The parents of Moses, Amram and Jochebed (Exod. 6:20), are both of the tribe of Levi. The extreme measures taken to deal with newborn Israelite males were relatively recent at the time of Moses’s birth because Aaron is three years his elder (Exod. 7:7). Miriam is old enough to watch the basket into which their mother puts Moses after she can no longer hide him. When she puts her son into the Nile it is in keeping with the edict, with the added protection of an ark. Originally an Egyptian word, the Hebrew word tebah is used only here and of Noah’s ark (Gen. 6:14–16). Each craft saves the life of a critical servant of God from the destructive force of water.

It is possible that Jochabed lodged the basket in a side channel of the Nile, knowing that was where Pharaoh’s daughter would be bath…