miles. This was either the last race or one of the very last races my mom watched. And I remember starting that race at dead last because my legs were—three days before I had ran 26 miles. I could not even move my legs hardly. And I will never forget after about halfway through the race, I was in the middle of the pack and about 400 yards there were me and one boy. And this boy could kick. And I remember thinking, I have got to sprint now. And I sprinted right then and he flew by me when he saw me sprint. But I kept chasing him around, chasing him around the final curve until finally at the finish line, I leaned and I beat him. And it was not me that day. It was like God just helped my physical body to win one more time. And I was never the same after that. But it is like God allowed my mom to see one more race where I was there. I remember one week before she passed away, she was out in the snow flurries at my youngest sister’s 7-year-old soccer game. That is the way a mother loves.
There is nothing quite like the love of a mother. She wanted to see her kids succeed and she would do anything for them.
You know, my mom when she got breast cancer, I remember I had asthma and sometimes it would act up and when it acted up, it was bad. Well, it had acted up on me and I was out of school and it was just me and my mom. She took me to the doctor and then we were coming back to the house in the mountains and there were two steps to walk up to get to the porch. Now, my mom was a strong lady. She was a great athlete when she was younger. She was a very strong lady, but cancer had overtaken her body. And I will never forget she started to walk up those two steps and she was about to fall and she could not—she did not have the strength to lift up. So I—I was a little 13-year-old boy. I helped her up and she got to the top of the patio right before the front door and I did not think anything of it, but all of a sudden she just started falling. And I said, “Mom, what is wrong?” And she screamed out there in the middle of the mountains, “I should be helping you. You should not be helping me.” She loved her kids and she wanted to do everything possible for her kids. And she knew her physical body was breaking down. But I want to tell you to the last day she did everything she could do to love her children because that is how a mother is.
There is no love like the love of a mother. Crystal, I could go on and on about her. She told me not to though. But I want to share a few things, just a few. I will never forget when Isabella was born in Lumberton and some lady we had never seen came in our hospital room and she just said something happened baby I cannot remember what it was—we are airlifting her and she walked out. Crystal got her IV pole and she started—she had just given birth—she started chasing her down the hall say what are you talking about I will go with my baby. Well the lady was wrong she had the wrong room but that exudes the way a mother will do anything anything for her children.
And mothers are way stronger than us fathers, I think. That is why they are the ones that give birth. I remember when Greenley was in the hospital being born. She was in there 2 weeks. She was in the NICU. She was a big baby, a healthy baby, but she had a hole in her heart. Crystal would not leave the hospital. She would not check out. Crystal could have gone home after 3 days, but her little baby was in there. And for two weeks, Crystal was staying right in there, too.
And I will never forget when Greenley was young going to kindergarten. She was scared. And there used to be this little book that Crystal would read to the kids called The Kissing Hand. And when Greenley was scared, Crystal kissed her hand and said, “When you are scared, just remember I am there with you.” That is the way a mother loves.
I remember Gabriel when he was a little baby, not old at all, a couple days. He was in a bassinet by me, Crystal, and her mom, Deborah, and we were about to go to bed, but something told us to have a Bible study. We had a Bible study, and during the Bible study, his face turned blue. He would have choked and died. He was—his whole face was blue. Crystal and her mom saved Gabriel’s life. That is by getting whatever it was out of him. That is the love of a mother.
There is no love like the love of a mother. And I just want to say a couple things before we wrap up. One thing, do not take the love of a mother for granted. We see in this passage a picture of the love of a mother in Moses’s mom. If you are blessed enough to have a mother that loves you, do not take it for granted. And if you are blessed enough to have a mother that loves you, tell her how much you appreciate her. And if you do not have your mother, but you have got a person that is a mother to you and is like your mother, tell her how much you appreciate what she does for you.
And I will say this, too. If you are a mother, I hope you know how special you are. There is nothing like the love of a mother. There is no human relationship that I know of that loves the way a mother loves her kids. I do not know of a human relationship that loves the way a mother loves her kids. There is something different in the way a mother loves her kids. There is something special about the way a mother loves her kids. And to the mothers that are there, I hope you are encouraged at what you do. What you do is so important. The way you raise your kids, the way you love your kids, you are a blessing. And do not let anybody or the enemy ever think make you think you are not important. You are vitally important.
And you know, if you do not have kids here on this earth, but you have the love of a mother in you, God might just work through you to be a mother figure for someone that does not have one.
And if you are here today and it is a hard day, for whatever reason, I know there are different reasons that today can be hard for different people, but I pray God gives you peace. I never—I do not know how it happened from the passing of my mother and passing of my father, but it is like one day God just supernaturally gave me peace. I mourned. I grieved. I struggled. It takes time, but I prayed. But I can honestly say God just did something where I never had sadness again after some amount of time. I do not know how it was not me, but I pray somehow someway. Because I know we got people in here today that are grieving. I know we got people here today that have lost people they love and mothers that have been lost. So, I pray that God just gives you peace today.
The Greatest Love of All
And I just want to close by saying this. When I think about the ultimate love from a human relationship, I think about a mother. But when I think about the ultimate love, I think about how there is no love we can have like the love of God.
God. I want I hope everybody in this sanctuary today knows God loves you more than you can imagine.
If you have a mother that loves you today, if you are a mother that is loving kids, or if you do not have your mother here, or if today is a hard day, I pray that you know how much God loves you. And I thank God that we got Him in the hard times. For those that it is a hard day today, go to God because I will say there is there is no love like the love God has for His children. God loves you more than you can imagine.
And if there is a feeling of sadness in you today, if there is a feeling of discouragement in you today, remember God loves you. And remember to go to God. He loves you so much. You are loved by God.
And in the hard times, remember what the Scripture says. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He loves you. He loves you just the way you are. And we know that verse. A lot of us do. One of the verses that talks about God’s love and how much He loves us.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Amen.
That is how much God loves you. God loves you so much that He gave up His one and only Son Jesus Christ our Lord to die for you to die for me.
That is how much God loves you. God loves you so much that He made a way you can be forgiven.
Every one of us are sinners. Every one of us have made mistakes. Every one of us fall short of the glory of God. But God loves you so much that He made a way for you to be forgiven by sending His Son Jesus. Jesus suffered for you. He died for you and He rose on the third day so that when you place your faith and your trust in Him, He will forgive you and you will be saved. Just like Moses delivered Israel one day out of Egypt, God would deliver you out of sin and death and into a way to have eternal life with Him.
So just today, I pray that everybody in this place knows how much God loves you. And if today is a wonderful day where you are celebrating your mother or you are a mother and you are blessed with your kids, praise God. But even if today is a hard day, every one of us, we have got God who loves us. And every one of us, we can go to the Lord and He is there for us.
