“And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.”
When concealment is no longer possible, Jochebed does something that requires a different kind of courage: she makes an ark of papyrus, waterproofs it with bitumen and pitch, places her son in it, and sets it among the reeds at the bank of the Nile. The Hebrew word for the basket here is tebah — the exact same word used for Noah's ark in Genesis 6–9. The parallel is unmistakable: as God preserved humanity through the ark on the waters of judgment, He will preserve this child through a basket on the waters of Pharaoh's decree. Jochebed is placing her son into God's hands by placing him into the river Pharaoh commanded would be his grave. The act transforms the instrument of death into a means of salvation. Romans 8:28 would later articulate what Jochebed enacted in faith: God works all things together for those who love Him.
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