(Exo 2:1 NASB) Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi.
Exo 2:1: There is no mistaking the lineage of Moses and Aaron. They are from the tribe of Levi and were eminently qualified for priestly service to Yahweh.
(Exo 2:2 NASB) And the woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.
(Exo 2:3 NASB) But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it, and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.
Exo 2:3: Both Moses and Messiah faced the threat of death as infants. Both were saved to accomplish great redemption and to establish a blood covenant with Elohim’s people. The bulrushes were actually the papyrus plants in Egypt. It grows on the banks of the Nile and in marshy grounds. The stalk rises to the height of six or seven cubits above the water, is triangular, and terminates in a crown of small filaments, resembling hair. This reed was of the greatest use to the Egyptians; the pith serving them for food, and the woody part to build vessels with; which vessels frequently appear on various monuments of Egyptian antiquity. The fact that boats were made of this reed is also attested by Pliny and others.
(Exo 2:4 NASB) And his sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.
(Exo 2:5 NASB) Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, with her maidens walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid, and she brought it to her.
Exo 2:5: The daughter here may have been Hatshepsut, daughter of Thutmose I. She was later wife of Pharaoh Thutmose II (1512-1504 B.C.), her half brother. Pharaoh’s plan was defeated by the instinctive love of a woman for a baby, even she didn’t know who the baby was.
(Exo 2:6 NASB) When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
(Exo 2:7 NASB) Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”
Exo 2:7: The providence of Elohim is evident throughout the life of Moses. Moses sister, who was watching the whole time, asks Pharaoh’s daughter if she should find a nursemaid for the baby. She has the ideal candidate.
(Exo 2:8 NASB) And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go ahead.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother.
(Exo 2:9 NASB) Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me and I shall give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.
Exo 2:9: It is rather ironic that the mother of Moses is being paid to nurse her own child. This gave Moses a chance to be raised in accordance with Torah with other Hebrews before he was ever introduced to the Egyptian education.
(Exo 2:10 NASB) And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
Exo 2:10: The name “Moses” was actually appropriate in both the Hebrew and Egyptian languages. To the Hebrews, it was understood as a play on a term meaning “to draw out.” To the Egyptians, “Moses” suggested the common mes or mesu, meaning “child” or “son.”
(Exo 2:11 NASB) Now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
(Exo 2:12 NASB) So he looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
Exo 2:12: Moses was educated in all the ways of Egypt (Acts 7:22). But his education did not overrule his feelings for his people. It is unlikely that Moses was breaking the Torah of Elohim in this instance. Killing him was probably the only way Moses could stop the Egyptian from killing the Hebrew. Still, to kill an Egyptian in favor of a Hebrew would not have been looked upon favorably by the king. Actually, Moses did not violate an Egyptian law either. According to Diodorus Siculus (1. 1. 17), “he who saw a man killed, or violently assaulted on the highway, and did not rescue him, if he could, was punished with death.” Moses acted as a brave man; especially as at this time there was little probability of obtaining justice on an Egyptian murderer. But it would appear that Pharaoh did not intend for this law to apply to a Hebrew being beaten by an Egyptian.
(Exo 2:13 NASB) And he went out the next day, and behold, two Hebrews were fighting with each other; and he said to the offender, “Why are you striking your companion?”
(Exo 2:14 NASB) But he said, “Who made you a prince or a judge over us? Are you intending to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and said, “Surely the matter has become known.”
(Exo 2:15 NASB) When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.
Exo 2:15: Forty years of training in the sophisticated civilization of Egypt was supplemented by further experience in desert survival. Moses would be fully prepared for his great mission in life.
(Exo 2:16 NASB) Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came to draw water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.
(Exo 2:17 NASB) Then the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
(Exo 2:18 NASB) When they came to Reuel their father, he said, “Why have you come back so soon today?”
(Exo 2:19 NASB) So they said, “An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds; and what is more, he even drew the water for us and watered the flock.”
Exo 2:19: Moses was apparently learned in battle also. We do not know how many shepherds there were, but the text implies there were several. He then helped the girls water their flocks.
(Exo 2:20 NASB) And he said to his daughters, “Where is he then? Why is it that you have left the man behind? Invite him to have something to eat.”
(Exo 2:21 NASB) And Moses was willing to dwell with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses.
Exo 2:21: Moses displayed the qualities that Reuel wanted for his daughters. He displayed character, bravery, and righteousness in his actions.
(Exo 2:22 NASB) Then she gave birth to a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”
Exo 2:22: “Gershom,” although it is an Egyptian phrase, is a pun on two Hebrew words meaning “a stranger there.” Moses expresses his own status as a stranger in the country in which his son is born.
(Exo 2:23 NASB) Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God.
Exo 2:23: Moses lived in Midian 40 years. He was educated forty years in the knowledge of Egypt and he was educated forty years in wilderness survival.
(Exo 2:24 NASB) So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
(Exo 2:25 NASB) And God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.
Exo 2:25: Elohim remembered the covenant he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He looked down upon the children of Israel and noticed them.
Copyright 2014
Patrick McGuire and Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly
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Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly
Fort Smith, Arkansas