Exodus 2

Birth of Moses and his first years

And a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi. 2 And the woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 And when she could no longer hide him, she got a basket made of reeds for him, coated it with tar and pitch, put the child in it and placed it among the water plants at the river’s edge. 4 And his sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.

5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the river, and her maids were walking along by the river’s side. And when she saw the basket among the water plants, she sent her maid to get it. 6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child, and just then the baby cried. And she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children”.

7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, so that she may nurse the child for you?”

8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go”. And the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages”. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. 10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, for she said, “Because I drew him out of the water”.

2:10 Moses sounds like the Hebrew word for “draw out” and probably means that.⚜

Moses flees to Midian and remains 40 years

11 And it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brothers and saw their hard labours. And he saw an Egyptian hitting a Hebrew, one of his brothers.

2:11 Acts 7:23-25; Heb 11:24-26. This was the time of Moses’s choice for God and God’s people rather than for the pleasures and treasures of the world. In this he was a great example to us all – Matt 6:19-21; Luke 14:33; 1 John 2:15-17.⚜

12 And he looked this way and that, and when he saw that there was no one around, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 And when he went out the second day, just then two Hebrew men were fighting with each other. And he said to the one who was in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”

14 And he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me, like you killed the Egyptian?” And Moses was afraid, and said, “This thing must have become known”.

15 Now when Pharaoh heard about this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh to stay in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well. 16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and were drawing water and filling the troughs to water their father’s flock, 17 and the shepherds came and drove them away. But Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

18 And when they came to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”

2:18 The priest of Midian had two names – Reuel and Jethro (or perhaps Jethro was a title). Reuel means “friend of God”; Jethro means “excellent”. The Midianites were descended from Abraham (Gen 25:2). It is possible that Jethro was a worshiper of the one true God, the God of Abraham.⚜

19 And they said, “An Egyptian rescued us from the hand of the shepherds, and also drew enough water for us, and watered the flock”.

20 And he said to his daughters, “And where is he then? Why have you left the man? Call him, so that he can eat bread”.

21 And Moses was content to stay with the man. And he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah in marriage. 22 And she bore him a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land”.

2:22 Gershom sounds like the Hebrew for “a stranger there”, and probably means that.⚜

23 And in the process of time it came about that the king of Egypt died. And the children of Israel were groaning because of their bondage, and crying out, and their cry, resulting from their bondage, rose up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And God looked on the children of Israel, and God had concern for them.