How Long Does It Take To Live A Life?

When you're reading the Bible, it seems like miracles and world-changing events were happening to Abraham and Moses and Jesus every day. What we sometimes forget is how much time elapsed between certain happenings.

Case in point...take a look at Exodus 2:9-11.

(9) Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, [FYI: The "her" here is Moses' mother.] “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. (10) When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.” (11) One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.

First of all, according to my journal entry of May 5, 2002, I had never realized before that Pharoah's daughter sent Moses away to be nursed. I always kind of thought that Moses' mother came into the palace to take care of Moses.

Secondly, look at how much time passes in these three verses:

vs 9  -  Moses is a 3-month-old baby.
vs 10  -  He's weaned, and in that culture, that means he's probably two or three years old.
vs 11  -  Because of what we can read elsewhere, we know that Moses is 40 years old.

Truth is...It takes so little time to tell a story. It takes so long to live through one.