Baby from the Nile

What started as a group of 70 people developed into a nation. A new Pharaoh had arisen who neither knew nor cared about what Joseph had done for his people. All he knew was that this nation of foreigners was growing, and he felt threatened. And so he schemed and devised laws to stop these people from growing. But in the middle of his cruelest edict yet, throwing the firstborn sons into the river, one floated. Carried by a basket right into his own household, Moses was saved and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter.

As the book of Exodus opens, the Hebrew nation has grown from Israel’s family into a prosperous and thriving people scattered throughout Egypt. God’s blessing is still on His people, and He continues increasing their numbers. Because of this, the Pharaoh feared the Hebrews would take over his land and kingdom. So he seizes them, enslaving and forcing them to work building cities in his empire. Still, his people feared God alone, and God blessed them because of their faith. Enraged, Pharaoh enlists his army to take babies from their mother’s arms and cast them into the Nile. As the Egyptian soldiers tear through Hebrew homes, one mother hatches a plan to hide her boy and save his life. She bravely places her baby in a basket and floats him down the Nile to be discovered by Egyptian women. His adoptive mother named him Moses, the baby who would one day lead his people to freedom. God works through him to rescue the enslaved Hebrews and take them to the promised land.