Pearls of the Word

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Moses was good to God

by Jean-Louis Coraboeuf

"So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful [tov] child, she hid him three months" (Exodus 2:2).

The Hebrew word tov means 'good', 'nice', 'cosy', 'of great value'. When God created the heavens and the earth and everything in it, He saw that "It was good [ki tov]" (Genesis 1:12,18,21,25). At Moses' birth, his mother also saw that "it was good [ki tov]", which is why she hid him for three months.

When Stephen spoke before the Hight Priest, he said, "At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful [asteios, 'distinguished', 'beautiful', 'graceful', 'good'] to God" (Acts 7:20). Moses's parents had faith (Hebrews 11:23) to disobey the orders of Pharaoh and to obey God. They saw that the child was born according to God's plan and that "it was good". Moses might be beautiful, but he was specially called to be the redeemer of the Hebrew people.