When Pharaoh’s daughter “saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her female slave to fetch it” (v. 5, Heb.). Here we see the part played by a female slave. This slave is the third female mentioned in this chapter. Again the name is not given in order to underscore God’s intention of impressing us with the female life. In Exodus 2 we see several females gathered about an ark in which a three-month-old baby boy had been laid. Each of these females had a different function. The function of the female slave was to serve. In particular, her service was fetching the ark.
Pharaoh’s daughter, the fourth female in this chapter, had her function also. First she rescued Moses and then charged Moses’ mother to nurse him. Later, when the child was brought to Pharaoh’s daughter, “he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water” (v. 10). We know from Acts 7:21 that “Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and nurtured him as her own son.”
In Exodus 2 we have a historical record, but in Acts 7 and Hebrews 11 we have a spiritual record. For example, Acts 7:20 says that Moses was “handsome to God.” This means that in the sight of God Moses was very comely. His parents must have been godly. Possessing spiritual insight and discernment, they realized that Moses was a very promising child for God’s purpose. Therefore, they hid him three months “because they saw that he was a handsome child” (Heb. 11:23).
The emphasis in Exodus 2 is not on the spiritual significance of Moses’ early life; it is on the important role played by the female life. Although the writings of Moses are elsewhere very descriptive, in Exodus 2 he gives us a very simple record in order to impress us with the way God uses the female life in times of crisis. During critical times, the only life that can be used by God is the female life that stands with God and is dependent upon Him.
We are living in a critical time, a time when the female life is urgently needed. Anyone who presumes to be a male will become a Pharaoh. All of us, including the brothers, need to be females. In a critical time such as now, the male life that is independent of God is not useful. Only the female life, the life that depends on God, is prevailing. If we see this, we shall have a great appreciation for the female life, the life that is wholly dependent on God.
In chapter two God used a number of females to accomplish His purpose of preparing a savior. One of these females, the mother of Moses, gave birth to him and nursed him. Another, his sister Miriam, watched over him when he was in the ark and served as a connecting link between Pharaoh’s daughter and Moses’ mother. The female slave fetched the ark, and Pharaoh’s daughter raised Moses as her own son. Probably she was also the one through whom Moses learned “all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22). Today we also need the various functions of the female life: the conceiving, bearing, and nursing function; the function of watching, recommending, and establishing the proper connections; the function of helping and serving; and the function of raising, teaching, and training. Through four kinds of female life, Moses was born, raised, and trained for God’s purpose. For the carrying out of His economy today, the Lord needs these four kinds of female life. He needs many mothers, daughters, female slaves, and royal princesses to make the preparations for the deliverance of His people so that they can fulfill His purpose.
Acts 7:22 says, “Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in his words and deeds.” Under God’s sovereignty, Moses learned all the Egyptian wisdom while staying in the royal palace as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Through his Egyptian education, he became highly cultured and received the highest learning of the world. Hence, he became mighty both in words and in deeds. However, that was only the preparation on the natural side; he still needed the preparation on the spiritual side.