Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 2:2-4

2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.

4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

Moses’s mother had to hide him because of the Pharaoh’s murderous decree. Every newborn male was to be killed by the Egyptians. I wonder how she managed to keep an infant, prone to sudden bouts of crying, unknown from the rest of the world. What terrifying days those must have been!

Of course, as the child grew he only became more and more difficult to conceal. Moses’s mother had a terrible choice to make: keep her child under her care and almost certainly consign him to death, or turn him over to God’s mercy. Her final gift to her son was a little ark, carefully sealed so no water could get inside. It seemed to be the last home she could provide him.

I think the final words in verse four illustrate the grim uncertainty with which Moses parted ways from his family. His sister watched to know “what would be done to him.” Starvation, drowning, being eaten by a wild animal, found and killed by an Egyptian guard…all manner of tragic endings were possible. As we will see tomorrow, though, God had other plans.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 24:59-60

59 And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant, and his men.

60 And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.

I wonder if Laban and Rebekah’s mother realized how appropriate the blessing they gave to Rebekah was. I wouldn’t be surprised if “be thou the mother of thousands of millions” was a generic wish given to every new bride, but in her case it actually became a reality.

Abraham was promised to be a father of many nations, but that covenant only passed on to a single son, Isaac. Thus Isaac and Rebekah bear the full weight of the blessing as well, destined to be the progenitors of an entire nation. Actually, two nations. From Rebekah would come both the Israelite branch and the Edomite, though the covenant heritage would only pass through the former.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 3:20

20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

I had never noticed before that Eve did not receive her name until this very moment. In fact Adam may not have had a name either. In Hebrew, the word for “adam” simply means “man,” and the same word is translated interchangeably into both “Adam” and “man” in my English bible. Thus, during this time in the garden, God is simply speaking to them as “the man” and “the woman.” But at the moment of transition Eve, at least, is receiving a new name.

And notice that Eve’s name is not one of shame. The Hebrew word behind our English “Eve” is “chavah” or “havah,” which means “to give life.” It is a very beautiful and powerful name, a name that frankly wouldn’t have been applicable to her before she fell and gained the ability to conceive and bear children.

This points out the fact that Adam and Eve may have received a curse, but there was a blessing within that curse. Toil and pain were their inheritance, but so were children. Sin and condemnation had been introduced, but eventually so would a Savior and a redemption. Adam and Eve had passed from a glory, but they came into another, and with a promise to return to the first. And when they returned to that first it would be with new titles and honors, including “mother of all.”