"Moses' Ark" | Exodus 2:1-10 | Blake Jenkins

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I had another fulfilling dad moment this week.

And I love these moments with my kids when I can relive something from my childhood with them, or when I can introduce them to something that I really enjoy, and they have gotten old enough to be able to experience it.

This past Friday night, Thomas and I finished the Marvel Infinity saga.

Twenty-two and a half movies of superheroes.

And I say 22 and a half because we had to cut one part way off because I forgot how inappropriate that particular movie was.

So we got halfway through that one.

Nobody's perfect, y'all.

All right.

Twenty-two and a half movies, multiple months of investment where we are learning the stories of these different superheroes.

Now, the thing about it is, I could have just gone straight for the really good stuff, right?

There are four Avengers movies.

I could have gone immediately to the first Avengers movie, or Avengers Age of Ultron, or Avengers Infinity War, or straight to Avengers Endgame.

I could have gone to any one of those four.

And Thomas, because you know some things in pop culture, things that he's heard about from people, like in I mean, the movies are objectively awesome, and you just eat popcorn and turn off your mind for a little while.

And it was one, like he could appreciate some things about those, but there would be a lot of questions.

Who's that?

Why did they say that?

Where are they coming from?

Wait, that's why was that funny?

Why is that sad?

Right?

And there would just be some things that you would not know if you had not gone back to the origin stories.

And yeah, I mean, it really is incredible.

That many movies, interlocking plot, character development, like, I don't know if anything like that is going to be replicated again.

Marvel keeps trying to keep it going.

It's just not the same.

But long before Marvel was into the meta-narrative, the overall story arc, God was doing meta with history.

He was writing a story, but not a fictional story that you would look at in freeze frames, but a true story that was lived out on the pages and planes of this world.

And there would be things that we could go to in the Bible, some of the high points, and we could look at it and we could benefit from it.

We could enjoy it.

But there are certain things that we will only see, observe, and just enjoy if we go back to the origin stories.

And today, as we continue our journey through the book of Exodus, we are going to see the origin story of one of the most famous biblical characters, that of the story of Moses.

And together, we're going to see Moses' ark.

And I know some of you received the Friday email with the notes ahead of time.

You see the sermon title, you see the passage, and you're like, didn't that boy go to seminary?

Doesn't he know it was Noah's Ark?

Let's read together in just a little bit.

And as we go to Exodus chapter 2, would you join me as we pray?

Exodus 2 · chapter mention

Gracious Heavenly Father, as we come to your word this morning, I pray that you would give us eyes to see, that you would give us ears to hear.

God, I pray that you would speak.

For we, your servants, are listening.

It's through Christ we pray.

Amen.

And our text this morning, Exodus chapter 2, verses 1 through 10, we'll look at the structure and pull out lessons for your life today.

Exodus 2:1–10

And we see in this structure different pairs of women that are driving the action forward.

We see first in verses 1 through 4, you can write it in, Moses' mother and sister.

These are two of these characters here in Exodus chapter 2.

Exodus 2 · chapter mention

Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman.

The woman conceived and bore a son.

And when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

Alright, so we have an unnamed Levite man and an unnamed Levite woman.

And we will find out later in the book of Numbers the actual names of Moses' parents, Amram and Yacobed.

But here they are unnamed.

Why?

Because there are not going to be any extraneous details that take the focus away from the people that we need to be looking at.

And Moses' mother, she will come up again and again throughout these first ten verses.

But we're able to see that Moses at the very beginning is of the tribe of Levi.

And now, my Bible scholars, you know that there were 12 tribes of Israel.

One of those tribes was Levi, named after the son of Israel, Levi, and this was the priestly tribe.

They did not have an inheritance in the land, but they were the priests.

They oversaw the worship in the tabernacle and in the temple.

And we're able to see at the very beginning, okay, some, a foreshadowing of the kind of work that Moses is going to be doing as a mediator.

A go-between, because a priest in the Old Testament was a mediator between God and the people.

The people had to go through the mediator to get to the Lord.

The Lord had to go through the mediator to get to the people.

That's how he chose to do things at that point in history.

Now we know for us today, we have no earthly priest that we need to go through.

I'm not a priest.

I mean, we're priesthood of all believers, yes, but like I'm no special like uh selective secret agent for the kingdom of God right here.

Like you have direct access to the Father through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.

You don't have to go through any earthly mediator.

We have a great high priest over the house of God, Jesus Christ.

But here we're able to see Moses, the kind of work that he's going to be doing, is priestly in nature.

He is of the tribe of Levi.

And so Amram and Yachobed, the Levite man and Levite woman, they conceive and bear a son.

They have a baby.

And I'm sure there is a mixture of emotions.

They have their baby.

They find out.

It's a boy.

You don't have the technology for today to where you're able to see the ultrasound scans ahead of time, right?

For me, I'm a planner and I like to know information.

You know, those of you who do not find out what you're having, God bless you.

I could never, if I had the ability to find out, I want to find out.

But that was not an option in this day and age.

You did not know if you were having a or a little girl until after you heard that first cry on their first birthday.

And I'm sure it was a mixture of emotions.

He's here.

After nine months, he's here.

Excitement.

Joy.

But then I would imagine that it quickly turns to he's here.

He's a he.

And why would that cause great sorrow and lament?

Because of what we saw last week in Exodus chapter one.

That Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had issued an edict saying, all Hebrew baby boys must be killed.

He was thwarted, and so it was no longer the responsibility of the midwives.

He issued at the end of chapter one an edict saying, if you come across a Hebrew baby boy, throw that baby into the Nile River.

He's here.

He's here.

The inner angst that they must have felt knowing that their baby had a death sentence over his life, even after his first few moments here on earth.

And so they hear this.

They probably think of Sheffra and Puah and the civil disobedience that had probably worked its way through the Hebrew nation at this time.

And they're like, absolutely not.

Over my dead body, right?

They sought to hide this baby.

But it got to the point that if she were to keep him, it would be the baby's downfall.

And so we see in verse 3, when she could no longer hide him, she took for him a basket.

That's going to be an important word here in just a second.

A basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch.

And she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the riverbank.

And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him.

So you've probably heard this story before.

If you've been in church a while, maybe you haven't.

You're hearing all this kind of for the first time, and you're like, that sounds kind of strange.

But others of you, I mean, you've done the coloring sheets.

You've tried to be inside the lines on this when you see Moses' mother place him in the basket and beside the river.

And y'all, there is a boatload of significance with what is happening right here, and that pun is 100% intended, okay?

Boatload of significance.

That word basket in Hebrew is the word tabah.

That word is only used one other place in the entire Bible.

Genesis 6, 7, 8, and 9.

The story of Noah's Taba.

Noah's Ark.

And so Moses, the writer of the first five books of the Bible, the writer of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, he is recording this for us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

And he is drawing a direct connection between what God did in preserving Noah and his family in the ark through the flood in Genesis with what God through his mother was doing with the little baby basket that was floating in the river.

There is significance.

Moses is floating in a miniature ark.

She made an ark, put him in the ark, put the ark in the river.

Noah, when he was preserved through the ark in Genesis, that was done for the preservation of humanity.

And Moses now, as he is put in this miniature ark, is done so for the renewal of God's people.

And so she makes Moses his little ark.

And I love it.

Because Moses' mom follows the letter of Pharaoh's edict, but not necessarily the spirit of it.

I love it.

It's kind of like a little kid when you tell him to clean your room and you go look at it later and it's just empty and a mess.

And you're like, why did you not do this?

And they're like, well, I put a sock in the hamper, and so it is technically cleaner than it was last time.

And so I did clean my room.

You just didn't say to the extent to which I was to clean my room.

And you're like, come here, you little, right?

The edict was throw your babies into the Nile River.

And Moses' mom was like, Well, you didn't say that it couldn't be in a basket with bitumen and pitch, and well placed with someone watching over him.

I love that.

That kind of just rebellion a little bit.

And so she followed this, and then we're able to see she did all that she could, and then in faith, she entrusted him to God.

And there is great significance of this for those of you here that are parents today.

It's not the main point, but it is a point for us in our text.

My encouragement would be to you, as a fellow parent, do all you can and then in faith, release them to God.

Do all you can.

And then in faith, release them to God.

Do all you can, like ensure that they are provided for, that they are surviving, that they are thriving.

And then in faith, release them to God.

There's a lot of releasing going on, right?

There's a uh, especially around this time of year, and there are all these little moments where we practice releasing our children.

Right?

So this past week was the first uh week of school here at the Spring Valley Baptist Preschool.

And on Wednesday, right?

It's the first time for some of these young moms and young dads to see their child go in down the hallway and to be with another teacher for a few hours.

There's some tears on the part of the children.

There's some tears on the part of the parents.

Or you see your child walking out of the car line going up to kindergarten.

Or you see, like I experienced it this past summer, right?

In taking and dropping off my oldest and going to kids' salt, going to our kids' summer camp here as a church.

And they get on the bus and they're driving away, and you're like, ooh, man, all right.

Incremental, all right.

We're we're trusting them to the Lord.

And then, like for some of you, you've dropped your kids at college, you've dropped them off at college here recently.

And that's a whole different kind of level.

And then as your children grow up and they find a spouse and they are given in marriage and things are fundamentally shifting in the makeup of your family.

That we as parents do all that we can and then in faith release them to God.

And that that phrase in faith is crucial because Moses' parents are mentioned in the New Testament book of Hebrews, chapter 11, which some of you will know as the hall of faith.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

And this is just an incredible list of men and women who acted in faith and that are held up as examples for us.

And nestled in there, full confession, I have overlooked this in all of my readings of Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

But look at this in verse 23.

By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

The way that that was just kind of phrased right there, it caused me to overlook it.

But Moses' parents are mentioned as those who exhibited great faith.

Moses was a baby, he couldn't exert faith.

But it's his parents who, in faith, and did you see, they did not fear Pharaoh's edicts, like Shifra and Pua last week.

Who are you gonna fear?

Are you gonna fear man?

Or are you gonna fear God?

When you fear God, you have no need to fear man.

What can man do to me?

And so for us as parents, like we do all that we can, and then in faith, we release them to God.

And some of you, as parents or as grandparents, you might be holding on too tightly in fear.

Now, this does not mean that you need to take up a class in basket weaving and go down to the broad river, right?

There are you, we don't want to take specifics and make them prescriptions for us to immediately walk through.

But what this does show us is that you need to do all that you can ensuring their provision and their thriving in the most important ways, and then practice little bit by little bit, and then fully release them in faith to God.

And so imagine this mother who has been on pins and needles, it's hard enough having a newborn.

Add on top of that, having a newborn, that if they are heard by the wrong person, then somebody's gonna come and snatch them and throw them in the river.

And she has now built this small ark, she has placed the baby inside and put it down by the river, and she has to turn, and she has Miriam, most likely, Moses' older sister, to stay watch.

So let's see what happens in verses five through six.

We're able to see Pharaoh's daughter and her servant.

Look at verse five.

Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river while her young women walked beside the river.

She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it.

And she opened it, and she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying.

And she took pity on him and said, This, this is one of the Hebrews' children.

So do you see the scene?

The baby's down by the river in this little ark.

Pharaoh's daughter and her servants are coming down just a little bit away.

And Miriam, I just I picture her hiding kind of in tall grass, wondering, waiting to see what's going to happen.

And she sees Pharaoh's daughter and servants come down.

And I wonder if if she was nervous.

I wonder if she was like, oh no.

This this is the genocidal maniac's daughter.

Like, if Pharaoh finds out the baby is a goner, this is the absolute worst place he could be.

I wonder if she was afraid.

Or I wonder if there was relief.

Oh, thank God.

That is the most powerful man's daughter.

If Pharaoh finds out the baby is safe because he won't hurt his own daughter, that might actually be the best place he could be.

I don't know.

I don't know if she was nervous, I don't know if she was relieved, but what we do see is Pharaoh's daughter sees the ark, sends a servant to go and bring it to her, she opens the lid, and she sees the baby.

She sees, the text says, that he's a Hebrew baby, and the text says she takes pity on him.

That God moves Pharaoh's daughter at the heart level.

That she is not moved by her father's undoubted raging and loud rantings against the Hebrew people.

We know from last week he was paranoid, he was afraid, he was oppressive, and he was murderous.

But she wasn't shaped by that in that moment.

She's not partaking of his fear and hatred.

She is not calloused and unmoved, being like, oh, okay, well, let's shut that and put it back in, and then it's somebody else's problem.

But no, she sees the baby, hears his cry, and is moved in compassion.

And as the account continues, Pharaoh is just getting dunked on again and again and again.

Everything that he tries to do is blowing back in his face, and I am here for it.

Right?

If you look at it, he was trying to use the Nile River as an instrument of death.

But instead, God is able to turn that into a river of life.

And Pharaoh, he assumed that it was the sons of Israel that were going to be his downfall, but come to find out, it's actually a lot of the daughters that are doing some meddling right here.

And then we're able to see God is working consistently through the unexpected and those that the world would perceive as weak.

He is doing this all through them for his glory.

So it's at this point the baby's older sister sees okay, there's pity, there is compassion, as Pharaoh's daughter.

Looks on my baby brother.

And it's at this point that Moses' older sister makes a beeline out of the tall grass and comes over and talks directly to the daughter of the most powerful man in the known world.

And so we're able to see in verses 7 through 10 Moses' mother and his adoptive mother.

Look at verse 7.

Then his older sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?

And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go.

So the girl went and called the child's mother, and Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.

So the woman took the child and nursed him.

Well, would you look at that?

Pharaoh's daughter essentially says, I'll keep him.

That word doesn't come across in any of the Hebrew right here, but it's in effect what happens.

And the baby's older sister comes and asks, Excuse me, ma'am, would you like me to find somebody, like to nurse him for you?

Because there's no formula that you can mix up at this day in time, right?

She needs someone to provide nourishment for the baby.

And Pharaoh's daughter says, Go, please find someone that can nurse this baby for me.

And so Moses' older sister runs and finds Moses' birth mother and says, Mom, you're not going to believe this.

Come with me.

And they go back over to Pharaoh's daughter, and his older sister says, I found somebody.

And Moses' daughter looks at Moses' mother and gives this commission.

Take the child, nurse him, and I will pay you to do it.

And there's a lot of women in here at that point who would say, Amen.

Right?

It won't always be this way, right?

So don't take this as a claim and use it as a prescription for your personal circumstances.

But we do need to see from God's word that sometimes God does work quickly and extravagantly.

We saw last week that sometimes it is overlong, like measured in the span of centuries for parts of his plan to come to pass.

And other times it can happen in a span of hours.

In a single moment.

And so, I mean, just imagine the great lows and highs that Moses' mother Yachobed is experiencing.

That earlier that same day, in faith, she had to let go her baby boy down by the river and walk back home, wondering and not knowing what his future would be.

And then in just a few short hours later, she's bringing that same baby back home with a commission from the daughter of the most powerful person in the world saying, nurse him, take care of him, and I'm going to pay you to do it.

That she right here is seeing God's providence is staggering.

His plans when they come to pass are better than anything that we could ever ask or imagine.

And so Moses, baby Moses, gets to go home with his mother and sister.

His life is spared.

His life is covered.

Yes, by the protection of the Egyptian princess, but more importantly, it is covered by the protection of the one true God of Israel who makes and keeps his promises.

And so Moses, until he is weaned, which in that day and time would have been about three years old, he gets to spend three years with his family in one of the most foundational stages of his life.

And he is learning to speak.

And what is he learning to speak?

Hebrew, the language of his people.

He is being cared for by his parents.

He is learning the stories of his ancestors, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

And God is laying a foundation for how he will use him in the future.

And now God will position him for what he is going to use him to do in the future.

Look at verse 10 of Exodus 2.

When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son.

And she named him Moses because she said, I drew him out of the water.

So the time had come for young Moses to go into Pharaoh's house, and he became the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

And she named him Moses, a Hebrew name, which sounds like the word for draw out.

And here, again, we have such incredible irony that she is reflecting on what she had done.

I drew him out of the water.

But unbeknownst to her, she is foreshadowing what God is going to do through Moses, and that he is going to draw his people out of slavery in the land of Egypt.

That Moses, yes, he was drawn up from the water, but Israel, as God's people, would be drawn out of the water through the parting of the Red Sea.

There is so much more going on in this than we could ever think.

And it's incredible.

And we don't just learn this so that we can be puffed up with Bible trivia knowledge, but so that we can see God is always doing about 10,000 things in your life.

And I heard a pastor say years ago, he's doing about 10,000 things in your life, and you might be aware of two of them.

And so for us, we come to him again and again, seeing that he is the God who draws out.

He drew Adam and Eve out of hiding in the Garden of Eden.

He drew out Moses.

He draws out Israel.

And all of it pointing forward to show us we have a God who draws out.

And we see this fully and finally in Jesus.

Who draws us out of sin and shame and death.

How?

Through his sacrificial death at the cross, paying our penalty for our sins, and his powerful rising from the dead.

In the story of Exodus, the story of Moses, it's pointing forward to the true and better Moses.

The one who was also born under an edict of death, not from Pharaoh, but from Herod, and who found escape in the land of Egypt, that all of this is pointing forward and is brought up into the story of redemption, of rescue.

And you, every one of us here today, can be saved from our sin.

And we can walk as one who is saved from sin.

We can learn what it looks like to follow in his word and in his ways.

We saw this last week.

You're going to hear this verse again and again through Exodus.

1 Corinthians 10, 11, where Paul in the New Testament is reflecting on Exodus, and he says this.

Trust the God who saves.

That God desires to save.

Save from what?

From sin.

From death.

From eternal separation and judgment.

That God wants to save.

We see it in Noah with the Ark.

We see it in Moses with the Ark.

We see it in Israel through the Red Sea.

We see it in Jesus through the cross.

God wants to save you.

It's summarized in Luke 19, 10.

For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.

Trust the God who saves.

Next, trust the God who guides.

Are you confident of God's sovereignty?

Are you confident in his leading, in his guiding to where you need to be?

There is no need to worry about tomorrow.

And God is guiding even when it doesn't look, sound, or feel like it.

I heard Tim Keller say years ago, God's guidance is less something that he gives and more something that he does.

A lot of times we're looking for God's guidance and going to him and being like, God, if you could give me this extra special revelation showing me exactly what it is that I'm supposed to do.

It doesn't always work out that way.

But rather we lay ourselves on the altar and we pray and say, God, make me wise.

Guide me.

Guide me, oh great God.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

He will guide you.

And so, I mean, some of you might be here this morning and you are really seeking God's will.

And you're wanting to know do I go to this school or that school?

Do I take this job or that job?

Do we adopt?

Do we not?

Do we change churches?

Do we not?

Do we move?

Do we stay closer to family?

What do we do?

God, tell me what it is that I'm supposed to do.

God's will isn't necessarily a destination, but it's who you're becoming.

God isn't concerned as much with what you do, but in who you're becoming.

Because, look at this.

1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 3.

1 Thessalonians 4:3

Some of you might have prayed this morning, God, what is your will for my life?

We loved it and we didn't sync it up beforehand, but Spencer, 1 Thessalonians 5 this morning, and his welcome to you today.

This is the will of God.

Be thankful in all things.

And the chapter before that, for this is the will of God, your sanctification.

What is God's will for your life?

I can tell you, each and every one of you here this morning.

God's will is for you to be sanctified.

You're like, what does that mean?

Sanctification is the process of becoming holy, also known as having your life look more like Jesus.

And that's why we sing this prayer of shape and fashion us in your likeness.

God, help me to look more like Jesus.

That is his will for your life.

And he will guide you into those paths that he has laid out.

So trust the God who saves.

Trust the God who guides.

And last, trust the God who provides.

Are you trusting his ability to provide?

To see it through.

Not in the particulars.

You might have an idea of how this is supposed to look.

You might have a timetable on which you would like to make this request to God.

Sometimes it's longer and slower, sometimes it's shorter and more immediate.

But we trust his provision, his providence, his ability to provide.

And it will make its way out in the particulars, but it will make its way out ultimately in paradise.

Because look at this.

That's what God wants for you.

How do I know this?

John 14, verses 1 through 3.

John 14:1–3

Jesus is speaking here and says, Let not your hearts be troubled.

Believe in God.

Believe also in me.

In my Father's house are many rooms.

And if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself.

Why?

That where I am, you may be also.

This is God's provision.

The ultimate provision.

That will not spoil or fade, that is not under threat or can be taken away.

That God draws out of sin, out of suffering and out of death into life and light and love.

That He is the God who saves.

He is the God who guides.

And He is the God who provides.

God is writing an incredibly grand story.

A true story.

You are not the main character.

But you are a valuable character.

That your story, the story of your life, can be called up and giving meaning and purpose and significance beyond your wildest dreams.

When you work for his name, for his glory, when you grow in trust of the God who saves, who guides, and provides.

When we look to him, we become like him.

And we're able to see that this, this is the one true God.

I can trust him.

Let's pray.

So, gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you.

We thank you for acting in the Exodus, in the origin story of Moses.

We thank you for its significance for our lives here today.

We thank you for not leaving us down by the river.

We thank you for not leaving us in sin and shame and in judgment, but God, that you made a way, that you have drawn us out.

And I pray that if there's any here today who does not know, does not know you, does not trust you, would they see from your word, would they have confidence that you love them and that you have acted for them at the cross and empty tomb?

Grow us, God.

Draw us all together closer to yourself and teach us to trust.

It's in Jesus' name.

Thanks for listening to the Spring Valley Baptist Church podcast.

Spring Valley Baptist Church is a growing, multi-generational, multicultural church located at 91 Polo Road in Northeast Columbia, South Carolina.

And led by Pastor Blake Jenkins.

We'd love for you to join us each Sunday morning for our worship service at 9.30 a.m.

and our life groups at 11 a.m.

If you want to learn more about our church, visit springvallybaptist.com.

If you want to know more about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, email us at communications at springvalleybaptist.com.

Thanks for listening.