Exo 2.1-25 tells us that with the patriarchs gone, Moses will be the central figure; Pharaoh’s daughter finds Moses, cares for, and raises him; Moses escapes from Egypt after he murdered an Egyptian and goes to Midian; he is accepted there into the household of Jethro; God remembers Israel and the covenant with the fathers. Moses will be a type of the Messiah Ben David in the first redemption.
This book is called “Shemot” or “names” but in v 1-10 no names are mentioned. This is because this is a study of courage and doing the right thing. Though they are “unnamed” the results of their actions remain to this day.
v 1…Now a man (Amram, son of Kohath, and grandson of Levi) from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi (Yocheved).
v 2…And the woman conceived and bore a son and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.
v 3…But when she couldn’t hide him (from Pharaoh’s edicts), she got him a wicker basket (an ark) and covered it over with tar and pitch (watertight). Then she put the child into it and set it among the reeds (so it could not be carried away) by the bank of the Nile (babies were being killed there so that would be the last place to look).
v 4…And his sister (Miriam) stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him (Moses would do the same thing for her in Num 12.15; the plan to save him is put together by women; at Yeshua’s resurrection it was the women who believed first; God uses women in his plans).
v 5…Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile with her maidens walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds; and sent her maid and she brought it to her.
v 6…When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew children (because they were being killed at the Nile, and because he was circumcised).”
v 7…Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you (God knows how to thwart the plans of the enemy; Pharaoh tries to harm Israel, but he will actually play a role in raising their deliverer)?”
v 8…And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother.
v 9…Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me and I shall give you your wages.” So the woman (Yocheved) took the child and nursed him.
v 10…And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son (by adoption). And she named him Moses (or “Moshe” and it had an Egyptian root “MSY” meaning child of or created by; many royal Pharaohs had a form of this name like Thutmoses, meaning “Thut created him” and “Rameses” meaning “Ra created him”; Kamoses meaning “Ka created him”, etc) and said, “Because I drew him out of the water (the Nile created him).”
v 11…Now when it came about in those days when Moses had grown up (about forty-Acts 7.23) that he went out to his brethren and looked at their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
v 12…So he looked this way and that (to see if anyone was looking to preserve himself), and when he saw there was no one around (to accuse him to Pharaoh), he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
v 13…And when he went out the next day and behold two Hebrews were fighting each other; and he said to the offender, “Why are you striking your companion?”
v 14…But he said, “Who made you a prince or a judge over us (by Pharaoh’s order; and like Joseph they did not realize he was their deliverer; they will say this to Moses later also). Are you intending to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and said, “Surely the matter has become known (and will spread).
v 15…When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh (to avoid danger) and settled in the land of Midian (Abraham’s son by Keturah-Gen 25.2), and he sat down by a well (who this Egyptian was is unknown, but he may have been important to Pharaoh in some way or why would Pharaoh even care? Moses was a prince of Egypt and could do what he wanted, even in defending a slave if he wanted to).
v 16…Now the priest (Hebrew “kohen” and can mean “chief”; the sons of David are called kohanim in 2 Sam 8.18 where it simply means chief ministers, nobles or officers) of Midian (his city is called “Madian-polis” in the LXX) had seven daughters and they came to draw water; and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.
v 17…Then the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
v 18…And when they came to Reuel their father (possibly the grandfather who is also called “father” in the Bible-Gen 28.13 and 32.10; or Jethro had other names which was common) he said, ‘Why have you come back so soon today?”
v 19…So they said, “An Egyptian (by his clothes and speech) delivered us from the hand of the shepherds; and what is more, he even drew the water for us and watered the flock.”
v 20…And he said to his daughters, “Where is he then? Why is it that you have left the man behind? Invite him to have something to eat.”
v 21…And Moses was willing to dwell with the man and he gave his daughter Zipporah (sparrow) to Moses (probably a few years later).
v 22…Then she gave birth to a son and he named him Gershom for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”
v 23…Now it came about in those many days (the process of time) that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up before God.
v 24…So God heard (he is not deaf) their groaning; and God remembered (he has a good memory) his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (not that he had forgotten it, but now was the time that the fulfillment of it might come about according to his plans and purposes; they had been in Egypt about 210 years and “boot camp” was over).
v 25…And God saw (he is not blind) the sons of Israel and God took notice of them (had respect for their sorrow and what was done to them; God’s time when to send the deliverer had come).
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