Exodus 2:22

_NOW THE PRIEST OF MIDIAN HAD SEVEN DAUGHTERS: AND THEY CAME AND DREW WATER, AND FILLED THE TROUGHS TO WATER THEIR FATHER'S FLOCK._ Now the priest of Midian - as the offices were usually conjoined, he was the ruler also of the people called Cushites or Ethiopians, and, like many other chiefs of pastoral people in that early age, he still retained the faith and worship of the true God. SEVEN DAUGHTERS - were shepherdesses, to whom Moses was favourably introduced by an act of courtesy and courage in protecting them from the rude shepherds of some neighbouring tribe at the well. Verse 18. REUEL THEIR FATHER - or Raguel (Numbers 10:29) [Septuagint, Ragoueel, in both places]. This is supposed to be his proper name, while Jethro (Exodus 3:1) was a title of official dignity

22._He called his name Gershom. _I do not approve of their view who think this was a name of congratulation to alleviate the pain of banishment, but rather imagine that Moses gave this name to his son, as well to remind himself as his father-in-law and his wife, that he sought a country elsewhere, and that there he was but a sojourner. Nor is there any objection in his promise to his father-in-law to remain, because he did not so bind himself as to shake off or break the yoke of his divine vocation. It was only a provision to this effect, that Moses should not lightly forsake the home where he was so kindly welcomed. It is not credible that he was silent as to the cause of his exile: in the first place, to avert the suspicion of wrong-doing, and in witness of his innocence; and secondly, that he might proclaim the peculiar favor with which God had honored the people of Israel. Wherefore,...

16-22 Moses found shelter in Midian. He was ready to help Reuel's daughters to water their flocks, although bred in learning and at court. Moses loved to be doing justice, and to act in defence of such as he saw injured, which every man ought to do, as far as it is in his power. He loved to be doing good; wherever the providence of God casts us, we should desire and try to be useful; and when we cannot do the good we would, we must be ready to do the good we can. Moses commended himself to the prince of Midian; who married one of his daughters to Moses, by whom he had a son, called Gershom, "a stranger there," that he might keep in remembrance the land in which he had been a stranger....

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 the _Arabic_, add the following words to this verse: _And the name of_ _the second he called Eliezer, for the God of my father has been my_ _help, and delivered me from the hand of Pharaoh_. These words are found in Exodus 18:4, but they are certainly necessary here, for it is very likely that these two sons were born within a short space of each other; for in...

GERSHOM - The first syllable “Ger” is common to Hebrew and Egyptian, and means “sojourner.” The second syllable “Shom” answers exactly to the Coptic “Shemmo,” which means “a foreign or strange land.”...

EXPOSITION. Exodus 2:16-2 LIFE OF MOSES IN MIDIAN Fugitives from Egypt generally took the northern route from Pelusium or Migdol to Gaza, and so to Syria, or the regions beyond. But in this quarter they were liable to be arrested and sent back to the Egyptian monarch. Rameses II: put a special clause to this effect into his treaty with the contemporary Hittite king. It was, perhaps, the fear of extradition which made Moses turn his steps southeastward, and proceed along the route, or at any rate in the direction, which he afterwards took with his nation. Though Egypt had possessions in the Sinaitic peninsula, it was not difficult to avoid them; and before Sinai was reached the fugitive would be in complete safety, for the Egyptians seem never to have penetrated to the southern or eastern parts of the great triangle. "The well," by

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....

2. MOSES THE CHOSEN DELIVERER CHAPTER 2 Moses: His Birth, Education, Choice, and Exile _ 1. His birth and concealment (Exodus 2:1)_ 2. His rescue and education (Exodus 2:5) 3. His choice and failure (Exodus 2:11) 4. His exile (Exodus 2:15) 5. His marriage (Exodus 2:21) 6. The answered cry (Exodus 2:23) The history of the chosen deliverer, recorded by himself under the guidance of the Spirit, follows the dark picture of Israel

EXODUS 2:11 J. MOSES'S FLIGHT TO MIDIAN. Here is interposed an incident from J, who uses the same word grow (contrast Exodus 2:10) of Moses reaching man's estate, interpreted in Acts 7:23 as 40 years of age (_cf._ 42 years in Jubilees). The Egyptian slain by Moses may have been some bully of a gangmaster (_cf. Exodus 3:7_). The well-intentioned but unjustifiable assumption of the authority to punish committed Moses to the career of a patriot (_cf._ Hebrews 11:24). But the incident was distorted by rumour, and not only aroused the king's anger, but set h

HE. Many codices and. special reading called _sevir_ (App-34), read "she" GERSHOM. Hebrew "a stranger here"....