Exodus 2 · WEB

The Birth and Early Life of Moses

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A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife.

²The woman conceived and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

³When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank.

⁴His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him.

⁵Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her servant to get it.

⁶She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."

⁷Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?"

⁸Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." The young woman went and called the child's mother.

⁹Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." The woman took the child, and nursed it.

¹⁰The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, "Because I drew him out of the water."

¹¹In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers and saw their burdens. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brothers.

¹²He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

¹³He went out the second day, and behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting with each other. He said to the one who did the wrong, "Why do you strike your companion?"

¹⁴He said, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" Moses was afraid, and said, "Surely this thing is known."

¹⁵Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

¹⁶Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

¹⁷The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

¹⁸When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, "How is it that you have come so early today?"

¹⁹They said, "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock."

²⁰He said to his daughters, "Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread."

²¹Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter.

²²She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, "I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land."

²³In the course of those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.

²⁴God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

²⁵God saw the children of Israel, and God was concerned about them.

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Summary

Moses is born to Levite parents during Pharaoh's genocide of Hebrew boys. His mother hides him and then places him in a basket on the Nile, where Pharaoh's own daughter discovers and adopts him — with his biological mother hired as his nurse. As an adult, Moses kills an Egyptian taskmaster, and when the act becomes known, flees to the Sinai wilderness and settles in Midian, marrying Zipporah, the daughter of the priest Reuel (also called Jethro). The chapter closes with God hearing Israel's cries and remembering his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Themes

Providence: God preserving a deliverer through unlikely means
The cost of injustice and Moses' impulsive response to it
Exile and preparation — God shaping Moses in obscurity
God's covenantal memory and faithfulness

Key verses

Ex 2:10 — “The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, 'Because I drew him out of the water.'”
Ex 2:24 — “God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.”
Ex 2:25 — “God saw the children of Israel, and God was concerned about them.”

Context & background

The land of Midian where Moses fled is located on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the northwestern region of modern Saudi Arabia, though some traditions place Midianite territory in the southern Sinai Peninsula (modern Egypt). The Sinai Peninsula itself is in modern Egypt, east of the Suez Canal. Moses' forty years in Midian were not wasted — he learned desert survival, pastoral life, and became familiar with the terrain he would later lead Israel through. The name "Moses" (Hebrew: Moshe) is given an Egyptian-sounding folk etymology: "drawn out of the water," which also foreshadows his role in drawing Israel out through water.

Cross-references

Acts 7:20-29 — Stephen recounts Moses' early life, calling him "beautiful before God" and noting his failed first attempt at delivering Israel.
Genesis 15:14 — God's promise that Israel would come out of Egypt with great possessions, now beginning to be set in motion.
Hebrews 11:23 — Moses' parents hid him by faith, "not fearing the king's commandment."
Matthew 2:13-15 — Jesus' flight to Egypt (also Egypt) and return mirrors Moses' preservation and calling.

The Birth and Early Life of Moses

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