Less-known Women of the Bible

Pharaoh’s Daughter

Discovered baby Moses safely floating in the river at a time when a decree by Pharaoh ordered all Israelite baby boys to be killed (Ex. 1-2). She knew that he was “one of the Hebrews’ children” (Ex. 2:6), but went against the decree by paying wages to a woman to nurse him, not knowing that the woman was the baby’s mother. Later she adopted him as her own son. Motherly instinct is often moved by compassion to do something seemingly contrary to logic. A woman’s acts of saving a baby, providing for the baby’s early nurturing, and then taking the baby as one’s own are three of the greatest gifts a woman can give the world. Even a woman who has no children herself, and/or has a career outside the home, is still called to take care of the children around her. Likewise, Christian women will see in Pharaoh’s daughter an example of how God works with those who do not claim to know God. This apparently pagan woman, whose heart was moved by God, made sure there was a deliverer for God’s people.