Chapter 2

1 Moses is born, 3 and in an ark cast into the flags. 5 He is found, and brought up by Pharaoh’s daughter. 11 He slayeth an Egyptian. 13 He reproveth an Hebrew. 15 He fleeth into Midian. 21 He marrieth Zipporah. 22 Gershom is born. 23 God respecteth the Israelites’ cry.

1. There went a man. Inasmuch as Aaron was older than Moses by three years (ch. 7:7), and seems to have been born before the royal decree went into effect, this Hebrew expression should be rendered “a man had gone.” The decree must therefore have been issued about the time Moses was to be born. The marriage of Moses’ parents probably took place more than a decade before this fateful decree was given, since Miriam was old enough by the time of his birth to play the role described in vs. 4, 7, and 8.

A daughter of Levi. Although in Hebrew usage “daughter” may actually mean “granddaughter,” Jochebed was apparently Levi’s actual daughter (see on Ex. 6:20). Her husband was Amram, a son of Kohath (Ex. 6:18) and grandson of Levi (v. 16). Since Kohath was born before Jacob moved to Egypt (Gen. 46:11), it is probable that Kohath’s sister, Jochebed, who married her brother’s son, Amram, was born much later (see Num. 26:59). The chronology of the sojourn in Egypt (see on Ex. 12:40) renders such a conclusion necessary inasmuch as Moses was born 135 years after Jacob’s entry into Egypt. Jochebed, the mother of Moses, must therefore be considered a child of her father’s old age.

2. A son. Moses was Jochebed’s third child, for Aaron was three years older than he (ch. 7:7), and Miriam was still older (ch. 2:4).

A goodly child. Even as a babe Moses gave evidence of the keen intellect, emotional stability, and also the physical perfection that marked his later years. All of this is implied in the Hebrew word translated “goodly.” Jochebed saw in these qualities a token of divine approval, which she took as a sign that God had marked out some special task for him. According to Acts 7:20 he was, literally, “attractive [“beautiful,” RSV] to God.” This is rendered in the KJV as “exceeding fair.” Jochebed would of course have loved and protected Moses even if he had not been so “goodly” a child, for mothers often devote their deepest love to weak and sickly children. However, Jochebed’s efforts to preserve the life of Moses are praised in Heb. 11:23 as an act of faith, and this implies awareness on her part that God had destined him for an important role and would therefore intervene to preserve his life. This, however, does not necessarily confirm a statement by the Jewish historian Josephus (Antiquities ii. 9. 3) that it had been revealed to Amram before the birth of the child that he was appointed to be the savior of Israel.

3. An ark. After the baby had been hidden for three months, for some reason unknown to us it seemed practically impossible to conceal him longer. Believing that God would intervene for the preservation of his life, his mother devised a plan whereby she might comply with the letter of the king’s command and yet not take the child’s life. She would do all she could, and trust God for the rest.

The two words translated “ark” and “bulrushes” are both Egyptian, and together with many others found in the Pentateuch show that the writer was intimately acquainted with the Egyptian language. The word tebah, “ark,” was derived from the Egyptian tebet, and is used in the Bible only here and in Gen. 6 and 7, for Noah’s ark. Meaning literally a “box,” it might describe any boxlike container.

The word gome, “bulrushes,” is from the Egyptian qamaХ. It designates the papyrus plant, famous in antiquity as the chief material from which ancient writing paper was made. The papyrus plant is a sturdy rush with a triangular stem from 10 to 15 ft. in height. Though common in ancient Egypt, it is no longer found there. The papyrus was also employed for building purposes and in the construction of lighter river boats. Such vessels are pictured on many ancient Egyptian monuments, and may have provided Jochebed a model for making Moses’ ark.

Slime. The same word as that used in Gen. 11:3 for asphalt or bitumen, which was imported into Egypt from the region of the Dead Sea. By the Egyptians it was used largely in embalming the dead.

In the flags. Suph, from the Egyptian tjufi, meaning “reed,” is the third word in this verse borrowed from that language. Water plants of all kinds abound in the backwaters of the Nile and in the marshy tracts connected with it. Jochebed’s objective in placing the ark in a thicket of reeds was probably to prevent it from floating away. Some commentators have suggested that Jochebed knew the place to which the Egyptian princess was accustomed to come and placed it there with the hope that her pity might be aroused at the sight of the beautiful and helpless babe (see PP 243).

4. His sister. That is Miriam (see Ex. 15:20, 21; Num. 12:1; PP 243). She seems to have been Moses’ only sister (Num. 26:59).

5. The daughter of Pharaoh. In Jewish tradition she is called Thermouthis, Merris, or Bithia. The diversity of the names and their absence from Egyptian records renders the tradition worthless.

A reasonable deduction from Biblical chronology based on 1 Kings 6:1 and other supporting statements (see GC 399) is that the Exodus took place about the middle of the 15th century b.c. This date leads to the conclusion that Moses grew up under Thutmose I (1525-1508 b.c.), Thutmose II (1508-1504 b.c.), and Queen Hatshepsut (1504-1482 b.c.). Hatshepsut was a remarkable woman. She had been the only legitimate child of Thutmose I and was married to her half brother Thutmose II in order that he might legitimately succeed his father upon the throne. But the legitimate marriage of Thutmose II, like that of his father, again failed to provide a male heir. When Thutmose II died, after a reign of only four years, the priests of Amen, in a sudden coup, crowned an illegitimate son of Thutmose II, who was at that time a mere boy and served in the temple as a minor priest. Inasmuch as Thutmose III, as he was later known, was too young to reign, his aunt Hatshepsut acted as regent for 22 years. Her reign was a peaceful one. She built great temples and erected huge obelisks. Expeditions were sent to Punt, probably the coast of Somaliland in East Africa, for trading purposes, and to Sinai and Nubia to mine copper, turquoise, and gold. Supported by a powerful prime minister, Senenmut, Hatshepsut occupied the throne for 22 years; then she and Senenmut disappear from the record. Succeeding her, Thutmose III erased her name from all monuments in an attempt to eradicate the memory of her from the history of Egypt. This fact lends weight to the supposition that he removed her from the throne, and that she and Senenmut died violent deaths.

When Moses was born Hatshepsut was merely the daughter of Thutmose I. Moses’ birth occurred many years before her marriage to her half brother Thutmose II, and more than 20 years before she began her personal reign, after the death of her husband.

To wash herself. Angels led the princess to where Moses lay (PP 243). That a princess should bathe in the open river is certainly not in accord with the customs of the modern Mohammedan East, where it is now done only by women of the lower class. But it was in harmony with the customs of ancient Egypt. A bathing scene from an ancient Egyptian tomb pictures an Egyptian woman of rank attended by four female servants. It is also in agreement with the views held in ancient Egypt about the sanctity of the Nile, and that its water imparted fruitfulness and guaranteed a long life. It was for this reason that the Nile was worshiped as a god.

6. One of the Hebrews’ children. Upon opening the little ark the princess recognized in the crying babe a child of the Hebrews. Compassion for the helpless child and sympathy for his unknown Hebrew mother prompted her to save him by adopting him as her own. In the comment on ch. 1:22 it was observed that the cruel edict of the king probably did not long remain in force. The event here described may have been instrumental in bringing about a change. Distressed by the sad lot of the Hebrew children, the daughter of Pharaoh may have implored her father to revoke his murderous edict. If this be true, Moses had already become the passive means by which the lives of countless Hebrew children were saved.

7. A nurse. All had doubtless been arranged by the mother. Miriam was stationed near the place where Moses was floating, to watch her little brother’s fate, and had probably been instructed what to say in the event some Egyptian should find the baby. Now she carried out her instructions with admirable judgment and tact. She appeared on the scene at the right moment and offered her proposal at the proper time, neither too soon nor too late. In doing so, she said neither too much nor too little.

8. The maid went. The faith and resourcefulness of a loving mother and the tact and skill of a prudent sister were crowned with success. Not only was Moses’ life saved but he was, as well, returned to his own cradle and to the bosom of his own mother. In this way provision was made that he might receive from her those first impressions which are so indelibly fixed upon the mind of a child.

9. Thy wages. Since the babe, a Hebrew child, was placed in a Hebrew home, provision must be made to clarify the supposed relationship of Jochebed to him as his nurse. To signify clearly that he had become the property of Pharaoh’s daughter, to silence inquiries as to his origin and the reasons for his being kept alive, and to seal the lips of informers who might wish to see him killed, as other Hebrew boys were, the princess indicated the wages she would pay for the care given him.

The woman took the child. It is significant that Jochebed is not here called Moses’ “mother” but simply “the woman.” It would seem that neither by word nor by deed did she betray her real feelings nor reveal her actual relationship to the child. What self-control that impassioned hour must have required, no tongue can tell. She took the child as a stranger might have taken it, yet in her heart there was passionate joy and gladness. Had she relaxed her vigilance but for an instant, excitement might have disclosed her purpose. Everything depended on her remaining calm under the most difficult circumstances—but love can endure all things. The great question underlying all service is not so much one of the intellect as of the heart, buoyed up by God’s sustaining power.

10. The child grew. Jochebed had saved her son’s life by transferring her rights as mother to Pharaoh’s daughter. Now she received him back, on loan as it were, and merely as a nurse hired for his years of infancy. She gave him up that she might keep him, lost him that she might find him again, stooped that she might conquer. The time the child was with its mother, not stated in the Bible but given as 2 or 3 years by most commentators, was actually about 12 years (PP 244). During these years of childhood the foundations of character and later religious experience were laid. Instruction neglected now could not be made up later. Moses’ afterlife shows clearly that his parents used well the years allotted them for bringing him up in the way in which he should go.

She brought him. Many commentators have expressed the view that Moses’ mother took her son to the palace of her own volition as soon as he was weaned, at the age of perhaps two or three years. As noted above, this actually occurred at about the age of 12. The idea that she surrendered him voluntarily is based on the absence of any indication that she was forced to give him up. Unless she took him to the palace at a time previously agreed upon, to do so on her own initiative would seem to show a strange lack of motherly affection. Would Jochebed have given up a son she loved so dearly without being required to do so? She must have kept him as long as she could. Her surrender of Moses at the age of 12 would imply that her term of service as “nurse” was to expire with the close of what was generally considered the period of childhood (see PP 244).

Moses. Mosheh is comparable to the Egyptian mes or mesu, meaning “child,” “son,” “the one born of.” During the Eighteenth Dynasty, under which Moses was born and brought up, it was customary to select for members of the royal family, names designating them as offspring of the gods. Names such as Ahmose, “The one born of [the moon-god] Ah”; Kamose, “The one born of the [deified soul, the] Ka”; Thutmose, “The one born of [the god] Thoth”; and the common name Ramose (later Ramses), “The one born of [the sun-god] Ra”; were in everyday life often abbreviated to “Mose.” Students of Egyptology would say that Pharaoh’s daughter gave the child she adopted a name similar to Thutmose or Ahmose, of which that part referring to a heathen deity was dropped by Moses when he “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter” (Heb. 11:24). Again, she may have omitted the title of any god and instead given him only the abbreviated name “Mose,” since she neither knew his earthly parentage nor could claim that, as a Hebrew, he was the son of an Egyptian god. However, it is probable that the name she gave the child was Egyptian, though the form in which we know it today is Hebrew.

Drew him out. The name Mosheh means, literally, “one drawn out.” It is the participial form of, and has the same consonants as, the verb mashah, “to draw out.” Since the Egyptian name Mose and the Hebrew verb mashah were similar in sound and related in meaning, the Hebrews may have transliterated Mose as Mosheh. Thus it would conform to the statement of the Egyptian princess, “Because I drew him out of the water.” This statement implies that she accepted him as a gift to her from the river god, the Nile. In the Egyptian pantheon the Nile was deified as Hapi, though the stream itself was known as ХItru, later simply as ХIru. This the Hebrews transliterated as Yeor, and with one exception (Dan. 12:5–7) Bible writers use it exclusively (49 times) in referring to the Nile and its tributaries (see Gen. 41:1; Isa. 7:18; Eze. 29:3; Nahum 3:8; etc.). Originally, Moses’ name in Egyptian may thus have been Hapmose or ХIrumose, meaning, “The one born of [Heb., “drawn out of”] the Nile.” In refusing “to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter” (Heb. 11:24), he would naturally drop the reference to an Egyptian deity.

Translators of the LXX rendered his name Mouses. In explanation of this name, Josephus (Antiquities ii. 9. 6) explains Mo as an Egyptian name for the Nile, and uses as Egyptian for anyone “drawn” or “saved” out of it. According to this explanation, then, Moses would mean, “The one saved out of the Nile,” a most appropriate name for one destined to save his people from the land of the Nile. It is not clear, however, whether Josephus’ explanation is based on fact or on wishful thinking.

11. When Moses was grown. The Sacred Record passes over almost 30 years of Moses’ life in silence. The next recorded event is of an incident that took place when he was 40 years old (Acts 7:23). The years of his youth were spent under royal tutors, who imparted to him “all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22). Some of his education he received from the priests, and some from army commanders. Such was the training ordinarily given a royal prince. Since Moses was “mighty in words and in deeds” (Acts 7:22), it would not be amiss to assume that he led important military expeditions to foreign countries (see PP 245). However, he did not become an Egyptian at heart. His outward appearance, his dress, his speech, and his behavior may have been completely Egyptian, but he remained a Hebrew in character, religion, and loyalty. This is clear from the events narrated in Ex. 2:11–13 (see Heb. 11:24).

He went out. Moses had come to the point in his life when he realized that he must either become an Egyptian, without reservation, or side with his despised people. It seems that prior to this occasion he had made the decision “to suffer affliction with the people of God” (Heb. 11:25) and considered himself the chosen instrument for this task (Acts 7:23–25). He thought himself ready at last to leave the court with its “pleasures of sin,” to abandon the prospect of succession to the throne, and to step forth boldly to champion the cause of his oppressed people (see PP 246, 247). From Acts 7:23 it is clear that Moses went to the land of Goshen for the purpose of studying the situation and laying plans. That in his mind he had relinquished all claim to the throne of Egypt is evidence that his motives were not selfish. He was impelled, rather, by sincere love for his people and hatred for their oppressors, a fact emphasized by the term “brethren,” used twice in Ex. 2:11.

He spied an Egyptian. This was probably one of the taskmasters mentioned in ch. 1:11 or one of the overseers employed by them. Such persons are represented on Egyptian monuments as armed with long wooden sticks, which they used freely on the backs of idlers. Their authority was no doubt frequently abused, and chastisement was no doubt inflicted for the slightest fault or for no fault at all. Authority often degenerates into tyranny and cruel oppression, and as an instance of such abuse of power this incident excited the anger of Moses (Acts 7:24).

12. Slew the Egyptian. Observing that there were no others to witness the deed, he killed the Egyptian. That the overseer continued beating the Hebrew workman as Moses approached shows that higher officials generally approved of such abuse of authority on the part of their subordinates. Moses’ action cannot be condoned, though it was no doubt prompted by righteous indignation. Although an able military leader and a favorite with the armies of Egypt (PP 245), he was lacking in certain qualities of leadership essential for service in the cause of God (PP 247).

13. The second day. This was the following day (Acts 7:26). Moses hoped the Hebrews would accept his leadership and support him in a general uprising against the Egyptians (PP 246). Though it had been revealed to the elders of Israel that Moses was to be their deliverer (PP 245), “they understood not” (Acts 7:25). The fact that he spent more than one day among his own people suggests that this was more than a casual visit. His return to the vicinity of the incident suggests that he considered the time ripe for revolt.

Wherefore smitest thou? The strife Moses witnessed upon his second visit among his people was one in which blows were exchanged, and he felt it his duty to persuade the two men to refrain from further combat. By interposing here Moses certainly did what was right.

14. Who made thee a prince? It was not his interference now but his wrong act of the day before that exposed Moses to rebuke. There was no assumption of judicial authority in the mere inquiry, “Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?” unless it be coupled with the deed of the proceeding day. The violence of one day had rendered ineffective the kind persuasion of the next. The influence for good that the education and position of Moses might have enabled him to exercise upon his nation was lost by the very act to which he had been urged by his sympathy for them.

Moses feared. Having renounced his allegiance to Egypt by his deed the day before, to be rejected now by his own people left Moses in a dangerous predicament. He was alone and without friends.

15. Pharaoh heard. If our identification of Pharaoh’s daughter with Hatshepsut is correct, this event must have taken place during the last years of her regency, when her nephew’s authority had increased and shortly before he deposed her and formally ascended the throne as Thutmose III. Moses’ deed was correctly interpreted at court as marking open defiance of Egypt, and it was surmised that he purposed to seat himself upon the throne (PP 247). The fate of the nation was clearly at stake, and Moses was forthwith condemned to die. For nearly 40 years Hatshepsut had sponsored Moses at court, perhaps in spite of misgivings on the part of other members of the royal family, and by arranging for him to ascend the throne no doubt planned to solidify her own control over the nation. Her sudden disappearance from history about this time may have been due to her known support of Moses.

Moses fled. Moses’ flight was certainly not an easy one. The eastern border of Egypt was guarded from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Suez by a system of manned towers, each in sight of the next. An Egyptian story parallel to the flight of Moses, that of Sinuhe, shows how difficult an escape into Asia really was. Sinuhe, a courtier of King Amenemhet I, for some reason unknown to us, felt at the king’s death that his own life was in danger, and accordingly fled to Syria, where he spent many years as an exile. He gives a vivid description of the dangers connected with crossing the frontier. Crouching for some time in a bush, lest the watchmen see him, he crossed at night. Pressing on into the desert, he would have perished of thirst except for certain Asiatics who found him and gave him water and boiled milk to drink. We have no record of the hardships Moses suffered during his flight, but it is not amiss to assume that it was a trying experience for one who had thus far known only the luxuries of court life and was unacquainted with hardship.

The land of Midian. This is a somewhat vague expression, since the Midianites were nomads. Their principal settlements appear to have been on the eastern side of the Gulf of ФAqaba, where most of their ancient inscriptions have been found. But from time to time they migrated northward to the borders of Moab (Gen. 36:35; Num. 22:4, 7) and westward into the Sinai Peninsula, which appears to have been “the land of Midian” to which Moses fled (see Ex. 3:1; PP 247).

16. The priest of Midian. The Midianites were descendants of Abraham by Keturah (Gen. 25:1, 2), and may have remained worshipers of the true God for some time. Reuel, at least, with whom Moses made his abode (Ex. 2:18, 21), was a priest of the true God (ch. 18:12, 23; see PP 247).

Seven daughters. This is not the first instance in the Bible story in which women are found pasturing the flocks of their father. Rachel kept her father Laban’s sheep and watered them (Gen. 29:9). Such a practice agrees well with the simplicity of primitive times and peoples, nor would it be regard as strange in Arabia even at the present day.

18. Reuel their father. Reuel means “friend of God” and implies monotheism. The KJV transliterates his name as Raguel in Num. 10:29, though the Hebrew spelling does not differ from that given here. Reuel was also known as Jethro (Ex. 3:1; etc.). Various other Bible characters were known by two names, such as Solomon, whose second name was Jedidiah (2 Sam. 12:24, 25).

19. An Egyptian delivered us. Apparently Moses had not revealed his nationality, and since he wore an Egyptian costume and shaved his head like an Egyptian, Reuel’s daughters naturally took the friendly stranger for an Egyptian. Reuel’s astonishment at their early return and their matter-of-fact explanation that an Egyptian had defended them from the shepherds show clearly that they were used to this rough treatment and that their father was in no position to protect them. As a priest he seems not to have had much influence with the shepherds of the region. This may have been because Reuel was still a worshiper of the true God, though most of his fellow tribesmen had left the religion of their ancestor, Abraham, to worship idols.

21. Moses was content. Moses had fled from Egypt without any definite plan except to save his life, and was now confronted with the practical problem of earning a living. Reuel’s hospitable welcome, a result of Moses’ friendly act of assistance at the well, led to an arrangement whereby Moses entered into his service.

Zipporah. In course of time Zipporah, one of the seven daughters of Reuel, became Moses’ wife. This name, meaning “bird,” is still borne by many women of the Arabian Desert.

22. Gershom. Meaning “banishment,” from garash, “to drive” or “to thrust away.” Moses explained the name by referring to the fact that he was “a stranger [ger] in a strange land.” Though he had saved his life, he was living in exile, and gave expression to his feeling of loneliness and humiliation in naming his first son.

Once again many years are passed over in silence. A former prince of the most powerful royal house of the time was passing his days as a shepherd. He had exchanged his palace for a tent, the luxuries of Egypt for the desert life of Sinai, his host of attendants and his army for a flock of sheep and goats. What a change! Yet 40 years spent in the wide spaces of the desert made of him the sort of man God could use in the deliverance of His people from Egypt. During these years Moses learned lessons essential to him as the leader of a rebellious nation. The qualities Moses developed during his long years of desert life, alone with God and nature, were priceless, and well worth the long solitude and humiliation required to gain them. His later history shows that those years had not been lost, but that he had been a diligent student under the tutorship of God and had graduated from his course with honors.

23. In process of time. This expression covers a period of about 40 years (Acts 7:30).

The king of Egypt died. Thutmose III, from whom Moses had fled, died about 1450 b.c., after a sole reign of 32 years, which in turn had been preceded by a coregency with Hatshepsut lasting possibly for 22 years.

The children of Israel sighed. The death of Thutmose III brought no respite from oppression, but seems to have made it even more severe. Ancient Egyptian documents reveal that Thutmose III was succeeded on the throne by his son Amenhotep II, who proved to be a cruel king and a ruthless conqueror. Early in his reign he returned from an Asiatic campaign with seven Canaanite princes as captives. Sailing up the Nile to his capital, Thebes, he suspended these princes from his ship with their heads down. When he reached Thebes, he hanged six of them on the wall of the city, and carried the seventh to the Nubian capital, Napata, where he received the same treatment. Amenhotep II secured the obedience of his subjects at home and in conquered lands by an administration of calculated frightfulness. His character, as revealed by secular records, agrees well with that of the stubborn Pharaoh who intensified the oppression of the Israelites when Moses interceded in their behalf at the time of the pouring out of the plagues.

25. God had respect. True to His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God remembered His oppressed people. Because they were the object of His special regard, God entered upon a miraculous course in order to accomplish His merciful purpose with regard to them. Human expressions used to describe the attitude and acts of God may at times seem unworthy of an eternal, omniscient, and omnipotent being. It should be remembered, however, that finite words give, at best, an imperfect picture of the will and ways of the Infinite One.

Ellen G. White comments

1-25PP 242-251; SR 106-110

2     PP 242

2-6PP 243

6-8SR 107

7, 9 PP 243

8, 9 AH 238

10   PP 244

11, 12  PP 246

11-15FE 342; SR 109

14-16, 21PP 247

23   1T 264

23-25PP 251; SR 147