Exodus 2:1-22 - The Birth of Moses

Notes

2:1 - Hindsight is 20/20, so the audience already knows that the Levites are the priestly class - they also already know that Moses is the deliverer he will be come in the story.

Exodus 4. Moses’ Birth and God’s Provision (2:1–10)

The motives of all these women appear to have been pure and appropriate. God used them to do what they were good at and what their culture especially honored in women: preserving and raising a child.

2:3 Moses’ “basket” (in v. 3), is the same word as “ark” in Genesis 6 (תֵּבָה - teba(h)). The word is used 26 times in Genesis 6-9 (“ark”) and 2 times in Exodus 2. (The LXX uses two different words for the ark in Gen 6-9 and the basket in Ex 2)

2:9 - The circumstance that should have ended in death, sorrow, pain, and destruction, instead was completely turned around. Because of Pharaoh’s decree, Moses should have been killed. But God was watching, and instead Moses was able to not only survive, but be raised and nursed by his own mother, and she was able to be paid to raise her own child.

2:10 - Moses’ mother raised him until he was “older” (weaned from nursing - about 3-4 years in ancient times) and then brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter.

2:10 - “Moses” (“Mosheh”) sounds like “mashah” which means “drawing out (of the water)”

?? Pharaoh’s daughter named Moses - Is this an Egyptian name or a Hebrew name?

Exodus 4. Moses’ Birth and God’s Provision (2:1–10)

“Moses” follows the typical pattern of ancient naming in which a name (usually an existing, known name) was not selected prior to birth, as in modern Western practice, but only after birth and suggested by some sort of circumstance or speech experienced or heard at the time of birth—in this case at the time of the child’s discovery. So a relatively common Egyptian name, meaning “son” or “to beget a son,”130 is chosen as appropriate because it sounds something like mōšēh, the active participle of the verb māšāh, “draw out,” which connects to the circumstances of Moses’ discovery and being “drawn out” of the water. Through this name, the princess both consciously honors the Hebrew origins of her son and also makes him legitimately Egyptian with a name in her own language that emphasizes that she is adopting a son.

Hebrews 11:23–26 “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.”

Exodus 4. Moses’ Birth and God’s Provision (2:1–10)

The general parallel between Moses’ “exposure” in his ark and that of Sargon in the Legend of Sargon of Akkad—in which Sargon is put into a river in a container made of reeds sealed with pitch, rescued by a water-drawer, cared for and raised, and eventually becomes a legendary hero and then king—may or may not have any relation to these events. If Jochebed knew that legend, it might have encouraged her to try the technique once again. On the other hand, she is much more likely to have known the Genesis flood story in some form118 with its own parallels of rescue on water in a pitch-sealed container.

2:4 - Miriam was probably between 6-12, most likely at the top end of that range (maybe around 10) when this happened

2:4 - no mention of the basket floating down the river. It was set in the reeds, most likely trying to keep him out of sight during an Egyptian check for babies. This probably wasn’t their plan, they wanted to keep the baby hidden from the Egyptians, not allow him to be discovered and killed by them! This also probably wasn’t the first time he was in the basket - his mother probably put him in there whenever a sweep for babies came through, and Miriam was probably often in charge of staying out of sight and keeping an eye on the basket. However, this time, an unexpected intruder (Pharaoh’s daughter) comes to bathe near the basket, and she discovers it! It was quick thinking on Miriam’s part to

Exodus 4. Moses’ Birth and God’s Provision (2:1–10)

In the story’s surprising twist, however, the discovery by an Egyptian, under other conditions likely to lead to the boy’s death, leads instead to a perfect protection of his life. This is God at work, providing deliverance in an unanticipated yet wonderful way.

The princess is the only one bathing, her servants are attending to her, so she is the only one who notices the ark from her angle. But she didn’t want to wade through the reeds, so she sent one of her servants to go fetch the ark and bring it to her.