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,
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 (
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,
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 (
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,
II. Moses well provided with a good nurse,
no worse than his own dear mother,
III. Moses preferred to be the son of
Pharaoh's daughter (
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,
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,
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 (
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 (
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,
(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 (
(3.) The ill success of his attempt
(
(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,
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,
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,
II. Concerning Moses. He was taken for an
Egyptian (
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,