E2-1: Two amazing spiritual connections surrounding Moses’ birth that are completely missed if you don’t know the Hebrew!

Today we begin Exodus Chapter Two.

For the Complete James Version, click here.

For the King JamesVersion, click here.

“When she conceived and had a son, upon seeing what a fine child he was, she hid him for three months.”-Exodus 2:1

Alrighty, things are about to get fast and furious!

We’re going to be introduced to Moses, one of the most famous and central characters in all of the Bible.

Not to mention arguably the most revered figure in all of Judaism.

So the script has been written, the stage set, and the supporting actors are in place.

We’ve learned that the children of Israel have now been reduced to a slave-driven existence of hard labor. 

And the reason for their plight?

Because the new Pharaoh decided to NOT honor the promises that were made to Joseph.

We’ve also learned that driving this decision was the fact that this latest King was NOT a descendant from the line of now defeated Semite kings.

He was a full-blooded Egyptian through-and-through and pretty much from day one he had made his intentions clear that he was going to do whatever he could to ensure that the Egyptian people would never again be put under subjugation by a foreign race.

When Moses was born, it was during a time when Pharaoh had decreed instant death to all male newborns.

There are some interesting spiritual connections surrounding Moses’ birth that I’d like to bring to your attention.

While lost to most of the Gentile Christian world, they were not overlooked by the Rabbis.

The first connection is in verse 2.

We’re told that when Moses was born, depending on the translation, he was described as “a fine child” or “a beautiful child”.

However, the original Hebrew is TOV.

“TOV” in English means “good”.

Recall that way back in the creation story in Genesis, God continually pronounced his creation as being “good” or “TOV”.

So in the Scriptures, divine acts of God are labelled as “TOV” and Moses birth was one of these God-ordained acts.

This is frickin’ awesome!

Next, we’re told that Moses was placed in what most translations will call a “basket”. 

The actual Hebrew word is “TEVAH“.

However, it should actually be translated into the English word “ARK”.

That’s right, this is exactly the same word used to describe the big floating barge that Noah built prior to the great flood.

Both of these vessels are called “TEVAH” or “ARK” in the Scriptures.

And by the way, the word “TEVAH” only appears twice in the whole Bible, once in the story of Noah and here in Exodus 2.

I’ll never understand how most Bible translators could have missed this connection.

During Noah’s time, mankind was to be destroyed by a worldwide flood of water.

However God used an “ark” or a TEVAH as an instrument of salvation to save those who trusted him.

In Moses’ time, all Hebrew male babies were to be killed by drowning them in the Nile River.

However, God used an “ark” or a TEVAH to keep and maintain the future deliverer of Israel.  

In both instances, water and ark are being used as symbolic elements pointing to salvation.