Exodus 2

A Hebrew baby marked for death is rescued from the Nile and raised in Pharaoh’s own household. As a grown man Moses tries to help his people in his own strength, fails, and flees to Midian. There he finds a home and a family, while in Egypt the Israelites cry out and God remembers His covenant.

Exodus 2:1-2

Moses is born into the tribe of Levi, the tribe later set apart for priestly service. His mother sees that he is a beautiful child and hides him. She acts in the face of Pharaoh’s order to destroy Hebrew baby boys. Her love is also a quiet kind of faith.

BSA: beautiful (“goodly, pleasant”): The word suggests more than good looks; she sees something good and precious in this child.

Hebrew: טוֹב (ṭov, H2896) — “good.” The Hebrew simply says the child was ‘good,’ the same word used in Genesis 1 of God’s creation. Acts 7:20 and Hebrews 11:23 read it as a sign that God had special plans for him.

See also: Hebrews 11:23; Exodus 1:22.

Exodus 2:3

When hiding him is no longer possible, his mother makes a little waterproofed basket and places him among the reeds. She could not save him by hiding, so she gives him up into God’s hands. The word for basket is the same word used for Noah’s ark, another vessel that carried life through the water.

BSA: papyrus basket (“ark of bulrushes, made from reeds”): It is a small ‘ark’ that carries the child safely over the waters, as Noah’s ark did.

Hebrew: תֵּבַת (tevat, H8392) — “ark, chest.” This is the word used for Noah’s ark, and it is rarely used elsewhere. The echo suggests that God again preserves life through water.

See also: Genesis 6:14.

Exodus 2:4

Moses’ sister keeps watch from a distance. She cannot do anything yet, but she stays near and waits to see what will happen. Her patient watching sets up the part she will play in the next verses.

BSA: stood (“to stand firmly, to present oneself”): She takes her post and stays at it, firm and watchful.

Exodus 2:5

Pharaoh’s own daughter comes to bathe in the same river where Pharaoh’s order was to drown Hebrew boys. She sees the basket and sends her servant to fetch it. God uses an unlikely person, from the very household of the oppressor, to save the child.

See also: Proverbs 21:1.

Exodus 2:6

She opens the basket and finds a crying baby. His tears move her to pity, and she knows he is a Hebrew child, yet she does not give him up. A baby’s cry opens the way to rescue, just as the cries of Israel will soon reach God.

BSA: compassion (“pity, sympathy”): Her heart is moved by the child’s weeping, even though he belongs to a people her father is trying to destroy.

Exodus 2:7-8

Moses’ sister steps forward boldly with a wise offer: she can find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. Pharaoh’s daughter agrees. The sister goes and fetches the one person who is best fitted for the job, the baby’s own mother.

BSA: nurse (“to suckle, to give milk”): The child needs a nursing mother, and that need opens the door to his return home.

Exodus 2:9

Pharaoh’s daughter hires the child’s own mother and promises her wages. The mother who gave him up now has him back, and she is paid for caring for him. God has turned a sorrow into a provision that no one planned for.

BSA: wages (“compensation, payment for work”): She is paid by the royal house to raise her own son, a gentle irony in God’s care.

Exodus 2:10

When the boy is weaned, his mother brings him back to the palace, where he becomes the princess’s son. His name sounds like the Hebrew for ‘draw out,’ and it points ahead to the day God will use him to draw Israel out of Egypt through the sea.

BSA: Moses (“the one drawn out, rescued”): His name remembers his own rescue and hints at his future work of rescuing others.

Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה (Mosheh, H4872) — “Moses, ‘drawn out’.” The name is linked with the Hebrew verb for ‘draw out’ (mashah). The same verb is not used again for the exodus, but the idea of being drawn out of water runs forward to the Red Sea.

See also: Acts 7:21-22.

Exodus 2:11

Moses is now grown, and he goes out to see his own people. He does not look away from their forced labor, and he sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. Moses has been raised among Egyptians, but he still counts the Hebrews as his brothers.

BSA: hard labor (“burdens, forced servitude, compulsory work”): The word shows the weight pressed on Israel’s shoulders, which Moses now sees for himself.

See also: Hebrews 11:24-26.

Exodus 2:12

Moses looks around, sees no one, and kills the Egyptian, then buries the body. His anger at injustice is real, but he takes things into his own hands, and he acts in secret because he knows it was wrong to do this his own way. God’s deliverance will come later by a different path.

BSA: struck down (“slew, smote”): This is a deadly blow, not a mere beating, and it cannot be undone.

Exodus 2:13-14

The next day Moses tries to settle a quarrel between two Hebrews, and his own people turn on him. The man’s question exposes both the secret and Moses’ lack of any recognised calling. Moses is afraid because he sees the deed is known.

BSA: afraid (“feared, stood in awe”): His fear is real alarm, since he knows he has become a hunted man.

See also: Acts 7:23-29.

Exodus 2:15

Pharaoh hears of it and seeks to kill Moses, so Moses runs away to Midian, east of Egypt. He sits down by a well, a long way from the palace. The prince of Egypt becomes a fugitive with nothing in his hands.

BSA: fled (“ran away quickly, escaped”): He leaves in haste, giving up the life he had known in Egypt.

Exodus 2:16-17

Seven daughters of the priest of Midian come to water their father’s flock, and shepherds drive them off. Moses stands up and defends them. He still hates injustice, and this time he acts in a way that helps without bloodshed.

BSA: rose up (“stood up, arose”): Moses acts at once on behalf of those who were being pushed aside.

Exodus 2:18-20

The girls tell their father, here called Reuel, that an Egyptian rescued them. He asks why they left the man behind and tells them to invite him to eat. Hospitality welcomes the stranger, and it gives Moses a place to rest. Elsewhere this man is called Jethro.

BSA: rescued (“delivered, saved from harm”): The girls use the language of deliverance, the same kind of work Moses will later do for Israel.

See also: Exodus 3:1; Hebrews 13:2.

Exodus 2:21-22

Moses settles with the family and marries Zipporah. When their son is born, Moses names him Gershom, which sounds like ‘foreigner there.’ The name tells of his sense of exile. He is far from both Egypt and his own people, waiting for God to move.

BSA: Gershom (“a sojourner, stranger”): The child’s name keeps alive Moses’ sense of being a stranger away from home.

See also: Hebrews 11:13.

Exodus 2:23

After a long time the king of Egypt dies, but slavery goes on. The Israelites groan and cry out, and their cry goes up to God. They do not yet name Him, but their pain is lifted to Him, and He hears.

BSA: groaned (“sighed, mourned”): It is a deep, wordless sound of pain more than a spoken prayer. ascended (“went up, rose”): Their cry rises like a prayer and reaches God’s ears.

See also: Psalm 34:17.

Exodus 2:24

God hears the groaning and remembers His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To remember here does not mean He had forgotten. It means He moves to act on what He promised. Israel’s rescue rests on God’s faithful word.

BSA: remembered (“recalled, did not forget”): God’s remembering means He is now stepping in to keep His promise. covenant (“promise, agreement”): It is God’s binding pledge, which stands whatever Israel’s condition.

Hebrew: וַיִּזְכֹּר (vayyizkor, H2142) — “and He remembered.” In the Bible, God ‘remembering’ means He acts on behalf of someone. It is not that He had forgotten, but that the time to keep His promise has come.

See also: Genesis 15:13-14; Genesis 12:1-3.

Exodus 2:25

The chapter ends with two short statements: God saw the Israelites and took notice. He is not distant from their suffering. He knows it and cares, and this prepares the way for the burning bush in the next chapter.

BSA: took notice (“knew, was concerned about, had knowledge of”): God knows their suffering and cares about it, and is not a mere onlooker.

See also: Exodus 3:7.