There was something about the way he came to be that marked him out as special from the start.
That could be the premise for someone to think that the person in question had greatness in him. Yet the way this beginning is written makes it clear that it was all about God’s protection and anything special about him would because of him.
This is because he was born in turbulent times for his people. Turbulent to the point that he was a foreigner in a country that was enforcing male infanticide in his age group. It was birth control for clearly malevolent political reasons. But when you’re the authority and what you say is considered to be the utterances of a god, that changes the morality of the situation. So he should have been among those who were killed off. He should have had no chance of survival because of the swift, brutal and clinical manner in which the ruling power were conducting their business.
In a fascinating twist, however, the newborn was rescued from that fate by the very family of the god-like ruler whose edict should have sentenced him to death. All because a daughter of the ruling family saw the little one in thatched ark type arrangement and drew him out of the water.
Sure, great credit has to go to that newborn’s mother and sister for taking the action they could to give him the best chance of survival. But it was not as though they calculated what would happen down to the fine print. It was all left in the hands of God – not a god-type figure, but the one, true and living God whose masterful hand ensured this baby would not be a victim. Rather from death he was drawn out to life.
This newborn would later grow up to receive insight into the origins of all things and note how creation itself is a process of order being drawn out of chaos. He would also note how a people in unsettling circumstances were being drawn out to be the people of the Creator.
It’s fascinating to also witness how his story of being taken away from infanticide to find brief succor in the arms of Egypt would be repeated in the life of another one born to rescue people from slavery.
The beginnings may be turbulent, but even in the midst of the outcries of anguish and agony, hope can still be born. Hope can still arise and be drawn out of the deep waters in which we find ourselves. When that happens, though, it cannot be put down to our ingenuity or asserted efforts. Credit must again go to the one who in loving-kindness reaches into the chaos to draw us out.
For this episode highlights that the main character in the profile of the life of Moses is not Moses. It is the God who inspired a family foreign to him to name him something so significant that it would define the process for an entire people and beyond.
(Photo by Clément Falize on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
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