COME AS A CHILD LESSON 111 - THE CHILD THAT WAS DRAWN OUT OF THE WATER

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

We are told in Exodus chapter two that a man from the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son.  The people of God were still living in Egypt under the bondage of slavery.  It was a very bad time to be pregnant with a son.  They were all being killed by Pharaoh’s orders.  The Egyptian astrologers had seen a sign in the sky that had predicted the birth of a leader that would deliver the Israelites out of Egypt's bondage.  Pharaoh did not want this to happen.  He felt threatened by every Israelite boy that was born after this prediction by his wise men and he was determined to kill them all.  One little boy survived. 

Before we speak of this very special son; what do you remember about the tribe of Levi?

Levi was one of Jacob’s twelve sons.  Levi had three sons; Gershon, Merari and Kohath.  Kohath had four sons:  Uzziel, Hebron, Izhar and Amram.  Amram is the man from the tribe of Levi spoken of in the previous sentence.  He was the father of the little boy who survived. 

Amram married Jochebed.  Some of the ancient writings proclaim that Jochebed and Shiprah, the head midwife, were the same person.  We have no way of knowing if this is correct or incorrect.  There are scrolls that have been found that some think show good evidence.   The same writings suggest that Jochebed was a good bit older than Amram and that she was actually his aunt, and Gershon’s daughter.  The marriage to one’s aunt would not have been wrong in this time period – the commandments forbidding this had not yet been given, so she is not without honor because of this.  This history also could be wrong information; we have no way to know for sure, but some writings seem to point this way.  A few scripture passages here and there lead you to believe this is probably true.  You can study and decide for yourself.  It does possibly answer one question though, the question that asks why God would have left out the name of the mother of Moses.  Perhaps He did not.  Perhaps Shiprah and Jochebed were the same woman with both Hebrew and Egyptian names.  It seems logical.   

 Amram and Jochebed had three children; and the oldest was a daughter named Miriam.  There is historical evidence to suggest that Miriam served along side of her mother as a mid-wife.  Many believe she was the same as Puah.  If this is true, both the mother and the sister of Moses would have been named in the scriptures and not overlooked.  It seems logical, but we do not know for sure. 

The other two younger children of Amram and Jochebed were boys named Aaron and Moses.  Aaron was the oldest and he was born before the prophesy came which caused Pharaoh to kill all the boy babies of the Hebrews.

Moses was born on the 7^th of Adar during the times of the slaughters.  It is significant to note that Moses also died 120 years later on this same day.  As a matter of fact, many significant things happened on this particular month of the calendar that coincided with Moses birth and death.  If you want to follow an interesting trail of events go back through history and study the things that happened to the Jewish people during the month of Adar.   It is quite a study.

As stated earlier, it was prophesied by the Egyptian prophets that a liberator of the Hebrew people would be born and Pharaoh felt threatened by this prophecy and did all within his power to see that every male child under two years old died during this time period. 

Moses was born during the time of the slaughter of the innocent babies by Pharaoh.  The midwives did not kill him in the birthing process.  There are stories and legends stating that when he was born the whole room became filled with a great light and the midwives knew he was destined to become a great leader.  

When his own mother first saw him she too instantly knew that he was a fine child with a destiny; so she hid him for three months.  

The time came when she could hide him no longer.  All of the Hebrew women had been told to throw their babies into the river after birth.  If they did not obey this order, the soldiers of Pharaoh’s army would come and kill the children before their eyes.  They could only keep the girls, but the boys were destined to drown in the Nile. 

Jochebed decided not to throw her baby into the water with no protection.  She got a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch.  It was like a little ark and one has to wonder if Jochebed had studied the story of Noah and was using all she knew of the story of the flood to save her youngest child. 

The Hebrew word for “ark” is “teba” and this word is seen only twice in the holy scriptures, once speaking of the flood of Noah’s time and again in the passage that speaks of Jochebed making the basket for Moses.  She covered the basket with tar and pitch just like Noah covered the ark and she made him to be safe in the little basket that floated on the water.  The word “teba” has a connection with the meaning of “salvation from waters.” These are the same words we often use when describing water baptism.  People say they are “saved” from the cleansing of the water.  We know they are delivered by the miracle of the power of God, just as Moses experienced.  All of these things have a water connection.

 Moses Mother placed him inside the basket and put the basket among the reeds along the banks of the Nile River.  Surely she was hoping that some miracle might happen and her son would survive.  

The baby’s sister (Miriam) stood off at a distance, just watching to see what would happen to her little brother.

It was a very hot day and Pharaoh’s daughter Bithya came walking beside the cool of the river.  

She intended to cool herself by taking a bath in the waters of the Nile. 

Her maids attended her. 

 As she prepared to bathe, she suddenly heard the cry of a small child.  She turned around to see the basket containing Moses.  

She thought him very beautiful and she was intrigued with the child.  

She understood that he must be one of the Hebrew children condemned to death, but she wanted to keep the baby for herself. 

Some of Bithya’s maidens tried to nurse the baby, but he would not take their milk and he continued to cry.  Miriam came out from the bushes and offered to find a Hebrew nurse for the child, one that could keep him for the princess and feed him until he was weaned.  Bithya liked this idea and Miriam ran home and brought back her own mother and presented her to the princess as a nurse.

By this great miracle Moses was left in the care of his own mother for the next two years, with Bithya visiting often and becoming more and more attached to the child.  

Finally, she told Pharaoh about the boy she had found and adopted and her father did not object.   By that time the astrologers told Pharaoh that more than likely the one who was appointed according to the stars had already drowned in the waters of the Nile and the time had passed for his birth. 

Pharaoh was over his paranoia for a little while and he agreed for Bithya to take Moses into the palace at the end of two years.  

That is how Moses, a Hebrew slave’s male child came to be raised as a Prince of Egypt.  

All the people of the land knew him to be the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.     His name “Moses” meant “I drew him out of the water.”  

PIECES OF THE PUZZLE - THE MYSTERIOUS STORY OF THE RED HEIFER

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Have you ever felt compelled to study the details of the sacrifice of The Red Heifer?  The study is fascinating and I keep coming back to it year after year.  If you’ve never heard of it, this was a sacrifice of a perfect Red Heifer that God commanded of Moses to make for the people in order to cleanse them before entering the Tabernacle in the wilderness.  Apparently, the ritual was put into place immediately as the Tabernacle came into use as God had instructed Moses. 

The requirements were that the heifer must be three years old and perfectly red; it must be physically free from any blemish or defect; it must never have been used to perform any physical labor; it was to be taken to a specific place outside the camp where it was slaughtered and burned; its ashes were mixed together with pure spring water to make a mixture to be sprinkled on the people for purification.

This practice started with Moses and was carried on all throughout history until the last temple was destroyed.  There have been nine red heifers and the nation of Israel is waiting on the 10^th to appear. 

Originally the people were contaminated and became impure because of the making of the golden calf.  You can read the story in Deuteronomy, Chapter nine of your bible.  To make it very short here it was a time when Moses had ascended to the mountain of God to receive the commandments of God.  The people were tired of waiting on their leader to return.  They were bored and restless, and they appealed to Aaron, whom Moses had left in charge to create a golden calf.  Miriam’s son Hur tried to persuade the people that this was wrong and they killed him for standing up to them.  Now bulls were a pagan symbol of worship in the land of Cannan and also in some areas of Egypt from where the people had just been released from slavery.  Aaron, probably afraid of the same fate as Hur, complied with their wishes and made the calf that they wished for him to make. Many scholars have pointed out too that there were Egyptians that had tagged along with the crowd as they left Egypt and that they had been secretly conspiring, persuading the people to make the calf.  Aaron was said to have stalled for time, thinking that Moses would soon return.  When that didn’t work he was said to have commanded that the people bring all their gold for it, thinking they might be stingy and not want to give it.  They complied.  It is unlikely that Aaron actually intended this calf be an idol, as he proclaimed a Feast for Yahwah after he finished making it.  (Exodus 32:5). 

At first it appeared that the people worshipping the calf seemed to associate it with the God who brought them out of Egypt.  It was said by some that the Egyptian conspirators knew magic tricks that made the calf appear to jump out of the fire.  Many believe that this was when the people’s hearts turned from worshipping God to worshipping the golden calf.  They allowed themselves to be tricked into believing a lie by sensational magic.  What ever the circumstances leading up to this, there are many theories, as time went on the truth came out.  Most of the people had wanted Aaron to make them a God to lead them because Moses had tarried so long on the Mountain.  They had allowed themselves to be deceived.  Whatever their original intentions, it becomes clear in Exodus 32:8 that the people immediately fell to worshipping the calf and violated the first commandment that God was giving to Moses on the Mountain (Thou shalt not have any other gods before Me.)

Now, God is omnipresent.  He could see the people in the camp and tend to Moses on the Mountain at the same time.  He KNEW this was going on the whole time, yet; He was giving Moses instructions of His will.  God informed Moses of his displeasure with the people and that they would die for their sins.  He told Moses that a new people, descendents of Moses would take their place and carry His will with them to the nations of the world. 

Moses was very distressed.  He prayed for God to forgive the people, reminding God of the covenant with Abraham and begging for mercy.  God decided to be merciful. 

Moses had promised the people that he would return in 40 days.  When the 40^th day arrived, Moses returned at sunset with the Commandments of God in his hands.  His assistant, Joshua was waiting on him at the foot of the Mountain.  They returned together at the end of the 40^th day after receiving the Revelation of God, just as promised.  When they approached the camp and saw what was taking place Moses threw the tablets of the commandments on the ground in frustration, breaking them into a million shattered pieces.  He took the golden calf and ground it to dust and spread the dust over water and made the people drink it.  This was his way of showing them the worthlessness of their idol and the lack of power it had.  Moses then stood at the entrance of the camp and told everyone who worshipped God to stand with him.  The entire tribe of Levi came. He then commanded those who were of God to slaughter those who had worshipped the golden calf, no matter how important those people were to them.   That day three thousand of the children of Israel lost their lives because of the sin of idolatry.

Moses went back up the mountain and prayed to God for the next 40 days while the people mourned their dead and atoned for their sins before God.  When the 40 days were up God told Moses to hew another set of tablets.  Moses ascended to the mountain a third time for God to inscribe the commandments.  Over the next 40 days God inscribed the commandments and told Moses that He had forgiven the children of Israel.   As Moses stood on the mountain with the commandments in his hands God taught Moses how the people could make atonement for their sins through repentance and prayer.  God proclaimed thirteen attributes for the people to recite in the days of their repentance.  These are a story unto themselves, but you can read of them in Exodus 34:6-7. 

After all of this Moses invited God to go before them and to use them as His people again.  God promised a covenant to Moses.  On the tenth day of the month of Tishrei (Yom Kippur) Moses returned to the camp and brought the commandments and told the people of God’s covenant with them.   God had promised them many blessings and miracles.  Moses’ face shinned so bright that the people were frightened and looked at him in awe.  Moses veiled himself and proceeded to teach the children of Israel the Torah.

Well……I tried to make that explanation as brief as possible, but you can’t leave much out and have the whole story.  Getting back to the reason for the Red Heifer, can you see how this ritual would signify the reversal of the sin of the golden calf? 

There are many mysteries surrounding the thought and ritual of The Red Heifer.  It was originally used to purify the people, especially from the contamination of death.  Death was considered the worst impurity of all impurities, life was considered the most sacred of all pure.  Sin had brought the death of three thousand people.  Think of the form of sin here.  They let others in the culture persuade them of untruth.  Can you see that around us today?  They didn’t just get up one day and decide to be disobedient to God, it seeped in on them from worldly influences.  Are you getting a picture of this now?  Could we in the United States of America be guilty of the sin of idolatry too?  The answer is not hard.  Do we too need to be made pure from the water and ashes of a red heifer?  Well, it did happen.  Just like God was merciful to the People of Israel who followed Him, He has looked down on us today and provided a way for us to be cleansed of the impurity of death from association with the ways of our current culture.  Our Red Heifer came in the form of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. 

After years and years of God teaching His people the story in a million different ways, God sent His Only Begotten Son.  The Son of God lived out the story in every aspect of His life on earth.  Can we not look upon His life and see that He was our sacrifice, our salvation, our only hope?  The church stands like Moses and says, you who believe in God come to my side.  Take a stand and live out what you believe no matter how hard the turn may be for you.  You may have to give up some things that are dear to you in order to come out of the world.  The answer though, on the other side of the cross, is life!  Life is worth it all. Eternal life is the final gift of God to His people.  Jesus died that we may live forever.  It is a pardox, much like the paradox of the Red Heifer.

Those who administered the ashes of the Red Heifer had to contaminate themselves outside the camp with the death of the cow.  This made them impure.  In taking on these impurities from death though, they were able to cleanse the people that they served. 

In considering this I think of the people today who have willingly made the sacrifice in risking their own lives to give medical help to those who have possibly fatal diseases, such as the doctors and nurses who have recently been in the news for treating cases of ebola.  I have noted that those who know God and have gone to their jobs with the backing of prayer and the heart of a servant of God have fared much better.  Is this a coincidence?  

Such was the case with our dear Jesus who took on our sins before God on the cross.  Sin is the greatest disease there is.  He took on all of our sin.  He was pure, but he became impure for a time  with our sins on the cross in order to cleanse us from the sin we have brought on ourselves.  

The priests of the temple went through the same ironic service year after year, always teaching in their actions the mercy and justice of God.  Mercy and justice existing together are yet another form of paradox we must consider in this story.

This is only a small sampling of the stories behind the mystery of The Red Heifer.  It is said that the whole Torah can be explained just from this one story.  It contains so much more than man can even begin to understand.  It is all about being obedient and faithful to God even when you do not know or understand what is going on in your circumstances.

The amazing story of The Red Heifer is a wonderful thing to consider as we make our way through a pagan world.