A Bird’s Eye View of the Passover Story, part 3

To me, this story is one of the sweetest tucked away stories of the Bible. Moses rescues Zipporah and they marry. There’s so much drama in Exodus ch 2, and it was hard to pack it all into these three short vignettes from the bird’s eye view. You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

I chose the pallid Scops owl for this story because it’s the only Scops owl native to the area of Egypt and Arabia. My daughter absolutely loves Scops owls!

Without further ado, here’s part 3:

Moses at the Well

Jacob the Scops owl squinted one eye open. From his nest in the cliff face he could hear the far off commotion beside the well. It was loud enough to wake even him. Jethro’s daughters had been drawing water for their sheep when a group of unkind shepherds tried to chase them away.

Jethro was the high priest of Midian, the nearby tribe who worshiped the Lord. He had seven daughters, all of whom were strong and able to fend for themselves. But this group of ruffian shepherds was just a bit stronger than these girls.

Jacob fluttered to the rock and watched.

He made ready at a moment’s notice to fly off to Jethro for help when he saw another man staggering across the desert toward the shepherds. This man looked so weak that the slightest puff of breeze would blow him over. His fine clothes had been turned to rags by the desert winds. What did he think he could he do to help Jethro’s daughters? Or would he help the bad shepherds?

Jacob the owl shifted his head from side to side to take in the whole scene.

This new man drew a deep breath and looked up to heaven. In that moment he transformed and looked strong again. He ran over the rough sand toward the well.

“Excuse me,” this new man said, “is there not enough water for everyone?”

“This is no business of yours,” one of the unkind shepherds replied. “We don’t discuss our business with Egyptians.”

“I am no mere Egyptian. My name is Moses and I am from the house of Pharaoh, although I am a Hebrew. Move your flocks along until these young ladies have watered theirs, or I will teach you a few lessons according to my training from the house of Pharaoh.”

Another of the unkind shepherds scoffed at Moses. “Do you think you can take on all of us?”

When Moses turned to him he looked like a king. A tired king, but a king, a man of nobility all the way down to his heart. “If you are the sort of men who cannot wait until a lady feeds her flocks, then you are poorly trained indeed. And if you are the sort of men who harass ladies instead of helping them, then you are cowards as well as poorly trained souls. I have no doubt I could take on all of you.”

One of the men looked as if he was going to challenge Moses, then backed away.

“Now, go on and learn some manners before I’m forced to teach you some,” Moses said.

Jethro’s youngest daughter stepped closer to his side. She shouted out to the men as they drew their flocks away from the well. “Yes, go learn some manners.”

Moses set a gentle hand on the girl’s head. “Shh. That’s enough now.”

“Thank you, sir,” Zipporah said. She was the oldest of Jethro’s daughters, and the only one whose name Jacob remembered. He remembered when she was a child and practiced with her slingshot against his cliff. She was tough. Of all Jethro’s daughters, Zipporah was the toughest. But she was also kind.

Moses smiled at Zipporah. “Now, if you let me have a small drink, I will gladly draw water for your whole flock.”

“By all means, drink, good sir,” Zipporah said. She drew the bucket for him and handed him her dipper. “Are you really from Pharaoh’s house, Moses?”

“I am, but I can never go back. My people, the Hebrews, are Pharaoh’s slaves, and though I’m treated like I’m Pharaoh’s son, I can never forget where I came from.” He drank the whole dipper full of water. “Thank you, kind lady. And may I ask your name?”

She bowed to him and smiled. “It’s Zipporah. But tell me, if you are like Pharaoh’s son, why can you not free your people?”

Moses hung his head. “I tried to do that, but I did the wrong thing.” He filled up the water troughs for the sheep.

“What did you do?” Zipporah asked.

Moses shook his head and continued to draw water for the sheep without looking up. “I can never go back. I am hoping to find shelter somewhere near. Can you recommend somewhere?”

“You can stay with us.” As soon as Zipporah said this, all six of her sisters giggled. She turned to them with a stern look. “Is there any reason this man would not be welcomed?” She asked them in such a way that all of them lowered their head and apologized for laughing.

“It’s not that,” the youngest one said. “We just know why you want him to stay.” She giggled again.

Zipporah’s eyes flashed at her sisters. “Go now to Father, lead these sheep, and not another word out of you.”

*

Later that night, when Jacob the owl went hunting for his dinner, he flew over Jethro’s camp to learn news about this Hebrew stranger.

Jethro stood outside his tent with Moses beside him. “Thank you for rescuing my daughters from those bully shepherds, and thank you for the kindness you showed them by drawing water for our sheep. You are welcome to stay with us for as long as you’d like.”

“Thank you, sir. And I see that you worship the Lord, as we Hebrews do.”

“Abraham was our father as well as yours. The Lord called our father his friend, and has always shown us His faithfulness. It is right for us to worship Him.”

*

Hunting kept Jacob the owl away from the tents for many days, but when he flew by again, he saw a sight that made the old owl smile: Moses and Zipporah were getting married.

We found an owl coloring page to accompany this, and there was much contentment that homeschooling day.