Commentary - Exodus 2:1-10

Bird's-eye view

In the previous chapter, the seed of the serpent, embodied in the paranoid and tyrannical Pharaoh, issued a decree of death against the sons of the covenant. The serpent was attempting to strike at the heel of the woman's seed. This chapter is God's definitive, sovereign, and somewhat ironic reply. The story of Moses' birth is not a sentimental tale for the nursery; it is a declaration of war. It is a story of how God takes the murderous designs of wicked rulers and uses their own machinery, their own family members, and their own river of death to bring about the salvation of His chosen deliverer. This is God's providence on full display, where the quiet faith of one family becomes the hinge on which the history of redemption turns. God delights in using the weak to confound the strong, and the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. And here, He uses a baby in a basket.

Outline

Commentary

Exod 2:1 And a man from the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as a wife.

The grand drama of redemption begins, as it so often does, in the quiet faithfulness of ordinary life. We are not given names here, not yet. They are simply a man and a woman from the priestly tribe of Levi. This is not a story that starts in a palace or with a grand announcement. It starts with a marriage. A man takes a wife, establishing a household, a little covenant outpost in the midst of a hostile empire. In a world gone mad, where the state has declared war on the family, the most defiant act is to form one. This is covenantal faithfulness in the dark. They are not famous, they are not powerful, but they are obedient to the creation ordinance in a time of uncreation. And God honors it.

Exod 2:2 And the woman conceived and bore a son; and she saw that he was beautiful, so she hid him for three months.

The fruit of this union is a son, born under a death sentence. And what is the mother's response? She evaluates her child not by the standards of Pharaoh, but by the standards of God. The text says she saw that he was "beautiful." The Hebrew word is tov, the same word used in the creation account when God saw all that He had made and declared it "good." This is not merely about chubby cheeks. This is a mother's faithful assessment. Pharaoh says this child is disposable, a threat to be eliminated. His mother, Jochebed, looks at him and sees the goodness of God's creation. Her evaluation is an act of faith, a direct contradiction of the state's decree. And faith always acts. Because she saw he was a goodly child, she hid him. Hebrews 11:23 tells us this was done "by faith." Faith is not a vague sentiment; it is a conviction that leads to courageous, practical, and sometimes risky, action.

Exod 2:3 But she could not hide him any longer. So she took for him an ark of papyrus reeds and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and put it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

Faith is practical, not magical. The time came when a crying baby could no longer be concealed. Faith does not despair; it adapts. Jochebed's next move is saturated with theological significance. She builds an "ark" for him. The Hebrew word here is tebah, and it is used in only one other place in the entire Old Testament: for Noah's ark. The echo is deafening. Once again, God's chosen is saved from a judgment of water by being placed in an ark. This is a baptism in miniature. The Nile, which Pharaoh had designated as a mass grave for Hebrew boys, is transformed by faith into a vessel of salvation. She waterproofs it with tar and pitch, doing everything she can do, and then she does what she cannot do. She places him in the river and entrusts him to the providence of God. She places him among the reeds, a place of concealment, and lets go.

Exod 2:4 And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him.

This is a family affair. The faith of the parents is shared by the children. His sister, Miriam, does not abandon him. She watches. This is not idle curiosity; it is vigilant, protective care. She is part of the plan, an agent of God's providence, waiting to see how the Lord will move. God uses the courage and sharp wits of this young girl to spring the next stage of His trap for Pharaoh.

Exod 2:5-6 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, with her young women walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the ark among the reeds and sent her maidservant, and she took it to her. Then she opened it and saw the child. And behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."

Here the divine irony begins to sparkle. Who discovers the child? Not just any Egyptian, but the daughter of the very man who ordered the infanticide. She comes to the Nile, the place of death, and there she finds life. The crying of the baby does what a baby's cry is designed by God to do: it elicits compassion. God moves on the heart of this pagan princess, and she has pity. She knows exactly who he is, "one of the Hebrews' children." She is not naive. She knows this child is contraband, a fugitive from her father's law. But the heart of the king, and the king's daughter, is in the hand of the Lord.

Exod 2:7-8 Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you?" And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." So the girl went and called the child's mother.

Miriam sees her moment. With breathtaking courage, she approaches the princess. Notice her wisdom. She doesn't say, "That's my brother!" She makes a practical, helpful suggestion. "You've found a Hebrew baby. You'll need a Hebrew nurse." It is the most logical thing in the world, and Pharaoh's daughter agrees. And who does Miriam fetch? The child's own mother. God's plan is not just to save Moses, but to restore him, temporarily, to his own mother's arms. The threads of God's sovereign plan are being woven together with masterful skill.

Exod 2:9 Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed him.

This is the pinnacle of the story's glorious irony. Jochebed not only gets her son back, safe and sound, but she is now under the legal protection of the crown. And not only that, she is to be paid for the privilege. Pharaoh's treasury will now fund the nursing and nurture of Israel's future deliverer. The enemy is paying for the upbringing of the man who will destroy him. God does not just defeat His enemies; He makes them foot the bill for their own destruction. This is our God. He has a magnificent sense of humor, and His name is Jealous.

Exod 2:10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she named him Moses and said, "Because I drew him out of the water."

Moses is raised with all the privileges and education of an Egyptian prince. God was preparing him, giving him the skills in statecraft, literacy, and leadership that he would need to lead a nation. He becomes the son of Pharaoh's daughter, adopted into the very house that sought his life. His name itself is a testimony. Moses, "drawn out." The princess means she drew him from the Nile. But God means something far greater. He was drawn out of the waters of death, a picture of every believer who is drawn out of the judgment we deserve by the gracious hand of God. He is a type of Christ, the greater Moses who leads a greater exodus for all of God's people.

Application

This narrative is a profound encouragement to Christian families living in hostile cultures. Pharaoh's decree is simply the ancient version of the modern state's attempts to co-opt, redefine, or destroy the Christian family. The response is not panic, but faith. A faith that marries and has children. A faith that sees children as a blessing from the Lord, not a burden or a choice. A faith that is practical and shrewd, using wise means to protect our children. And a faith that ultimately entrusts our children to the sovereign care of God, knowing that He can use even the machinery of the enemy to preserve them.

We see here that God's grand plans for deliverance are rooted in the small, unseen acts of faithfulness by ordinary people. Your faithful parenting, your catechizing of your children, your building of a Christian home, these are not small things. They are the very stuff from which God forges deliverers. And we must always remember the glorious, sovereign irony of God. The very places that seem to represent the enemy's greatest power, the "Nile rivers" of our day, can be the very places where God brings about His most surprising victories. The cross looked like the ultimate defeat, but it was the ultimate triumph. Trust Him. He is still in the business of drawing His people out of the water.