Wednesday Scripture: Exodus 2
Bithiah
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Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank.
She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it.
She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.
Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”
“Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother.
Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him.
When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son.
She named him Moses (drew out) saying, “I drew him out of the water.”
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Bithiah is one of the most important names you’ve never heard.
None of the women are named in this story.
We only glean their names in passing from other scriptures, but together they formed a coalition of compassion that brought down a reign of terror.
This baby was born under a death sentence.
Mighty Pharaoh said he should die.
His survival could have been a series of blessed accidents, but it reads more like a conspiracy of kindness.
It seems these women were in league from the get-go.
Jochebed, the mother, “happened” to place her baby’s ark where Pharaoh’s daughter would bathe.
Miriam, the sister, “happened” to be waiting nearby, full of helpful suggestions.
Bithiah, Pharaoh’s daughter, “happened” to feel compassion that trumped her father’s orders.
Jochebed “happened” to be available to nurse the child.
Can you imagine what dear old Dad said when Bithiah brought home a Hebrew family?
You couldn’t adopt a puppy?
A stray kitten?
You want to adopt THOSE people?
As a father, I know very well what happened next.
Bithiah rolled her eyes and said, “Oh, DADDY!!!”
And that was that.
Her compassion sowed the seeds of freedom for Israel that day.
Mighty Pharaoh still had absolute power.
But one family had been set free.
Today there will be countless opportunities for kindness and compassion.
Most of them will be nameless.
They will not make the news.
They will not go viral.
And our acts of kindness seem too small to make a difference in a mad, power-hungry world.
But make no mistake.
Every act of kindness changes the world…
One soul at a time.
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Lord, let me change my world today
With one act of kindness and compassion.