Daily Prayers

Prayer is Love, I want to Love

The Birth Of Moses

Biblical Date: 1525BC

Some 300 years after the death of Joseph, Isaac’s son, the face of Egypt had changed yet again.

The new Pharaoh held no allegiance to Jacob’s people and he had surrounded himself with a strong military. Although the Pharaoh was initially uneasy about the many Israelites inhabiting the fertile plain of Lower Egypt and the borderlands, they were also a useful source of labour for his new city building programme!

However, as the Israelite population continued to grow at a faster rate than the Egyptians, the “Egyptians loathed them”. (Exodus 1:12) The Pharaoh then responded by ordering all midwives to execute every male newborn but the God-fearing people wouldn’t kill the children as he instructed.

An angry Pharaoh then issued a decree ordering the drowning of all male babies by throwing them into the River Nile although, baby girls were spared!

Baby Moses and his mother

When a couple from the family of Levi, one of Jacobs twelve sons, married and had a son, they kept him hidden for three months. But at risk of being found out, they devised a cunning plan. After weaving a basket from papyrus and placing the baby inside, the mother floated the basket among reeds close to the Pharaoh’s Palace along the River Nile. When one of the Pharaoh’s daughters came out to bathe in the river, she saw the basket and had one of her maids fetch it. Seeing the crying baby inside, “She felt compassion for him and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrews’ children’”. (Exodus 2:9) Now the baby’s sister, who was waiting quietly nearby, approached the Pharaoh’s daughter and asked if she should get a Hebrew woman to nurse it. Pharaoh’s daughter agreed to the suggestion so, she fetched “the baby’s mother” who nursed it for the next three years and got paid!

Pharaoh’s daughter adopted the baby boy and named him Moses. (Exodus 2:1-10)

Thought

Little pity is still shown to the helpless children of our many war-torn nations today!

Reflection

Lord God, thank you for the gift of children. Open my heart to their cries. Help me to be a loving and compassionate protector of your beautiful creation. Amen.

Prayer: Jesus, Mary and Joseph

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
I give you my heart and my soul.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
I place all my trust in you.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
assist me in my last agony.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
may I breathe forth my soul in peace with You.
Amen.


Top Questions:

Was Moses a descendant of Abraham?

Yes. His lineage is given as: Abraham –> Isaac –> Jacob –> Levi –> Kehat –> Amram –> Moses.

It spans more than 600yrs, from the birth of Abraham to the birth of Moses.

Can we believe Moses was drifted downstream in a basket?

Many consider the possibility somewhat dubious. However, it helps to explain Moses’ Egyptian Royal background including, his religious and military training whilst being a Hebrew (Jewish).