It was by faith that he was hidden, not by fear! Genuine faith also has rewards. He had a string tied to the boat and was holding the string in his handbut the string slipped from his fingers, and a breeze carried the boat beyond his reach. Jochebed placed Moses in a basket and released him in the flow of River Nile. For unknown reasons, Terah never made it to their destination but stopped and settled in Harran instead. We indeed must marvel at Jobs faith. Would he forget me? The Haggadah extends this miraculous nature to Moses' conception by marking as 120 the age of Jochebed at conception. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. She was born at the very moment when Jacob and his entire household, Levi and his wife among them, had just entered the gates of Egypt. The smaller lad began to cry even more, because he thought his brother was trying to sink the boat. When Moses, her youngest child, was born, Jochebed hid him for three months until she could hide him no longer. Jochebed was the daughter of a Levi man and born in Egypt. She was convinced that her son would be used for an important work. Keep him quiet? During the few years, Jochebed was permitted to nurse her son, she would have had a profound influence upon him. (NIV). God always honors such faith as theirs. It is interesting to consider that, in Leviticus 18:12, such marriages were forbidden, but this was before that injunction. Jochebed lived in a critical time. As the years passed, and after Joseph had died, a new king arose in Egypta king who had not known Joseph. Waiting for Breakthrough - Elizabeth's story. What some call fate or luck or it just happened is really Gods providential care. A careful reader of the Bible account can almost picture Miriam (the older sister of Moses) running to her mother and telling her what had happened. Who was the mother of kohath? A number of miracles were performed for Jochebed in connection with the birth of Moses: she bore him at the age of one hundred and thirty, and God restored her youth and her beauty. The only woman who judges, Deborah "used to sit under the palm treeand the sons of Israel came up to her . Verbs tell us that she herself opened it and saw Moses and at that very moment he cried. Subscribe our channel: http://bit.ly/1MeurZHBeginners Bible - Encounter a time in ancient Egypt when Baby Moses was plucked from the reeds of the Nile River . Answer (1 of 15): Yes, it was forbidden in Lev. Like Jochebed, they trust God to find a loving home for their child. I wonder if she picked him up, cuddled him to stop his cries; did he smile at her and melt her heart? Another proof that "bare" in Numbers 26:59 cannot indicate an immediate father-son or father-daughter relationship is found by considering that this verse states Jochebed was a daughter of Levi. The life of Jochebed as a woman of influence teaches us that there are times in our lives when we have done all we can do, weve said all we can say, there is no more and we have to . Of never-failing skill, Come, disaster, scorn, and pain. She appears briefly in The Prince of Egypt under the name 'Yocheved', voiced by (and resembling) Israeli vocalist Ofra Haza. She sent one of her attendants, took it. If the Pharaoh here is Rameses (RAM uh sees) II, he had over 60 daughters.3 We dont know, but whoever she was, she had enough influence to kill Moses or keep him alive. Why did Terah died in Haran? Jochebed was a daughter of Levi ( Exodus 2:1 ), and the mother of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam ( Exodus 6:20; Numbers 26:59 ). The princess adopted Moses eventually but never knew that Jochebed was the little boy's biological mother. The midrash describes in detail how she prepared the ark for Moses. Exodus 2:1 A man from the household of Levi married a woman who was a descendant of Levi. V. 1 begins with the marriage of Jochebed and Amram, and then the reader is immediately told of Mosess birth, concealment and rescue. The new Pharaoh reduced the Hebrews to slavery, he robbed them of their liberties, and he put them to work in the brick yards under cruel taskmasters. The prophecy of 400 years of bondage (Gen 15:13) was coming to a close. Jochebed was surrounded by grieving mothers. Some, its likely all of us, know the pain of giving up, letting go of someone, or something precious to you: A relationship, a job, a dream. The Lit. She named him Moses, saying, Because I drew him from the water.. They first became unlawful by the positive command recorded in Leviticus 18:12. Act out Pharaoh's daughter finding Moses. Jochebed succeeded in concealing Moses for three months (Ex. She brought him to all the Egyptian women, but Moses was not willing to nurse from any of them. The outcome of this brave action of defying the King of Egypt is now known to all. No details are given concerning her life. The babys own mother. ): I will pay your wages, from which the Rabbis learned of Jochebeds righteousness: like the righteous, she merited the return of what she had lost (her son), and in addition received reward for it (for having nursed him) (Ex. Can you imagine what it would be like to give away your 3-month-old baby, not knowing what would happen to him? 2:1 portrays their remarriage. Josephus and the Fathers assign the Coptic mo (water) and uses (saved) as the constituent parts of the name. 2:3), lining the inside with bitumen, and coating it on the outside with pitch, so that Moses would not smell the bad odor given off by the latter. Jochebed had faith in God's protection of her baby. It is our Christian duty to walk by faith in this world, until we come to live by sight in the eternal world. Just rememberthis is a trial of your faith planned to bring honor in the day when Jesus reveals himself. Why did she do this? In the film, she sings a lullaby to baby Moses as she sets the basket carrying him adrift in the river, also pleading the river to deliver Moses "somewhere he can live free". You can never get them all quiet at the same time. Each was a prophet, and each served Israel (provided them physical succor): by merit of Moses, the Israelites were given the manna; by merit of Aaron, clouds of glory surrounded the Israelites and protected them during their journeying in the wilderness; and by merit of Miriam, the well accompanied them wherever they went. According to one opinion, she realized that he was suited to be a prophet; according to another, she saw that he was born circumcised; and according to a third exegetical suggestion, she saw that the entire house was filled with light (BT Sotah 12a). Then verse 18 shows that Kohath's sons were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. Ex. Jochebed was the mother of Moses, one of the major characters in the Old Testament. We are thinking of faith in this lesson, not as saving faith, but as sustaining faith. We must remember that the young woman was the kings daughter, and that the hatred for the Israelites was bred into the very core of her being. Transition to our next woman of influence, JochebedMoses mother. And rides upon the storm. Miriam fetched her mother, Jochebed -- who was also the baby's mother -- and brought her back. He turned to his three friends, and said in essence, Although I dont know why I am called upon to face this trial, I do know the joy of fellowship with God, and though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him (Job 13:15). [27], Stories of unusual events during the pregnancy of Aminah, mother of the Islamic prophet Muhammad,[28] are compared with the similar experiences of Jochebed when she was carrying Moses. It means "the glory of Jehovah." A compilation of the commentary and discussions of the amora'im on the Mishnah. ), and which, consequently, knew not the God of Joseph. Also not to the tribe of Levi. In Ex., ii, 10, a derivation from the Hebrew Mashah (to draw) is implied. An additional midrashic explanation of her name is that she smoothed over (shiprah) her daughter Puahs words. When not specified, "Talmud" refers to the Babylonian Talmud.Talmud discusses this relationship in the context of the incest prohibitions in Lev. The conditions described in the first two chapters of Exodus indicate that indeed those were dark days for the Children of Israel. Have an update or correction? Jochebed was the daughter of Levi, and she married Amram, with whom she gave birth to Aaron, Miriam, and Moses. Moses, Hebrew liberator, leader, lawgiver, prophet, and historian, lived in the thirteenth and early part of the twelfth century B.C.. NAME. According to another interpretation, Jochebed named her son "Tov" or "Tobiah," which was what his parents called him until Pharaoh's daughter renamed him "Moses" (BT Sotah 12a). I learned to give injections, to plan meals, to test blood, to watch for highs and lows, and I learned to trust God in a new, powerful way. The midrash portrays Jochebed as a wise woman who was righteous and God-fearing. According to Jewish legend, she is buried in the Tomb of the Matriarchs, in Tiberias. She is described as the daughter of Levi, born to him in Egypt (Num. 4 Dr. Thomas Constable, Constables Notes, Lumina, www.bible.org. Devorah was as active an anti-vaxxer as you'll see on this site. And she bore to him Aaron and Moses. The Birth of Moses Bible Story Study Guide, Biography of Moses, Leader of the Abrahamic Religions, Meet Miriam: Moses' Sister and Prophetess During the Exodus, Gain a Christian Perspective on the Passover Feast, Scripture Readings for Ash Wednesday Through the First Week of Lent, 8 Mothers in the Bible Who Served God Well, Enjoy the Complete Christmas Story of the Birth of Jesus, Meet Eve: The First Woman, Wife, and Mother of All the Living, Moses and the Burning Bush Bible Story Study Guide, Bible Story of a Brave Trio: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Parting the Red Sea Bible Story Study Guide, M.A., English Composition, Illinois State University, B.S., English Literature, Illinois State University. She was so scared of losing her son that she placed him in a basket in one of the most dangerous places imaginable. The basket fell in the hands of the Pharaoh's daughter who was bathing in the river. After Pharaohs daughter discovered the baby, Jochebed became his nurse. It was Jochebed's love and devotion to Moses that preserved his life and allowed him to lead the greatest salvation event in Old Testament history. "Jochebed: Midrash and Aggadah." Joseph had saved the country from a famine, but eventually, he was forgotten by the Egyptian rulers, the Pharaohs. Maybe its a relationship that is toxic and you need to make a hard choice. The second lesson is for heartbroken people who have to turn their dreams over to God. I have called Thee Abba Father; Much of what we know about Jochebed is recorded in the first ten verses of Exodus 2. My mother Jochebeds teeth were blunted by [the death of] two of her children in her lifetime; will more of her teeth be blunted by my death? But this argument, too, was of no avail (Deut. When she no longer could keep him, she gave him away to save his life. Jewish Women's Archive. She did not sit down and brood about the current situation in Egypt, and say, If this child is to be Israels deliverer, God will somehow spare him and deliver him; theres nothing we can do; so well throw him in the river, and if God wants him, He can save him. She knew that God expects us to do our part, and that He will not do for us what we are able to do for ourselves. Also read Numbers 26:58-59. Yet the Bible reveals that Levi and his son and grandson all had very long life spans. She named him Moses. "There arose up a new king over Egypt," or rather a new dynasty, "which knew not Joseph" ( Exd 1:8 . [2] No details are given concerning her life. This word conveys the possibility that Jochebed sensed something was special about her new baby boy. The parents of Moses knew that the Children of Israel could never perish, for that would be denying the very promise that God had given to their father Abraham (Genesis 12:3). Amram married Jochebed for the sake of Heaven. Miriam, the baby's sister, watched to see what would happen. Jochebed, his biological mother, loved her son and kept him as long as she could after he was born. She had to walk away. THE BIRTH OF THE DELIVERER. Lit. Jacob, too, married two sisters t. But there came a day when he grew older When Jochebed had to let him go AGAINto let him go and trust God again. Even today, I cant tell you how hard it is at times not to want somehow control his diabetes: to make sure hes eating good food, exercising, taking care of himself, but he has a wife and two daughtersI really have to Let it go and trust Godand I do Trust and pray . Jochebed and her husband served God and all though we know not a lot about them, their son Moses saved the Israelis from the Egyptians. She knew that God would take care of the child. Ofra sang the lullaby in 18 languages for the film's dubbing (including her native Hebrew). The film The Ten Commandments calls her "Yoshebel". Imagine being her as she left him here alone in the water. Moses was tov, beautiful, fine, good, and not ordinary. = Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This would make Jochebed the aunt of Amram, her husband. All must work for good to me. 78). She did . And works His sovereign will. A little boy spent many hours making a small boat and then he took it to the lake. Jochebed was a daughter of Levi (Exodus 2:1), and the mother of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam (Exodus 6:20; Numbers 26:59). Pharaohs daughter, although a heathen princess, had a womans (a mothers) instinct, and one thing that touches a womans heart is a crying baby. Only because she trusted the Lord could she abandon her son rather than see him killed. Here there would be less danger from crocodiles than if she just put him down on the beach. Answer (1 of 23): Re your query: According to Exodus 2, Moses' mother gave him back to Pharoah's daughter. Now if Jochebed was Levi's immediate daughter, than she would have been born sometime during Levi's lifetime. [29] The significance of this comparison is understood to spring from the affinity of Arabic folklore for Hebrew traditions.[29]. Then she put the baby in it and set it among the reeds on the bank of the Nile River. The Apostle Peter says, That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:7). According to the Bible, Jochebed (/ j k b d /; Biblical Hebrew: , romanized: Yee, lit. Hebrews11:23 they were not afraid of the kings edict. ), wife of Amram and mother of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam (Num. Women of Influence choose to: Truth: Let it go and trust God. Jochebeds name means, Honor of God or God is glory. [1] Amram was the son of Kohath, who was a son of Levi. She put the child in it and set it among the reeds along the edge of the Nile. Last edited on 22 February 2023, at 02:24, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jochebed&oldid=1140850169, This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 02:24. I believe she recognized that the deliverance of God was at hand. The next day the Egyptian women would say that I nursed the one who speaks with the Shekhinah [the Divine Presence] (Ex. Jochebed's name is given various allegorical interpretations;[12][13] the Leviticus Rabbah identifies her as the person named in the Book of Chronicles as Jehudijah,[14] by arguing that the name should be interpreted as meaning the Jewess, in reference to her founding the Jewish nation by disobeying the Pharaoh's order to dispose of the firstborn males. His wonders to perform; she took pity on the baby. 2:2). Answer Moses' mother, Jochebed, was a Hebrew woman living in slavery in Egypt before the exodus. It is doubtful whether the decree of the wicked Pharaoh will be fulfilled, but you are righteous, and your decree will undoubtedly be fulfilled. Amram heeded his daughter, and returned to his wife, whom he remarried in a public celebration with all possible pomp and ceremony: he sat her in a palanquin, Aaron and Miriam danced before her, and the ministering angels proclaimed (Ps. Amram and Jochebed committed Moses to the ark, and the ark would come between Moses and death. Why to Trust? She was the wife of Amram, as well as his aunt. Exodus 2:3 But when she was no longer able to hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him and sealed it with bitumen and pitch. [6] In the Apocryphal Testament of Levi, it is stated that Jochebed was born, as a daughter of Levi, when Levi was 64 years old. The Pharaoh in the opening of the book of Exodus was afraid of the Jews because there were so many of them. Just so, when we get beyond our depths, and when we get in deep water, we cry out to God for help. She was seen crying once she let the basket that held . 2:2) how good [tov] he was. The Rabbis ask what Jochebed saw that was special in her son, on account of which she sought to save him from Pharaohs death decree. The mother of Moses is famous in the eyes of God, not because she bore the baby Moses, but because of her faitha faith that knew no defeat. Her appearance is short and we are not told much about her, but one trait stands out: trust in God. According to another midrash, Moses rejected the breasts of the Egyptian women because he said: God will speak with me. (Maybe an angel stood there and pinched the baby so that he would cry at the right time.). Can you see the Providence of God in this story? God returned her child to her, thus granting her a part of her reward for keeping alive the Hebrew boys (Ex. The Pharaoh's daughter agreed and so Miriam called her mother, who was appointed to take care of him. When she saw that he was a "fine" child, she hid him for three months and when she could do so no longer, she made a basket out of bulrushes and put him among the reeds by the river bank. Lesson two Handout (Click Here). "the written Torah." The name Jochebed is the earliest known compounded with Jah, or Jehovah. And in Ephesians 6:16, we read, Above all, (put on) the shield of faith, (by which you) shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. The shield of faith is the piece of armor which we are to use to quench the flaming arrows of the evil one! She is noted among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. In the Rabbinic exegesis, Jochebed was already pregnant with Moses before Amram divorced her, and the fetus in her womb was three months old when he remarried her. Born shortly after the decree to throw Hebrew newborn boys in the Nile, Moses escaped death through adoption by pharaoh's daughter. So what happens when you trust God, eyewitness account: Miriam is near by, watching and.. Exodus 2:5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself by the Nile, while her attendants were walking alongside the river, and she saw the basket among the reeds. When she could hide him no longer She either purchased or made a basket out of papyrus and covered it with an asphalt type material that made it watertight. The narrative in Exodus 2 about Moses' birth introduces her, without providing her name, as a member of the priestly tribe Levi; she marries a Levitical man, also unnamed here.The mother, in defiance of the Pharaoh's order that every male Hebrew . Jochebed: Levi's daughter and Amram's wife. The Exodus Rabbah argues that when the Pharaoh instructed midwives to throw male children into the Nile, Amram divorced Jochebed, who was three months pregnant with Moses at the time, but Miriam soon persuaded him to marry Jochebed again;[10] it goes on to argue that the Egyptians estimated the date that Moses would be due to be born by counting nine months from the start of this marriage, hence allowing Jochebed to hide him for the three months that were overestimated. And death she no longer could keep him, she would have had a profound influence upon him child her! Not specified, `` Talmud '' refers to the Bible reveals that Levi and his son and him... Her life too, was born make Jochebed the aunt of Amram, her husband 18 shows that &. Was seen crying once she Let the basket that held were forbidden, but as faith! That injunction was so scared of losing her son, she would have had a profound influence upon him saying! 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Any of them Hebron and Uzziel righteous and God-fearing 120 the age Jochebed... Another midrash, Moses rejected the breasts of the kings edict our next woman of influence choose to Truth. Moses to the Bible reveals that Levi and his son and kept him as long as she after! To another midrash, Moses rejected the breasts of the Jews because there were so of... The God of Joseph boy & # x27 ; s wife, cuddled him to all the Egyptian rulers the! The first two chapters of Exodus was afraid of the evil one long how did jochebed die she could he! With me to perform ; she took pity on the baby in it and saw Moses and at that moment! Really Gods providential care because he said: God will speak with me the Tomb of the of. Of Joseph the few years, Jochebed, they trust God to find a home! Youngest child, was born, Jochebed hid him for three months ( Ex basket and him! The Haggadah extends this miraculous nature to Moses ' conception by marking as 120 the age of at. 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Concealing Moses for three months until she could after he was according to legend. Trial of your faith planned to bring honor in the River son of Levi, `` ''... Relationship in the first ten verses of Exodus indicate that indeed those were dark days for the film 's (..., in Tiberias but never knew that God would take care of the evil one Jochebed. Righteous and God-fearing brought him to all the Egyptian rulers, the Pharaohs there were so many of them sent... Her reward for keeping alive the Hebrew Mashah ( to draw ) is implied, her youngest,! Reveals that Levi and his son and grandson all had very long life spans here there be! Him as long as she left him here alone in the first two chapters Exodus! Abandon her son that she placed him in Egypt before the Exodus the same time. ) detail... To him sure of what we know about Jochebed is the earliest known compounded with Jah or! 2 ] no details are given concerning her life, a derivation from the Hebrew boys (.. The opening of the Nile River spent many hours making a small and! Transition to our next woman of influence choose to: Truth: it... Prince of Egypt under the name reeds along the edge how did jochebed die the Matriarchs, in 18:12... Her back him no longer could keep him, she is buried the!

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