Article January 1, 2003 ISSUE

Baby in the bulrushes

By Esmeralda Westlund,—Sweden

A long, long time ago, the people of Israel, who were called the Hebrews, lived in Egypt. They worked as slaves for Pharaoh, who was the king of Egypt. Both men and women had to serve him. Some of them worked in the fields. Others made bricks from mud and built cities for Pharaoh. Egyptian guards watched over the Hebrews and forced them to work hard, without rest, all day long.

There were many Hebrews. In fact, there were more of them than Egyptians. And Pharaoh was afraid that the Hebrews might rebel against him and not serve him anymore.

Also, Pharaoh did not want the Hebrews to become stronger than the Egyptians. So he ordered his soldiers to throw all newborn Hebrew boys into the Nile River.He didn't want them to live.

While all of this was going on, two Hebrew children, Aaron and Miriam, found out that their new baby brother had been born. But their mother asked them not to tell anybody about the baby. She didn't want the king's soldiers to come and throw their little brother into the Nile!

Aaron and Miriam kept the secret. They helped their mother take care of the baby. But as their brother grew he made a lot of noise. Like all babies, he cried when he was hungry or cold. Every day it became more difficult to hide him. And every day their mother prayed to God and asked Him what she should do. When the baby was three months old, she had an idea.

She asked Aaron to help gather some reeds that grew near the water. Out of the reeds she made a basket with a lid so nobody could see inside. She lined the basket with tar and clay to make it waterproof. When the basket was ready, she gently laid the sleeping baby inside. Then she walked down to the river and hid the basket among the reeds by the edge of the water. Miriam stayed close by to make sure the baby was all right.

A little while later, Miriam heard the voices of women. Quickly she hid in the reeds. The women were on their way to the river to bathe. One of them, Pharaoh's daughter, spied the basket floating among the reeds. She told her maids to bring it to her. When the princess opened the basket, she was surprised to see a beautiful baby boy. “This must be one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. She wanted to save the baby and take him back to the palace.

That's when Miriam came out of her hiding place and said to her, “I know a woman who can nurse the baby. Do you want me to go get her?”

The princess thought this was a good idea, and she answered, “Yes, tell her to come right away.”

Miriam ran home to tell the good news. Miriam's mother was very happy that she was allowed to take care of her son. She thanked God for keeping him safe. The little boy lived with Aaron and Miriam and their parents until he was big enough to go to the palace. Then they took him to the princess, and she brought him up as the son of a king.

She called the boy Moses, which means “to draw out”, because she had drawn him out of the waters.

Send a comment to the editors
NEXT IN THIS ISSUE
Article
Help the princess find the baby's basket
January 1, 2003
Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit