“When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.” – Exodus 2:3

Scripture reading: Exodus 2:1-10

The infancy of Moses is also special because Moses is placed in a basket—literally an “ark” lined with pitch and set in the Nile River. Our children know about Noah’s ark, but this is Moses’ ark. The same word that is used in Genesis 7:1 for “ark” is used here. Noah put pitch on his ark (Genesis 6:14), as did Moses’ mother on Moses’ ark.

Another allusion to Genesis! God delivers His people through Noah, but Noah must survive a water ordeal for it to happen. Moses also survives a water ordeal; he is drawn from the water. In the end, he delivers God’s people from the waters of death. Also, Moses was laid by “reeds”, the same word that describes the Sea of “Reeds” through which the people went in Exodus 13:18. A remembrance of the past and an anticipation of the future are revealed here. God provides a deliverer who will take them through the waters of death in victory and rest over their enemies.

Jesus undergoes death for His people and comes out alive so that He can be their deliverer. When we are in Christ through faith, we are buried with Him, dead to sin, but then made alive to Christ and righteousness. Through Him alone, we are delivered to everlasting rest. The special infancy of Moses led to the deliverance of God’s people. The special infancy of Christ led to a fuller deliverance, one that we can know through faith and await in certain hope.

Suggestions for prayer

Thank the Lord for the great deliverance that Christ has won for you. Pray that the Lord might fill your heart with the hope that the promised fullness of that deliverance provides.

Rev. John Vermeer is the pastor of Doon United Reformed Church in Doon, Iowa.