BORN INTO DANGER – Baby Moses – Exodus 2:1-10
Preparation: Create a tabletop scene to use when telling the story: large sheet of blue construction paper for the water; 4 x 12 sheet of green construction paper attached to a small box with snips across the top to look like tall grass; a small baby wrapped in a blanket in a basket; 3 large Styrofoam cups with faces to represent Miriam, Moses’ mother and the princess.
Story: “Mother,” Miriam said with a frightened look on her face. “Have you heard that the king signed a law to kill all the Hebrew baby boys?”
“Yes,” Jocabed replied. “The king is afraid that if we Hebrews have too many children, we will try to fight him. I have come up with a idea to protect baby Moses. Miriam, I will need your help as Moses’ big sister.
“I will do anything to help,” Miriam responded. “I love my little brother SO much. What is your plan?”
Jocabed put baby Moses in a little basket which she had fixed so no water would seep inside. She said to Miriam, “Come with me. I’ll show you what we’re going to do.”
They walked to the Nile river. Moses’ mother hid the basket in the tall grass by the river’s edge. Miriam found a hiding place and watched to see what would happen to baby Moses.
Soon a princess and her maids came walking by. Miriam thought, “Oh, no! This princess is Pharaoh’s daughter — the daughter of the mean king.”
The princess saw the basket and said to a maid: “Go get that basket.”
Inside, the princess found baby Moses. She felt sad. The princess said: “This must be one of the Hebrew babies that a mother is trying to protect. I would like to keep him. But I will need someone to help take care of him for me.”
Miriam left her hiding place and went to the princess: “I know someone who can help you take care of this baby. Do you want me to go and get a Hebrew mother for you?”
The princes said to Miriam: “Yes, go.”
Miriam found her mother. The princes said to Jocabed, “Please take care of this baby for me. I will pay you.”
So the princess gave baby Moses back to his OWN mother to take care of him while he was little! Now baby Moses was safe. God had protected him.
SONG: “Put ’em in a Basket” from Dancing in the Desert album. (Click on song title to hear a clip.)