The circumstances surrounding Moses’s birth reveal a common dilemma: to what
extent are we prepared to allow trust in the controlling hand of divine destiny
to hold sway over human judgement?
For Amram and Yocheved – Moses’s parents- to introduce new life into the
uncertain future of Egyptian bondage was a daunting prospect. The Talmud records
that they initially baulked at such a course but later relented. Why?
That they did so on the advice of their daughter, Miriam, who convinced them
that there could be no more effective means of terminating the Jewish future
than by failing to create Jewish life in the first place.
The Chafetz Chaim [1838- 1933] notes that Amram and Yocheved’s submission to
divine destiny, in the face of personal adversity, served as a model for others
to follow.
Generations later, King Hezekiah turned his back on marriage when he learned,
through prophecy, that his progeny would include King Menashe, whose reign would
be distinguished by notoriety and evil.
It took the prophet Isaiah to convince him that a king of Israel, of all people,
must set aside a human considerations in the face of the call of destiny.
Amram and Yocheved were soon to learn that, while their decision may have been
an act of faith, it was certainly not an irrational one.
The Almighty’s ability to confound man’s basest machinations gradually
eliminated their worst fears.
Pharaoh’s best-laid plans to destroy, at infancy, the future saviour of Israel
provided the precise route for Moses’s survival and development as a leader.
It was Pharaoh’s own daughter who saved Moses – and Pharaoh himself who,
unwittingly, equipped his future rival with the skills of government and
leadership.
It can be no coincidence that some of the greatest personalities in Jewish
history were born in circumstances of adversity.
When our biblical matriarchs, stricken with barrenness, turned to the Almighty
in prayer, He reciprocated faith with faith – the faith that children, yearned
for so desperately and received by parents as a gift from G-d, would be nurtured
to recognise and participate in G-d’s destiny for his people.
