TUESDAY - November 17

Read. Exodus 2:1-22
Now a man from Levi’s household married a Levite woman. 2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that the baby was healthy and beautiful, so she hid him for three months. 3 When she couldn’t hide him any longer, she took a reed basket and sealed it up with black tar. She put the child in the basket and set the basket among the reeds at the riverbank. 4 The baby’s older sister stood watch nearby to see what would happen to him.

5 Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the river, while her women servants walked along beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds, and she sent one of her servants to bring it to her. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child. The boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. She said, “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children.”

7 Then the baby’s sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Would you like me to go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”

8 Pharaoh’s daughter agreed, “Yes, do that.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I’ll pay you for your work.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. 10 After the child had grown up, she brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I pulled him out[a] of the water.”

11 One day after Moses had become an adult, he went out among his people and he saw their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 He looked around to make sure no one else was there. Then he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

13 When Moses went out the next day, he saw two Hebrew men fighting with each other. Moses said to the one who had started the fight, “Why are you abusing your fellow Hebrew?”

14 He replied, “Who made you a boss or judge over us? Are you planning to kill me like you killed the Egyptian?”
Then Moses was afraid when he realized: They obviously know what I did.15 When Pharaoh heard about it, he tried to kill Moses.

But Moses ran away from Pharaoh and settled down in the land of Midian. One day Moses was sitting by a well. 16 Now there was a Midianite priest who had seven daughters. The daughters came to draw water and fill the troughs so that their father’s flock could drink. 17 But some shepherds came along and rudely chased them away. Moses got up, rescued the women, and gave their flock water to drink.

18 When they went back home to their father Reuel,[b] he asked, “How were you able to come back home so soon today?”

19 They replied, “An Egyptian man rescued us from a bunch of shepherds. Afterward, he even helped us draw water to let the flock drink.”

20 Reuel said to his daughters, “So where is he? Why did you leave this man? Invite him to eat a meal with us.”

21 Moses agreed to come and live with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses as his wife. 22 She gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, “because,” he said, “I’ve been an immigrant[c] living in a foreign land.”

Reflect. Here we are introduced to Moses. He is one of those Israelite boys who is saved by the midwives, but when he was too old to hide his family tired to give him the best life possible. The daughter of Pharaoh saw Moses floating in the river and adopted him as her own. 

• Though Moses was raised as an Egyptian, he also knew his identity as an Israelite. As a young man, Moses seems to want to make a positive difference in how the Israelites are treated, but this backfires. In fact, Moses has to flee Egypt for his life. This leads him to settling in the land of Midian. Again, his desire for justice seems to burn brightly. She saves some women at a well. Out of this encounter, Moses gains a wife and a new adopted family. 
• Up to this point, Moses has lost two families. He lost his birth family and his adopted family, now he is living as an immigrant and beginning a new family. Think of the family trauma that Moses has experienced. His background has clearly given him a desire to fight against injustice, even if he methods of doing so end up causing harm. 
• Imagine what life might have been like for Moses. Placed in the river, alone, as a young child. Raised in the household of the king. Seen as an outsider by the Israelites and the Egyptians. Forced to flee after trying to stand up to the king. Again and again it seems that Moses has been rejected. For what might he being prepared? 

Pray. Pray for children who are in harms way as was Moses.

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