A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife.
KJV
And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
Commentary
Commentary
This chapter begins the story of Moses, that man of renown, famed for
his intimate acquaintance with Heaven and his eminent usefulness on
earth, and the most remarkable type of Christ, as a prophet, saviour,
lawgiver, and mediator, in all the Old Testament. The Jews have a
book among them of the life of Moses, which tells a great many stories
concerning him, which we have reason to think are mere fictions; what
he has recorded concerning himself is what we may rely upon, for we
know that his record is true; and it is what we may be satisfied with,
for it is what Infinite Wisdom thought fit to preserve and transmit to
us. In this chapter we have,
I. The perils of his birth and infancy, ver. 1-4 .
II. His preservation through those perils, and the preferment of his
childhood and youth, ver. 5-10 .
III. The pious choice of his riper years, which was to own the people
of God.
1. He offered them his service at present, if they would accept it, ver. 11-14 .
2. He retired, that he might reserve himself for further service
hereafter, ver. 15-22 .
IV. The dawning of the day of Israel's deliverance, ver. 23 , &c.
1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him
that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an
ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and
put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the
river's brink.
4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to
him.
Moses was a Levite, both by father and mother. Jacob left Levi under
marks of disgrace
( Gen. xlix. 5 );
and yet, soon after, Moses appears a
descendant from him, that he might typify Christ, who came in the
likeness of sinful flesh and was made a curse for us. This tribe began
to be distinguished from the rest by the birth of Moses, as afterwards
it became remarkable in many other instances. Observe, concerning this
newborn infant,
I. How he was hidden. It seems to have been just at the time of his
birth that the cruel law was made for the murder of all the male
children of the Hebrews; and many, no doubt, perished by the execution
of it. The parents of Moses had Miriam and Aaron, both older than he,
born to them before this edict came out, and had nursed them without
that peril: but those that begin the world in peace know not what
troubles they may meet with before they have got through it. Probably
the mother of Moses was full of anxiety in the expectation of his
birth, now that this edict was in force, and was ready to say, Blessed are the barren that never bore, Luke xxiii. 29 .
Better so
than bring forth children to the murderer, Hos. ix. 13 .
Yet this child
proves the glory of his father's house. Thus that which is most our
fear often proves, in the issue, most our joy. Observe the beauty of
providence: just at the time when Pharaoh's cruelty rose to this height
the deliverer was born, though he did not appear for many years after.
Note, When men are projecting the church's ruin God is preparing for
its salvation. Moses, who was afterwards to bring Israel out of this
house of bondage, was himself in danger of falling a sacrifice to the
fury of the oppressor, God so ordering it that, being afterwards told
of this, he might be the more animated with a holy zeal for the
deliverance of his brethren out of the hands of such bloody men.
1. His parents observed him to be a goodly child, more than
ordinarily beautiful; he was fair to God, Acts vii. 20 .
They fancied he had a
lustre in his countenance that was something more than human, and was a
specimen of the shining of his face afterwards, Exod. xxxiv. 29 .
Note, God sometimes gives early earnests of his gifts, and manifests
himself betimes in those for whom and by whom he designs to do great
things. Thus he put an early strength into Samson
( Judge xiii. 24, 25 ),
an early forwardness into Samuel
( 1 Sam. ii. 18 ),
wrought an early deliverance for David
( 1 Sam. xvii. 37 ),
and began betimes with Timothy, 1 Tim. iii. 15 .
2. Therefore they were the more solicitous for his preservation,
because they looked upon this as an indication of some kind purpose of
God concerning him, and a happy omen of something great. Note, A lively
active faith can take encouragement from the least intimation of the
divine favour; a merciful hint of Providence will encourage those whose
spirits make diligent search, Three months they hid him in some
private apartment of their own house, though probably with the hazard
of their own lives, had he been discovered. Herein Moses was a type of
Christ, who, in his infancy, was forced to abscond, and in Egypt too
( Matt. ii. 13 ),
and was wonderfully preserved, when many innocents were butchered. It
is said
( Heb. xi. 23 )
that the parents of Moses hid him by faith; some think they had
a special revelation to them that the deliverer should spring from
their loins; however they had the general promise of Israel's
preservation, which they acted faith upon, and in that faith hid their
child, not being afraid of the penalty annexed to the king's
commandment. Note, Faith in God's promise is so far from superseding
that it rather excites and quickens to the use of lawful means for the
obtaining of mercy. Duty is ours, events are God's. Again, Faith in
God will set us above the ensnaring fear of man.
II. How he was exposed. At three months' end, probably when the
searchers came about to look for concealed children, so that they could
not hide him any longer (their faith perhaps beginning now to fail),
they put him in an ark of bulrushes by the river's brink ( v. 3 ),
and set his little sister at some distance to watch what would become
of him, and into whose hands he would fall, v. 4 .
God put it into their hearts to do this, to bring about his own
purposes, that Moses might by this means be brought into the hands of
Pharaoh's daughter, and that by his deliverance from this imminent
danger a specimen might be given of the deliverance of God's church,
which now lay thus exposed. Note,
1. God takes special care of the outcasts of Israel
( Ps. cxlvii. 2 );
they are his outcasts, Isa. xvi. 4 .
Moses seemed quite abandoned by his
friends; his own mother durst not own him: but now the Lord took him up
and protected him, Ps. xxvii. 10 .
2. In times of extreme difficulty it is good to venture upon the
providence of God. Thus to have exposed their child while they might
have preserved it, would have been to tempt Providence; but, when they
could not, it was to trust to Providence. "Nothing venture, nothing
win." If I perish, I perish.
5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at
the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and
when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch
it.
6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold,
the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is
one of the Hebrews' children.
7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and
call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the
child for thee?
8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and
called the child's mother.
9 And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away,
and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the
woman took the child, and nursed it.
10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's
daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses:
and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.
Here is,
I. Moses saved from perishing. Come see the place where that great man
lay when he was a little child; he lay in a bulrush-basket by the
river's side. Had he been left to lie there, he must have perished in a
little time with hunger, if he had not been sooner washed into the
river or devoured by a crocodile. Had he fallen into any other hands
than those he did fall into, either they would not, or durst not, have
done otherwise than have thrown him straightway into the river; but
Providence brings no less a person thither than Pharaoh's daughter,
just at that juncture, guides her to the place where this poor forlorn
infant lay, and inclines her heart to pity it, which she dares do when
none else durst. Never did poor child cry so seasonably, so happily, as
this did: The babe wept, which moved the compassion of the
princess, as no doubt his beauty did, v. 5, 6 .
Note,
1. Those are hard-hearted indeed that have not a tender compassion for
helpless infancy. How pathetically does God represent his compassion
for the Israelites in general considered in this pitiable state! Ezek. xvi. 5, 6 .
2. It is very commendable in persons of quality to take cognizance of
the distresses of the meanest, and to be helpful and charitable to
them.
3. God's care of us in our infancy ought to be often made mention of
by us to his praise. Though we were not thus exposed (that we were not
was God's mercy) yet many were the perils we were surrounded with in
our infancy, out of which the Lord delivered us, Ps. xxii. 9, 10 .
4. God often raises up friends for his people even among their enemies.
Pharaoh cruelly seeks Israel's destruction, but his own daughter
charitably compassionates a Hebrew child, and not only so, but, beyond
her intention, preserves Israel's deliverer. O Lord, how wonderful
are thy counsels!
II. Moses well provided with a good nurse, no worse than his own dear
mother, v. 7-9 .
Pharaoh's daughter thinks it convenient that he should
have a Hebrew nurse (pity that so fair a child should be suckled by a
sable Moor), and the sister of Moses, with art and good management,
introduces the mother into the place of a nurse, to the great advantage
of the child; for mothers are the best nurses, and those who receive
the blessings of the breasts with those of the womb are not just if
they give them not to those for whose sake they received them: it was
also an unspeakable satisfaction to the mother, who received her son as
life from the dead, and now could enjoy him without fear. The transport
of her joy, upon this happy turn, we may suppose sufficient to betray
her to be the true mother (had there been any suspicion of it) to a
less discerning eye than that of Solomon, 1 Kings iii. 27 .
III. Moses preferred to be the son of Pharaoh's daughter
( v. 10 ),
his parents herein perhaps not only yielding to necessity, having
nursed him for her, but too much pleased with the honour thereby
done to their son; for the smiles of the world are stronger temptations
than its frowns, and more difficult to resist. The tradition of the
Jews is that Pharaoh's daughter had no child of her own, and that she
was the only child of her father, so that when he was adopted for her
son he stood fair for the crown: however it is certain he stood fair
for the best preferments of the court in due time, and in the mean time
had the advantage of the best education and improvements of the court,
with the help of which, having a great genius, he became master of all
the lawful learning of the Egyptians, Acts vii. 22 .
Note,
1. Providence pleases itself sometimes in raising the poor out of the
dust, to set them among princes, Ps. cxiii. 7, 8 .
Many who, by their birth, seem marked for obscurity and poverty, by
surprising events of Providence are brought to sit at the upper end of
the world, to make men know that the heavens do rule. 2. Those whom God designs for great services he find out ways to
qualify and prepare beforehand. Moses, by having his education in a
court, is the fitter to be a prince and king in Jeshurun; by
having his education in a learned court (for such the Egyptian then
was) is the fitter to be an historian; and by having his education in
the court of Egypt is the fitter to be employed, in the name of God, as
an ambassador to that court.
IV. Moses named. The Jews tell us that his father, at his circumcision,
called him Joachim, but Pharaoh's daughter called him Moses, Drawn out of the water, so it signifies in the Egyptian
language. The calling of the Jewish lawgiver by an Egyptian name is a
happy omen to the Gentile world, and gives hopes of that day when it
shall be said, Blessed be Egypt my people, Isa. xix. 25 .
And his tuition at
court was an earnest of the performance of that promise, Isa. xlix. 23 , Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing
mothers.
11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown,
that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens:
and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.
12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the
sand.
13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the
Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong,
Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?
14 And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?
intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And
Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.
15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses.
But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of
Midian: and he sat down by a well.
Moses had now passed the first forty years of his life in the court of
Pharaoh, preparing himself for business; and now it was time for him to
enter upon action, and,
I. He boldly owns and espouses the cause of God's people: When Moses
was grown he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their
burdens, v. 11 .
The best exposition of these words we have from an
inspired pen, Heb. xi. 24-26 ,
where we are told that by this he
expressed,
1. His holy contempt of the honours and pleasures of the Egyptian
court; he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, for he went out. The temptation was indeed very strong. He had a
fair opportunity (as we say) to make his fortune, and to have been
serviceable to Israel too, with his interest at court. He was obliged,
in gratitude as well as interest, to Pharaoh's daughter, and yet he
obtained a glorious victory by faith over his temptation. He reckoned
it much more his honour and advantage to be a son of Abraham than to be
the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
2. His tender concern for his poor brethren in bondage, with whom
(though he might easily have avoided it) he chose to suffer
affliction; he looked on their burdens as one that not only pitied
them, but was resolved to venture with them, and, if occasion were, to
venture for them.
II. He gives a specimen of the great things he was afterwards to do for
God and his Israel in two little instances, related particularly by
Stephen
( Acts vii. 23 ,
&c.) with design to show how their fathers had always resisted the Holy Ghost ( v. 51 ),
even in Moses himself,
when he first appeared as their deliverer, wilfully shutting their eyes
against this day-break of their enlargement. He found himself, no
doubt, under a divine direction and impulse in what he did, and that he
was in an extraordinary manner called of God to do it. Now observe,
1. Moses was afterwards to be employed in plaguing the Egyptians for
the wrongs they had done to God's Israel; and, as a specimen of that,
he killed the Egyptian who smote the Hebrew
( v. 11, 12 );
probably it was one of the Egyptian taskmasters, whom he found abusing
his Hebrew slave, a relation (as some think) of Moses, a man of the
same tribe. It was by special warrant from Heaven (which makes not a
precedent in ordinary cases) that Moses slew the Egyptian, and rescued
his oppressed brother. The Jew's tradition is that he did not slay him
with any weapon, but, as Peter slew Ananias and Sapphira, with the word
of his mouth. His hiding him in the sand signified that
hereafter Pharaoh and all his Egyptians should, under the control of
the rod of Moses, be buried in the sand of the Red Sea. His taking care
to execute this justice privately, when no man saw, was a piece of
needful prudence and caution, it being but an assay; and perhaps his
faith was as yet weak, and what he did was with some hesitation. Those
who come to be of great faith, yet began with a little, and at first
spoke tremblingly.
2. Moses was afterwards to be employed in governing Israel, and as a
specimen of this, we have him here trying to end a controversy between
two Hebrews, in which he is forced (as he did afterwards for forty
years) to suffer their manners. Observe here,
(1.) The unhappy quarrel which Moses observed between two Hebrews, v. 13 .
It does not appear what was the occasion; but, whatever it was, it
was certainly very unseasonable for Hebrews to strive with one another
when they were all oppressed and ruled with rigour by the Egyptians.
Had they not beating enough from the Egyptians, but they must beat one
another? Note,
[1.] Even sufferings in common do not always unite God's professing
people to one another, so much as one might reasonably expect.
[2.] When God raises up instruments of salvation for the church they
will find enough to do, not only with oppressing Egyptians, to restrain
them, but with quarrelsome Israelites, to reconcile them.
(2.) The way he took of dealing with them; he marked him that caused
the division, that did the wrong, and mildly reasoned with him: Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? The injurious Egyptian was
killed, the injurious Hebrew was only reprimanded; for what the former
did was from a rooted malice, what the latter did we may suppose was
only upon a sudden provocation. The wise God makes, and, according to
his example, all wise governors make, a difference between one offender
and another, according to the several qualities of the same offence.
Moses endeavoured to make them friends, a good office; thus we find
Christ often reproving his disciples' strifes
( Luke ix. 46, &c. xxii. 24, &c. ),
for he was a prophet like unto Moses, a healing prophet, a peacemaker,
who visited his brethren with a design to slay all enmities. The
reproof Moses gave on this occasion may still be of use, Wherefore
smitest thou thy fellow? Note, Smiting our fellows is bad in any,
especially in Hebrews, smiting with tongue or hand, either in a way of
persecution or in a way of strife and contention. Consider the person
thou smitest; it is thy fellow, thy fellow-creature, thy
fellow-christian, it is thy fellow-servant, thy fellow-sufferer.
Consider the cause, Wherefore smitest? Perhaps it is for no
cause at all, or no just cause, or none worth speaking of.
(3.) The ill success of his attempt
( v. 14 ): He said, Who made thee a prince? He that did the wrong thus
quarrelled with Moses; the injured party, it should seem, was
inclinable enough to peace, but the wrong-doer was thus touchy. Note,
It is a sign of guilt to be impatient of reproof; and it is often
easier to persuade the injured to bear the trouble of taking wrong than
the injurious to bear the conviction of having done wrong. 1 Cor. vi. 7, 8 .
It was a very wise and mild
reproof which Moses gave to this quarrelsome Hebrew, but he could not
bear it, he kicked against the pricks
( Acts ix. 5 ),
and crossed questions with his reprover.
[1.] He challenges his authority: Who made thee a prince? A man
needs no great authority for the giving of a friendly reproof, it is an
act of kindness; yet this man needs will interpret it an act of
dominion, and represents his reprover as imperious and assuming. Thus
when people dislike good discourse, or a seasonable admonition, they
will call it preaching, as if a man could not speak a work for
God and against sin but he took too much upon him. Yet Moses was indeed
a prince and a judge, and knew it, and thought the Hebrews would have
understood it, and struck in with him; but they stood in their own
light, and thrust him away, Acts vii. 25, 27 .
[2.] He upbraids him with what he had done in killing the Egyptian: Intendest thou to kill me? See what base constructions malice
puts upon the best words and actions. Moses, for reproving him is
immediately charged with a design to kill him. An attempt upon his sin
was interpreted an attempt upon his life; and his having killed the
Egyptian was thought sufficient to justify the suspicion; as if Moses
made no difference between an Egyptian and a Hebrew. If Moses, to right
an injured Hebrew, had put his life in his hand, and slain an Egyptian,
he ought therefore to have submitted to him, not only as a friend to
the Hebrews, but as a friend that had more than ordinary power and
zeal. But he throws that in his teeth as a crime which was bravely
done, and was intended as a specimen of the promised deliverance; if
the Hebrews had taken the hint, and come in to Moses as their head and
captain, it is probable that they would have been delivered now; but,
despising their deliverer, their deliverance was justly deferred, and
their bondage prolonged forty years, as afterwards their despising
Canaan kept them out of it forty years more. I would, and you would
not. Note, Men know not what they do, nor what enemies they are to
their own interest, when they resist and despise faithful reproofs and
reprovers. When the Hebrews strove with Moses, God sent him away into
Midian, and they never heard of him for forty years; thus the things
that belonged to their peace were hidden from their eyes, because they
knew not the day of their visitation. As to Moses, we may look on it as
a great damp and discouragement to him. He was now choosing to
suffer affliction with the people of God, and embracing the
reproach of Christ; and now, at his first setting out, to meet with
this affliction and reproach from them was a very sore trial of his
resolution. He might have said, "If this be the spirit of the Hebrews,
I will go to court again, and be the son of Pharaoh's daughter." Note, First, We must take heed of being prejudiced against the ways
and people of God by the follies and peevishness of some particular
persons that profess religion. Secondly, It is no new thing for
the church's best friends to meet with a great deal of opposition and
discouragement in their healing, saving attempts, even from their own
mother's children; Christ himself was set at nought by the builders,
and is still rejected by those he would save.
(4.) The flight of Moses to Midian, in consequence. The affront given
him thus far proved a kindness to him; it gave him to understand that
his killing the Egyptian was discovered, and so he had time to make his
escape, otherwise the wrath of Pharaoh might have surprised him and
taken him off. Note, God can overrule even the strife of tongues, so
as, one way or other, to bring good to his people out of it.
Information was brought to Pharaoh (and it is well if it was not
brought by the Hebrew himself whom Moses reproved) of his killing the
Egyptian; warrants are presently out for the apprehending of Moses,
which obliged him to shift for his own safety, by flying into the land
of Midian, v. 15 .
[1.] Moses did this out of a prudent care of his own life. If this be
his forsaking of Egypt which the apostle refers to as done by faith
( Heb. xi. 27 ),
it teaches us that when we are at any time in trouble and danger for
doing our duty the grace of faith will be of good use to us in taking
proper methods for our own preservation. Yet there it is said, He
feared not the wrath of the king; here it is said he feared, v. 14 .
He did not fear with a fear of
diffidence and amazement, which weakens and has torment, but with a
fear of diligence, which quickened him to take that way which
Providence opened to him for his own preservation.
[2.] God ordered it for wise and holy ends. Things were not yet ripe
for Israel's deliverance: the measure of Egypt's iniquity was not yet
full; the Hebrews were not sufficiently humbled, nor were they yet
increased to such a multitude as God designed; Moses is to be further
fitted for the service, and therefore is directed to withdraw for the
present, till the time to favour Israel, even the set time, should
come. God guided Moses to Midian because the Midianites were of the
seed of Abraham, and retained the worship of the true God among them,
so that he might have not only a safe but a comfortable settlement
among them. And through this country he was afterwards to lead Israel,
with which (that he might do it the better) he now had opportunity of
making himself acquainted. Hither he came, and sat down by a well,
tired and thoughtful, at a loss, and waiting to see which way
Providence would direct him. It was a great change with him, since he
was but the other day at ease in Pharaoh's court: thus God tried his
faith, and it was found to praise and honour.
16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came
and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's
flock.
17 And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood
up and helped them, and watered their flock.
18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is
it that ye are come so soon to day?
19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of
the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered
the flock.
20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.
21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave
Moses Zipporah his daughter.
22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom:
for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.
Moses here gains a settlement in Midian, just as his father Jacob had
gained one in Syria, Gen. xxix. 2 ,
&c. And both these instances should
encourage us to trust Providence, and to follow it. Events that seem
inconsiderable, and purely accidental, after wards appear to have been
designed by the wisdom of God for very good purposes, and of great
consequence to his people. A casual transient occurrence has sometimes
occasioned the greatest and happiest turns of a man's life.
Observe,
I. Concerning the seven daughters of Reuel the priest or prince of
Midian.
1. They were humble, and very industrious, according as the employment
of the country was: they drew water for their father's flock, v. 16 .
If their father was a prince, it teaches us that even
those who are honourably born, and are of quality and distinction in
their country, should yet apply themselves to some useful business, and
what their hand finds to do do it with all their might. Idleness can be
no one's honour. If their father was a priest, it teaches us that
ministers' children should, in a special manner, be examples of
humility and industry.
2. They were modest, and would not ask this strange Egyptian to come
home with them (though handsome and a great courtier), till their
father sent for him. Modesty is the ornament of woman.
II. Concerning Moses. He was taken for an Egyptian
( v. 19 );
and strangers must be content to be the subjects of mistake; but it is
observable,
1. How ready he was to help Reuel's daughters to water their flocks.
Though bred in learning and at court, yet he knew how to turn his hand
to such an office as this when there was occasion; nor had he learned
of the Egyptians to despise shepherds. Note, Those that have had a
liberal education yet should not be strangers to servile work, because
they know not what necessity Providence may put them in of working for
themselves, or what opportunity Providence may give them of being
serviceable to others. These young women, it seems, met with some
opposition in their employment, more than they and their servants could
conquer; the shepherds of some neighbouring prince, as some think, or
some idle fellows that called themselves shepherds, drove away their
flocks; but Moses, though melancholy and in distress, stood up
and helped them, not only to get clear of the shepherds, but, when
that was done, to water the flocks. This he did, not only in
complaisance to the daughters of Reuel (though that also did very well
become him), but because, wherever he was, as occasion offered itself,
(1.) He loved to be doing justice, and appearing in the defence of such
as he saw injured, which every man ought to do as far as it is in the
power of his hand to do it.
(2.) He loved to be doing good. Wherever the Providence of God casts us
we should desire and endeavour to be useful; and, when we cannot do the
good we would, we must be ready to do the good we can. And he that is
faithful in a little shall be entrusted with more.
2. How well he was paid for his serviceableness. When the young women
acquainted their father with the kindnesses they had received from this
stranger, he sent to invite him to his house, and made much of him, v. 20 .
Thus God will recompense the
kindnesses which are at any time shown to his children; they shall in
no wise lose their reward. Moses soon recommended himself to the esteem
and good affection of this prince of Midian, who took him into his
house, and, in process of time, married one of his daughters to him
( v. 21 ),
by whom he had a son, whom he called Gershom, a stranger there ( v. 22 ),
that if ever God should give him a home of his own
he might keep in remembrance the land in which he had been a stranger.
Now this settlement of Moses in Midian was designed by Providence,
(1.) To shelter him for the present. God will find hiding-places for
his people in the day of their distress; nay, he will himself be to
them a little sanctuary, and will secure them, either under heaven or
in heaven. But,
(2.) It was also designed to prepare him for the great services he was
further designed for. His manner of life in Midian, where he kept the
flock of his father-in-law (having none of his own to keep), would be
of use to him,
[1.] To inure him to hardship and poverty, that he might learn how to
want as well as how to abound. Those whom God intends to exalt he
first humbles.
[2.] To inure him to contemplation and devotion. Egypt accomplished him
as a scholar, a gentleman, a statesman, a soldier, all which
accomplishments would be afterwards of use to him; but yet he lacked
one thing, in which the court of Egypt could not befriend him. He that
was to do all by divine revelation must know, by a long experience,
what it was to live a life of communion with God; and in this he would
be greatly furthered by the solitude and retirement of a shepherd's
life in Midian. By the former he was prepared to rule in Jeshurun, but
by the latter he was prepared to converse with God in Mount Horeb, near
which mount he had spent much of his time. Those that know what it is
to be alone with God in holy exercises are acquainted with better
delights than ever Moses tasted in the court of Pharaoh.
23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of
Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the
bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason
of the bondage.
24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his
covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had
respect unto them.
Here is,
1. The continuance of the Israelites' bondage in Egypt, v. 23 .
Probably the murdering of their infants did not continue; this part of
their affliction attended only the period immediately connected with
the birth of Moses, and served to signalize it. The Egyptians now were
content with their increase, finding that Egypt was enriched by their
labour; so that they might have them for slaves, they cared not how
many they were. On this therefore they were intent, to keep them all at
work, and make the best hand they could of their labour. When one
Pharaoh died, another rose up in his place that was governed by the
same maxims, and was as cruel to Israel as his predecessors. If there
was sometimes a little relaxation, yet it presently revived again with
as much rigour as ever; and probably, as the more Israel were oppressed
the more they multiplied, so the more they multiplied the more they
were oppressed. Note, Sometimes God suffers the rod of the wicked to
lie very long and very heavily on the lot of the righteous. If Moses,
in Midian, at any time began to think how much better his condition
might have been had he staid among the courtiers, he must of himself
think this also, how much worse it would have been if he had had his
lot with brethren: it was a great degradation to him to be keeping
sheep in Midian, but better so than making brick in Egypt. The
consideration of our brethren's afflictions would help to reconcile us
to our own.
2. The preface to their deliverance at last.
(1.) They cried, v. 23 .
Now, at last, they began to think of God under their
troubles, and to return to him from the idols they had served, Ezek. xx. 8 .
Hitherto they had fretted at the instruments of their trouble, but God
was not in all their thoughts. Thus hypocrites in heart heap up
wrath; they cry not when he binds them, Job xxxvi. 13 .
But before
God unbound them he put it into their hearts to cry unto him, as it is
explained, Num. xx. 16 .
Note, It is a good sign that God is coming towards us with deliverance
when he inclines and enables us to cry to him for it.
(2.) God heard, v. 24, 25 .
The name of God is here
emphatically prefixed to four different expressions of a kind intention
towards them.
[1.] God heard their groaning; that is, he made it to appear
that he took notice of their complaints. The groans of the oppressed
cry aloud in the ears of the righteous God, to whom vengeance belongs,
especially the groans of God's spiritual Israel; he knows the burdens
they groan under and the blessings they groan after, and that the
blessed Spirit, by these groanings, makes intercession in them.
[2.] God remembered his covenant, which he seemed to have
forgotten, but of which he is ever mindful. This God had an eye to, and
not to any merit of theirs, in what he did for them. See Lev. xxvi. 42 .
(3.) God looked upon the children of Israel. Moses looked upon
them and pitied them
( v. 11 );
but now God looked upon them and helped them.
(4.) God had a respect unto them, a favourable respect to them
as his own. The frequent repetition of the name of God here intimates
that now we are to expect something great, Opus Deo dignum--A work
worthy of God. His eyes, which run to and fro through the earth,
are now fixed upon Israel, to show himself strong, to show himself a
God in their behalf.
INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 2
This chapter relates the birth of Moses, and his preservation in an ark of bulrushes, Ex 2:1. His being found by Pharaoh's daughter, took up, and put out to nurse by her, and adopted for her son, Ex 2:4, some exploits of his when grown up, taking the part of an Hebrew against an Egyptian whom he slew, and endeavouring to reconcile two Hebrews at variance, when one of them reproached him with slaying the Egyptian, Ex 2:11, which thing being known to Pharaoh, he sought to slay Moses, and this obliged him to flee to Midian, Ex 2:15 where he met with the daughters of Reuel, and defended them against the shepherds, and watered their flocks for them, Ex 2:16, which Reuel being informed of, sent for him, and he lived with him, and married his daughter Zipporah, by whom he had a son, Ex 2:18 and the chapter is concluded with the death of the king of Egypt, and the sore bondage of the Israelites, and their cries and groans, which God had a respect unto, Ex 2:23.
Ver. 1. And there went a man of the house of Levi,.... This man was Amram, the son of Kohath, and grandson of Levi, as appears from Ex 6:18
and took to wife a daughter of Levi; one of the same house, family, or tribe; which was proper, that the tribes might be kept distinct: this was Jochebed, said to be his father's sister, See Gill on "Ex 6:20": her name in Josephus {s} is Joachebel, which seems to be no other than a corruption of Jochebed, but in the Targum in 1Ch 4:18 she is called Jehuditha.
{s} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9. sect. 4.
Exodus 2:2
Ver. 2. And the woman conceived, and bare a son,.... Which was not her first child, nor indeed her first son, for she had both Aaron and Miriam before this: this son, which was Moses, was born, as the Jews say {t}, in the thirty seventh year after the death of Levi, A. M. 2365, (or, as others, 2368,) on a Wednesday, the seventh of the month Adar, in the third hour of the day: some say it was on the twenty fourth of Nisan; but, according to Bishop Usher {u}, he was born forty one years after the death of Levi, A. M. 2433, and in the year before Christ 1571,
and when she saw him that he was a goodly child; exceeding fair and beautiful, as Stephen expresses it, Ac 7:20, the Jews say {w} his form was like an angel of God, and Trogus {x}, an Heathen writer, says his beautiful form recommended him: this engaged the affections of his parents to him, and who, from hence, might promise themselves that he would be a very eminent and useful person, could his life be preserved:
she hid him three months; in her bedchamber, some Jewish writers say {y}; others {z}, in a house under ground, that is, in the cellar; however, it was in his father's house, Ac 7:20.
{t} Shatshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 2. Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 7. 1. {u} Annal. Vet. Test. p. 18. {w} Pirke Eliezer, c. 48. fol. 57. 2. {x} Justin e Trogo, l. 36. c. 2. {y} Chronicon Mosis, fol. 3. 2. {z} Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c.48. fol. 57.2)
Exodus 2:3
Ver. 3. And when she could no longer hide him,.... Because of her neighbours, who might hear the crying of the child, or because of the diligent search made by Pharaoh's officers, which some think was made every three months: the Jews {a} have a notion that his mother was delivered of him at six months' end, and therefore when the other three months were up women usually go with child, she could hide him no longer, a birth of a child being then expected, and would be inquired about:
she took for him an ark of bulrushes; the word, according to Kimchi {b}, signifies a kind of wood exceeding light, so Gersom and Ben Melech; an Arabic writer {c} calls it an ark of wood; it is generally taken to be the "papyrus" or reed of Egypt, which grew upon the banks of the Nile, and of which, many writers say, small vessels or little ships were made, See Gill on "Isa 18:2"
and daubed it with slime and with pitch; with pitch without and slime within, as Jarchi observes; which being of a glutinous nature, made the rushes or reeds stick close together, and so kept out the water:
and put the child therein; committing it to the care and providence of God, hoping and believing that by some means or another it would be preserved; for this, no doubt, was done in faith, as was the hiding him three months, to which the apostle ascribes that, Heb 11:23
and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink; among the sedge, weeds, and rushes, that grew upon the banks of the river Nile; there she laid it, that it might not be carried away with the stream of the river, and that it might be seen and taken up by somebody that would have compassion on it, and take care of it: the Arabic writers {d} say, that Jochebed made an ark of the papyrus, though in the law it is said to be of cork, and pitched within and without, and put the child into it, and laid it on the bank of the Nile, where the water was not so deep, by the city Tzan (or Zoan, that is, Tanis), which was the metropolis of the Tanitic nome; but very wrongly adds, that it might be killed by the dashing of the waves, and she might not see its death.
{a} Targum Jon. & Jarchi in loc. {b} Sepher Shorash. rad. amg. {c} Elmacius apud Hottinger. p. 402. {d} Patricides, p. 25. Elmacinus, p. 46. apud Hottinger. Smegma, c. 8. p. 400.
Exodus 2:4
Ver. 4. And his sister stood afar off,.... This was Miriam, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it; who is supposed to be about ten or twelve years of age, others say seven: she was placed {e}, as the word may be rendered, by her parents, or, "she placed herself" {f}, by their instruction, at some distance from the place where the ark was, that she might not be observed and be thought to belong to it, and yet so near as to observe what became of it, which was the intent of her standing there, as follows:
to wit what would be done to him; to know, take notice, and observe, what should happen to it, if anyone took it up, and what they did with it, and where they carried it, for, "to wit" is an old English word, which signifies "to know", and is the sense of the Hebrew word to which it answers, see 2Co 8:1.
{e} butt "collocata fuerat", Vatablus. {f} "Stiterat sese", Junius & Tremellius, "stitit sese", Piscator, Drusius.
Exodus 2:5
Ver. 5. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river,.... Her name, in Josephus {g}, is called Thermuthis, and by Artapanus {h}, an Heathen writer, Merrhis, perhaps from Miriam, and frequently by the Jewish writers {i}, Bithia, which is the name of a daughter of another Pharaoh, 1Ch 4:18 from whence they seem to have taken it: she came down from the palace of her father, the gardens of which might lead to the Nile; for Zoan or Tanis, near to which, the Arabiac writers say, as before observed, the ark was laid, was situated on the banks of the river Nile, and was the royal seat of the kings of Egypt; though perhaps the royal seat at this time was either Heliopolis, as Apion testifies {k}, that it was a tradition of the Egyptians that Moses was an Heliopolitan, or else Memphis, which was not far from it; for Artapanus, another Heathen writer, says {l}, that when he fled, after he had killed the Egyptian, from Memphis, he passed over the Nile to go into Arabia: however, no doubt a bath was there provided for the use of the royal family; for it can hardly be thought that she should go down and wash herself in the open river: here she came to wash either on a religious account, or for pleasure: the Jews {m} say it was an extraordinary hot season throughout Egypt, so that the flesh of men was burnt with the heat of the sun, and therefore to cool her she came to the river to bathe in it: others {n} of them say, that they were smitten with burning ulcers, and she also, that she could not wash in hot water, but came to the river:
and her maidens walked along by the river's side; while she washed herself; though it is highly probable she was not left alone: these seem to be the maids of honour, there might be others that might attend her of a meaner rank, and more fit to do for her what was necessary; yet these saw not the ark, it lying lower among the flags, and being nearer the bath where Pharaoh's daughter was, she spied it from thence as follows:
and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it; the maid that waited on her while the rest were taking their walks; her she sent from the bath among the flags to take up the ark: the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, and R. Eliezer {o}, render it,
"she stretched out her arm and hand, and took it;''
the same word, being differently pointed, so signifying; but this is disapproved of, by the Jewish commentators.
{g} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9. sect. 5. {h} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 432. {i} T. Bab. Megillah, fol. 13. 1. Derech Eretz, fol. 19. 1. Pirke Eliezer, c. 48. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 2. {k} Apud Joseph. Contr. Apion, l. 2. sect. 2. {l} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 433. {m} Chronicon Mosis, fol. 3. 2. Ed. Gaulmin. {n} Targum Jon. in loc. Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c.48. fol. 57.2.) {o} Ibid. Vid. T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 12. 1.
Exodus 2:6
Ver. 6. And when she had opened it,.... The ark, for it was shut or covered over, though doubtless there were some apertures for respiration:
she saw the child [in it], and, behold, the babe wept; and which was a circumstance, it is highly probable, greatly affected the king's daughter, and moved her compassion to it; though an Arabic writer says {p}, she heard the crying of the child in the ark, and therefore sent for it:
and she had compassion on him, and said, this is one of the Hebrews' children; which she might conclude from its being thus exposed, knowing her father's edict, and partly from the form and beauty of it, Hebrew children not being swarthy and tawny as Egyptian ones: the Jewish writers {q} say, she knew it by its being circumcised, the Egyptians not yet using circumcision.
{p} Patricides apud Hottinger. p 401. {q} T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 12. 2. Aben Ezra in loc.
Exodus 2:7
Ver. 7. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter,.... Miriam the sister of Moses, who observing the ark taken up, and the maidens that were walking upon the bank of the river, and other women perhaps, gathering about it to see it; she made one among them, and after hearing their discourse about it, proposed what follows to Pharaoh's daughter: Jarchi says, that Pharaoh's daughter tried several Egyptian women to suckle it, but it would not suck of them: Josephus {r} says the same, and it also is in the Talmud {s}; and that, if true, gave Miriam a fair opportunity to offer to do the following message for her:
shall I go and call for thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? for she perceived that she was desirous of having the child brought up as her own.
{r} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9. sect. 5. {s} T. Bab. Sotah, ut supra. (fol. 12.1)
Exodus 2:8
Ver. 8. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, go,.... She fell in at once with the proposal, being, no doubt, overruled, by the providence of God, to agree to have such a person called:
and the maid went and called the child's mother; and her own, whose name was Jochebed the wife of Amram, as observed in Ex 2:1.
Exodus 2:9
Ver. 9. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her,.... Being come, having made all possible haste:
take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages; by which means she had not only the nursing of her own child, but was paid for it: according to a Jewish writer {t}, Pharaoh's daughter agreed with her for two pieces of silver a day.
{t} Dibre Hayamim; sive Chronicon Mosis, fol. 4. 1.
Exodus 2:10
Ver. 10. And the child grew,.... In stature and in strength, thriving under the care of its mother and nurse, through the blessing of God:
and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter; when grown up and weaned, and needed a nurse no longer: a Jewish chronologer {u} says, this was two years after his birth; and another says {w}, that when he was three years old, Pharaoh sitting at table, and his queen was at his right hand, and his daughter, with Moses, at his left, and his mother before him, when Moses in the sight of them all took the crown from Pharaoh's head:
and he became her son; by adoption, for though she was a married woman, as some say, yet had no children, though very desirous of them, which accounts the more for her readiness in taking notice and care of Moses; so Philo the Jew says {x}, that she had been married a long time, but never with child, though she was very desirous of children, and especially a son, that might succeed her father in the kingdom, or otherwise it must go into another family: yea, he further says, that she feigned herself with child, that Moses might be thought to be her own son: and Artapanus {y}, an Heathen writer, says that the daughter of Pharaoh was married to one Chenephres, who reigned over the country above Memphis, for at that time many reigned in Egypt; and she being barren, took a son of one of the Jews, whom she called Moyses, and being grown up to a man's estate, was, by the Greeks, called Musaeus:
and she called his name Moses, and she said, because I drew him out of the water; by which it appears, that this word is derived from the Hebrew word hvm, "Mashah", which signifies to draw out, and is only used of drawing out of water, 2Sa 22:17 which Pharaoh's daughter gave him, he being an Hebrew child, and which language she may very well be thought to understand; since there were such a large number of Hebrews dwelt in Egypt, and she was particularly conversant with Jochebed her Hebrew nurse; and besides, there was a great affinity between the Hebrew and the Egyptian language, and therefore there is no need to derive the word from the latter, as Philo {z} and Josephus {a} do; who observe that "Mo" in the Egyptian language signifies "water", and "Yses", "saved"; besides, the Egyptian name of Moses, according to Aben Ezra, who had it from a book of agriculture in that language, is Momos: the Jewish writers {b} give to Moses many names, which he had from different persons, no less than ten: and Artapanns {c} says, that by the Egyptian priests he was called Hermes or Mercury, and probably was the Hermes of that people; he is called by Orpheus {d} udogenhv, "born in water", because drawn out of it.
{u} Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 2. {w} Chronicon. ib. Shalshal. ib. {x} De Vita Mosis, c. 1. p. 604, 605. {y} Apud Euseb, Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 432. {z} Ut supra. ({x}) {a} Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9.) sect. 6. {b} Vajikra Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 146. 3. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 2. Chronicon Mosis, fol. 4. 1. {c} Apud Euseb. ut supra. (praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 432.) {d} De Deo, v. 23.
Exodus 2:11
Ver. 11. And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown,.... To man's estate; some of the Jewish writers say he was eighteen, others twenty years of age {e}, but Stephen, who is most to be credited, says he was full forty years of age, Ac 7:23,
that he went out unto his brethren the Hebrews: whom he knew to be his brethren, either by divine revelation, or by conversing with his nurse, who was his mother; who, doubtless, instructed him while he was with her, as far as he was capable of being informed of things, and who might frequently visit her afterwards, by which means he became apprised that he was an Hebrew and not an Egyptian, though he went for the son of Pharaoh's daughter, which he refused to be called when he knew his parentage, Heb 11:24 now he went out from Pharaoh's palace, which in a short time he entirely relinquished, to visit his brethren, and converse with them, and understood their case and circumstances:
and looked on their burdens; which they were obliged to carry, and were very heavy, and with which they were pressed; he looked at them with grief and concern, and considered in his mind how to relieve them, if possible:
and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren; the Egyptian was, according to Jarchi, a principal of the taskmasters of Israel, who was beating the Hebrew for not doing his work as he required, and the Hebrew, according to him, was the husband of Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, Le 24:11, though others say it was Dathan {f}.
{e} Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 2. {f} lbid.
Exodus 2:12
Ver. 12. And he looked this way, and that way,.... All around, to observe if there were any within sight who could see what he did; which did not arise from any consciousness of any evil he was about to commit, but for his own preservation, lest if seen he should be accused to Pharaoh, and suffer for it:
and when he saw that there was no man; near at hand, that could see what he did, and be a witness against him:
he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand; in a sandy desert place hard by, where having slain him with his sword, he dug a hole, and put him into it; See Gill on "Ac 7:24". Of the slaughter of the Egyptian, and the following controversy about it, Demetrius {g}, an Heathen writer, treats of in perfect agreement with the sacred Scriptures.
{g} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 19. p. 439.
Exodus 2:13
Ver. 13. And when he went out the second day,.... The day following:
behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together; which the Jewish writers {h} take to be Dathan and Abiram:
and he said to him that did the wrong; who was the aggressor, and acted the wicked part in abusing his brother:
wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? friend and companion; signifying, that it was very unbecoming, unkind, and unnatural, and that brethren and friends ought to live together in love, and not strive with, and smite one another, and especially at such a time as this, when they were so oppressed by, and suffered so much from their enemies;
See Gill on "Ac 7:26".
{h} Targum Jon. & Jarchi in loc. Shemoth Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 91. 4. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 2. Pirke Eliezer, c. 48.
Exodus 2:14
Ver. 14. And he said, who made thee a prince and a judge over us?.... God had designed him for one, and so he appeared to be afterwards; but this man's meaning is, that he was not appointed by Pharaoh's order then, and so had nothing to do to interfere in their differences and quarrels; though Moses did not take upon him to act in an authoritative way, but to exhort and persuade them to peace and love, as they were brethren:
intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? if this was Dathan, or however the same Hebrew that he had defended and rescued from the Egyptian, it was very ungenerous in him to upbraid him with it; or if that Hebrew had made him his confident, and acquainted him with that affair, as it was unfaithful to betray it, since it was in favour of one of his own people, it was ungrateful to reproach him with it:
and Moses feared; lest the thing should be discovered and be told to Pharaoh, and he should suffer for it: this fear that possessed Moses was before he fled from Egypt, and went to Midian, not when he forsook it, and never returned more, at the departure of the children of Israel, to which the apostle refers, Heb 11:27 and is no contradiction to this:
and said, surely this thing is known; he said this within himself, he concluded from this speech, that either somebody had seen him commit the fact he was not aware of, or the Hebrew, whose part he took, had through weakness told it to another, from whom this man had it, or to himself; for by this it seems that he was not the same Hebrew, on whose account Moses had slain the Egyptian, for then the thing would have been still a secret between them as before; only the other Hebrew this was now contending with must hereby come to the knowledge of it, and so Moses might fear, that getting into more hands it would come out, as it did; See Gill on "Ac 7:27".
See Gill on "Ac 7:28".
See Gill on "Ac 7:29".
Exodus 2:15
Ver. 15. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses,.... Both for his killing the Egyptian, which by the laws of Egypt {i} was death, whether bond or free; and for his taking part with the Hebrews against the Egyptians, and knowing him to be a wise and valiant man, might fear he would put himself at the head of the Hebrews, and cause a revolt of them; and if there was anything in his dream, or if he had such an one, and had the interpretation of it given by his magicians, that an Hebrew child should be born, by whom Egypt would be destroyed, See Gill on "Ex 1:15", he might call it to mind, and be affected with it, and fear the time was coming on, and Moses was the person by whom it should be done; and he might be stirred up by his courtiers to take this step, who doubtless envied the growing interest of Moses in his court:
but Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh; not through want of courage, but through prudence, to avoid danger, and preserve his life for future usefulness; and no doubt under a divine impulse, and by the direction of divine Providence, the time for him to be the deliverer of Israel not being yet come:
and dwelt in the land of Midian: a country so called from Midian, one of Abraham's sons by Keturah, Ge 25:2. Jerom {k} calls it a city, and says it was on the other side of Arabia, to the south, in the desert of the Saracens, to the east of the Red sea, from whence the country was called Midian; and Philo {l} says, that Moses went into neighbouring Arabia; and which is confirmed by Artapanus {m} the Heathen historian, who says, that from Memphis, crossing the river Nile, he went into Arabia; and this country was sometimes called Cush or Ethiopia; hence Moses's wife is called an Ethiopian woman,
Nu 12:1
and he sat down by a well; weary, thoughtful, and pensive. It may be observed, that it was usual with persons in such like circumstances, being strangers and not knowing well to whom to apply for assistance or direction, to place themselves at a well of water, to which there was frequent resort, both for the use of families and of flocks; see Ge 24:11. This well is now called, as some say, Eyoun el Kaseb, fourteen hours and a half from Magare Chouaib, or "the grot of Jethro" {n}; but if this was so far from Jethro's house, his daughters had a long way to go with their flock: but some other travellers {o} speak of a very neat and pleasant village, called Hattin, where they were shown the grave of Jethro, Moses's father-in-law; and in the neighbourhood of that place is a cistern, now called Omar, and is said to be the watering place where Moses met with the daughters of the priest of Midian. A late learned man {p} thinks, that Sharma, which is about a day and a half's journey southeast from Mount Sinai, is the place where Jethro lived. The Arabic geographer {q} says, at the shore of the Red sea lies the city Madian, greater than Tabuc, and in it is a well, out of which Moses watered the flocks of Scioaib, that is, Raguel.
{i} Diodor. Sicul. Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 70. {k} De locis Heb. fol. 93. A. B. {l} De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 609. {m} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 433. {n} See a Journey from Grand Cairo to Mecca, in Ray's Travels, vol. 2. p. 468. {o} Egmont and Heyman's Travels, vol. 2. p. 29. {p} See the Origin of Hieroglyphics, at the end of a Journal from Cairo, to Mount Sinai, p. 55. Ed. 2. {q} Climat. 3. par. 5.
Exodus 2:16
Ver. 16. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters,.... Who being a descendant of Abraham might have retained the knowledge of the true God, and might be a priest of his, as Melchizedek was, or otherwise it may be thought improbable that Moses would have married his daughter, as he afterwards did; and so Aben Ezra says, he was a priest of God; though the word is sometimes used of a prince, ruler, and governor; and is so rendered here by the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; and Artapanus {r}, an Heathen writer, expressly calls him arcwn, a "prince" of those places, that is, of Arabia; he might be both prince and priest, as Melchizedek before mentioned was, and as has been the usage of many countries:
and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock; which is no contradiction to their being daughters either of a priest or a prince, which were both high titles and characters; since it was usual in those early times, and in those countries, for the sons and daughters of considerable persons to be employed in such services; See Gill on "Ge 29:9".
{r} Ut supra, (Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27.) p. 434.
Exodus 2:17
Ver. 17. And the shepherds came and drove them away,.... The daughters of the priest of Midian, and their flock likewise; these were shepherds of some neighbouring princes or great men, who were so rude and slothful, and to save themselves a little trouble of drawing water, brought up their flocks to drink of the water those virgins had drawn, and to do this forced them and their flocks away:
but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock; moved to see such rude and uncivil treatment of the weaker sex, rose up from the ground on which he sat, and took their parts, and obliged the shepherds to give way, and brought up their flock to the troughs, and drew water for them, and gave them it; either he did this alone, or together with the servants that waited upon the priest's daughters, perhaps alone; and if it be considered that shepherds being usually not of a very martial spirit, and these also in a wrong cause, and Moses a man of an heroic disposition, and had doubtless the appearance of a man of some eminence and authority, they were the more easily intimidated and overcome.
Exodus 2:18
Ver. 18. And when they came to Reuel their father,.... Or Ragouel, as the Septuagint; and so Artapanus {s} calls him. The Targum of Jonathan has it, their father's father; and so Aben Ezra says he was; and is the sense of others, induced thereto by Nu 10:29, but it does not follow from thence: he said,
how is it that you are come so soon today? it being not only sooner than they were wont to come, but perhaps their business was done in so short a time; that it was marvellous to him that it could be done in it, so quick a dispatch had Moses made, and they through his assistance; and especially it might be more strange, if it was usual, as it seems it was, to be molested by the shepherds.
{s} Ut supra. (Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 434.)
Exodus 2:19
Ver. 19. And they said, an Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds,.... A man, who by his habit and by his speech appeared to them to be an Egyptian, and upon their inquiry he might tell them so, being born in Egypt, though of Hebrew parents:
and also drew water enough for us; or "in drawing drew" {t}; drew it readily, quickly and in abundance:
and watered the flock; by which means their business was done, and they returned home earlier than usual.
{t} hld hld "hauriendo bausit", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator.
Exodus 2:20
Ver. 20. And he said unto his daughters, and where is he?.... By the account Reuel's daughters gave of Moses, of his courage and humanity, he was very desirous of seeing him:
why [is it] that ye have left the man? behind them at the well, and had not brought him along with them; he seemed to be displeased, and chides them, and tacitly suggests that they were rude and ungrateful not to ask a stranger, and one that had been so kind to them, to come with them and refresh himself:
call him, that he may eat bread; take meat with them, bread being put for all provisions.
Exodus 2:21
Ver. 21. And Moses was content to dwell with the man,.... After he had been called and brought into the house, and had had some refreshment, and after some conversation had passed between them, and perhaps after some days' stay in Reuel's house; Reuel having observed his disposition and behaviour, and being delighted therewith, proposed to him to take up his residence with him, with which motion Moses was well pleased, and accepted of it:
and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter; to be his wife. It is not to be supposed that this was done directly; though both Philo {u} and Josephus {w} intimate as if it was done at first meeting together; but it is not likely that Reuel would dispose of his daughter so suddenly to a stranger, though he might at once entertain an high opinion of him; nor would Moses marry a woman directly he had so slender an acquaintance with, so little knowledge of her disposition, endowments of mind and religion. The Targum of Jonathan says it was at the end of ten years; and indeed forty years after this a son of his seems to have been young, having not till then been circumcised, Ex 4:22. The author of the Life of Moses says {x}, that he was seventy seven years of age when he married Zipporah, which was but three years before he returned to Egypt. This circumstance of Moses's marrying Reuel's daughter is confirmed by Artapanus {y} an Heathen historian; and also by Demetrius {z}, and expressly calls her Sapphora, who he says was a daughter of Jother or Jethro; and likewise by Ezekiel the tragedian {a}.
{u} De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 611. {w} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 11. sect. 2. {x} Chronicon Mosis, fol. 9. 1. {y} Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 27. p. 434. {z} Ib. c. 29. p. 439. {a} lb. c. 28.
Exodus 2:22
Ver. 22. And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom,.... Which signifies a "desolate stranger"; partly on his own account, he being in a foreign country, a stranger and sojourner; but not by way of complaint, but rather of thankfulness to God for providing so well for him in it; and partly on his son's account, that when he came to years of maturity and knowledge, he might learn, and in which Moses no doubt instructed him, that he was not to look upon Midian as his proper country, but that he was to be heir of the land of Canaan, and which he might be reminded of by his name:
for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land; so Midian was to him, who was born in Egypt, and being an Hebrew, was entitled to the land of Canaan; this looks as if he had been at this time some years in Midian.
Exodus 2:23
Ver. 23. And it came to pass in process of time that the king of Egypt died,.... According to Eusebius, Orus reigned in Egypt when Moses fled from thence, and that two more reigned after him, Acenchres and Achoris, who both died before the deliverance of the children of Israel; but according to Bishop Usher {b}, this was the same king of Egypt under whom Moses was born, and from whose face he fled, who died in the sixty seventh year of his reign, Moses being now sixty years of age, and having been in the land of Midian twenty years; and it was about twenty years after this that he was called from hence, to be the deliverer of his people; for things are often put close together in Scripture, which were done at a considerable distance. And the intention of this notice of the death of the king of Egypt is chiefly to show that it made no alteration in the afflictions of the children of Israel for the better, but rather the worse:
and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage; the severity of it, and its long duration, and seeing no way for their escape out of it:
and they cried, and their cry came up unto God; they not only sighed and groaned inwardly, but so great was their oppression, that they could not forbear crying out aloud; and such was the greatness and vehemency of their cry, that it reached up to heaven, and came into the ears of the Almighty, as vehement cries are said to do, whether sinful or religious; see Ge 18:20
by reason of the bondage; which may either be connected with their "cry", that that was because of their bondage; or with the "coming" of it unto God, he was pleased to admit and regard their cry, because their bondage was so very oppressive and intolerable.
{b} Annal Vet. Test. p. 19. A. M. 2494.
Exodus 2:24
Ver. 24. And God heard their groaning,.... The petitions they put up to him with groans and cries:
and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob; that he would bring their seed out of a land not theirs, in which they were strangers, and were afflicted, into the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.
Exodus 2:25
Ver. 25. And God looked upon the children of Israel,.... With an eye of pity and compassion, and saw all the hardships they laboured under, and all the injuries that were done unto them:
and God had respect unto [them]; had a favourable regard to them; or "knew" {b} not only them, the Israelites, and loved them, and approved of them, and owned them as his own, all which words of knowledge sometimes signify; but he knew their sorrows and sufferings, and took notice of what was done to them secretly; see Ex 3:7.
{b} edyw "et eognovit", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
Observe the order of Providence: just at the time
when Pharaoh's cruelty rose to its height by ordering the Hebrew
children to be drowned, the deliverer was born. When men are
contriving the ruin of the church, God is preparing for its salvation.
The parents of Moses saw he was a goodly child. A lively faith can
take encouragement from the least hint of the Divine favour. It is
said, Hebrews 11:23, that the parents of Moses hid him by faith;
they had the promise that Israel should be preserved, which they
relied upon. Faith in God's promise quickens to the use of lawful
means for obtaining mercy. Duty is ours, events are God's. Faith in
God will set us above the fear of man. At three months' end, when
they could not hide the infant any longer, they put him in an ark of
bulrushes by the river's brink, and set his sister to watch. And if the
weak affection of a mother were thus careful, what shall we think of
Him, whose love, whose compassion is, as himself, boundless.
Moses never had a stronger protection about him, no, not when all
the Israelites were round his tent in the wilderness, than now, when
he lay alone, a helpless babe upon the waves. No water, no
Egyptian can hurt him. When we seem most neglected and forlorn,
God is most present with us.
Observe the order of Providence: just at the time
when Pharaoh's cruelty rose to its height by ordering the Hebrew
children to be drowned, the deliverer was born. When men are
contriving the ruin of the church, God is preparing for its salvation.
No water, no
Egyptian can hurt him. When we seem most neglected and forlorn,
God is most present with us.
Sources: Matthew Henry; Gill's Exposition; Matthew Henry Concise
Commentary
Commentary