All of the women I have talked about so far were found in the first book of the Bible--Genesis.  This book is a treasure trove of wonderful stories of real people who had great qualities, and great faults.  You get their stories--warts and all.  I am thankful that some "Holier than Thou" kind of person didn't try to edit it and "clean it up."

The second book of the Bible is Exodus, the story of Moses.  But it is also about the story of the great women of that time.  It begins with Moses' mother, Jochebed, trying to protect him from being killed.  But her story is the story of every mother of newborn baby boys among the Israelites.

Remember that Joseph had been sold to the Egyptians.  And when a famine struck the land, Joseph's entire family came to Egypt.  They multiplied.  "...and there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. " He said, "...the people of Israel are more and mightier than we are."  So he made slaves of them and made their lives bitter with hard bondage.  He then spoke to two midwives named Shiphrah and Puah, and told them that they were to kill all baby boys born to the Hebrew women.

But the midwives feared God and saved the children and told the king that the Hebrew women were "lively" and delivered their babies before the midwives could get there.  God blessed the midwives and "gave them houses to dwell in."  When the king's first plan to get rid of the baby boys didn't work, he then charged all the people to throw the Hebrew's male babies into the river.

But this woman, this brave woman named Jochebed, hid her son for three months after he was born.  And then, when he was a little bit older, she hid him in the bulrushes of the river and had her daughter Miriam stand guard over him.

One day, Pharaoh's daughter (I wish we knew her name) was bathing in the river, found the baby and had compassion on him.  Miriam said, "...would you like for me to find someone to nurse him?"  Pharaoh's daughter said that she would pay for his care--and to bring him to her when he was of age so that he could be her son.  Of course, Miriam took the baby to his own mother.  Two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah.  And three women, Jochebed, Miriam, and Pharaoh's daughter.  Those five saved the boy who would grow up to be the greatest leader in Jewish history.  Moses.