CHAPTER II _Amram and Jochebed marry_, 1. _Moses is born, and is hidden by his mother three months_, 2. _Is exposed in an ark of bulrushes on the riser Nile, and watched_ _by his sister_, 3, 4. _He is found by the daughter of Pharaoh, who commits him to the_ _care of his own mother, and has hi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:2. _BARE A SON_] This certainly was not her first child, for Aaron was _fourscore and three_ years old when Moses was but _fourscore_, see Exodus 7:7: and there was a sister, probably Miriam, who was older than either; see below, Exodus 2:4, and see Numbers 26:59. Miriam and Aaron had... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:3. _AN ARK OF BULRUSHES_] תבת גמא _tebath gome_, a small boat or basket made of the Egyptian reed called _papyrus_, so famous in all antiquity. This plant grows on the banks of the Nile, and in marshy grounds; the stalk rises to the height of _six_ or _seven cubits_ above the water,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:5. _AND THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAOH_] Josephus calls her _Thermuthis_, and says that "the ark was borne along by the current, and that she sent one that could swim after it; that she was struck with the figure and uncommon beauty of the child; that she inquired for a nurse, but he having... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:6. _SHE HAD COMPASSION ON HIM_] The sight of a beautiful babe in distress could not fail to make the impression here mentioned; Exodus 2:2, Exodus 2:2. It has already been conjectured that the cruel edict of the Egyptian king did not continue long in force; see Exodus 1:22. And it wil... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:7. _SHALL I GO AND CALL A NURSE_] Had not the different circumstances marked here been placed under the superintendence of an especial providence, there is no human probability that they could have had such a happy issue. The parents had done every thing to save their child that piet... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:10. _AND HE BECAME HER SON._] From this time of his being brought home by his nurse his education commenced, and _he was_ _learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians_, Acts 7:22, who in the knowledge of nature probably exceeded all the nations then on the face of the earth. _AND SHE... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:11. _WHEN MOSES WAS GROWN_] Being full _forty_ years of age, as St. Stephen says, Acts 7:23, _it came into his heart to visit his brethren_, i.e., he was excited to it by a Divine inspiration; _and seeing one of them_ _suffer wrong_, by an Egyptian smiting him, probably one of the _t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:13. _TWO MEN OF THE HEBREWS STROVE TOGETHER_] How strange that in the very place where they were suffering a heavy persecution because they were _Hebrews_, the very persons themselves who suffered it should be found persecuting each other! It has been often seen that in those times in... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:14. _AND MOSES FEARED_] He saw that the Israelites were not as yet prepared to leave their bondage; and that though God had called him to be their leader, yet his providence had not yet sufficiently opened the way; and had he stayed in Egypt he must have endangered his life. Prudence... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:15. _PHARAOH - SOUGHT TO SLAY MOSES. BUT MOSES FLED FROM THE_ _FACE OF PHARAOH_] How can this be reconciled with Hebrews 11:27: _By faith he_ (Moses) _forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the_ _king_? Very easily. The apostle speaks not of this forsaking of Egypt, but of his and th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:16. _THE PRIEST OF MIDIAN_] Or _prince_, or both; for the original כהן _cohen_ has both meanings. See it explained at large, Genesis 15:18. The transaction here very nearly resembles that mentioned Genesis 29. concerning Jacob and Rachel; see the notes there.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:17. _THE SHEPHERDS - DROVE THEM_] The verb יגרשים _yegareshum,_ being in the _masculine_ gender, seems to imply that the shepherds drove away the _flocks_ of Reuel's daughters, and not the _daughters_ themselves. The fact seems to be, that, as the daughters of Reuel filled the troughs... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:18. _REUEL, THEIR FATHER_] In Numbers 10:29 this person is called _Raguel_, but the Hebrew is the same in both places. The reason of this difference is that the ע _ain_ in רעואל is sometimes used merely as _vowel_, sometimes as _g, ng_, and _gn_, and this is occasioned by the difficu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:20. _THAT HE MAY EAT BREAD._] That he may be entertained, and receive refreshment to proceed on his journey. _Bread_, among the Hebrews, was used to signify _all kinds of food_ commonly used for the support of man's life.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:21. _ZIPPORAH HIS DAUGHTER._] Abul Farajius calls her "_Saphura the black_, daughter of _Rewel_ the Midianite, the son of Dedan, the son of Abraham by his wife Keturah." The Targum calls her the _granddaughter_ of Reuel. It appears that Moses obtained Zipporah something in the same wa... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:22. _CALLED HIS NAME GERSHOM_] Literally, _a stranger_; the reason of which Moses immediately adds, _for I have been an_ ALIEN _in a strange land_. The _Vulgate_, the _Septuagint_, as it stands in the _Complutensian_ _Polyglot_, and in several MSS., the _Syriac_, the _Coptic_, and t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:23. _IN PROCESS OF TIME - THE KING OF EGYPT DIED_] According to St. Stephen, (Acts 7:30, compared with Exodus 7:7), the death of the Egyptian king happened about _forty_ years after the escape of Moses to Midian. The words ויהי בימים הרבים ההם _vayehi baiyamim_ _harabbim hahem_, whic... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:24. _GOD REMEMBERED HIS COVENANT_] God's covenant is God's engagement; he had promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give their posterity a land flowing with milk and honey, c. They are now under the most oppressive bondage, and this was the most proper time for God to show t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Exodus 2:25. _AND GOD HAD RESPECT UNTO_ THEM.] וידע אלהים _vaiyeda_ _Elohim_, God _knew_ them, i.e., he _approved_ of them, and therefore it is said that _their cry came up before God, and he heard their_ _groaning_. The word ידע _yada, to know_, in the Hebrew Bible, as well as γινωσκω in the... [ Continue Reading ]