Summary of my sermon, based on Deuteronomy 6:6-7. Preached at Greenhills Christian Fellowship Toronto on May 11, 2025 (Mother’s Day).
Last week, Elder John Greg preached on God’s call to Moses from the burning bush and described it as Moses’s origin story. But today, I want to rewind even further and look at the very beginning of that story—Moses’s birth and childhood. I want us to see how someone like Moses grew up to become a man of such faith that he would rather be mistreated with the people of God than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. That’s what Hebrews 11:24–25 tells us: “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God.” But where did that faith come from? How did Moses even know he wasn’t Egyptian? How did he know enough about the God of Israel to make such a costly choice?
To answer that, we go back to Exodus 1. Pharaoh had commanded that every Hebrew baby boy be killed, but the Hebrew midwives, Shiprah and Puah, feared God and refused. Then in Exodus 2, Moses is born. His mother hides him for three months, and when she can no longer hide him, she places him in a basket and sends him down the Nile—technically obeying Pharaoh’s command to cast him into the river. His sister follows the basket, watching over it until Pharaoh’s daughter finds it. And when the princess opens the basket, she knows immediately that this is one of the Hebrew babies. That’s when Miriam, Moses’s sister, bravely steps forward and suggests finding a Hebrew woman to nurse the child—and of course, she goes and gets their mother, Jochebed.
That’s where everything changes. Pharaoh’s daughter not only agrees but offers to pay Jochebed to raise her own son. God’s providence is so evident here. And although Jochebed is not named in Exodus 2, we find her name later in Exodus 6:20. It’s Jochebed who gets to nurse Moses, to raise him in his earliest years, and to teach him who he really is. Before he ever returns to Pharaoh’s household and receives an Egyptian education, Moses learns that he is a child of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He learns to trust in the God of Israel. And those early lessons are what shaped his identity and formed the faith we see described in Hebrews 11.
Even though Moses eventually returns to the palace, he never forgets who he is. Exodus 2:11 says, “One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens.” Did you catch that? His people. Jochebed planted that in his heart. That’s why, later in life, he chose to suffer with his people rather than enjoy the palace’s comforts. That’s also why Hebrews 11:23 says, “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents… they were not afraid of the king’s edict.” She’s not named here either, but we know who that was. That was Jochebed. She’s part of the Hall of Faith.
And today, on Mother’s Day, we tell this story not just to honour biological mothers like Jochebed but also the many women who act as motherly figures in the lives of others. Women like the midwives Shiprah and Puah, who feared God. Women like Miriam, who watched over her baby brother and spoke up boldly. Even Pharaoh’s daughter, who took a Hebrew baby as her own, defying her father’s deadly command. God used each of them to raise up the man who would lead Israel out of slavery.
And so we turn to our passage this morning from Deuteronomy 6:6–7: “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children…” These verses were given to all of Israel, not just to mothers. But Proverbs 6:20 reminds us, “My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching.” Mothers and spiritual mothers alike have a high calling. We are to store God’s word in our hearts like Psalm 119:11 says, teach it diligently like Deuteronomy commands, and display it prominently in our lives and homes. Because the faith that leads someone like Moses to make the hard choice begins in the home.
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