MOSES IS TAKEN TO THE PHARAOH'S PALACE
The Hebrews in Egypt were in great trouble. A ruthless Pharaoh ruled over them and made all the Jews his slaves. They carried the massive stones that the Egyptians used to build palaces and pyramids.
One day, the evil Pharaoh gave his soldiers a new order.
- There are too many Hebrews in the land of Egypt. From today on, throw every newborn Jewish son into the Nile River.
Soon after, Jochebed and Amram's newborn son was born. However, the baby boy, the little brother of Miriam and Aaron, was in great danger because of Pharaoh's cruel command.
Jochebed desperately held the baby in his arms:
- I cannot let him be thrown into the river. I'll hide it, so the Pharaoh's soldiers cannot find him.
He made a basket of reeds, put the child in it and took it to the river.
- Perhaps an Egyptian family would find it and raise him...
- Jochebed said to himself, his tears falling.
He put the basket in the water, and he and Miriam hid in the bushes.
Pharaoh's daughter was walking along the Nile with the daughters of her maid. Soon they came to a patch of densely grown reeds, and the princess said:
- Let us bathe here - and then she heard a noise - Shh! I think I heard a child crying.
The pharaoh's daughter started to search in the reeds, and suddenly she cried out:
- Look what I found!
- A newborn baby! - cried the servants.
- Yes, a beautiful little boy. A Hebrew family must have put him in the water to save him.
- What are you going to do now, Princess? - asked her companions.
- I'd keep him, raise him, but I need a wet nurse.
At that moment, Miriam ran to her:
- Princess, I know a Hebrew woman who would breastfeed the child.
- 'Bring her to the palace immediately,' cried the Pharaoh's daughter, 'I will call the child Moses, for I have drawn him from the water.
