Exodus 2, A Savior is Born

The tribe of Israel has grown dramatically in several centuries in Egypt and is now perceived as a threat by an Egyptian king who has been oppressing them. As the oppression grows, God prepares a savior.

Exodus 2: 1-4, Birth of Moses
Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son.  When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.  But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch.  Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.  His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

What does it mean, “he was a fine child”?  (Surely she will protect her child like any mother!) Imes argues that there is an echo of "it is good" from Genesis 1.

Notice how we have shortened time; the baby boy has an older sister, old enough to act fairly independently.

The reeds will show up again, as the Israelites later cross a sea of reeds.

The Hebrew word translated "basket" here is tevah, the same word used for ark in Genesis 6.  This Hebrew word only appears twice in the Old Testament, once for Noah, once for Moses.  (See, for example, this article on "ark".)

Exodus 2: 5-7, Rescue
Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank.  She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it.  She opened it and saw the baby.  He was crying, and she felt sorry for him.  "This is one of the Hebrew babies," she said.   

Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?"

A shrewd question.  The question "May I go?" will be one of several questions that echo throughout this book.

Exodus 2: 8-10, A nurse is found

"Yes, go," she answered.  

And the girl went and got the baby's mother.  

Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you,"  so the woman took the baby and nurse him.  

When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son.  She named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water."

Note the beautiful irony: the frightened mother of a three-month-old boy will be paid by the pharaoh's daughter to nurse her son! A beautiful example of God's sovereignty.  (But it must have been very scary to the young Hebrew mother -- who, by the way, had at least one more son: Aaron.)

The name Moses sounds like the Hebrew for "draw out".  Moses was drawn out of the reeds; later he will "draw out" the people of Israel.  Dr. Carmen Imes says that the word also sounds like the Egyptian word "son of".  (See versions of "moses" or "meses" in the names of Pharaoh.) Imes suggests that we will see Moses challenged as to his identity -- of whom is he a son?

Exodus 2: 11-14, Murder and discovery

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor.  He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.  Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.  

The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting.  He asked the one in the wrong, "Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?"

 The man said, "Who made you rule and judge over us?  Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?"  Then Moses was afraid and thought, "What I did must have become known." 

We move quickly from childhood to adulthood and then to murder.  Moses displays a strong sense of justice but is challenged -- who are you?  Is he an elite arrogant Egyptian? Or a humble, oppressed Israelite? The question "Who are you?" will be asked of Moses many times. He may not always know the answer.

Exodus 2: 15-17, Exile in Midian

When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.  Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father's flock.  Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.

Moses's sense of justice shows up again, as he defends the women.

An ancient cultural theme appears here (points out Dr. Imes): a well in the desert is a good place to meet a future wife!

Exodus 2: 18-22, Welcomed to the house of Reuel

When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, "Why have you returned so early today?"  

  

They answered, "An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds.  He even drew water for us and watered the flock."

        

"And where is he?" he asked his daughters.  "Why did you leave him?  Invite him to have something to eat."

    

Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. Zipporah gave birth to a son and Moses named him Gershom, saying, "I have become an alien in a foreign land."

The name Gershom sounds like the Hebrew for "an alien there". The name Zipporah is very close to the name Shiprah, the name of one of the midwives of chapter 1.  Imes says that the names are close enough that they are identical in the Septuagint (much like one might confuse Mary and Maria in my culture.)

Exodus 2: 23-25, God hears the cries of the Israelites

During that long period, the king of Egypt died.  The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.  God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.  So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

This is the first time we hear of the people of Israel crying out. God “remembers” his covenant and hear the groaning of the Israelites.  Earlier we see God rewarding the midwives with their own families. God is clearly active and responding to humans. (But from a human viewpoint, the timing can seem long and torturous.)