The Law · Chapter 2 of 40

Exodus 2

A Levite couple hides their newborn son, then sets him in an ark of bulrushes on the Nile. Pharaoh's daughter finds him, has compassion, and raises him as Moses, unknowingly hiring his own mother to nurse him. Grown, Moses kills an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and flees to Midian, where he marries Zipporah. As Israel groans in bondage, God hears their cry and remembers His covenant.

What happens in Exodus 2

A man and woman of Levi have a son, and seeing he is a goodly child, the mother hides him three months. Unable to conceal him longer, she places him in a pitch-sealed ark of bulrushes among the reeds of the Nile, while his sister watches. Pharaoh's daughter comes to bathe, finds the child, and has compassion, recognizing him as a Hebrew. The sister offers to fetch a nurse, and so the baby's own mother is paid to nurse him. The child is named Moses, drawn out of the water.

Grown, Moses sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and kills him, hiding the body. The next day two quarreling Hebrews reveal that his deed is known. Pharaoh seeks to kill him, so Moses flees to Midian, defends the priest's daughters at a well, and marries Zipporah, who bears Gershom. Meanwhile the king dies, Israel groans, and God hears, remembers His covenant, and looks upon them.

Exodus 2 in context

This chapter introduces Moses, the deliverer God will use to free Israel. His survival directly defies Pharaoh's decree to drown Hebrew boys. His flight to Midian removes him from Egypt for forty years of shepherding before God calls him at the burning bush.

The closing verses, that God heard, remembered, and looked, turn the narrative toward deliverance and prepare for the call of Moses.

Main themes of Exodus 2

Exodus 2 (KJV)

1And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. 2And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. 3And 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. 4And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. 5And 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. 6And 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. 7Then 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? 8And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother. 9And 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. 10And 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. 11And 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. 12And 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. 13And 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? 14And 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. 15Now 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. 16Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. 18And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day? 19And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock. 20And 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. 21And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. 22And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land. 23And 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. 24And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

Verses to carry from Exodus 2

“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.”Exodus 2:10

“And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.”Exodus 2:24

“And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.”Exodus 2:25

Reflection

Between Moses's failed attempt and God's great deliverance lay forty quiet years in Midian. Sometimes God shapes us in obscurity before the calling comes. If you feel sidelined or delayed, consider that the wilderness may be preparation, and that God still hears the groaning you think He has forgotten.

A prayer from Exodus 2