The first adoption story is the story of Moses. He was born during a time when it was ordered for all Hebrew male infants to be killed. So his birth mother, Jochebed, placed him in a basket and sent him down the river, where one of Pharaoh's daughters found him. “And when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son” (Acts 7:21).
Another story is about Esther. She was adopted by her cousin after her parents’ died, and she went on to become a queen. “He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither a father nor mother. The young women had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter” (Esther 2:7).
Another story is regarding Samuel, who was fostered and later became a prophet. “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men” (2 Samuel 7:14).