3 Brave Lessons About Motherhood to Learn from Jochebed in the Bible
Raising children is never easy, but it’s especially challenging for today’s moms. Here are three positive lessons that every mom can learn from Jochebed in the Bible.
Jochebed was a mom who raised great kids in the middle of a wicked country where people hated her. Jochebed was Moses’ mother, but she had two other incredible children as well. They were true world changers. And I want to learn how to raise kids like that.
Sometimes we think raising kids was easier in “the old days.” Society in our modern times makes it difficult to bring up kids who love and serve God.
But Jochebed is a mother in the past who proved to raise children who honor Christ, are servants to others, and quite literally change the world is possible. Even in the darkest of times.
*All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Who Was Jochebed in the Bible?
Jochebed is widely known as the mother of Moses, Aaron and Miriam. She was married to Amram who belonged to the tribe of Levi. Her name is pronounced like “jock-a-bed.”
Amram, Jochebed, and all the children of Isreal were slaves to the Egyptians. They had been slaves for nearly four hundred years, and they begged God to set them free.
Through the faith and bravery of this one righteous woman, God set in motion His plan to deliver the children of Israel from bondage.
The Story of Jochebed in the Bible
Moses’ parents lived at a time in Egypt when the people of Isreal had become a mighty nation living in Egypt. Pharoah was worried that they would become too strong and turn against him.
The pharaoh ordered the midwives to kill all of the baby boys born to Hebrew women. When they refused, he sent out his soldiers to throw all of the male children into the Nile River.
But Jochebed refused to let her son die. She hid her baby boy in her house for three months. When it became obvious that he was too big (and probably too noisy!) she made a new plan.
With much prayer and faith in God, she made a little basket, coating it with tar and pitch. Then Moses’ mom put baby Moses in the Nile River. Can you imagine what that must’ve been like for her? To watch her little son float away in the river?
Her daughter, Miriam, stayed nearby to watch her brother. When Pharoah’s daughter came down to the river to bathe, she found the baby floating in the watertight basket. She decided immediately that she would take him as her own son.
Miriam told the Pharoah’s daughter that she would happily find a nurse to care for the baby. Then, she ran to get her mother, who became the nurse for her own son!
Moses was raised in the palace of Pharoah. He grew up with the best of everything and may have held a royal title.
But because of the lessons Amram and Jochebed taught their son, Moses turned away from a life of privilege. He chose instead to suffer with the Israelites, and God used him to lead them out of Egypt, and to the promised land.
Qualities of Jochebed in the Bible
Jochebed was a Biblical mother of strength and character. She trusted God to take care of her children, and He rewarded her for her faith.
While we only read her name twice in the Bible (Exodus 6:20; Numbers 26:59), she is mentioned in the “hall of fame of faith” in Hebrews 11.
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.Hebrews 11:23 KJV
At first glance, this verse seems to be talking about Moses. But his parents weren’t afraid of the king’s commandments and hid their son.
Jochebed was a woman of faith and bravery. She did not allow the things that happened in the world around her to influence how she raised her children.
She refused to live in fear, even in a world that was full of really scary things. Does that sound familiar?
Related: 5 Inspiring Ways Modern Moms Can be Like the Titus 2 Woman
3 Powerful Lessons From Jochebed
The most important job God has given me is the task of raising my kids to love Him. It’s a big responsibility.
The world we live in right now is full of wickedness. While there is no one physically taking our children to feed them to alligators in the Nile River, the world would like nothing better than to destroy their lives.
When I start to feel a bit overwhelmed in the job of motherhood, I look to successful mothers for lessons to help. I look at moms like Jochebed to show me how to raise strong, wise, God-fearing kids in our modern world.
Being a mom is hard, even when times are easy. It’s even harder when we’re faced with circumstances beyond our control. Here are 3 positive and powerful lessons all mothers can learn from Moses’ mother.
Raising kids who are followers is pretty easy. Just let them go their own way and do their own thing.
But, if you want to raise kids who think outside the box, do hard things for God and make a real difference in the world–it’s hard.
Jochebed was Intentional.
Raising kids who are followers is pretty easy. Just let them go their own way and do their own thing.
But, if you want to raise kids who think outside the box, do hard things for God and make a real difference in the world–it’s hard.
Jochebed made a decision. She would not let her kids be lost to Egypt. Saving her son and raising three amazing kids did not happen by accident.
She had a plan, and she followed it.
If you want to raise a Moses, Aaron, or Miriam, you’ll have to be intentional, too. Going against the grain is hard, especially as kids get older. They want to fit in and be “like the cool kids.”
But a mom has to be intentional, and know what her plan for her family is. We have to be prepared to say “no” and say it often. Our goal is not to raise kids who are like everyone else.
Our goal is to raise kids who love God. Part of that is living a life that your kids want them to copy. Show them that you are happy and content in the life God has given you.
They learn so much more from what you do than what you say.
- Take them to church.
- Don’t skip Sunday School
- Make Bible reading a part of your daily life
- Pray out loud with them.
- Help kids memorize Bible verses.
Let them see you living a life that is worthy of following.
Jochebed Was Protective.
Moses’ mother left nothing to chance. Exodus 2:3 tells us that she made sure he would be safe when she placed him in the Nile.
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.Exodus 2:3 KJV
She prepared the inside and the outside of the basket she put Moses in. She daubed it with slime and pitch to keep him dry, and to make her basket float.
You must protect your kids from inside and outside influences. The enemy wants to destroy them. And he will use any means he can.
If you aren’t careful, things will creep into your home that will hurt your family. Even “innocent” family television programs and movies can influence our kids for the wrong.
It’s important to know what they’re watching, the games they’re playing and the people who are interacting with them at all times.
Satan will also use outside influences to destroy children. Many strong, Christian kids have been turned wrong because of unhealthy friendships.
Like Jochebed, modern mothers must protect their kids on the inside and the outside of their homes.
We hear a lot about “general parenting” and so many parenting gurus tell us things about not saying no, don’t tell our kids to stop and skip any kind of punishment.
But a protective mother knows that kids don’t know what’s best for them. If it were up to my kids, they’d only ever drink pop and eat candy bars. They’d sit and play video games all day, stay up until all hours, and never learn how to do a multiplication problem.
It’s up to me, as their mom to show them what is best for them. To protect them from harmful influences and things that can hurt them–because they don’t know yet what those things are.
Jochebed Had Faith.
We’ve already seen that Jochebed’s faith was strong. She wasn’t afraid of the king’s commandment because she knew that God had a greater plan for her son.
As Jochebed weaved that little basket, covered it with tar and pitch, then placed her three-month-old baby inside, she could never have known what would happen.
She had no way to know that her son would be rescued by a princess. In fact, she may have thought she would never see him again. But she trusted God that whatever He had for her son was best.
Jochebed did all that she could for Moses. But, ultimately, she had to walk away from the floating basket. Moses’ mother left her baby in the Nile, and let God take control.
You and I must do the same.
We can and should do everything we can to raise our kids right. We must teach them God’s way, live the right life in front of them, and protect them from an evil world.
Eventually, we have to let them go and trust God for the rest. Have faith that God knows what is best for your kids. Even if that means you don’t understand what’s happening.
God knows, and He will work miracles in their lives. And maybe use them in world-changing ways.
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