Origin: Exodus 1-2 in the Bible
Once upon a time, in the land of Egypt, there was a cruel king called Pharaoh. Pharaoh was afraid of the Israelites, so he made them slaves and treated them very badly.
During this difficult time, a Hebrew woman named Jochebed gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Jochebed and her husband, Amram, were very worried about their son because Pharaoh had ordered that all Hebrew baby boys must be thrown into the Nile River.
Jochebed and Amram loved their baby boy very much and didn’t want anything bad to happen to him. So they decided to hide him for as long as they could.
For three months, Jochebed kept her baby hidden, but eventually, she knew she couldn’t keep him hidden any longer. So she came up with a plan to save him.
Jochebed made a special basket out of reeds and covered it with tar to make it waterproof. Then, she gently placed her baby boy inside the basket and placed it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River.
Jochebed’s daughter, Miriam, stayed close by to watch over her baby brother. She waited anxiously to see what would happen next.
Meanwhile, Pharaoh’s daughter, who was the princess of Egypt, came down to the river to bathe. As she walked along the bank, she noticed the basket among the reeds and sent one of her maids to fetch it.
When Pharaoh’s daughter opened the basket, she saw the baby inside and felt sorry for him. She knew he was a Hebrew baby, but her heart went out to him.
Just then, Miriam stepped forward and asked, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”
Pharaoh’s daughter agreed, and Miriam quickly ran to fetch her mother, Jochebed. Jochebed was overjoyed to see her baby boy again and was grateful to Pharaoh’s daughter for saving him.
Pharaoh’s daughter said to Jochebed, “Take this baby and nurse him for me. I will pay you for your help.” So Jochebed took her baby boy home and cared for him as her own.
When the baby was older, Jochebed brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her own son and named him Moses, which means “drawn out of the water.”
And so, children, Moses grew up in the palace of Pharaoh, where he received the best education and lived a comfortable life. But he never forgot his true identity as a Hebrew, and one day, he would become a great leader and lead his people out of slavery in Egypt.
