Exodus 2:1-15

The Birth of Moses

1 Now a man from ¹the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi.

2 The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was ²beautiful, she hid him for three months.

3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a ³wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and set it among the ⁴reeds by the bank of the Nile.

4 ⁵His sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.

5 The daughter of Pharaoh came down ⁶to 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.

6 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."

7 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?"

8 Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go ahead." So the girl went and called the child's mother.

9 Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed him.

10 The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter and ⁷he became her son. And she named * him Moses, and said, "Because I drew him out of the water."

11 Now it came about in those days, ⁸when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their ⁹hard labors; and ¹⁰he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.

12 So he looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he ¹¹struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

13 He went out ¹²the next day, and behold, two Hebrews were fighting with each other; and he said to the offender, "Why are you striking your companion?"

14 But he said, "¹³Who 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."

Moses Escapes to Midian

15 When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But ¹⁴Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he sat down ¹⁵by a well.

Exodus 2:1-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 2

This chapter relates the birth of Moses, and his preservation in an ark of bulrushes, Ex 2:1-3. His being found by Pharaoh's daughter, took up, and put out to nurse by her, and adopted for her son, Ex 2:4-10, some exploits of his when grown up, taking the part of an Hebrew against an Egyptian whom he slew, and endeavouring to reconcile two Hebrews at variance, when one of them reproached him with slaying the Egyptian, Ex 2:11-14, which thing being known to Pharaoh, he sought to slay Moses, and this obliged him to flee to Midian, Ex 2:15 where he met with the daughters of Reuel, and defended them against the shepherds, and watered their flocks for them, Ex 2:16,17, which Reuel being informed of, sent for him, and he lived with him, and married his daughter Zipporah, by whom he had a son, Ex 2:18-22 and the chapter is concluded with the death of the king of Egypt, and the sore bondage of the Israelites, and their cries and groans, which God had a respect unto, Ex 2:23-25.

was Amram, the son of Kohath, and grandson of Levi, as appears from Ex 6:18,20

\\and took to wife a daughter of Levi\\; one of the same house, family, or tribe; which was proper, that the tribes might be kept distinct: this was Jochebed, said to be his father's sister, \\see Gill on "Ex 6:20"\\: her name in Josephus {s} is Joachebel, which seems to be no other than a corruption of Jochebed, but in the Targum in 1Ch 4:18 she is called Jehuditha.

{s} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9. sect. 4. 09514-950103-1343-Ex2.2

Cross References

• 1. Ex 6:16, 18, 20
• 2. Acts 7:20; Hebrews 11:23
• 3. Isaiah 18:2
• 4. Isaiah 19:6
• 5. Exodus 15:20; Numbers 26:59
• 6. Exodus 7:15; Exodus 8:20
• 7. Acts 7:21
• 8. Acts 7:23; Hebrews 11:24-26
• 9. Exodus 1:11; Exodus 5:4, 5; Exodus 6:6, 7
• 10. Acts 7:24
• 11. Acts 7:24, 25
• 12. Acts 7:26-28
• 13. Genesis 19:9; Acts 7:27, 28
• 14. Acts 7:29; Hebrews 11:27
• 15. Genesis 24:11; Genesis 29:2

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "took"
• [b]. Lit "him that"
• [c]. Lit "good"
• [d]. I.e. papyrus reeds
• [e]. Or "chest"
• [f]. Lit "know"
• [g]. Lit "be done"
• [h]. Or "chest"
• [i]. Heb "saw it, the child"
• [j]. Or "lad"
• [k]. Lit "a woman giving suck"
• [l]. Heb "Mosheh," from "mashah"
• [m]. Heb "mashah"
• [n]. Lit "burdens"
• [o]. Lit "turned"
• [p]. Or "quarreling"
• [q]. Or "the guilty one"
• [r]. Lit "man, a prince"
• [s]. Lit "saying in your heart"
• [t]. Lit "dwelt"