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9. Drawn from the Water

9 Drawn From the Water

When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.” Exodus 2:10

The Story

As the years passed, the descendants of Israel became numerous. A new Pharaoh, who did not know of Joseph, enslaved the Israelites. But the more they were oppressed, the more numerous they grew. Fearing the Israelites, Pharaoh gave an order to throw all newborn Israelite baby boys into the Nile River. [1]

Moses was born at this time, but his mother hid him for three months. When she could no longer hide him, she put him in a basket, coated it with pitch, and placed the basket in the Nile, in hopes that God would save him—and he did. Pharaoh’s daughter found him and adopted him. She named him Moses because he was drawn from the water. [2]

The Significance

In a way, Moses’ mother was following Pharoah’s orders when she put Moses in the Nile, but she placed him in a basket covered in pitch, the same word for the pitch used for Norah’s Ark and the same word for covering of sins. Once again, we have a picture of the saving grace of God.

[1] Exodus 1; [2] Exodus 2:1-10