Chapter III: The Good Little Sister

EXODUS 2.1-10

YEARS and years ago, there was a little girl standing by the great River Nile, which as you know, runs through Egypt into the Mediterranean.

There she stood, quite alone, first glancing back to see if anyone might be coming that way, and then looking earnestly towards the river, fringed at that place with bulrushes, which sometimes grew as high as ten or twelve feet.

Why was the girl looking so earnestly at those bulrushes as they swayed in the breeze? Or why did she again turn anxiously to see if any Egyptian Soldier should be coming down to the River's brink?

Did she know of something which was hidden there? Something very, very precious?

Perhaps, wearied with standing and watching in two directions, Miriam sat down, and resting her elbows on her knees, looked only towards the river; and as she sat so silently and patiently there, her mind went over the past months of anxious fears, which had almost overwhelmed the family of Israelites of whom she was the only daughter.

She knew that about 400 years before, the Children of Israel, whom the Egyptians called the Hebrews, and we now call the Jews, travelled down from the land of Canaan (Palestine) to the land of Egypt.

They were the children of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob; and because of a great famine in all the countries round, these Israelites came down to Egypt to buy corn. You have all heard the story of Joseph who was sold into Egypt by his brothers? Well, God had sent this Joseph to Egypt, on purpose, to store up the corn for the famine which was coming.

So Joseph gave his brothers as much corn as they needed, and sent them back to fetch his dear old father Jacob. And that is how the Israelites came down into Egypt, and settled there with their flocks and herds, for they were Shepherds.

But by and bye the Egyptians began to get jealous of them. They increased in numbers so fast, and were so prosperous, because God blessed them abundantly, that the King of Egypt sent out a command that all the little boys who were born to the Israelites must be killed, and only the little girls saved alive.

This was a very cruel command, and the Israelitish women were very sorrowful at having all their baby boys thrown into the river.

At length, one baby boy was born, whom his Mother managed to hide in their little home for three long months; but he was a beautiful, strong child, and soon, his mother found that it was impossible to hide him.

She and her husband loved and served God, and we read in the 11th Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews and the 23rd verse, that it was "by faith" that they hid him so long, looking up to God in Heaven to save their darling boy.

Then Jochebed made a sort of basket-cradle of the reeds from the River, and she daubed it with slime and made it water-tight. And then she called her little daughter Miriam to her side, and they laid the beautiful baby in his little bed, and Miriam took the basket and carried it down to the water's edge. And, when no one was looking, she hid it in the thick bulrushes which grew there. Then she sat at a distance and watched.

By and bye Miriam saw Pharaoh's daughter, the Princess, and her maidens, come down the road towards the water, and though her heart beat fast, and she was dreadfully afraid, she found they had only come to bathe in the river.

Then she saw as they walked along by the edge, that Pharaoh's daughter noticed something strange among the rushes, and sent her maid to fetch it. And when the Princess opened the basket, there was the beautiful baby crying, and Pharaoh's daughter was grieved to see it cry, and she said: "This is one of the Hebrews' children!" How all the maidens crowded round to gaze at the beautiful baby!

It seems as if Miriam had been coming nearer and nearer, till she stood among the group of maidens who were gazing down at the sweet baby; and she said, looking up into the Princess's face, "Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?"

And here I notice two or three things about this young girl. First, I think she loved God, and like her Father and Mother, she trusted Him.

Next, I see that she was a patient little girl, and an obedient girl. She did what her mother had told her most faithfully. She also used the common sense God had given her; and in spite of her awe of the Princess, she bravely did the wisest thing she could have done.

She saw that Pharaoh's daughter had taken a great liking to her baby brother, and I think she thought this might be God's way of saving him from death.

So the Princess said "Go!" And Miriam ran, like an arrow from a bow, straight to her Mother, to tell her to come and see after her own baby!

You can think of that Mother's joy. God had seen the faith of that Hebrew Father and Mother, and had answered their prayers to save their child.

And when Jochebed hurried to the River side, and lifted the baby from its cradle into her safe arms, Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages."

Oh! How thankfully did the mother carry her baby back to their little home!

There she took care of him till he was old enough to be taken to the King's Palace, where he was called "the son of Pharaoh's daughter." It was she who gave him the name of Moses, "Because," she said, "I drew him out of the water."

Long afterwards, when God chose Moses to bring the Children of Israel out of Egypt, his sister Miriam went with him.