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Pharaoh, the king of Egypt was afraid that the Hebrews were outnumbering them and might join with their enemies to fight against them. He ordered every Hebrew boy that was born be thrown into the Nile river but to let every girl live. |
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The ark of bulrushes was a papyrus basket, coated it with slime and pitch. Papyrus was commonly used by the Egyptians for light and swift boats. The slime is probably the mud, of which bricks were usually made in Egypt. Pitch was commonly used in Egypt to make small vessels water-tight. Into this floating vessel, the mother of Moses placed the boy when he was three months old and put it among the reeds along the bank of the river Nile. |
Artist’s Impression of Pharaoh’s Daughter Finding Moses
The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the river while her maids-in-attendance walked along the riverside. Spotting the basket among the reeds, she sent her slave girl to get it. She opened it and looked inside, and there in front of her was the crying baby boy.
