Exodus 2:5

_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._ The daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river. Dr. Adam Clarke maintains that there was no bathing in the case, and that the princess was about to be occupied in bleaching clothes, according to the primitive manners of kings' daughters in early times, as represented in Homer, who describes Nausicaa, daughter of Alcinous, king of the Phoeacians, as employed, along with her maidens, in washing her own clothes and those of her five brothers at the seaside. But the cases are not similar; and the terms used in this narrative convey the idea of a very different scene from what Dr. Clarke supposed. The verb х_ RAACHATS_ (H7364)] used here denotes, to wash oneself, to bathe ...

5-10 Come, see the place where that great man, Moses, lay, when he was a little child; it was in a bulrush basket by the river's side. Had he been left there long, he must have perished. But Providence brings Pharaoh's daughter to the place where this poor forlorn infant lay, and inclines her heart to pity it, which she dares do, when none else durst. God's care of us in our infancy ought to be often mentioned by us to his praise. Pharaoh cruelly sought to destroy Israel, but his own daughter had pity on a Hebrew child, and not only so, but, without knowing it, preserved Israel's deliverer, and provided Moses with a good nurse, even his own mother. That he should have a Hebrew nurse, the sister of Moses brought the mother into the place of a nurse. Moses was treated as the son of Pharoah's daughter. Many who, by their birth, are obscure and poor, by surprising events of Providence, are r...

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 refused the breasts of several, and his sister proposing to bring a Hebrew nurse, his own mother was procured." But all this is in Josephus's _manner_, as well as the long circumstantial _dream_ that he gives to Amram concerning the future greatness of Moses, which cannot be considered in any other light than that of a _fable_, and not even a cunningly _devised_ one. _TO WASH_ HERSELF _AT THE RIVER_] Whether the daughter of Pharaoh went to bathe in the river through motives of pleasure, health, or religion, or whether she bat

The traditions which give a name to the daughter of Pharaoh are merely conjectural. Egyptian princesses held a very high and almost independent position under the ancient and middle empire, with a separate household and numerous officials. This was especially the case with the daughters of the first sovereigns of the 18th Dynasty. Many facts concur in indicating that the residence of the daughter of Pharaoh and of the family of Moses, was at Zoan, Tanis, now San, the ancient Avaris (Exodus 1:8 note), on the Tanitic branch of the river, near the sea, where crocodiles are never found, and which was probably the western boundary of the district occupied by the Israelites. The field of Zoan was always associated by the Hebrews with the marvels which preceded the Exodus. See...

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 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, 1 Chronicles 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,

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...

II. THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAOH. 5. THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAOH. This princess was apparently the sister of Amenophis, the son of Amosis. He was. prosperous and able king, and during his reign the forced labor of the Israelites seems to have been reduced to system; but we may feel sure, from his character, that he passed no such cruel decrees as that which condemned the children of the nobles to. watery grave.--_ R. Payne Smith._ TO WASH HERSELF. The fact that. king's daughter should bathe in the open river is certainly opposed to the customs of the modern Mohammedan East, where this is only done by women of the lower orders, and that in remote places; but it is in harmony with the customs of ancient Egypt, and in perfect agreement with the notions of the early Egyptians respecting the sanctity of the Nile, to which divine honors ever were paid; and with the belief, which was common to both a...

THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAOH— Josephus calls this princess Thermuthis; Artaphanes calls her Meris; and the Alexandrian Chronicle, Myrrina. She _came down to the river to wash herself,_ probably for religious purification as well as health or pleasure: for the ancient Egyptians were used to wash themselves, on both accounts, no less than four times in the twenty-four hours. She, for the greater privacy, retained one _maid,_ to wait immediately upon her, while her _maidens,_ or _ladies,_ of higher rank, walked along the river's side. The words in the Hebrew for _maidens_ and _maid_ are different. Zoan, or Tanis, the royal city, lay near the river; and therefore, probably, the king's gardens extended themselves to the banks of it, where convenient bathing-houses might be contrived for the use of the royal family. This verse might be rendered, Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself...