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Jochebed’s Influence on Moses, November 9
By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of
Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of
God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
Hebrews 11:24, 25
.
Younger than Joseph or Daniel was Moses when removed from the sheltering
care of his childhood home; yet already the same agencies that shaped their lives
had molded his. Only twelve years did he spend with his Hebrew kindred; but
during these years was laid the foundation of his greatness; it was laid by the hand
of one little known to fame.
Jochebed was a woman and a slave. Her lot in life was humble, her burden
heavy. But through no other woman, save Mary of Nazareth, has the world
received greater blessing. Knowing that her child must soon pass beyond her
care, to the guardianship of those who knew not God, she the more earnestly
endeavored to link his soul with heaven. She sought to implant in his heart love
and loyalty to God. And faithfully was the work accomplished. Those principles
of truth that were the burden of his mother’s teaching and the lesson of her life, no
after influence could induce Moses to renounce.
From the humble home in Goshen the son of Jochebed passed to the palace
of the Pharaohs, to the Egyptian princess, by her to be welcomed as a loved and
cherished son. In the schools of Egypt, Moses received the highest civil and
military training. Of great personal attractions, noble in form and stature, of
cultivated mind and princely bearing, and renowned as military leader, he became
the nation’s pride. The king of Egypt was also a member of the priesthood; and
Moses, though refusing to participate in the heathen worship, was initiated into all
the mysteries of the Egyptian religion.
Egypt at this time being still the most powerful and most highly civilized of
nations, Moses, as its prospective sovereign, was heir to the highest honors this
world could bestow. But his was a nobler choice. For the honor of God and the
deliverance of His downtrodden people, Moses sacrificed the honors of Egypt.
Then, in a special sense, God undertook his training....
He had yet to learn the lesson of dependence upon divine power.... In the
wilds of Midian, Moses spent forty years as a keeper of sheep.... In the care of the
sheep and the tender lambs he must obtain the experience that would make him a
faithful, long-suffering shepherd to Israel....
Amidst the solemn majesty of the mountain solitudes, Moses was alone with
God.... Here his self-sufficiency was swept away.—
Education, 61-63
.
The greatness of Egypt is in the dust.... But the work of Moses can never
perish. The great principles of righteousness which he lived to establish are
eternal.—
Education, 69
.
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