Women and Pesach

In the Talmud it is written that the women have saved the life of Moses. The women that played a role in his life. Because of this  it was possible that Israël was being saved from the slavery in Egypt according to the rabbis.  When the oppression of Pharao towards Israël became heavier and heavier it is written that Yocheved, the mother of Moses knew, according to the rabbis that a savior would be born in Israël soon. He would lead the people from Egypt into freedom. This is found in several midrashim. A midrash is a story and commentary of the rabbis on Biblical texts that can help us to understand the text better and see it from a different angle.

In Egypt it were the magy who were advisers to Pharao. They had told him that a savior was soon to be born in Israel to lead the people out of Egypt.  From that moment Pharao made a decree that all the baby-boys that would be born in the people of Israël had to be thrown in the river Nile so that they would drown. When Yocheved’s son was born she saw that the child was beautiful. We find this in the texts: Exodus 2:2; Acts 7:20 and Hebrews 11:23. The commentary of the rabbis corresponding with the child being beautiful, is the fact that the child was beautiful for the Lord. His face was shining with angelic light.

According to Abraham Kuyper, a Dutch theologian, Yocheved saw in her child that the Lord had a special plan for his life. The faith of Yocheved was mixed with the love for her child and this became powerful to do everything to save the life of her baby-boy. She build an ark for her son. Ark here is in Hebrew: teba. The same word is being used in the Bible for the ark of Noah.  Jocheved believed that if her son was in the waters of the Nile, that then the terrible decree to kill all the baby boys would stop.

The magy would think that the child was dead. This happened indeed and from that moment the terrible decree was diversed. The fact that Jocheved was able to breastfeed her own son was also a great miracle. We can see the role of Jocheved’s daughter Miriam in this miracle with the help of the Lord. Miriam is also a woman with spiritual insight that was used by the Lord in such a great way. May this Pesach help us to grow spiritually to be used in special ways for His Kingdom.

Happy Pesach!