23 And it came to pass in process H1992 H7227 of time, H3117 that the king H4428 of Egypt H4714 died: H4191 and the children H1121 of Israel H3478 sighed H584 by reason of H4480 the bondage, H5656 and they cried, H2199 and their cry H7775 came up H5927 unto God H430 by reason of the bondage. H5656
And the LORD H3068 said, H559 Because the cry H2201 of Sodom H5467 and Gomorrah H6017 is great, H7227 and because their sin H2403 is very H3966 grievous; H3513 I will go down H3381 now, and see H7200 whether they have done H6213 altogether H3617 according to the cry H6818 of it, which is come H935 unto me; and if not, I will know. H3045
And G1161 immediately G3916 the angel G32 of the Lord G2962 smote G3960 him, G846 because G473 G3739 he gave G1325 not G3756 God G2316 the glory: G1391 and G2532 he was G1096 eaten of worms, G4662 and gave up the ghost. G1634 But G1161 the word G3056 of God G2316 grew G837 and G2532 multiplied. G4129
And the Egyptians H4713 evil entreated H7489 us, and afflicted H6031 us, and laid H5414 upon us hard H7186 bondage: H5656 And when we cried H6817 unto the LORD H3068 God H430 of our fathers, H1 the LORD H3068 heard H8085 our voice, H6963 and looked H7200 on our affliction, H6040 and our labour, H5999 and our oppression: H3906
And the LORD H3068 said, H559 I have surely H7200 seen H7200 the affliction H6040 of my people H5971 which are in Egypt, H4714 and have heard H8085 their cry H6818 by reason H6440 of their taskmasters; H5065 for I know H3045 their sorrows; H4341 And I am come down H3381 to deliver H5337 them out of the hand H3027 of the Egyptians, H4714 and to bring H5927 them up out of that land H776 unto a good H2896 land H776 and a large, H7342 unto a land H776 flowing H2100 with milk H2461 and honey; H1706 unto the place H4725 of the Canaanites, H3669 and the Hittites, H2850 and the Amorites, H567 and the Perizzites, H6522 and the Hivites, H2340 and the Jebusites. H2983 Now therefore, behold, the cry H6818 of the children H1121 of Israel H3478 is come H935 unto me: and I have also seen H7200 the oppression H3906 wherewith the Egyptians H4714 oppress H3905 them.
I removed H5493 his shoulder H7926 from the burden: H5447 his hands H3709 were delivered H5674 from the pots. H1731 Thou calledst H7121 in trouble, H6869 and I delivered H2502 thee; I answered H6030 thee in the secret place H5643 of thunder: H7482 I proved H974 thee at the waters H4325 of Meribah. H4809 Selah. H5542
But G1161 when Herod G2264 was dead, G5053 behold, G2400 an angel G32 of the Lord G2962 appeareth G5316 in G2596 a dream G3677 to Joseph G2501 in G1722 Egypt, G125 Saying, G3004 Arise, G1453 and take G3880 the young child G3813 and G2532 his G846 mother, G3384 and G2532 go G4198 into G1519 the land G1093 of Israel: G2474 for G1063 they are dead G2348 which G3588 sought G2212 the young child's G3813 life. G5590
Then they cry H2199 unto the LORD H3068 in their trouble, H6862 and he saveth H3467 them out of their distresses. H4691 He sent H7971 his word, H1697 and healed H7495 them, and delivered H4422 them from their destructions. H7825
And the LORD H3068 said H559 unto the children H1121 of Israel, H3478 Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, H4714 and from the Amorites, H567 from the children H1121 of Ammon, H5983 and from the Philistines? H6430 The Zidonians H6722 also, and the Amalekites, H6002 and the Maonites, H4584 did oppress H3905 you; and ye cried H6817 to me, and I delivered H3467 you out of their hand. H3027
Ye shall not afflict H6031 any widow, H490 or fatherless child. H3490 If H518 thou afflict H6031 them in any wise, H6031 and they cry H6817 at all H6817 unto me, I will surely H8085 hear H8085 their cry; H6818 And my wrath H639 shall wax hot, H2734 and I will kill H2026 you with the sword; H2719 and your wives H802 shall be widows, H490 and your children H1121 fatherless. H3490 If thou lend H3867 money H3701 to any of my people H5971 that is poor H6041 by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, H5383 neither shalt thou lay H7760 upon him usury. H5392 If thou at all H2254 take H2254 thy neighbour's H7453 raiment H8008 to pledge, H2254 thou shalt deliver H7725 it unto him by H5704 that the sun H8121 goeth down: H935 For that is his covering H3682 only, it is his raiment H8071 for his skin: H5785 wherein shall he sleep? H7901 and it shall come to pass, when he crieth H6817 unto me, that I will hear; H8085 for I am gracious. H2587
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Exodus 2
Commentary on Exodus 2 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 2
Ex 2:1-10. Birth and Preservation of Moses.
1. there went a man of the house of Levi, &c. Amram was the husband and Jochebed the wife (compare Ex 6:2; Nu 26:59). The marriage took place, and two children, Miriam and Aaron, were born some years before the infanticidal edict.
2. the woman … bare a son, &c.—Some extraordinary appearance of remarkable comeliness led his parents to augur his future greatness. Beauty was regarded by the ancients as a mark of the divine favor.
hid him three months—The parents were a pious couple, and the measures they took were prompted not only by parental attachment, but by a strong faith in the blessing of God prospering their endeavors to save the infant.
3. she took for him an ark of bulrushes—papyrus, a thick, strong, and tough reed.
slime—the mud of the Nile, which, when hardened, is very tenacious.
pitch—mineral tar. Boats of this description are seen daily floating on the surface of the river, with no other caulking than Nile mud (compare Isa 18:2), and they are perfectly watertight, unless the coating is forced off by stormy weather.
flags—a general term for sea or river weed. The chest was not, as is often represented, committed to the bosom of the water but laid on the bank, where it would naturally appear to have been drifted by the current and arrested by the reedy thicket. The spot is traditionally said to be the Isle of Rodah, near Old Cairo.
4. his sister—Miriam would probably be a girl of ten or twelve years of age at the time.
5. the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river—The occasion is thought to have been a religious solemnity which the royal family opened by bathing in the sacred stream. Peculiar sacredness was attached to those portions of the Nile which flowed near the temples. The water was there fenced off as a protection from the crocodiles; and doubtless the princess had an enclosure reserved for her own use, the road to which seems to have been well known to Jochebed.
walked along—in procession or in file.
she sent her maid—her immediate attendant. The term is different from that rendered "maidens."
6-9. when she had opened it, she saw the child—The narrative is picturesque. No tale of romance ever described a plot more skilfully laid or more full of interest in the development. The expedient of the ark, the slime and pitch, the choice of the time and place, the appeal to the sensibilities of the female breast, the stationing of the sister as a watch of the proceedings, her timely suggestion of a nurse, and the engagement of the mother herself—all bespeak a more than ordinary measure of ingenuity as well as intense solicitude on the part of the parents. But the origin of the scheme was most probably owing to a divine suggestion, as its success was due to an overruling Providence, who not only preserved the child's life, but provided for his being trained in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Hence it is said to have been done by faith (Heb 11:23), either in the general promise of deliverance, or some special revelation made to Amram and Jochebed—and in this view, the pious couple gave a beautiful example of a firm reliance on the word of God, united with an active use of the most suitable means.
10. she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter—Though it must have been nearly as severe a trial for Jochebed to part with him the second time as the first, she was doubtless reconciled to it by her belief in his high destination as the future deliverer of Israel. His age when removed to the palace is not stated; but he was old enough to be well instructed in the principles of the true religion; and those early impressions, deepened by the power of divine grace, were never forgotten or effaced.
he became her son—by adoption, and his high rank afforded him advantages in education, which in the Providence of God were made subservient to far different purposes from what his royal patroness intended.
she called his name Moses—His parents might, as usual, at the time of his circumcision, have given him a name, which is traditionally said to have been Joachim. But the name chosen by the princess, whether of Egyptian or Hebrew origin, is the only one by which he has ever been known to the church; and it is a permanent memorial of the painful incidents of his birth and infancy.
Ex 2:11-25. His Sympathy with the Hebrews.
11. in those days, when Moses was grown—not in age and stature only, but in power as well as in renown for accomplishments and military prowess (Ac 7:22). There is a gap here in the sacred history which, however, is supplied by the inspired commentary of Paul, who has fully detailed the reasons as well as extent of the change that took place in his worldly condition; and whether, as some say, his royal mother had proposed to make him coregent and successor to the crown, or some other circumstances, led to a declaration of his mind, he determined to renounce the palace and identify himself with the suffering people of God (Heb 11:24-29). The descent of some great sovereigns, like Diocletian and Charles V, from a throne into private life, is nothing to the sacrifice which Moses made through the power of faith.
he went out unto his brethren—to make a full and systematic inspection of their condition in the various parts of the country where they were dispersed (Ac 7:23), and he adopted this proceeding in pursuance of the patriotic purpose that the faith, which is of the operation of God, was even then forming in his heart.
he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew—one of the taskmasters scourging a Hebrew slave without any just cause (Ac 7:24), and in so cruel a manner, that he seems to have died under the barbarous treatment—for the conditions of the sacred story imply such a fatal issue. The sight was new and strange to him, and though pre-eminent for meekness (Nu 12:3), he was fired with indignation.
12. he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand—This act of Moses may seem and indeed by some has been condemned as rash and unjustifiable—in plain terms, a deed of assassination. But we must not judge of his action in such a country and age by the standard of law and the notions of right which prevail in our Christian land; and, besides, not only is it not spoken of as a crime in Scripture or as distressing the perpetrator with remorse, but according to existing customs among nomadic tribes, he was bound to avenge the blood of a brother. The person he slew, however, being a government officer, he had rendered himself amenable to the laws of Egypt, and therefore he endeavored to screen himself from the consequences by concealment of the corpse.
13, 14. two men of the Hebrews strove together—His benevolent mediation in this strife, though made in the kindest and mildest manner, was resented, and the taunt of the aggressor showing that Moses' conduct on the preceding day had become generally known, he determined to consult his safety by immediate flight (Heb 11:27). These two incidents prove that neither were the Israelites yet ready to go out of Egypt, nor Moses prepared to be their leader (Jas 1:20). It was by the staff and not the sword—by the meekness, and not the wrath of Moses that God was to accomplish that great work of deliverance. Both he and the people of Israel were for forty years more to be cast into the furnace of affliction, yet it was therein that He had chosen them (Isa 48:10).
15. Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh—His flight took place in the second year of Thothmes I.
dwelt in the land of Midian—situated on the eastern shore of the gulf of the Red Sea and occupied by the posterity of Midian the son of Cush. The territory extended northward to the top of the gulf and westward far across the desert of Sinai. And from their position near the sea, they early combined trading with pastoral pursuits (Ge 37:28). The headquarters of Jethro are supposed to have been where Dahab-Madian now stands; and from Moses coming direct to that place, he may have travelled with a caravan of merchants. But another place is fixed by tradition in Wady Shuweib, or Jethro's valley, on the east of the mountain of Moses.
sat down by a well—(See on Ge 29:3).
16-22. the priest of Midian—or, "prince of Midian." As the officers were usually conjoined, he was the ruler also of the people called Cushites or Ethiopians, and like many other chiefs of pastoral people in that early age, he still retained the faith and worship of the true God.
seven daughters—were shepherdesses to whom Moses was favorably introduced by an act of courtesy and courage in protecting them from the rude shepherds of some neighboring tribe at a well. He afterwards formed a close and permanent alliance with this family by marrying one of the daughters, Zipporah, "a little bird," called a Cushite or Ethiopian (Nu 12:1), and whom Moses doubtless obtained in the manner of Jacob by service [see Ex 3:1]. He had by her two sons, whose names were, according to common practice, commemorative of incidents in the family history [Ex 18:3, 4].
23. the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage—The language seems to imply that the Israelites had experienced a partial relaxation, probably through the influence of Moses' royal patroness; but in the reign of her father's successor the persecution was renewed with increased severity.