Nothing is too difficult for Him (Exod 2:1-10)

Many of us are familiar with the song whose refrain is ‘Nothing is too difficult for Thee’, but probably few know that the words come from Jer 32:17. It is not a triumphant response to God’s rescue, as we might expect, but a defiant word of hope spoken in the midst of disaster. Jeremiah is imprisoned in the court of the guard in the royal palace, while the Babylonians besiege Jerusalem (Jer 32:1-2) and will soon destroy the city and the temple taking the people into exile. It is in the darkness of impossible situations that we need to be reminded of God’s power to save.

In my last post, I explored how God equips Moses to fulfil His plan. Today, I want to reflect further on His purposes and how He achieves them. The situation looks dire, yet Moses’s mother hopes in the impossible when she places her son into a basket and puts him on the water. The Hebrew tevah (meaning basket or chest) is used only here in the OT and in the flood account (Genesis 6-9), where it refers to the ark. By linking the two, God reminds us that in the face of human evil, His intent is to save those who are faithful, who belong to Him. Thus, both Noah and now Moses survives in an ark by going through waters. Their fate secures the future of humanity and Israel respectively. Moses is drawn out of the water (Exod 2:10) and this will lead to his drawing Israel out through the waters in the exodus. In the NT, the apostle Paul uses the imagery of baptism (note again the theme of water), to explain what Christ has achieved (prefigured in Noah and Moses). He underwent death and was raised to life so that we, united with Him, may die to sin (symbolised in being submerged under water in baptism) and then be raised to new life (Rom 6:1-11).

We can see how Christ in His sinlessness is able to achieve our final redemption, but how can fallible human beings like Moses overcome mighty Pharaoh? The answer is that he can’t, but God can. Moreover, He uses those of little account: Moses’s mother, his sister, Pharaoh’s daughter. The latter is not afraid to adopt the child despite his Hebrew origins. What motivates her? She seems decisive and not worried about resisting Pharaoh’s edict, which suggests perhaps a more established woman, probably married, perhaps even a widow. Was she barren? Did she desire to have a child? God’s Word tells us only that she had pity on Moses (Exod 2:6) and her actions are most consistent with selfless compassion rather than with wanting a child for herself. If she were thinking of her own needs, why would she adopt a Hebrew boy adding unnecessary complications, given her father’s edict? Sending the baby away with the wet-nurse for what would have been years suggests again that this is not about her emotional needs. Permitting a Hebrew wet-nurse for the baby rather than an Egyptian one likewise suggests sympathy, almost a hint of shared conspiracy: Pharaoh’s daughter surely realises who the ‘wet-nurse’ is. In all these aspects, it is as if God is thumbing His nose at Pharaoh: He finds allies in unlikely places, uses weak ‘vessels’ and places His future servant at the very heart of the evil empire, yet achieves His purposes. What irony that Pharaoh is busy oppressing and killing Hebrews to pre-empt their escape, while in his own household is raised a Hebrew child who will one day thwart the king’s plans! It is a demonstration of God’s immense power to bring about what He wills no matter the circumstances.