Exodus 2

Exodus 2:1-6

This chapter begins the story of Moses, the most remarkable type of Christ, in Prophet, Saviour, Langer, and Mediator, in all the Old Parliament. In this chapter we have, 1. The perils of his birth and infancy, ver. 1-4. 2. His preservation through these perils, and the preservation of his childhood and youth, ver. 1-10. 3. The pious choice of his super years, which was to ruin the people of God. (1.) He offered them his service at present, if they would have accepted it, ver. 11-14. (2.) He retired, that he might reserve himself for further service hereafter, ver. 15-22. 4. The deanning of the day of Israel’s deliverance, ver. 23, 24, 25.

1. AND there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. 2. And the woman conceived, and bare a son; and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. 3. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with flame and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink. 4. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

It seems, Moses was born just at the time when the edict was published, and cruelly put in execution; though probably afterwards there was some statement of its rigour. His parents, both of the tribe of Levi, had other children before: Moses now comes in a distressing season; so nearly allied are the comforts and the sorrows of children. They observed his uncommon beauty, and determined at all hazards to attempt

his preservation. Note, There are often strong impressions, and even in the cradle, and in the earliest infancy, on those who are designed for great exploits. Observe,

1. The methods they took. They hid him for three months; but it becoming, we may be assured, impracticable to conceal him longer; 2. They are obliged to expose him, and trust him into the hand of providence; not without hope, as the watch they set intimated, that some way God might save him from his danger. As faith, Heb. xi. 23. encouraged them not to fear in concealing him, so, now that the case grew desperate, faith enabled them to expose him. Note, There are reasons, when we are driven to venture all on God’s providence, and we should do it with cheerfulness and confidence. This is not to tempt him, but to trust him.

2. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to walk herself at the river, and her maidens walked along by the river side: and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. 6. And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrew’s children. 7. Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go, and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? 8. And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother. 9. And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. 10. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name: Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

3. NOW Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the *priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back-side of the shore, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a *flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great fight, why the bush is not burnt. 4. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him *out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here on I. 5. And he said, Draw not high hither: *put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou thandest is holy ground. 6. Moreover he said, I see the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face: for *he was afraid to look upon God.

Moses now seems to have forgotten Egypt, and Israel to be no more remembered of their God; but this is the day of salvation. Moses, as usual, was attending his father’s flocks, buried in obscurity, and humbly acquiescing in his employment. Learn, 1. When we can see God’s call, obscurity becomes our duty, and the meanest occupation must be welcome. 2. If God be long before he calls us forth, it is because he is preparing us for what he hath prepared for us.

1. God appears to him in a flame of fire in a bush; and Moses, struck with the uncommon appearance, draws near to see this fight, a bush burning, yet unconsumed. The church of Christ is like this bush, ever in affliction, yet never to be destroyed.

2. God speaks to him out of the fire, and Moses answers. He is hereupon directed how to approach, with reverence and godly fear, in order to hear the revelation God is about to make to him. Note, (1.) Attention to providence is a great means of keeping up communion with God. (2.) An obedient ear is ever open to instruction. (3.) In our appearances before God, the posture of our body should comport with the deep abatement and sacred awe which is upon our mind.

3. He makes himself known to him, as the covenant God of his fathers, to encourage his faith, and to engage his obedience. All live to God. Those whom we reckon among the dead, are only removed into that better world, where life eternal reigns, Luke xx. 37.

4. Moses is deeply affected with what he sees and hears. A sense of our own great unworthiness may well cover our faces with shame, when we appear before God, and the more a faint of God experiences of his love, the deeper will be his humiliation before him.

5. And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry, by reason of their task-matters: for I know their sorrows. 8. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land, unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey: unto the place of the Canadians, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebulsites. 9. Now therefore behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

Exodus 2:5-10

How admirable are the dispositions of God’s providence, in time, manner, means; all ready, critical, and wonderful? Observe,

1. The discovery of him by Pharaoh’s daughter. Struck with his beauty and innocent tears, compassion moved her to save the child. Note, (1.) The helplessness and innocence of infancy awakens him in the hardest hearts. (2.) When Pharaoh is destroying the people, his daughter is preserving their deliverer. God can thus by his very enemies carry on his wise designs. (3.) Nothing happens by chance. The greatest events depend on circumstances, to our appearance, utterly trivial and fortuitous, but planned with deep design as the mind of the all-wise God.

2. The nurse provided. His own mother. No breast so natural as her’s who bore him. No wonder the child thrived. How may mothers, by refusing their breasts, become necessary to the death of their own offspring.

3. The Child at weaning is brought home, called Moses, Dream out of the water; and, as Pharaoh’s daughter’s son, educated in all the learning of Egypt, and in all the politeness of a court, and thus prepared for that part he was afterwards to act, both as the hithoram and leader of Israel. Providence not only raises great men from obscurity, but, by the steps of their advancement, wonderfully prepares them for the place for which they are intended.

4. And it came to pals in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12. And he looked this way and that way; and when he saw that there was no man, he saw the Egyptian, and hid him in the land. 13. And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smiteth thou thy fellow? 14. And he said, Who made thee a prince and judge over us? intended thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. 15. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he fought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

Exodus 2:7-10

1. God here begins to open his designs towards his people. He observes their sorrows and oppression, and hears their cry, and will not only deliver them from it, but bring them into the land promised to their fathers, and of these make them princes. Thus shall Jesus bring us not only from the bondage of our corruption, but raise us up to be kings on thrones of glory.

2. He sends Moses his ambassador to demand their release. The weak things in God’s hands are mighty. A shepherd brings Israel from Egypt; afterwards, a few despised fishermen lay the foundations of the Christian church, against which all the powers of earth, or malice of devils, never could, and never shall prevail.

4. ¶ And Moses said unto God, “Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? 12. And he said, “Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. 13. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? 14. And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, ‘I AM hath sent me unto you. 15. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

Exodus 2:11-15

Moses now probably received some divine admonition to leave the court; for it is said, Heb. xi. 24. He refused by faith to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and left case and honour, to share with his brethren in affliction; to be their partner in it, or their deliverer from it. Hereupon,

1. We find him interposing in a quarrel between an Egyptian and an Hebrew, and leaving the Egyptian. An act of justice, no doubt, for which he had divine warrant; and hereby giving his people a specimen of God’s designs towards them.

2. i.e. Dream out.

Note. When we disregard divine admonitions, as Israel did, we shall suffer for it.

2. His desire next day to accommodate a quarrel between two of his brethren. He mildly reafoined with the aggressor, and meets not only with an infolent reply, but a malicious infatuation, v. 14, which gave him to know his yesterday’s work was discovered, and the he would soon be in danger for it. Learn, (1.) The injurious is usually the first to quarrel with him who would make peace. (2.) Even sufferings will not unite the people of God; and they who rise up to their help, find often as much trouble in reconoiling their differences, as in refusing them from their oppression. (3.) A faithful minister must not be discouraged, if his well-meant endeavours are by some ungratefully returned.

3. His flight hereupon. Egypt was now become a dangerous abode. The hint given him in anger, proved a warning of mercy; and as a just punishment of his brethren’s neglect, as well as to qualify him for future service, he is sent into Midian, a fugitive like his fathers, that in the exercise of their faith he might come to their honour.

Moses starts at the proposal.

1. He speaks his insufficiency for the talk, v. 11. perhaps out of humility. Highly qualified as a man may be to minister before the Lord, lowly thoughts become him. Who is sufficient for such things? Perhaps out of fear. The effus was dangerous, and he must put his life in his hand. Fear of man is a great hindrance to the work of God.

2. God filences his objection, v. 12, and promises him success. If God be with us, our weakness shall become strength, our fully wisdom, and every mountain of difficulty he level as a plain; nor can we fail of succeeding under such a leader.

3. Moses begs farther instructions for his proceedings, v. 13. He expected they would call upon him to prove his million, and who sent him. Note, We must not run without our message. They who are to speak for God, need earnestly enquire at his word, that they may be able to give an answer to every man that affords a reason of the hope which is in them.

4. The satisfaction he receives, v. 14, 15. God is the great man, self-excellent, unchangeable in his purposes, and all-sufficient to accomplish them. He is their father’s God, and they should remember the covenant which for the father’s sake they were intensified in. Considerations admirably found to engage their dependence on him, and make them ready to welcome their deliverer. Note, The remembrance of what God is, to his covenant people, is the great motive to hear him, trust him, love him, and follow him.

5. Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, ‘I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt. 17. And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt, unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hitites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebushites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. 18. And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and you shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us; and now let us go (we beseech thee) three days journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God. 19. ¶ And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, you, not by a mighty hand. 20. And I will stretch out my hand, and invite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. 21. And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that when ye go, ye shall not go empty: 22. But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.

Exodus 2:16-22

Moses is farther directed in his work.

1. He must assemble the elders of the people, and assure them of the fulfillment of God’s promise, v. 17, and they shall hearken to it. Note, (1.) The faithful report of God’s word is every minister’s duty. (2.) When we do so, it is God’s work to make it successful, and we have God’s promise to assure us he will, Matt. xviii. 20.

2. He must speak to Pharaoh, and the request is most reasonable, v. 18, but Pharaoh will not hearken. Learn hence, (1.) The oblivion of a sinner’s heart, that turns a dead ear to the kindest pleas and remonstrances. (2.) That God warns the impenitent, to leave them inexcusable.

3. God will bring them out in spite of Pharaoh, v. 20, and before he is not only free, but enriched with the goods of the Egyptians; a just recompense for their hard servitude. Learn, (1.) Opposition against God is vain. (2.) Whether we have justice in this world or no, we know the day is near, when God will judge according to truth.