Exodus 2:1-10

The Birth of Moses

1 Now a ¹man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman.

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

3 When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes^[a] and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the ³reeds by the river bank.

4 And ⁴his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him.

5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it.

6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took 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 you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?"

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

9 And 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 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became ⁵her son. She named him Moses, "Because," she said, "I ⁶drew him out of the water."^[b]

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Exodus 2:1-10 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

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 6

1. Exodus 6:20; Numbers 26:59; 1 Chronicles 23:14
2. Acts 7:20; Hebrews 11:23
3. ver. 5; Isaiah 19:6
4. Exodus 15:20; Numbers 26:59
5. Acts 7:21; [Hebrews 11:24]
6. 2 Samuel 22:17; Psalms 18:16

Footnotes 2

[a]. Hebrew papyrus reeds
[b]. Moses sounds like the Hebrew for draw out

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.