Twelve Short Years
God had heard the mother’s prayer. With deep gratitude she took up her now safe and happy task of educating her child for God. She knew that she must soon give him up to his royal “mother,” to be surrounded with influences that would tend to lead him away from God. She worked to instill in his mind the fear of God and the love of truth and justice. She showed him the foolishness and sin of idolatry and taught him from his early childhood to bow down and pray to the living God, who alone could hear him and help him in every emergency.BOE 117.8
She kept the boy as long as she could but had to give him up when he was about twelve years old. From his humble cabin home he was taken to the royal palace, to the daughter of Pharaoh, “and he became her son.” Yet even here he could not forget the lessons learned at his mother’s side. They kept him from the pride, the unbelief, and the vice that flourished in the splendor of the court.BOE 118.1
The whole future life of Moses, the great mission that he fulfilled as the leader of Israel, testifies to the importance of a mother’s work. No other work can equal this. The mother is dealing with developing minds and characters, working not just for time but for eternity. She is sowing seed that will spring up and bear fruit, either for good or for evil. Her work is not to paint a figure of beauty on canvas or to chisel it from marble, but to impress upon a human soul the image of the divine. The impressions made on developing minds will remain all through life. Children are placed in our care to be trained, not as heirs to the throne of an earthly empire, but as kings and queens to God, to reign through unending ages.BOE 118.2
In the judgment day it will be found that many crimes have resulted from the ignorance and neglect of those whose duty it was to guide children in the right way. Then it will be found that many who have blessed the world with the light of genius and truth and holiness owe their success to a praying mother.BOE 118.3
At the court of Pharaoh, Moses received the highest civil and military training. The monarch determined to make his adopted grandson his successor on the throne, and young Moses was educated for this high position. “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds” (Acts 7:22). His ability as a military leader made him a favorite with the armies of Egypt, and he was generally thought of as an outstanding person. Satan’s purpose had been defeated. The very decree condemning the Hebrew children to death had been overruled by God for the training of His people’s future leader.BOE 118.4
Angels taught the elders of Israel that the time for them to be set free was near and that Moses was the man God would use. Angels also told Moses that Jehovah had chosen him to break the bondage of His people. Moses thought that they were to obtain their freedom in battle, and he expected to lead the Hebrews against the armies of Egypt.BOE 118.5