Hebrews 11:23: By Faith Moses, When He Was Born
2023-09-02
Hebrews 11:23
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. (Hebrews 11:23)
Be careful how you read this. Is this speaking of Moses’ faith? He was just born and did not do or think anything. The phrase “was hid” indicates the verb is passive and the actions of faith were performed on baby Moses. This is speaking of his parents, Amram and Jochebed, both from the tribe of Levi. This is what we know about them: “And Amram took him Jochebed his father’s sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and thirty and seven years” (Exodus 6:20). “And the name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bare to Levi in Egypt: and she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister” (Numbers 26:59).
The information we see is rather strange about Moses’ parents. Amram married his aunt, and she was the daughter of Levi. Levi must have been pretty old when he had this daughter. Though this is all rather strange, this is not what is important about Moses’ parents.
Consider Exodus 2:1-10. The king of Egypt just gave a command to slay all the Israelite male children. The Hebrew midwives defied the law to murder them. Because he could not get anywhere with these midwives, he charged his own citizens to do the job of murdering them. “And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive” (Exodus 1:22).
Amram and Jochebed had their son Aaron before this decree was made, but Moses was born right amid this terror. They looked on him and knew they could not go along with the decree. The subject of the sentence refers to the mother, but we know from Hebrews 11:23 it was both parents.
Jochebed hid Moses as long as she could. Then she put him in a box and placed him at the edge of the river. She placed her daughter, perhaps Miriam, to see how it would work out. A princess, who some have purported to be Hatshepsut, one who asserted her royal power, discovered him, and had compassion. You see how beautifully this works out. Miriam asked her if she could get a Hebrew woman to nurse it and fetched the baby’s own mother. Jochebed got paid to nurse and care for her own baby! This also ensured that Moses would be with his parents at the earliest stages without fear of the law coming for him.
You see Moses’ parents’ faith. They trusted God and defied the king’s command. They knew they could not contain this baby forever. Then by faith they sought the Lord to provide a way to save the baby. Doing what was right in the Lord’s eyes was better than obeying the murderous king.
The Scripture tells us that Moses “was a proper child.” The word for “proper” is only used one other place, and there it also speaks of baby Moses’ appearance. “In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house three months” (Acts 7:20). The phrase “exceeding fair” is the same phrase. The Lord clearly did something about this boy’s appearance that made both his parents and Pharaoh’s daughter have compassion for him, more than they would have ordinarily.