Exodus 1; 2:1-10
You have heard how Joseph and his brothers lived happily in Egypt for a long while. At last, they grew old and died, but they left a great many children; and their children had a great many children; till at last there were hundreds and thousands of people. These people were the grandchildren of Jacob, and his great-grandchildren and their children.
Did you know that Jacob had two names?
His other name was Israel. It was a name that God had given him.
All the sons of Jacob were called the children of Israel, or the children of Jacob, and the grandchildren of Jacob were called by this same name, children of Israel. "There were some men, and some women, and some children, and all of them together were called" children of Israel.”
The grown-up people were called "children of Israel.”
They did not live in Canaan, you remember; they had left Canaan, because no corn grew there for a long while; they lived in Egypt, and took care of their sheep. While the good king Pharaoh lived, they were very happy. At last he died, and there was another king of Egypt; he, too, was called Pharaoh. You shall hear what he did, and then you shall tell me whether you think he was good.
He knew that the children of Israel had come from a great way off, and he said, “There are so many of them, perhaps they may someday fight against me with swords, and kill me and my servants. I will make them work hard, and I will try to kill them with hard work.”
So he desired that they should make a great many bricks, and build very high walls. He sent some of his men to make them work hard.
The children of Israel were used to taking care of sheep, and that is a pleasant employment. Shepherds lead their flocks to the green fields, and by the side of the quiet waters, and they sit under the shade of a tree when the sun is hot. Is not this pleasant? But now the children of Israel were obliged to dig up the clay, and to make bricks, and to dry them in the sun; and if they did not make a great many bricks, the men whom Pharaoh had sent beat them. So now they were very unhappy; they often sighed, and groaned, and shed tears.
Yet all this hard work did not kill them; so the king thought of another plan. He said, "Let every boy baby be thrown into the river." He did not order the girl babies to be drowned, because they would not be able to fight with swords when they grew up.
Whenever the king heard that one of the children of Israel had a little boy baby, he sent his men to throw it into the river.
There was a very good woman, who had a little boy baby; she was one of the children of Israel.
This woman knew that God would take care of her child, and she prayed to God to take care of it. She hid her baby, so that Pharaoh's men could not find it. I do not know where she put it, but God taught her to hide it in a very safe place.
When the baby was three months old, she found that she could not hide him anymore. What should she do with her baby?
You have heard of the great river of Egypt. Close by the river there grew a great many reeds and bulrushes, which are like very high thick grass. She took some bulrushes, and made them into a large basket. She wished to make a basket into which the water could not come; so she got some pitch, and covered the basket with pitch. Then she put her little baby inside, and took the basket in her arms. No one could tell what was in the basket.
She went to the river side, and laid the basket among the great rushes, close by the water. She knew that God would not let the child be killed, and so she left it, trusting in Him.
She had a little girl of ten years old. This little girl was the baby's sister. She stood a great way off, to see what would become of her baby brother. Soon she saw some ladies walking by the river side. One of these ladies was king Pharaoh's daughter. She was a princess. The other ladies were her maids, and they were going with the princess to some place where she could bathe, for Egypt is a very hot country, and people bathe often in hot countries.
The princess was looking at the rushes, when she saw something very strange peeping out amongst them. When she saw it, she said to one of her maids, "Go and see what that is." So the maid went, and found the basket. She took it up and brought it to the princess. The princess opened the basket, and saw a sweet babe. It was fair and lovely.
It began to cry. Poor infant! it was used to lie in its mother's arms, but now there was no one to feed it or to comfort it. The princess pitied the child. She had heard how her father had desired that every baby should be thrown into the river, and she said, "I suppose this is the baby of one of the children of Israel." She did not wish it to be thrown into the river.
The baby's sister had come nearer, and had seen what the princess had done. She saw that the princess pitied it; so she said, "If you want a nurse, I could find you one who would nurse the child for you." The princess said, "Go.”
Whom did she call? The baby's mother. When she was come, the princess said to her, "Take this child, and nurse it for me, and I will give you wages.”
How glad the mother was to take care of it I She saw that God had heard her prayers, and saved her child from being drowned.
The mother could teach it about God as soon as it could understand. But she was not allowed to keep it always. When it was a big child, the princess sent for it to come and live with her, and she called it her son. She gave it a name. "I shall call it ' Moses,'" she said, which means, "drawn out"; for he was drawn out of the water.
The princess lived in a fine house, and had_ a great many servants. Moses had beautiful clothes, nice things to eat, and servants to wait upon him. He had no hard work to do; yet he was not idle, but learned a great many things. The princess told wise men to teach him.
He knew the names of the stars; the names of beasts, and birds, and plants. He learned about all these things, and grew very wise. One thing these wise men could not teach him—even about God; for they worshipped idols. Yet Moses did know about God,' for his father and mother knew the true God, and, when he was little, Moses lived with them. Of all the things Moses knew, this was the best. He was wiser than all the men in Egypt, for he knew the true God.
He was brave, as well as wise, and all the people in Egypt praised him, and paid him respect. Was Moses happy? No; and I will tell you why, in the next lesson.
Hymn 18
"My child, I can no longer hide thee;
So to my God alone confide thee."
Thus spake a mother, broken-hearted,
As from her darling child she parted.
Once more with tenderness embracing,
And in an ark the infant placing,
She to the river's side conveyed it,
And among the flags in secret laid it.
The princess near her course is bending,
A train of maids her steps attending.
She cries, "What is it lying yonder?"
Then views the curious ark with wonder.
Within it lies a little creature
Of fairest form and lovely feature, —
Behold, the Hebrew babe is weeping;
It needs a mother's tender keeping.
With pity moved, great Pharaoh's daughter
Resolves to save the child from slaughter;
To her kind heart its tears endear it,
And now she seeks a nurse to rear it.
A little maid has watched her brother;
She runs and tells the baby's mother!
Whom for its nurse the princess chooses,
Nor she the office sweet refuses.
Oh! who can tell the mother's pleasure,
Again to find her infant treasure!
Again beneath her roof behold it,
Again within her arms enfold it!
Nor will She lose this precious season
To teach him many a holy lesson;
But use her every fond endeavor
To make him Serve the Lord forever,
Soon in a palace gay residing,
And in a heathen court abiding,
And every earthly good possessing,
He chiefly craves a heavenly blessing.