Exodus 2:1-10
The Unnamed Women defeating the power of death to preserve life
Baby Moses’ miraculous escape from the death sentence
Exodus is not a hero story. Moses is not the real hero of
the narrative, but the narrator seems to conceal God in Moses’ life. God’s
presence is not that explicit or visible very often, but Moses is anointed to
represent it.
Moses’ miraculous escape from death is the theme of this
text. Chapter one ends with the death-dealing decree of the Emperor to drown
all the Hebrew baby boys in the Nile (1:22). It is a distortion of the Nile, which
is characteristically a power of life for the whole land. Pharaoh is an arrogant
distorter, a distorter of the life of people who are all around him. As he had
distorted the peaceful life of the Hebrew slaves, he is continuing to distort
the life-giving power of Nile. In spite of the decree of the emperor another
birth happens. Every birth of the Hebrew babies is an act of defiance of the
distortive power of Pharaoh. Birth as an act of defiance and harbinger of a new beginning
The mother sees the baby be a fine baby (v.2), reminds
the readers of the goodness that God as the creator sees in the creation and comments
about while reviewing his creative activity. The same Hebrew root wordtob (טוב) is used in both these places. As creation was an act of bringing order out of chaos,
this birth suggests the beginning of a new order in the life of the Hebrews.
The baby cannot any longer be hidden as he grows bigger, active, and noisy. But the
unnamed mother of the baby seems to be up to the crisis, she plans a rescue act
for the baby. She makes a waterproof basket out of bitumen and pitch resembling
Noah’s ark of redemption in the book of Genesis. To be creatively imaginative in
times of life-threatening crises demands daring courage. In a way, the mother is
not defying the decree to throw the boy into the Nile, but she being greatly
imaginative turns that act into a life-preserving motherly act.
Being Imaginative and courageous in perils is important to experience salvation
The basket placed among the reeds flows to the place where the pharaoh’s daughter was bathing. Baby seems to flow from one crisis to the
other. Being Pharaoh’s daughter, she is expected to replicate the rage of his
father towards a Hebrew baby boy. But to the surprise of the reader, when she
sees the baby after the basket being opened and identifying him as a Hebrew baby,
she feels compassion for him. She decides and prepares to be his protector. Brueggemann
says that she has entered into an alliance with the baby.[1]
An alliance to defend life in a context of raging, intimidating power of death.
She knew exactly the ramifications of her actions and yet risked herself to be the
preserver of the baby’s life. The people who are involved in the rescue act are three
unnamed women. Moses’ mother, sister, and Pharaoh’s daughter. Now it is the turn
of the sister as she brings a nursing mother for the baby. She very
deliberately makes herself present physically, mentally, and imaginatively
through the crisis. She was not simply lamenting the “unfortunate” fate of the baby
or ready to give up her watchfulness over all the incidents. Overwhelming
anxiety can close oneself to the realities and the opportunities out there. She
is very much composed and is in perfect control of her emotions. She was daring
to go out and talk to the princess about the availability of a Hebrew nursing
mother. The baby who is under death verdict is turned to be a baby who is
spared by the compassion of a royal family member.
[1]
Brueggemann, W. (1994–2004). The Book of Exodus. In L. E. Keck (Ed.), New Interpreter’s Bible (Vol. 1, p.
700). Nashville: Abingdon Press.
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