23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
Four hundred years passed with the absence of any notables of faith until the parents of Moses arrive on the scene. Not mentioned by name, their names are surely known to God. On the surface, the story seems to be simply that of concerned parents not wanting to see their child slaughtered by the Egyptian decree to put to death all newborn males. What’s so great about that? Would not most parents go through heroic means to save their children? Maybe there were even others at that time who did similar things.
Yet God thought it good and appropriate to include their actions as notable, along with Joseph’s dying request, and Moses’ great acts of faith. It may be that the faith of Moses’ parents is highlighted precisely because their action was used by God to keep alive the promises of God. For God was going to use this very Moses to bring His people out of slavery in Egypt (after 400 hundred years), in order to bring them into the land promised to their great patriarch, Abraham. In fact, the descendants of Abraham had grown to number in the millions, something Abraham believed God for, but never saw for himself. The Lord was fulfilling His promises, and He was using various individuals along the way at strategic junctures to keep the promises alive. The parents of Moses were just such individuals.
Our text today indicates that their conscious motive was “because they saw he was a beautiful child.” It may very well have been that because Moses was a striking baby that his parents foresaw great things for him, that he would be a great leader, but that is only conjecture. It is entirely possible that God may have revealed to them things about their baby that are not revealed to us today, things that play into the equation. Again, we surmise.
The faith of Moses’s parents fits well into the list of Hebrews 11. Theirs was “… the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Heb 11:1). They most likely did not see their son leading Israel out of captivity, for Moses was around 80 years old when that happened (Exodus 7:7). This is the kind of faith that pleases God (Hebrews 11:6), for they dared to believe that God would one day reward them for their actions. And He did! And all Israel was liberated from Egypt!
Lord, help me believe even when I don’t see the results of my faith.
Did you mean just not mentioned in Hebrews? Ex. 6:20 gives their names so they were not hidden.
Yes, the parents of Moses were not named in Hebrews, although they are in Ex 6:20 as you point out. Thanks for that clarification.