Bible Timeline · Traditional count about 1526 BC

Moses Is Born and Saved From the Nile

Pharaoh ordered every Hebrew baby boy thrown into the Nile. Moses' mother hid him in a basket among the reeds, and Pharaoh's own daughter pulled him out and raised him as her son. At 40 he killed an Egyptian and fled to Midian.

Read it in the Bible: Exodus 1:8-22 Exodus 2:1-25 Acts 7:20-29 Hebrews 11:23-27 Matthew 2:13-16

Moses was born to a Hebrew slave family in Egypt at the very moment Pharaoh had ordered every Hebrew baby boy thrown into the Nile. His mother hid him, then set him afloat in a basket, and Pharaoh's own daughter found him and raised him in the palace. By the traditional count that was about 1526 BC. It matters because God was already preparing the man who would lead Israel out of slavery, and He did it right under Pharaoh's nose.

Why Was Pharaoh Killing Hebrew Babies?

At the end of Genesis, Jacob's family moved to Egypt as honored guests. Joseph was second only to Pharaoh. Then the years went by, Joseph died, and a new king came along who did not know Joseph, Exodus 1:8. He looked at the growing Hebrew population and got nervous.

First he tried hard labor. The Hebrews kept multiplying. Then he told the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, to kill the boys at birth. They feared God and quietly refused. So Pharaoh gave an order to his whole nation.

Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.” Exodus 1:22

Who Were Moses' Parents?

Moses came from the tribe of Levi. His father was Amram and his mother was Jochebed, Exodus 6:20. He had an older sister, Miriam, and an older brother, Aaron, who was three years older, Exodus 7:7. The book of Hebrews says his parents acted out of faith, not just love.

By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after his birth, because they saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were unafraid of the king’s edict. Hebrews 11:23

Anyone who has tried to keep a newborn quiet for three months knows this was its own kind of miracle.

The Basket in the Nile

When she could not hide him any longer, Jochebed made a plan. She obeyed Pharaoh's order in the most creative way possible. She put her son in the Nile, just inside a boat.

But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. Exodus 2:3

Here is a fun detail. The Hebrew word for this basket is tevah. The only other place the Bible uses that word is for Noah's ark. Both times, God saves His chosen one from death in the water inside a little box sealed with pitch.

Miriam watched from a distance. Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe, saw the basket, heard the baby crying and felt sorry for him. She knew he was a Hebrew child. Miriam stepped up and offered to find a Hebrew woman to nurse him. She brought back his own mother, and Pharaoh's daughter paid her to do it. Jochebed got her son back and a paycheck too.

What Does the Name Moses Mean?

When the child had grown older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses and explained, “I drew him out of the water.” Exodus 2:10

In Hebrew the name Mosheh sounds like the verb mashah, to draw out. Many scholars also point out that mose is an Egyptian word meaning child or born of, found in royal names like Thutmose and Ahmose. Both can be true. A royal Egyptian woman may have given a name that worked in her language and carried a deeper meaning in his.

The Bible does not name Pharaoh's daughter. Jewish tradition calls her Bithiah, from 1 Chronicles 4:18, and the historian Josephus called her Thermuthis. Some who hold the early date for the Exodus guess she was Hatshepsut, the famous woman who later ruled as pharaoh. That is a guess, not a fact. We don't know which pharaoh was on the throne.

Moses in the Palace

Moses grew up as a prince of Egypt. Stephen tells us what that meant.

So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. Acts 7:22

That education would one day help him write and organize the laws of a whole nation. Still, Moses never forgot who he really was. Hebrews says he chose his own people over the palace.

By faith Moses, when he was grown, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to suffer oppression with God’s people rather than to experience the fleeting enjoyment of sin. He valued disgrace for Christ above the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his reward. Hebrews 11:24 to 26

Why Did Moses Flee to Midian?

When Moses was about 40, Acts 7:23, he went out to see his people at work. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. He looked around, saw no one, killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand. The next day he tried to break up a fight between two Hebrews, and one of them threw it back in his face.

But the man replied, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “This thing I have done has surely become known.” Exodus 2:14

Stephen explains what went wrong. Moses already sensed his calling, but he tried to do God's work his own way and on his own schedule.

He assumed his brothers would understand that God was using him to deliver them, but they did not. Acts 7:25

Pharaoh tried to kill him, so Moses ran east to Midian. He sat down by a well, defended seven sisters from rough shepherds and ended up at dinner with their father, the priest Reuel, also called Jethro. Moses married one of the daughters, Zipporah. When their son was born he named him Gershom, which sounds like a stranger there. The prince of Egypt was now a shepherd in the desert, and he stayed about 40 years, Acts 7:30.

When Was Moses Born?

The Bible does not give a calendar year, but it gives enough to count. Moses was 80 when he stood before Pharaoh, Exodus 7:7. If the Exodus was about 1446 BC, from 1 Kings 6:1, then Moses was born about 1526 BC. Those who date the Exodus to about 1270 BC, in the time of Ramesses II, put his birth around 1350 BC. The Exodus article on this site walks through both views.

Some of the older timelines give other years. Jewish rabbinic tradition, for example, uses a shorter count and puts Moses later still. The traditional Christian count from 1 Kings 6:1 is the one this Bible follows first.

How Baby Moses Points to Jesus

The story of Moses' birth sounds a lot like the story of Jesus' birth. A cruel king fears a rival and orders baby boys killed. In Matthew 2:16, Herod kills the boys of Bethlehem. In both stories God protects one child who will grow up to rescue His people. Jesus even spent time in Egypt as a baby.

where he stayed until the death of Herod. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” Matthew 2:15

Moses was also a rescuer whom his own people rejected the first time. Stephen makes this point in Acts 7:35, and it is the same pattern Jesus lived out. And the lesson of the palace years still lands today. God was working in the dark, in a basket, in a palace and in a desert long before anyone could see it. Forty years tending sheep was not wasted time. It was training. Moses learned the very wilderness he would one day lead Israel through.

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Questions People Ask

Who found baby Moses in the Nile?

Pharaoh's daughter found him while she was bathing in the Nile, Exodus 2:5 to 6. The Bible does not give her name. Jewish tradition calls her Bithiah, and the historian Josephus called her Thermuthis.

Who were Moses' parents and siblings?

His parents were Amram and Jochebed from the tribe of Levi, Exodus 6:20. His sister Miriam watched over the basket, and his brother Aaron was three years older than Moses.

How old was Moses when he fled Egypt?

About 40, according to Stephen in Acts 7:23. He then lived in Midian about 40 more years before God called him at the burning bush at age 80.

What does the name Moses mean?

The Bible explains it as drawn out, because Pharaoh's daughter drew him out of the water, Exodus 2:10. Many scholars note that mose is also an Egyptian word for child, so the name may have meaning in both languages.

When was Moses born?

By the traditional count, about 1526 BC, since he was 80 at the Exodus in about 1446 BC. Those who date the Exodus to about 1270 BC under Ramesses II put his birth around 1350 BC.

Sources

Was Moses' Name Egyptian?, Bible Odyssey

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