Women of the Word: Jochebed 

Scripture References

Exodus 2:1-10: Exodus 6:20; Numbers 26:59; Hebrews 11:23

Name Meaning:

glory of Jehovah or Jehovah is her Glory

Family Connection

Daughter of Levi

Wife of Amram who was also of the house of Levi  (Exodus 2:1; Numbers 26:59, Exodus 6:20)

Mother of Aaron, Miriam, and Moses

Introduction

The story of Jochebed is one of love and courage. She was a woman of faith, born of the tribe of Levi. In her story we see deep motherly love for her children and their well being as well as her willingness to sacrifice. She did what it takes to keep her family together as long as possible.

Lesson

Jochebed was pregnant with Moses when Pharoah issued the edict that all males born to the Hebrew women be thrown in the Nile. Pharaoh feared the Hebrews would outnumber and overtake the Egyptians. When she gave birth, it was a boy who should have been thrown in the crocodile infested Nile River.

She hid Moses for three months. Since it was only the male Israelite babies that were to be killed, if anyone had come into her home or saw him they could have assumed it was a female baby. But she couldn’t hide him for too long before she had to figure out something else. Had she been discovered, she probably would have been killed.

She knew she couldn’t hide him forever. She made a basket out of reeds and pitch and placed Moses in it. It was then placed in the Nile among the reeds. Miriam was instructed to watch over the basket.

Pharaoh’s daughter came to the Nile daily. At her usual time at the river, she saw the basket in the reeds and had one of her maidservants retrieve it. Inside she found Moses and had compassion for him. She immediately decided to save this male Hebrew child, regardless of the edict from her father, and said they needed a Hebrew woman found to nurse the child.

Miriam, being nearby, quickly offered to find a Hebrew woman for them and brought back her mother. Pharaoh’s daughter told her she would pay her to care for the baby. It was Pharaoh’s daughter who named him Moses (which means “drawn out of the water”). We do not know what his Hebrew name was.

Jochebed was able to take Moses back home where she continued to nurse him and care for him. She raised him in her home for an undetermined amount of time before he went to live with his adopted mother in Pharaoh’s house. During the time that Jochebed had Moses in her home, she must have taught him about his heritage, since despite being adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter and being raised in the palace, he identified as a Hebrew. He later killed an Egyptian for beating a Hebrew slave. He was raised in a pagan home, yet he came to be one of the greatest leaders of the Hebrew nation.

It is hard to imagine exactly what Jochebed felt both times she had to give Moses up. First she had to let go when she placed him in the river. Then she had to let go again when he left her home to live in the palace. Her heart must have broken each time. But she always did what she had to do for her son.

From here Jochebed’s story ends. We do not know how long she lived, but she is not mentioned again except in the book of Numbers and in the book of Hebrews. She likely passed away before the Exodus from Egypt and did not live to see how great all three of her children became.