YEARS and years ago, there was a little girl standing by the
great River Nile, which as you know, runs through Egypt into the
Mediterranean.
There she stood, quite alone, first glancing back to see if anyone
might be coming that way, and then looking earnestly towards the river,
fringed at that place with bulrushes, which sometimes grew as high as
ten or twelve feet.
Why was the girl looking so earnestly at those bulrushes as they swayed
in the breeze? Or why did she again turn anxiously to see if any
Egyptian Soldier should be coming down to the River's brink?
Did she know of something which was hidden there? Something very, very
precious?
Perhaps, wearied with standing and watching in two directions, Miriam
sat down, and resting her elbows on her knees, looked only towards the
river; and as she sat so silently and patiently there, her mind went
over the past months of anxious fears, which had almost overwhelmed the
family of Israelites of whom she was the only daughter.
She knew that about 400 years before, the Children of Israel, whom the
Egyptians called the Hebrews, and we now call the Jews, travelled down
from the land of Canaan (Palestine) to the land of Egypt.
They were the children of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob; and
because of a great famine in all the countries round, these Israelites
came down to Egypt to buy corn. You have all heard the story of Joseph
who was sold into Egypt by his brothers? Well, God had sent this Joseph
to Egypt, on purpose, to store up the corn for the famine which was
coming.
So Joseph gave his brothers as much corn as they needed, and sent them
back to fetch his dear old father Jacob. And that is how the Israelites
came down into Egypt, and settled there with their flocks and herds,
for they were Shepherds.
But by and bye the Egyptians began to get jealous of them. They
increased in numbers so fast, and were so prosperous, because God
blessed them abundantly, that the King of Egypt sent out a command that
all the little boys who were born to the Israelites must be killed, and
only the little girls saved alive.
This was a very cruel command, and the Israelitish women were very
sorrowful at having all their baby boys thrown into the river.
At length, one baby boy was born, whom his Mother managed to hide in
their little home for three long months; but he was a beautiful, strong
child, and soon, his mother found that it was impossible to hide him.
She and her husband loved and served God, and we read in the 11th
Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews and the 23rd verse, that it was
"by faith" that they hid him so long, looking up to God in Heaven to
save their darling boy.
Then Jochebed made a sort of basket-cradle of the reeds from the
River, and she daubed it with slime and made it water-tight. And then
she called her little daughter Miriam to her side, and they laid the
beautiful baby in his little bed, and Miriam took the basket and
carried it down to the water's edge. And, when no one was looking,
she hid it in the thick bulrushes which grew there. Then she sat at a
distance and watched.
By and bye Miriam saw Pharaoh's daughter, the Princess, and her
maidens, come down the road towards the water, and though her heart
beat fast, and she was dreadfully afraid, she found they had only come
to bathe in the river.
Then she saw as they walked along by the edge, that Pharaoh's daughter
noticed something strange among the rushes, and sent her maid to fetch
it. And when the Princess opened the basket, there was the beautiful
baby crying, and Pharaoh's daughter was grieved to see it cry, and
she said: "This is one of the Hebrews' children!" How all the maidens
crowded round to gaze at the beautiful baby!
It seems as if Miriam had been coming nearer and nearer, till she stood
among the group of maidens who were gazing down at the sweet baby; and
she said, looking up into the Princess's face, "Shall I go and call
to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for
thee?"
And here I notice two or three things about this young girl. First, I
think she loved God, and like her Father and Mother, she trusted Him.
Next, I see that she was a patient little girl, and an obedient girl.
She did what her mother had told her most faithfully. She also used
the common sense God had given her; and in spite of her awe of the
Princess, she bravely did the wisest thing she could have done.
She saw that Pharaoh's daughter had taken a great liking to her baby
brother, and I think she thought this might be God's way of saving him
from death.
So the Princess said "Go!" And Miriam ran, like an arrow from a bow,
straight to her Mother, to tell her to come and see after her own baby!
You can think of that Mother's joy. God had seen the faith of that
Hebrew Father and Mother, and had answered their prayers to save their
child.
And when Jochebed hurried to the River side, and lifted the baby from
its cradle into her safe arms, Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take
this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages."
Oh! How thankfully did the mother carry her baby back to their little
home!
There she took care of him till he was old enough to be taken to the
King's Palace, where he was called "the son of Pharaoh's daughter." It
was she who gave him the name of Moses, "Because," she said, "I drew
him out of the water."
Long afterwards, when God chose Moses to bring the Children of Israel
out of Egypt, his sister Miriam went with him.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]