Into the water
by Renée Simpfendorfer
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When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket … put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river (Exodus 2:3).
Read Exodus 2:1–22
As a mother, my heart aches for Moses’ mother and the anguish she must have experienced as she placed her baby in a basket in the water. How counterintuitive it must have been for her to let him go to protect him rather than hold him close. Her body would have been literally aching for him (ask any breastfeeding mother who is away from her baby when they are due for a feed).
What fate did she imagine might befall her son? There were so many risks – drowning, starvation, capture, murder. What courage and faith Moses’ mother demonstrated by putting him into the water! Our list of heroines in this story, starting yesterday with midwives Shiphrah and Puah, continues to grow.
The next heroine is quick-thinking Miriam, Moses’ sister, who seized an unexpected opportunity when Pharaoh’s daughter saw Moses. Not only did this reunite Moses with his family, but it also gave them income from Pharaoh’s own pockets as Moses’ mother was paid to breastfeed her own baby! I have so many questions about Miriam: Did her mother ask her to watch over baby Moses, or did she do that of her own accord? How old was she? Did she feel scared when she addressed Pharaoh’s daughter?
Pharaoh’s daughter. Perhaps the most surprising heroine in this story. She had compassion for baby Moses and rescued him, against her father’s mandate that all Hebrew boys be destroyed in the Nile.
In his papyrus basket (tevah in Hebrew), Moses was delivered from dangerous waters, with echoes back to the Ark (also called tevah) as a rescue from the waters of death. Perhaps this is also a foreshadowing of our own baptisms, as we are baptised into Christ’s death to be rescued from death, sin and evil. We are free to dance, just as Miriam did when the people of God crossed through the waters into freedom.
When are you touched by water in your daily life? As you bathe, cook, clean, farm, paint – whatever you do – you might like to remember your baptism and the blessings it brings. Perhaps you will also dance a little …
Loving God, you hear our cries. Thank you for rescuing us from death. Give us joy as we dance in the life that you give. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Renée lives on Ngunawal country with her family and belongs to the community at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, ACT. She works as a teacher and enjoys listening to music, reading, walking in nature and the challenge of solving cryptic crosswords.
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