Question: "Who was Moses' father?"
Answer: Moses’ father was a Levite named Amram. Exodus 2:1–2 tells us no more than that Moses’ father was a Levite: “Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son.” As the narrative unfolds, we find out that this son was Moses. Exodus 6:18 tells us that Moses’ father was a son of Kohath, one of the three Levitical clans. Exodus 6:20 gives us just about all the other information we know about Moses’ father, including his name: “Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, who bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years.”
Having married his own aunt, Amram was both Moses’ father and great-uncle, by marriage. At that time, lawful marriages between close relatives were not uncommon, and the marriage of Amram and Jochebed suggested no impropriety. Because of the longer lifespans at the time, Amram’s aunt Jochebed, who became his wife, need not have been much older than he and certainly could have been younger. Marriages between close relatives were later forbidden in the Mosaic Law, but at the time of Moses’ birth they were entirely proper. Hebrews 11:23 includes both of Moses’ parents in the “Hall of Faith”: “By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”
Amram is mentioned in Numbers 3:19 and 27 as the head of one of the clans of Kohathites. A man named Amram is mentioned in Ezra 10:34, but this is a different person, not Moses’ father.
Moses’ father appears to have been just an ordinary man whose faith in God and love for his infant son caused him to defy the king of Egypt. In the providence of God, Amram’s younger son became one of the greatest leaders in the history of Israel. This should be a reminder to us that every great man or woman has parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. We never know how God may use our descendants. We simply need to faithfully discharge the duties God has given us as parents (or other kinds of influencers and leaders), and we may be surprised by the results—if not in this life, certainly in the life to come.
Having married his own aunt, Amram was both Moses’ father and great-uncle, by marriage. At that time, lawful marriages between close relatives were not uncommon, and the marriage of Amram and Jochebed suggested no impropriety. Because of the longer lifespans at the time, Amram’s aunt Jochebed, who became his wife, need not have been much older than he and certainly could have been younger. Marriages between close relatives were later forbidden in the Mosaic Law, but at the time of Moses’ birth they were entirely proper. Hebrews 11:23 includes both of Moses’ parents in the “Hall of Faith”: “By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”
Amram is mentioned in Numbers 3:19 and 27 as the head of one of the clans of Kohathites. A man named Amram is mentioned in Ezra 10:34, but this is a different person, not Moses’ father.
Moses’ father appears to have been just an ordinary man whose faith in God and love for his infant son caused him to defy the king of Egypt. In the providence of God, Amram’s younger son became one of the greatest leaders in the history of Israel. This should be a reminder to us that every great man or woman has parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. We never know how God may use our descendants. We simply need to faithfully discharge the duties God has given us as parents (or other kinds of influencers and leaders), and we may be surprised by the results—if not in this life, certainly in the life to come.
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