Moses: The First Adoption Story?
Moses: The First Adoption Story?
Jennifer Newton Martin
We’ve all heard the story of baby Moses being put into a basket by the river and being picked up by the Pharaoh’s daughter. This is one of the very first Bible stories we usually hear in Sunday school; you probably colored a picture of baby Moses at some point as a child.
It’s an exciting story because we see a helpless baby in danger of death being rescued by royalty. But have we ever considered the significance of this potentially being the first adoption orchestrated by God, the first adoption story?
The Holman Bible Handbook tells Moses’ story this way:
“God’s saving presence is clear in the early life of Moses, the human agent of God’s deliverance. Moses’ Levite parents saved him from a cruel death by hiding him in a basket in the Nile. Rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter, Moses was reared by his mother, who introduced him to the God of Israel. Though Moses later enjoyed the privileges of the Egyptian royal court, he never forgot his Israelite heritage.”
I remember watching a DVD last year filled with interviews of children in Ethiopia who were awaiting adoption. Many of the children were still living with one or both parents, but were not being supported and nurtured in a healthy way. Many of the interviews included statements made by very apparently distraught mothers who had lost their husbands to AIDS, and a number of the women dying of AIDS themselves.
It was heartbreaking but inspiring to witness these mothers make the same sacrifice that Moses’ mother made so long ago. These are men and women who understand that as hard as it is to part with their beloved children, the ultimate sacrifice must be made to ensure their safety and well being.
How hard must it be to know that you cannot provide and care for your own as well as someone else could? I can’t imagine the humility that these mothers and fathers must face as they are forced to make these tough decisions.
The most impactful interviews were when the children spoke about wanting an opportunity to come to America so that they could learn about God and then return to their country and minister to their people.
In many ways they would be like Moses never forgetting his Israelite heritage.
When we read on in Exodus Moses witnessed the suffering of the Hebrews under the Egyptians and developed righteous outrage at the injustice of their circumstances. He ends up exiled from Egypt after murdering an abusive Egyptian. It is during his exile that he meets God in the famous burning bush. At the same time God is hearing the cries of His Hebrew children and is calculating a response for their deliverance. Eventually, God uses Moses, an adopted child, to orchestrate their deliverance.
When I read this story in Exodus I am in awe of the fact that God surely knew that this baby, once at risk of losing his life, would become an agent of great change for His people.
All of this happened because of the sympathy and response of the Pharaoh’s daughter who the Bible tells us in Exodus 2:6 opened the basket and saw baby Moses crying and felt sorry for him. This person wasn’t even one of God’s chosen people and yet because of her active response Moses grew into a man of God that would lead God’s people out of Egypt.
How many orphaned and homeless children out there in this world are predestined to love and walk with God if someone would just give them a chance to survive or, better yet, a chance to thrive?
I did a search on Bible Gateway.com recently on the words “orphan” and “fatherless”. There were thirty-five results.
All throughout the Bible God’s mandates included specific direction on how His people were to respond to the needs of orphans and fatherless, widows, and aliens in their midst. He was so specific in the Old Testament that He not only commanded them to be included in the celebrations and festivals of His people (Deuteronomy 16), but that the Hebrew people were to “overlook” a certain portion of their crops so that the needy might be fed (Deuteronomy 24) and even tithe 10% of their produce every third year to be given to them so that they “may be satisfied” (Deuteronomy 26).
God’s desire for the orphans, widows, and aliens to be cared for and satisfied is so incredibly evident. And for anyone who might think this direction is only for the more radical Christians, Isaiah’s rebuke is staggering. It says this:
Isaiah 1 (The Message)
1 Listen to God's case:
"I had children and raised them well,
and they turned on me.
The ox knows who's boss,
the mule knows the hand that feeds him,
But not Israel.
My people don't know up from down.
Shame! Misguided God-dropouts,
staggering under their guilt-baggage,
Gang of miscreants,
band of vandals—
My people have walked out on me, their God,
turned their backs on The Holy of Israel,
walked off and never looked back.
10"Listen to my Message,
you Sodom-schooled leaders.
Receive God's revelation,
you Gomorrah-schooled people.
11-12"Why this frenzy of sacrifices?"
God's asking.
"Don't you think I've had my fill of burnt sacrifices,
rams and plump grain-fed calves?
Don't you think I've had my fill
of blood from bulls, lambs, and goats?
When you come before me,
whoever gave you the idea of acting like this,
Running here and there, doing this and that—
all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship?
13-17"Quit your worship charades.
I can't stand your trivial religious games:
Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings—
meetings, meetings, meetings—I can't stand one more!
Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them!
You've worn me out!
I'm sick of your religion, religion, religion,
while you go right on sinning.
When you put on your next prayer-performance,
I'll be looking the other way.
No matter how long or loud or often you pray,
I'll not be listening.
And do you know why? Because you've been tearing
people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.
Go home and wash up.
Clean up your act.
Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings
so I don't have to look at them any longer.
Say no to wrong.
Learn to do good.
Work for justice.
Help the down-and-out.
Stand up for the homeless.
Go to bat for the defenseless.
Verse 17 of the New International Version says it this way:
17 learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.
I know that many people feel uncomfortable with the idea of raising another’s child, especially a stranger’s. But if we learn nothing else from Moses’ story, we should learn that God has always orchestrated the furthering of His kingdom in the most unexpected ways. He uses those who are unlikely to succeed by worldly standards.
1 Corinthians 1:27-29 (New International Version)
27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him.
We are a people called to notice injustice and respond. As much as we may struggle against the sacrifice of living outside our comfort zones we must realize that ignoring the widows, the orphans, the homeless, is a response. Tragically, apathy is the most common response to these favored people of God.
We are a people called to actively participate in the ministry of Christ even if this leads us down uncomfortable, unfavorable, and even unpopular paths. We are called to follow Christ to the cross.
Maybe we need to see every homeless person, every orphan, and every widow as a cross that we are called to lift up and carry. Maybe this is what it means to truly pick up our crosses and follow Him. Picking up our crosses doesn’t earn us brownie points in the kingdom. It is what makes us Christ followers.
Holman. Holman Bible Handbook. Tennessee: Holman BP, 1992.
Jennifer Newton Martin is a Microbiologist and freelance writer in Richmond, VA who attends Commonwealth Chapel and can write a novel but not a one-liner.
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