The Baby Basket on the River
Exodus 2:1-10When you were a just born child, your mother must took care of you day and night, didn't she? At daylight, she look after you, hold you, washed you up, and nourished you. At night, mother still couldn't take rest, because she had to hold and took care of you. Any time you cried, your mother would be ready near by your side to comfort and cuddle you. Parents have sacrificed their lives to take care of you so because they love you. Parents, especially the mothers, always take care of their children with all their hearts; even though they have to sacrifice hard day and night, and though no one would pay them any penny for their labor. Long time ago, there was a mother who was in a special situation, that is, she brought up her child and got paid from another person. This story was happened in Egypt. At that time, there were many Israelites lived in Egypt. They were the offspring of Joseph's family. Do you still remember Joseph's story? After he was sold to a group of traders, Joseph became a slave in Egypt. From that day, Joseph had to work very hard, then he was accused falsely, and he was arrested to prison. Finally, God saved Joseph and let Joseph to become a mighty prince to save Egypt from a famine. Joseph was a mighty prince for awhile, then Canaan, which was Joseph's home, also had bad crop and became starving. For that reason, Joseph had chance to see his brothers again and had brought his whole family to Egypt and live there. When Joseph's family came to Egypt, they were greeting by the king of Egypt and were offered many benefits. They lived there, had more offspring, and gradually became a crowded and strong group. However, several years later, when all people who knew the work of Joseph died, and all the kings of Egypt now didn't know who Joseph was any more; then, the Egyptians began to hate the Israelites (Hebrews). At that time, the Israelites lived in Egypt, they had too many offspring and they were richer than some of Egyptians; therefore, Egyptians hated them. The Egyptians had found a way to repress and destroy Israelites. They wanted the Israelites to do the hard work, work day and night without pay. Every day, the people of Israel were given a little bit of food to have strength to work. Even so, the Israelites were blessed by God; therefore, they became more crowded and stronger each day. Finally, the king of Egypt found out a way to destroy the Israelites. He commanded to kill all the young Israel boys who were just born. When Israelites gave birth to girls, then they was allowed to live; however, if a boy was born, he had to be thrown into the river. The King's command was said, but there was an Israel family who gave birth to a son. According to the King's command, this family had to throw their son into the river; however, the whole family kept this child. The brothers and sisters of this baby also tried to help their parents to hide him so that nobody knew he was still alive. But one day, the mother said to her daughter: "Daughter, you have helped me to hide your young brother for a long time now. It's been three months now from the day he was born, but now it would be better to give him away because we can't take care of him any more." The daughter was surprised and asked: "Why so, mother? Why can't we take care of him any more? There is nobody knows that we have a baby boy in the house!" But the mother said: "No, my daughter, we can't because it would be too dangerous; if we keep him a little bit longer and if people know, then your little brother will be in danger and our whole family will be sent to prison." The daughter asked: "So now, what would you like to do, mother?" The mother answered: "I have a plan, that is, you should go down to the river, pluck up some reeds so I can knit a baby basket for your little brother." The daughter obeyed to her mother's words and went to pluck up some reeds, so her mother could knit a basket with a cover. The mother plastered gum around the basket so the water couldn't be absorbed inside the basket. The next day, she laid the baby inside the basket and placed it on the river in the middle of reeds so it wouldn't float away. The basket was on the water surface as a little boat. The whole family was very distressed. Image that you have a young brother, only three months old and now your parents must throw him into the river instead of keeping him in the house; therefore, your whole family must be distressed tremendously. And so, the parents and brothers and sisters of this little boy also distressed very much; but when thinking about the king's command, they had to leave the boy. After placing the basket with the baby on the bank of the river, the mother asked her daughter to stay near the river and watch over the basket. The basket was slowly floating on current of water. The baby's sister was growing along on the banks of the river and watched what was happening to the baby, then she would come home and tell her mother. After a while growing along, the sister heard some people's noise coming from far away, that was the princess of Egypt and her servants. The princess was about to step into the river to wash up but she saw the basket; wondering what was inside the basket, she asked her servants to pick it up. When opened up the basket, seeing there was a baby just born, the princess knew right away that was the son of Israelites, because of the king's command the parents had to throw their son into the river. Seeing the beautiful baby, the princess fell in love with him, so she said to her servants: "What a pity! The baby is adorable, it must be a son of Israelites (Hebrews)!" The baby's sister hid in the reeds near by, she was worry to see what the princess would do next. Her servants were also quiet to see what the princess would plan to do because the king of Egypt was the one who commanded to kill all the innocent baby boys like that. The baby might be sleeping and was woken up, so he cried, and so the princess picked him up and comforted him. Holding the baby in her hands, she thought: The innocent and adorable baby like this was thrown into the river to die, what a pity. Maybe… I should bring him home and take care of him? Therefore, the princess turned toward her servants and said: "An adorable baby like this was left floating on the river, what a pity! I will bring him home." The baby's sister was still hiding behind the reeds to follow up what was going on, when she heard the princess said that she would bring her brother home, the sister was too happy and ran out from the reeds and said hi to the princess and said: "Your highness, do you need a nurse to take care of this baby?" The princess responded: "Yes, of course, do you know anyone?" The sister answered: "Yes, princess, I know my mother can be the nurse for this baby." The princess shook her head: "Yes, you go home and invite your mother to come here." The baby's sister was very happy, ran straight home, told her mother the whole story, and took her mother to see the princess. The princess handed over the baby to her and said: "You bring this baby home and nourish him, then I will pay you." Listen to the princess' command, the woman was happy, thanked God silently. Her son was supposed to be died, but now he lived again; therefore, she was happy and hold her son inside. Now she was allowed to bring up her son; she was not afraid anyone any more and also got paid by the princess for nursing her son. Everything happened beautifully outside of her expectation. The woman brought her son home and nursed him. When the boy had grown up, she took him back to palace and returned him to the princess. The princess adopted the baby, named him Moses, that meant "picked up from the water". Later on, when he grew up, God used him to be the person who liberated Israel from the slavery of Egyptians. This story remind us two things. First thing is, if we love God and be ready to obey his teaching, God will guide us in His good way. Second thing is, our parents love us unlimitedly, there is nothing can be compared to their work; therefore, as children, we must love and obey our parents to make them happy. There are two things you can do for your parents today, those are to thank God who has given you your parents who love you, teach you, and take care of you everyday; and remember to pray for your parents. You love your parents very much, don't you? Please remember to pray for your parents and always obey their teaching. QUESTIONS:
To read and listen to other Bible stories, please click here. Written by Minh Nguyen
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