The Women in Moses's Life

So I'm not done with Moses's story yet, but just in the first five chapters of Exodus there are lots of women mentioned. In fact, there are four women who have already saved Moses's life. Ready for them?

http://gardenofpraise.com/bibl85s.htm

~1~ Pharaoh's Daughter
We don't know her name, but we do know her story. She rebelled against her father and saved a Hebrew baby. She didn't know how important that child would be. She simply acted to save a life. Not only this, but somehow this great woman managed to raise the next prophet. How does an Egyptian woman raise a young man into a prophet? I would love to ask her later. When I was reading her story, I realized that feeling I get when I look into the eyes of my two newborn nieces is probably the same divine attribute of women and God-given feeling that saved Moses's life. I think that this woman demonstrates the important role all women have to play. I love to see that this woman didn't come from the "chosen" people and yet she still had a huge role to play in God's plan.

~2~ Jochebed

Ok. So her name hasn't been mentioned in Exodus yet, but from my other studies I've found out that her name was Jochebed. What I love about this woman is that she combined that mother-bear instinct with cool-thinking and a well-thoughtout plan. She's oppressed, overworked, and fearful. Yet she still finds a way to save her son. First of all, I really want to know how she kept him a secret for three months. Newborns take a lot of work. How did the soldiers not notice that she was pregnant . . . then wasn't and that nobody had killed the baby? Then when she's sure she can't keep him hidden any longer, she sets an elaborate plan in action. Surely she knew where the Pharaoh's daughter bathed. She put Moses into the water at the right time and right place and sent along her daughter, Miriam, to be sure the baby made it to the princess. Then she relied on the kindness and godliness of the other woman. Her faith, courage, and smarts are so inspirational to me. 

~3~ Miriam

She plays a smaller role in this part of the story, so I'm not going to spend much time on her here. Basically, she follows to make sure her baby brother survives the water and then suggests to the pharoah's daughter her mother as a nursemaid for the baby. Which may I say, was a very clever addition to the plan. Not only did Jochebed save her son, she also got to spend more time with him. I'm pretty sure most of Miriam's part in this was just obeying her mother . . . but she does more later I think so we'll move on.

~4~ Zipporah

Last of all, Moses's wife. Now people like me will stop and say, "Wait . . . his wife? I thought you said this was a post about women who saved Moses's life." Others of you already know the story I'm about to recount. So apparently Moses disobeyed God kinda like the brother of Jared forgot to pray . . . except more serious. Moses didn't have his son circumcised . . . maybe he forgot, but I have the feeling that based off the Lord's reaction Moses probably knew and didn't do what he was supposed to. When the Lord is about to kill Moses (how is what I'd like to know . . . an angel? disease?), his wife takes the lead and circumcises her son thus saving her husband's life. I read Women's Rights in the Old Testament Times and he makes it sound like maybe Zipporah was raised in a more matriarchal family and that might be why she felt so comfortable taking charge. I think she demonstrates the importance of obedience and the leadership a woman has. In the church, it's not that a woman CAN'T take leadership in the home. In fact, she has a responsibility to lead and protect her family too. She just needs to give her husband a chance to develop those characteristics since he'll need them later. (In fact, just speaking strictly from my point of view . . . I almost wonder if natural leadership is one of the divine characteristics of women and the reason we let men preside in the home is in part to help them develop a characteristic that may not come as naturally to them. This isn't the only reason of course, and maybe this wasn't true in Old Testament times, but I think that especially in a world where good men worry about dominating women, men NEED an opportunity to develop those leadership skills they'll need as Gods later on.) As I read on, I really want to know where she is the rest of the story. I swear I didn't even know the scriptures mentioned her leaving with Moses. 

So there you have it. Four women who saved Moses's life. 

Also as a side note, the same chapter of Women's Rights in the Old Testament Times talks about Dinah's story and . . . well it sounds like it was rape. So maybe my Romeo and Juliet theory doesn't hold up. I did like my interpretation better. In the end, Dinah may have just been a woman caught up in the middle of great wickedness from at least three different men. So as Heather says at Women in the Scriptures, it may just be another story of how when men are wicked, women suffer.

Ok wait. I don't want to end on a bad note. So I'll also throw this probing thought in. I was just thinking about how bad I wanted to be a princess when I was little (course I don't remember admitting this to anyone since most of the time I acted like a tomboy) and how even now when I daydream I think about how I'd love to be the princess in the disney stories my nieces watch (okay and my college roommates). Then I was thinking about the temple, and basically it really hit home that it's not just a metaphor when we say that we're princesses. We are daughters of God and with that we are princesses in training to become queens, and we are priestesses in training to become goddesses. Hold on. I'll say that again. "It's not a metaphor. We are princesses in training to become queens, and we are priestesses in training to become goddesses." With both of those titles (princess and priestess) there are duties expected of us. We are expected to become something. We are expected to DO something. We are expected to ACT differently. And just because all the other women on this planet also have the same inheritance and duties, our duty and our inheritance doesn't diminish. We are no less of a princess because there are many other princesses. Yeah. So that's my thought. I need to live my life the way a priestess of God would and I better be behaving the way a princess should.