Exodus 2:7

7 Then his sister asked her, "Shall I go and call a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for you?"

Exodus 2:7 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 2:7

Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter
Miriam the sister of Moses, who observing the ark taken up, and the maidens that were walking upon the bank of the river, and other women perhaps, gathering about it to see it; she made one among them, and after hearing their discourse about it, proposed what follows to Pharaoh's daughter: Jarchi says, that Pharaoh's daughter tried several Egyptian women to suckle it, but it would not suck of them: Josephus ^F18 says the same, and it also is in the Talmud ^F19; and that, if true, gave Miriam a fair opportunity to offer to do the following message for her:

shall I go and call for thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may
nurse the child for thee?
for she perceived that she was desirous of having the child brought up as her own.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9. sect. 5.
F19 T. Bab. Sotah, ut supra. (fol. 12.1)

Exodus 2:7 In-Context

5 The king's daughter came down to the river to bathe, while her servants walked along the bank. Suddenly she noticed the basket in the tall grass and sent a slave woman to get it.

6 The princess opened it and saw a baby boy. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. "This is one of the Hebrew babies," she said.

7 Then his sister asked her, "Shall I go and call a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for you?"

8 "Please do," she answered. So the girl went and brought the baby's own mother.

9 The princess told the woman, "Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you." So she took the baby and nursed him.