Exodus 2:1

The Birth and Adoption of Moses

1 Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, 1

Exodus 2:1 Meaning and Commentary

Ver. 1. And there went a man of the house of Levi
This manExodus 2:2

And the woman conceived, and bare a son
Which was not her first child, nor indeed her first son, for she had both Aaron and Miriam before this: this son, which was Moses, was born, as the Jews say F20, in the thirty seventh year after the death of Levi, A. M. 2365, (or, as others, 2368,) on a Wednesday, the seventh of the month Adar, in the third hour of the day: some say it was on the twenty fourth of Nisan; but, according to Bishop Usher F21, he was born forty one years after the death of Levi, A. M. 2433, and in the year before Christ 1571,

and when she saw him that he was a goodly child;
exceeding fair and beautiful, as Stephen expresses it, ( Acts 7:20 ) , the Jews say F23 his form was like an angel of God, and Trogus F24, an Heathen writer, says his beautiful form recommended him: this engaged the affections of his parents to him, and who, from hence, might promise themselves that he would be a very eminent and useful person, could his life be preserved:

she hid him three months;
in her bedchamber, some Jewish writers say {y}; others F26, in a house under ground, that is, in the cellar; however, it was in his father's house, ( Acts 7:20 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F20 Shatshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 2. Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 7. 1.
F21 Annal. Vet. Test. p. 18.
F23 Pirke Eliezer, c. 48. fol. 57. 2.
F24 Justin e Trogo, l. 36. c. 2.
F25 Chronicon Mosis, fol. 3. 2.
F26 Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c.48. fol. 57.2)

Exodus 2:1 In-Context

1 Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman,
2 and she conceived and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him for three months.
3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
4 And his sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
5 Soon the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe in the Nile, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. And when she saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maidservant to retrieve it.

Cross References 1

  • 1. (Acts 7:20–22; Hebrews 11:23)
The Berean Bible and Majority Bible texts are officially placed into the public domain