Exodus 2

Ex 2:1-10.

BIRTH AND

PRESERVATION OF

MOSES.

1. there went a man of the house of Levi, &c. Amram was the

husband and Jochebed the wife (compare

Ex 6:2;

Nu 26:59).

The marriage took place, and two children, Miriam and Aaron, were born

some years before the infanticidal edict.

2. the woman . . . bare a son, &c.--Some extraordinary

appearance of remarkable comeliness led his parents to augur his future

greatness. Beauty was regarded by the ancients as a mark of the divine

favor.

hid him three months--The parents were a pious couple, and the

measures they took were prompted not only by parental attachment, but

save the infant.

3. she took for him an ark of bulrushes--papyrus, a thick,

strong, and tough reed.

slime--the mud of the Nile, which, when hardened, is very

tenacious.

pitch--mineral tar. Boats of this description are seen daily

floating on the surface of the river, with no other caulking than Nile

mud (compare

Isa 18:2),

and they are perfectly watertight, unless the coating is forced off by

stormy weather.

flags--a general term for sea or river weed. The chest was not,

as is often represented, committed to the bosom of the water but laid

on the bank, where it would naturally appear to have been drifted by

the current and arrested by the reedy thicket. The spot is

traditionally said to be the Isle of Rodah, near Old Cairo.

4. his sister--Miriam would probably be a girl of ten or twelve

years of age at the time.

5. the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the

river--The occasion is thought to have been a religious solemnity

which the royal family opened by bathing in the sacred stream. Peculiar

sacredness was attached to those portions of the Nile which flowed near

the temples. The water was there fenced off as a protection from the

crocodiles; and doubtless the princess had an enclosure reserved for

her own use, the road to which seems to have been well known to

Jochebed.

walked along--in procession or in file.

she sent her maid--her immediate attendant. The term is

different from that rendered "maidens."

6-9. when she had opened it, she saw the child--The narrative is

picturesque. No tale of romance ever described a plot more skilfully

laid or more full of interest in the development. The expedient of the

ark, the slime and pitch, the choice of the time and place, the appeal

to the sensibilities of the female breast, the stationing of the sister

as a watch of the proceedings, her timely suggestion of a nurse, and

the engagement of the mother herself--all bespeak a more than ordinary

measure of ingenuity as well as intense solicitude on the part of the

parents. But the origin of the scheme was most probably owing to a

divine suggestion, as its success was due to an overruling Providence,

who not only preserved the child's life, but provided for his being

trained in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Hence it is said to

have been done by faith

(Heb 11:23),

either in the general promise of deliverance, or some special

revelation made to Amram and Jochebed--and in this view, the pious

couple gave a beautiful example of a firm reliance on the word of God,

united with an active use of the most suitable means.

10. she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter--Though it must have

been nearly as severe a trial for Jochebed to part with him the second

time as the first, she was doubtless reconciled to it by her belief in

his high destination as the future deliverer of Israel. His age when

removed to the palace is not stated; but he was old enough to be well

instructed in the principles of the true religion; and those early

impressions, deepened by the power of divine grace, were never

forgotten or effaced.

he became her son--by adoption, and his high rank afforded him

advantages in education, which in the Providence of God were made

subservient to far different purposes from what his royal patroness

intended.

she called his name Moses--His parents might, as usual, at the

time of his circumcision, have given him a name, which is traditionally

said to have been Joachim. But the name chosen by the princess, whether

of Egyptian or Hebrew origin, is the only one by which he has ever been

known to the church; and it is a permanent memorial of the painful

incidents of his birth and infancy.

Ex 2:11-25.

HIS

SYMPATHY WITH THE

HEBREWS.

11. in those days, when Moses was grown--not in age and stature

only, but in power as well as in renown for accomplishments and

military prowess

(Ac 7:22).

There is a gap here in the sacred history which, however, is supplied

as well as extent of the change that took place in his worldly

condition; and whether, as some say, his royal mother had proposed to

make him coregent and successor to the crown, or some other

circumstances, led to a declaration of his mind, he determined to

renounce the palace and identify himself with the suffering people of

God

(Heb 11:24-29).

The descent of some great sovereigns, like Diocletian and Charles V,

from a throne into private life, is nothing to the sacrifice which

Moses made through the power of faith.

he went out unto his brethren--to make a full and systematic

inspection of their condition in the various parts of the country where

they were dispersed

(Ac 7:23),

and he adopted this proceeding in pursuance of the patriotic purpose

that the faith, which is of the operation of God, was even then forming

in his heart.

he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew--one of the taskmasters

scourging a Hebrew slave without any just cause

(Ac 7:24),

and in so cruel a manner, that he seems to have died under the

barbarous treatment--for the conditions of the sacred story imply such

a fatal issue. The sight was new and strange to him, and though

pre-eminent for meekness

(Nu 12:3),

he was fired with indignation.

12. he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand--This act of

Moses may seem and indeed by some has been condemned as rash and

unjustifiable--in plain terms, a deed of assassination. But we must not

judge of his action in such a country and age by the standard of law

and the notions of right which prevail in our Christian land; and,

besides, not only is it not spoken of as a crime in Scripture or as

distressing the perpetrator with remorse, but according to existing

customs among nomadic tribes, he was bound to avenge the blood of a

brother. The person he slew, however, being a government officer, he

had rendered himself amenable to the laws of Egypt, and therefore he

endeavored to screen himself from the consequences by concealment of

the corpse.

13, 14. two men of the Hebrews strove together--His benevolent

mediation in this strife, though made in the kindest and mildest

manner, was resented, and the taunt of the aggressor showing that

Moses' conduct on the preceding day had become generally known, he

determined to consult his safety by immediate flight

(Heb 11:27).

These two incidents prove that neither were the Israelites yet ready to

go out of Egypt, nor Moses prepared to be their leader

(Jas 1:20).

It was by the staff and not the sword--by the meekness, and not the

wrath of Moses that God was to accomplish that great work of

deliverance. Both he and the people of Israel were for forty years more

to be cast into the furnace of affliction, yet it was therein that He

had chosen them

(Isa 48:10).

15. Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh--His flight took place

in the second year of Thothmes I.

dwelt in the land of Midian--situated on the eastern shore of

the gulf of the Red Sea and occupied by the posterity of Midian the son

of Cush. The territory extended northward to the top of the gulf and

westward far across the desert of Sinai. And from their position near

the sea, they early combined trading with pastoral pursuits

(Ge 37:28).

The headquarters of Jethro are supposed to have been where Dahab-Madian

now stands; and from Moses coming direct to that place, he may have

travelled with a caravan of merchants. But another place is fixed by

tradition in Wady Shuweib, or Jethro's valley, on the east of the

mountain of Moses.

sat down by a well--(See on

Ge 29:3).

16-22. the priest of Midian--or, "prince of Midian." As the

officers were usually conjoined, he was the ruler also of the people

called Cushites or Ethiopians, and like many other chiefs of pastoral

people in that early age, he still retained the faith and worship of

the true God.

seven daughters--were shepherdesses to whom Moses was favorably

introduced by an act of courtesy and courage in protecting them from

the rude shepherds of some neighboring tribe at a well. He afterwards

formed a close and permanent alliance with this family by marrying one

of the daughters, Zipporah, "a little bird," called a Cushite or

Ethiopian

(Nu 12:1),

and whom Moses doubtless obtained in the manner of Jacob by service

[see

Ex 3:1].

He had by her two sons, whose names were, according to common practice,

commemorative of incidents in the family history

[Ex 18:3, 4].

23. the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by

reason of the bondage--The language seems to imply that the

Israelites had experienced a partial relaxation, probably through the

influence of Moses' royal patroness; but in the reign of her father's

successor the persecution was renewed with increased severity.