_A.M. 2433. B.C. 1571._ This chapter begins the story of Moses, the most remarkable type of Christ as Prophet, Saviour, Lawgiver, and Mediator, in all the Old Testament. In this chapter we have, ( 1,) _ The perils of his birth and infancy, Exodus 2:1._ (2,) _ His preservation through those perils,... [ Continue Reading ]
_There went a man_ Amram, from the place of his abode to another place. _A daughter_ That is, grand-daughter of Levi.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Bare a son_ It seems just at the time of his birth that 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. Moses's parents had Miriam and Aaron, both elder than he, born to them before that edict came out. Probably his mothe... [ Continue Reading ]
_When she could no longer hide him_ For fear of being informed against by some of her Egyptian neighbours, with whom the Israelites lived intermixed, Exodus 3:22. Thus Moses, who was afterward to be the deliverer of Israel, was himself upon the point of falling a sacrifice to the fury of the oppress... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the daughter of Pharaoh came_ Providence brings no less a person than Pharaoh's daughter just at that juncture, guides her to the place where this poor infant lay, inclines her heart to pity it, which she dares do, when none else durst. Never did poor child cry so seasonably as this did; _the b... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he became her son_ The tradition of the Jews is, that Pharaoh's daughter had no child of her own, and that she was the only child of her father, so that when he was adopted for her son, he stood fair for the crown: however, it is certain he stood fair for the best preferments of the court in du... [ Continue Reading ]
_When Moses was grown, he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens_ As one that not only pitied them, but was resolved to venture with them and for them. _He slew the Egyptian_ Probably it was one of the Egyptian task-masters, whom he found abusing his Hebrew slave. By special warrant... [ Continue Reading ]
_He said, Who made thee a prince?_ He challengeth his authority. A man needs no great authority for giving a friendly reproof; it is an act of kindness; yet this man will needs interpret it an act of dominion, and represents his reprover as imperious and assuming. Thus, when people are sick of good... [ Continue Reading ]
_Moses fled from Pharaoh_ God ordered this for wise ends. Things were not yet ripe for Israel's deliverance. The measure of Egypt's iniquity was not yet full; the Hebrews were not sufficiently humbled, nor were they yet increased to such a multitude as God designed: Moses is to be further fitted for... [ Continue Reading ]
_Stood up and helped them_ This he did, because wherever he was, as occasion offered itself, he loved to be doing justice, and appearing in the defence of such as he saw injured. He loved to be doing good: wherever the providence of God cast us, we should desire and endeavour to be useful; and when... [ Continue Reading ]
_Reuel_ Or Raguel (see Num 10:29) is thought by some to have been their grandfather, and father of Hobab or Jethro, their immediate father.... [ Continue Reading ]
_An Egyptian delivered us_ Such they supposed him to be by his habit and speech; or perhaps he told them that he came from Egypt. _Drew water enough_ Hebrew, _In drawing he drew_, which phrase means that he drew it readily and diligently, which caused their quick return.... [ Continue Reading ]
_He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter_ Whom he married, not immediately, but after some years of acquaintance with the family, as may be gathered from the youth of one of his sons, and his being uncircumcised forty years after this, Exodus 4:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gershom_ That is, _A stranger there._ Now this settlement of Moses in Midian was designed by Providence to shelter him for the present; God will find hiding-places for his people in the day of their distress. It was also designed to prepare him for the services he was to be called to. His manner of... [ Continue Reading ]
_The king of Egypt died_ And, after him, one or two more of his sons or successors. _And the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage_ Probably the murdering of their infants did not continue; that part of their affliction only attended the birth of Moses, to signalize that. And now they w... [ Continue Reading ]
_And God heard their groaning_ That is, he made it to appear that he took notice of their complaints. The groans of the oppressed cry loud in the ears of the righteous God, to whom vengeance belongs; especially the groans of God's children, the burdens they groan under, and the blessings they groan... [ Continue Reading ]