🍄🧡🌾🍊Even though I was born and bred a Christian, I never heard of Amram’s name until I saw it for the first time in John Milton’s epic poem, Paradise Lost, in our literature class at the College of Arts and Science.
😊Somehow, I fell in love with the name, perhaps because of the sheer sound of it, or because of the grand poetic setting in which I found it.
🥚Now, who was Amram? He was the father of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, the notable trio God used in the exodus of His people from Egypt.
🍄🧡🌾🍊A PAIR WHO STRONGLY BELIEVED IN MARRIAGE
Even before Amram and Jochebed thought of marrying each other, Pharaoh, the Egyptian king, had put in place a genocidal decree:
“Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.” (Exodus 1:22).
🧇But I’m so happy to announce that Amram and Jochebed believed so strongly in marriage, earnestly desired it, and were resolute about tying the knot that they defied Pharaoh’s murderous edict and the prevalent brutal enslavement of their people and went ahead and married.
🍄🧡🌾🍊FULL-SCALE MARRIAGE IN TROUBLOUS TIMES
Even though it is the birth of Moses that is recorded in the book of Exodus (chapter 2) as taking place in those grim times, the fact remains that the couple’s other older children, Miriam and Aaron, had also been born during those times of state-approved genocide of Hebrew newborn males.
🍄🧡🌾🍊A COUPLE WITH ONE VOICE
In Amram and Jochebed, we see a couple with one voice and one purpose. Right from the onset, they were aware of the grim decree of Pharaoh but were not afraid to defy it, marry, and raise a family.
🧡Amram and Jochebed didn’t only speak with one voice; they had one heart and were strongly united. They were like the Babelites, of whom the Scripture says:
“And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” (Genesis 11:6).
🍊Because Amram and Jochebed were united and unanimously resolute, there was nothing they could not achieve maritally, despite the dark days in which they lived.
🌾They could have chosen to play it safe, forget about marriage, and remain single, but they didn’t. They could have chosen to practise some form of birth control and live together without bearing children, but they refused that option too. They chose full marriage, complete marriage, marriage unabridged—and God backed them up.
🍄🧡🌾🍊WHY ARE YOU PRACTISING INCOMPLETE MARRIAGE?
Very many marriages today are like the edition of Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist we used in my junior secondary school days. It was an abridged edition that excluded several details from the original.
🍄Similarly, many carry on a form of marriage in which the practice of so many necessary details of love life is not given attention, either for fear of “what people will say” or because of tradition and culture.
🍄🧡🌾🍊BE LIKE AMRAM AND JOCHEBED
Be like Amram and Jochebed, who practised complete marriage in the midst of tyranny and were unafraid of the prevailing darkness of their day.
🍄🧡🌾🍊MARRIAGE AS OF OLD
Before God instituted marriage, He kept His main plan and assignments for man hidden. All He told Adam was to tend the garden, keep it, and eat freely of its fruits, but to keep away from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:17b).
🥚In fact, God didn’t even deem it necessary to bless Adam prior to the institution of marriage.
😊But after He gave him a wife, He went on to bless them and give them the assignment of procreation, transforming the earth, and exercising dominion over all that dwelt on the terrestrial ball. All these show that marriage is, spiritually speaking, a divine means to a grand purpose.
🍄🧡🌾🍊AMRAM AND JOCHEBED’S FULL MARRIAGE ACHIEVED ITS PURPOSE
Through Amram and Jochebed’s courageous love life and marriage, God found three amazing children to use in dismantling Egypt and leading His people out in triumph.
🍞The bold and unabridged love and affection of their parents must have influenced their children. Aaron had a stable marriage that produced five sons. Miriam was stable in her relationship with Hur, and Moses stayed married to his Midianite wife. In fact, Moses had a virile and strong love life, as evidenced by his taking a new wife in the wilderness despite the arduous task of leading millions of people across hostile nations to the Promised Land.
🍊Their parents’ fearless love life was a legacy.
🍄🧡🌾🍊LIVE A FEARLESS LOVE LIFE
A husband and his wife dressed up and took a walk from their home to go somewhere. The gentleman reached out his hand and took hold of his wife’s hand. She quickly pulled back her hand, saying, “Leave me! Don’t you know that people are seeing us?”
🥰Well, it’s not right for spouses to do inappropriate things in the open view of others. But most definitely, holding hands isn’t in any way inappropriate behaviour. It is beautiful, healthy, and a blessing both to the couple themselves and to those who see them. It inspires others and tells them, “Wow, marriage is beautiful!”
🍄🧡🌾🍊CONCLUSION
Let’s all learn from Amram and Jochebed’s audacious defiance of the Egyptian infanticide targeted at Hebrew boys. They boldly went ahead and married nonetheless. And because they did, God had a trio that led His great army that marched out of Egypt on the Passover morning.
🍊Practise a complete biblical marriage that has every feature of love life intact and working, just as Amram and Jochebed did.
🧡Don’t let fear, tradition, culture, or taboos keep you from kissing, embracing, hugging, smooching, and the myriad of other lovely expressions of passion and affection that God approves of.🧡🍊
💕♥️🩷Tonight’s Bedroom Assignment:
Re-read this devotional together just before bedtime and discuss it with open and sincere hearts.
✝️Altar Call: Jesus Christ is calling you! Come to Him today in genuine repentance. Believe in Him and be saved!
🌡️🧪⚗️Scientific Info To Boost Your Marriage:
🔬”Nutrients like selenium, zinc, and Vitamin B12 found in whole eggs support sperm quality and motility in men, while contributing to overall reproductive wellness for couples trying to conceive.”🔬
🎷🪘🎙️🪗 HALLELUJAH!
📢PRAISE THE LORD!