Then she put the child in it and laid it
among the rushes by the brink of the river.
—Exodus 2:3b
Jochebed. Not a common name. Not a familiar name. But
Moses, that’s a different story.
Actually it’s not.
Recently I saw the Sight &
Sound performance of Moses, which
opened with the story of Jochebed, Moses’ mother. While the bible does not tell
us much of her story, Sight &
Sound brings forth a creative—and convincing—portrayal
of what might have been.
Kneeling at the riverside,
Jochebed places three-month-old Moses in the basket that she has woven of
bulrushes and waterproofed with pitch (Exodus 2:3a). All part of her plan—God’s
plan—to save her beautiful baby boy (Exodus 2:2) from Pharaoh’s plan of extinction
(Exodus 1). Pushing the basket into the current, Jochebed collapses into sobs.
And my heart breaks for her.
