Exodus 2:4

_AND HIS SISTER STOOD AFAR OFF, TO WIT WHAT WOULD BE DONE TO HIM._ His sister - Miriam would probably be a girl of 10 or 12 years of age at the time....

4._And his sister stood afar off. _It is probable that this was Miriam. (26) By the fact of her standing to watch what became of him, it appears that his parents had some hope remaining, though it was but small. For it is scarcely doubtful but that whatever Egyptian had come that way would have been his executioner, as well from the command of the king as from the general hatred of the nation against the Hebrews. It seems, then, that Miriam was set by her parents to watch, rather to witness her brother’s murder, than to provide for the safety of the child. But, since we have just seen that, in the darkness of sorrow and despair, some sparks of faith still survived, the mother, exposing her little one on the river’s side, did not abandon all care of him, but desired to commend him to the mercy of any passer-by, and therefore stationed her daughter afar off to act as circumstances arose. F...

1-4 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 carefu...

EXPOSITION. Exodus 2:1. THE BIRTH, ESCAPE, AND EDUCATION OF MOSES. Some years before the Pharaoh issued his edict for the general destruction of the Hebrew male children, Amram of the tribe of Levi, had married Jochebed, his kinswoman (Exodus 6:20). They had already had two children — Miriam, a daughter, born probably soon after the marriage, and Aaron, a son, born some twelve years later. Soon after the issue of the edict, Jochebed gave birth to her third child, a son, who therefore came under its terms. Knowing as she did what fate was in store for him, if his existence became known to the Egyptians, she "hid him three months." Then, despairing of being able to keep him concealed much longer, she devised the plan related in...

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 2 Corinthians 8:1. e תתצב "collocata fuerat", Vatablus. f "Stiterat

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 2:1 TO EXODUS 4:31. PREPARATION AND CALL OF MOSES. Exodus 2:1 E. His Birth and Upbringing. If the text can be trusted, we are informed that a man of the house of Levi took (to wife) the (only) daughter of Levi (_cf. Exodus 6:20_, Numbers 26:59 P), who would thus be, according to the genealogy of P, his aunt, or the sister of his father Kohath. Possibly, however, the text has been abridged, and ran, as LXX with some variations suggests, took one of the daughters of Levi to wife and made her his own (lit. had her). It is implied in...

AND HIS SISTER STOOD AFAR OFF. The child, placed in this water-tight basket, was left among the reeds near the margin in the waters. The sister, no doubt Miriam, now about thirteen years of age, it has been supposed, and undoubtedly older than Aaron, stood at. distance to watch over the fate of the castaway....

SISTER. Miriam. TO WIT. to know....

TO WIT WHAT WOULD BE DONE TO HIM— _To observe what should become of him._ They were not without hope, as the watch they set intimated, that some way God might save him from his danger. _Note;_ There are seasons, when we are driven to venture all on God's providence; and we should do it with cheerfulness and confidence. This is not to tempt him, but to trust him....