Exodus 2 commentary

EXODUS 2 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
The Birth of Moses
1 ow a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite
woman,
BAR ES, "A man ... a daughter of Levi - Amram and Jochebed. See Exo_6:20.
CLARKE, "There went a man - Amram, son of Kohath, son of Levi, Exo_6:16-20.
A daughter of Levi, Jochebed, sister to Kohath, and consequently both the wife and aunt
of her husband Amram, Exo_6:20; Num_26:59. Such marriages were at this time
lawful, though they were afterwards forbidden, Lev_18:12. But it is possible that
daughter of Levi means no more than a descendant of that family, and that probably
Amram and Jochebed were only cousin germans. As a new law was to be given and a
new priesthood formed, God chose a religious family out of which the lawgiver and the
high priest were both to spring.
GILL, "And there went a man of the house of Levi,.... This man was Amram, the
son of Kohath, and grandson of Levi, as appears from Exo_6:18.
and took to wife a daughter of Levi; one of the same house, family, or tribe; which
was proper, that the tribes might be kept distinct: this was Jochebed, said to be his
father's sister; see Gill on Exo_6:20, her name in Josephus (s) is Joachebel, which seems
to be no other than a corruption of Jochebed, but in the Targum in 1Ch_4:18 she is
called Jehuditha.
HE RY 1-2, "Moses was a Levite, both by father and mother. Jacob left Levi under
marks of disgrace (Gen_49:5); and yet, soon after, Moses appears a descendant from
him, that he might typify Christ, who came in the likeness of sinful flesh and was made a
curse for us. This tribe began to be distinguished from the rest by the birth of Moses, as
afterwards it became remarkable in many other instances. Observe, concerning this
newborn infant,
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, Luk_23:29. Better so than bring forth
children to the murderer, Hos_9:13. Yet this child proves the glory of his father's house.
Thus that which is most our fear often proves, in the issue, most our joy. Observe the
beauty of providence: just at the time when Pharaoh's cruelty rose to this height the
deliverer was born, though he did not appear for many years after. Note, When men are
projecting the church's ruin God is preparing for its salvation. Moses, who was
afterwards to bring Israel out of this house of bondage, was himself in danger of falling a
sacrifice to the fury of the oppressor, God so ordering it that, being afterwards told of
this, he might be the more animated with a holy zeal for the deliverance of his brethren
out of the hands of such bloody men. 1. His parents observed him to be a goodly child,
more than ordinarily beautiful; he was fair to God, Act_7:20. They fancied he had a
lustre in his countenance that was something more than human, and was a specimen of
the shining of his face afterwards, Exo_34:29. Note, God sometimes gives early earnests
of his gifts, and manifests himself betimes in those for whom and by whom he designs to
do great things. Thus he put an early strength into Samson (Jdg_13:24, Jdg_13:25), an
early forwardness into Samuel (1Sa_2:18), wrought an early deliverance for David (1Sa_
17:37), and began betimes with Timothy, 1Ti_3:15. 2. Therefore they were the more
solicitous for his preservation, because they looked upon this as an indication of some
kind purpose of God concerning him, and a happy omen of something great. Note, A
lively active faith can take encouragement from the least intimation of the divine favour;
a merciful hint of Providence will encourage those whose spirits make diligent search,
Three months they hid him in some private apartment of their own house, though
probably with the hazard of their own lives, had he been discovered. Herein Moses was a
type of Christ, who, in his infancy, was forced to abscond, and in Egypt too (Mat_2:13),
and was wonderfully preserved, when many innocents were butchered. It is said (Heb_
11:23) that the parents of Moses hid him by faith; some think they had a special
revelation to them that the deliverer should spring from their loins; however they had
the general promise of Israel's preservation, which they acted faith upon, and in that
faith hid their child, not being afraid of the penalty annexed to the king's commandment.
Note, Faith in God's promise is so far from superseding that it rather excites and
quickens to the use of lawful means for the obtaining of mercy. Duty is ours, events are
God's. Again, Faith in God will set us above the ensnaring fear of man.
K&D, "Birth and Education of Moses. - Whilst Pharaoh was urging forward the
extermination of the Israelites, God was preparing their emancipation. According to the
divine purpose, the murderous edict of the king was to lead to the training and
preparation of the human deliverer of Israel.
Exo_2:1-2
At the time when all the Hebrew boys were ordered to be thrown into the Nile, “there
went ( ְ‫ך‬ ַ‫ל‬ ָ‫ה‬ contributes to the pictorial character of the account, and serves to bring out its
importance, just as in Gen_35:22; Deu_31:1) a man of the house of Levi - according to
Exo_6:20 and Num_26:59, it was Amram, of the Levitical family of Kohath - and
married a daughter (i.e., a descendant) of Levi,” named Jochebed, who bore him a son,
viz., Moses. From Exo_6:20 we learn that Moses was not the first child of this marriage,
but his brother Aaron; and from Exo_2:7 of this chapter, it is evident that when Moses
was born, his sister Miriam was by no means a child (Num_26:59). Both of these had
been born before the murderous edict was issued (Exo_1:22). They are not mentioned

here, because the only question in hand was the birth and deliverance of Moses, the
future deliverer of Israel. “When the mother saw that the child was beautiful” (‫ּוב‬‫ט‬ as in
Gen_6:2; lxx ᅊστεሏος), she began to think about his preservation. The very beauty of the
child was to her “a peculiar token of divine approval, and a sign that God had some
special design concerning him” (Delitzsch on Heb_11:23). The expression ᅊστεሏος τሬ Θεሬ
in Act_7:20 points to this. She therefore hid the new-born child for three months, in the
hope of saving him alive. This hope, however, neither sprang from a revelation made to
her husband before the birth of her child, that he was appointed to be the saviour of
Israel, as Josephus affirms (Ant. ii. 9, 3), either from his own imagination or according
to the belief of his age, nor from her faith in the patriarchal promises, but primarily from
the natural love of parents for their offspring. And if the hiding of the child is praised in
Heb_11:23 as an act of faith, that faith was manifested in their not obeying the king's
commandment, but fulfilling without fear of man all that was required by that parental
love, which God approved, and which was rendered all the stronger by the beauty of the
child, and in their confident assurance, in spite of all apparent impossibility, that their
effort would be successful (vid., Delitzsch ut supra). This confidence was shown in the
means adopted by the mother to save the child, when she could hide it no longer.
CALVI , "1.And there went. I have preferred rendering the verb in the pluperfect
tense (abierat, “there had gone”) to prevent all ambiguity; for unless we say that
Miriam and Aaron were the children of another mother, it would not be probable
otherwise that this marriage was contracted after the passing of the edict. Aaron
was three years old when Moses was born; and we may easily conjecture that he was
brought up openly and securely. But there is no doubt but that the cruelty was
greatest at its commencement. Therefore, if they were uterine brothers, there is no
other explanation except to say that, by the figure called ὕστερον πρότερον, he now
relates what had happened before. But mention is only made of Moses, because it
then first began to be criminal to breed up male infants. The Hebrews use the word
for going or departing, to signify the undertaking of any serious or momentous
matter, or when they put any proposal into operation. or is it superfluous for
Moses to say that his father married a wife of his own tribe, because this double tie
of kindred should have confirmed them in their attempt to preserve their offspring.
But soon afterwards we shall see how timidly they acted. They hide the child for a
short time, rather from the transient impulse of love than from firm affection. When
three months had elapsed, and that impulse had passed away, they almost abandon
the child, in order to escape from danger. For although the mother would have
probably come next day, if he had passed the night there, to give him the breast, yet
had she exposed him as an outcast to innumerable risks. By this example, we
perceive what terror had taken possession of every mind, when a man and his wife,
united to each other by close natural relationship, prefer exposing their common
offspring, whose beauty moved them to pity, to peril of wild beasts, of the
atmosphere, of the water, and of every kind, rather than that they should perish
with him. But on this point different opinions are maintained: whether or not it
would have been better to discharge themselves of the care of their child, or to await
whatever danger attended its secret preservation. I confess, indeed, that whilst it is
difficult in such perplexities to come to a right conclusion, so also our conclusions
are apt to be variously judged; still I affirm that the timidity of the parents of

Moses, by which they were induced to forget their duty, cannot advisedly be
excused.
We see that God has implanted even in wild and brute beasts so great instinctive
anxiety for the protection and cherishing of their young, that the dam often despises
her own life in their defense. Wherefore it is the more base, that men, created in the
divine image, should be driven by fear to such a pitch of inhumanity as to desert the
children who are intrusted to their fidelity and protection. The reply of those who
assert that there was no better course in their desperate circumstances than to
repose on the providence of God, has something in it, but is not complete. It is the
chief consolation of believers to cast their cares on the bosom of God; provided that,
in the meantime, they perform their own duties, overpass not the bounds of their
vocation, and turn not away from the path set before them; but it is a perversion to
make the providence of God an excuse for negligence and sloth. The parents of
Moses ought rather to have looked forward with hope that God would be the
safeguard of themselves and their child. His mother made the ark with great pains,
and daubed it; but for what purpose? Was it not to bury her child in it? I allow that
she always seemed anxious for him, yet in such a way that her proceedings would
have been ridiculous and ineffectual, unless God had unexpectedly appeared from
heaven as the author of their preservation, of which she herself despaired.
evertheless, we must not judge either the father or mother as if they had lived in
quiet times; for it is easy to conceive with what bitter grief they compassed the death
of their child; nay, to speak more correctly, we can scarcely conceive what terrible
agonies they suffered. Therefore, when Moses relates how his mother made and
prepared an ark, he hints that the father was so overwhelmed with sorrow as to be
incapable of doing anything. Thus the power of the Lord more clearly manifested
itself, when the mother, her husband being entirely disheartened, took the whole
burden on herself. For, if they had acted in concert, Moses would not have assigned
the whole praise to his mother. The Apostle, indeed, (Hebrews 11:23,) gives a share
of the praise to the husband, and not undeservedly, since it is probable that the child
was not hidden without his cognizance and approval. But God, who generally
“chooses the weak things of the world,” strengthened with the power of his Spirit a
woman rather than a man, to stand foremost in the matter. And the same reasoning
applies to his sister, into whose hands his mother resigned the last and most
important act, so that while Miriam, who, on account of her tender age, appeared to
be exempt from danger, is appointed to watch over her brother’s life, both parents
appear to have neglected their duty.
TRAPP, "Exodus 2:1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took [to wife]
a daughter of Levi.
Ver. 1. And took to wife.] His own aunt. [Exodus 6:20 umbers 26:59] The law
against incest [Leviticus 18:12] was not yet given, nor the state of Israel settled. But
what excuse can there be for that abominable incest of the house of Austria by Papal
dispensation? King Philip of Spain was uncle to himself, first cousin to his father,
husband to his sister, and father to his wife! (a) And what shall we say of our
modern sectaries, whose practising of incest is now avowed publicly in print? They

shame not to affirm that those marriages are most lawful that are between persons
nearest in blood, brother and sister, father and daughter, mother and son, uncle and
niece. The prohibition of degrees in Leviticus is to be understood, say they, of
fornication, not of marriage (b) Tamar did not doubt to be her brother Amnon’s
wife, but detested the act of fornication, &c. Lo, here, what noonday devils do now,
in this unhappy time, walk with open face among us! (c)
COKE, "Exodus 2:1. And there went— From the passages referred to in the margin
of our Bibles, it appears, that the name of the father of Moses was Amram, and his
mother's Jochebed; a daughter of Levi, we render it; which means a descendant,
one of the house and family of Levi (Levitidem, as Houbigant has it). As it is plain
that they had children before Moses, viz. Aaron, who was three years older than
Moses, Exodus 7:7 and a sister, most probably Miriam, (for we read of no other
sister that he had,) Exodus 2:4. umbers 26:59 the verse should rather be rendered,
now a man of the house of Levi HAD GO E, and taken a wife of the house of Levi;
or married a descendant of Levi.
ELLICOTT, "(1) There went.—Comp. Genesis 35:22; Hosea 1:3. The expression is
idiomatic, and has no special force.
A man of the house of Levi.— ote the extreme simplicity of this announcement; and
compare it with the elaborate legends wherewith Oriental religions commonly
surrounded the birth of those who were considered their founders, as Thoth,
Zoroaster, Orpheus. Even the name of the man is here omitted as unimportant. It is
difficult to conceive any one but Moses making such an omission.
A daughter of Levi—i.e., a woman of the same tribe as himself, a descendant of
Levi—not a daughter in the literal sense, which the chronology makes impossible.
JAMISO , "Verse 1
And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
There went a man ... The name of the man was Amram, and that of the woman
whom he espoused was Jochebed, who is called "a daughter of Levi." Her
immediate descent from Levi seems to be confirmed (Exodus 6:20) by the special
mention of her relationship to Amram previous to their marriage; and it has been
supposed, from the repeated notice of this circumstance, that there was a peculiarity
in their matrimonial connection-that, in fact, it came within those degrees which,
though permitted in the early times of the patriarchs, were prohibited under the
Mosaic law (Leviticus 18:12).
There are chronological difficulties, however, lying in the way of this interpretation.
If Jochebed were There are chronological difficulties, however, lying in the way of
this interpretation. If Jochebed were actually the daughter of Levi, then her sons
must have been his grandsons by their mother's side, while their father Amram was
grandson, also, by his father's side. But there is a stronger objection suggested by
the bearing of Jochebed's filial relation to Levi on the period of Israel's sojourn in

Egypt. Assuming, what is generally admitted, that Levi (born in Jacob's 88th year)
was 42 at the time of immigration into Egypt; and, from his having reached 137
years at his death, that he had passed 95 years of his life in that country; then, as
Jochebed's birth took place within these 95 years ( umbers 26:59), we have the
following data: 95 + 80 (age of Moses at the Exodus) = 175-215 (the shorter period of
the sojourn) = 40 missing. It is evident, then, that the word "daughter," from the
vague use in the Hebrew writings of all terms of consanguinity (Genesis 14:14) must
be taken in the sense of 'descendant' of Levi; and that consequently, as the
genealogies are usually abridged, there must be some links of the pedigree dropped
either between Kohath and Amram, or between Amram and Moses. From other
parts of Scripture we learn that Amram and Jochebed had two children, one of
them born three years (Exodus 7:7) previous to the events narrated in the following
verses; and we infer, from there being no difficulties connected with his being
reared, that the infanticidal edict had not been issued.
COFFMA , "Verse 1-2
"And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
And the woman conceived and bare a son, and when she saw him that he was a
goodly child, she hid him three months."
"Of the house of Levi ..." This means "a descendant of Levi," but not actually a
literal son of Levi who had been dead for centuries as the time of the exodus
approached. Levi was the head of the tribe which later became the Levites and who
had charge of the religious life of Israel. The names of the parents, not given here,
are recorded in Exodus 6:1 as Amram and Jochebed. There were two older
children: Miriam, already a young woman of about 15 years of age and Aaron who
was some three years older than Moses. Both of these had been born before
Pharaoh's cruel edict to destroy all the male children. The fact of Moses' birth being
recorded here without mention of the birth of any older children is due solely to the
importance of Moses. Certainly, we may set aside the critical claim that, "It is
implied in Exodus 2:2 that Moses was the firstborn, but in Exodus 4:8 he has a
grown-up sister![2] Of course, Exodus 2:2 carries no such implication.
"He was a goodly child ..." This appears to be based upon the extraordinary and
captivating beauty of the child Moses, an endowment given to him by Almighty God
and designed to produce just such a reaction in a gracious woman's heart as that
which occurred when Pharaoh's daughter saw him. Jewish writers recount the most
fantastic incidents based upon the beauty of the infant Moses. Such great beauty
might also have lain behind the determination of his parents to defy the edict of
Pharaoh. "The very beauty of the child was to her a token of divine approval, and a
sign that God had some special design concerning him."[3] This could have been the
special factor that sent Amram and Jochebed to their knees in prayer to God, which
prayer God no doubt answered. The very fact that their defiance of Pharaoh's order
was an act of faith (Hebrews 11:23) has the meaning that their actions were based
upon God's commandments.
CO STABLE, "Verses 1-5

The names of Moses" parents were Amram and Jochebed ( Exodus 6:20).
"At this point Scripture"s aim is to inform us that from an ordinary Prayer of
Manasseh , ... and from an ordinary woman, ... whose names there was no need to
mention [at this point], God raised up a redeemer unto his people." [ ote: Cassuto,
p17.]
It is not clear from the text if Moses was an unusually beautiful child physically or if
he was distinctive in some other respect ( Exodus 2:2). Some commentators
translated "beautiful" as "healthy." [ ote: E.g, Brevard Childs, The Book of
Exodus , p18; The ET Bible note on2:2.] The phrase used to describe him in
Hebrews 11:23, as well as the Hebrew word used here, can have a broader meaning
than physical beauty. Josephus claimed that God had revealed to Amram in a
dream that Moses would humble the Egyptians. [ ote: Flavius Josephus, Antiquities
of the Jews, 2:9:3.] There is no scriptural support for this tradition; it may or may
not be true.
Jochebed and Amram hid Moses because they trusted God ( Exodus 2:3; Hebrews
11:23-26). The same Hebrew word translated "wicker basket" in this verse (tehvah)
reads "ark" or "boat" in English translations of Genesis 6:14. As oah"s ark was
God"s instrument for preserving one savior of the human race, Moses" ark proved
to be His means of preserving another savior of the Israelites. Moses" parents
obeyed Pharaoh and put Moses in the river ( Exodus 1:22), but they also trusted
God who delivered their baby.
"Ironically Jochebed, putting her son into the ile, was in one sense obeying the
Pharaoh"s edict to "throw" baby boys into the river! ( Exodus 1:22)" [ ote:
Hannah, p109.]
"There is abundant warrant, afforded by this narrative, for Christian parents to
cast their children upon God." [ ote: Meyer, p26.]
Moses" older sister was probably Miriam. She is the only sister of Moses mentioned
in Scripture ( Exodus 2:4; umbers 26:59).
The daughter of Pharaoh (Thutmose I) was probably Hatshepsut who was a very
significant person in Egyptian history ( Exodus 2:5). She later assumed co-regency
with Thutmose III and ruled as the fifth Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty (1503-
1482 B.C.). The ruling class in Egypt was male dominated, and it took a very
forceful woman to rise and rule. Queen Hatshepsut adopted certain male
mannerisms to minimize objections to her rule including the wearing of a false
beard that appears on some Egyptian pictures of her. [ ote: See Merrill Unger,
Archaeology and the Old Testament, pp144-45; Joseph Free, Archaeology and Bible
History, p86 , n9; and Francis ichol, ed, The Seventh-Day Adventist Bible
Commentary, 1:502.]
It was not uncommon for Pharaohs and other Egyptians to bathe ceremonially in

the sacred ile River, as many Indians do today in the Ganges River. The Egyptians
believed that the waters of the ile possessed the ability to impart fruitfulness and
to prolong life.
Several women were involved in the events surrounding Moses" birth: the
midwives, Pharaoh"s daughter, her maid, Moses" sister, and Jochebed. How ironic
it was that women, whom Egyptian and Israelite men looked down on as less
significant than themselves, should have been responsible for saving Israel"s savior!
Truly the hand of God is evident. The Gospel writers also recorded that several
women ministered to Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, during His first advent.
Verses 1-10
3. Moses" birth and education2:1-10
"Whilst Pharaoh was urging forward the extermination of the Israelites, God was
preparing their emancipator." [ ote: Keil and Delitzsch, 1:426.]
". . . among other things, the Pentateuch is an attempt to contrast the lives of two
individuals, Abraham and Moses. Abraham, who lived before the law (ante legem),
is portrayed as one who kept the law [ Genesis 26:5], whereas Moses, who lived
under the law (sub lege), is portrayed as one who died in the wilderness because he
did not believe [ umbers 20:12]." [ ote: John H. Sailhamer, "The Mosaic Law and
the Theology of the Pentateuch," Westminster Theological Journal53
(Fall1991):243.]
PULPIT, "There went a man. The Hebrew language is deficient in tenses, and
cannot mark pluperfect time. The meaning is, that "a man of the house of Levi had
gone, some time before, and taken to wife a daughter of Levi." Miriam must have
been fourteen or fifteen at the time of the exposure of Moses. By a daughter of Levi,
we must not understand an actual daughter, which is irreconcilable with the
chronology, but one of Levi's descendants — "a wife of the daughters of Levi," as
the LXX. translates.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY, "THE RESCUE OF MOSES.
Exodus 2:1-10.
We have said that the Old Testament history teems with political wisdom, lessons of
permanent instruction for mankind, on the level of this life, yet godly, as all true
lessons must be, in a world of which Christ is King. These our religion must learn to
recognise and proclaim, if it is ever to win the respect of men of affairs, and "leaven
the whole lump" of human life with sacred influence.
Such a lesson is the importance of the individual in the history of nations. History,
as read in Scripture, is indeed a long relation of heroic resistance or of base
compliance in the presence of influences which are at work to debase modern
peoples as well as those of old. The holiness of Samuel, the gallant faith of David, the

splendour and wisdom of Solomon, the fervid zeal of Elijah, the self-respecting
righteousness of ehemiah,--ignore these, and the whole course of affairs becomes
vague and unintelligible. Most of all this is true of Moses, whose appearance is now
related.
In profane history it is the same. Alexander, Mahomet, Luther, William the Silent,
apoleon,--will any one pretend that Europe uninfluenced by these personalities
would have become the Europe that we know?
And this truth is not at all a speculative, unpractical theory: it is vital. For now there
is a fashion of speaking about the tendency of the age, the time-spirit, as an
irresistible force which moulds men like potters' clay, crowning those who discern
and help it, but grinding to powder all who resist its course. In reality there are
always a hundred time-spirits and tendencies competing for the mastery--some of
them violent, selfish, atheistic, or luxurious (as we see with our own eyes today)--and
the shrewdest judges are continually at fault as to which of them is to be victorious,
and recognised hereafter as the spirit of the age.
This modern pretence that men are nothing, and streams of tendency are all, is
plainly a gospel of capitulations, of falsehood to one's private convictions, and of
servile obedience to the majority and the popular cry. For, if individual men are
nothing, what am I? If we are all bubbles floating down a stream, it is folly to strive
to breast the current. Much practical baseness and servility is due to this base and
servile creed. And the cure for it is belief in another spirit than that of the present
age, trust in an inspiring God, who rescued a herd of slaves and their fading
convictions from the greatest nation upon earth by matching one man, shrinking
and reluctant yet obedient to his mission, against Pharaoh and all the tendencies of
the age.
And it is always so. God turns the scale of events by the vast weight of a man,
faithful and true, and sufficiently aware of Him to refuse, to universal clamour, the
surrender of his liberty or his religion. In small matters, as in great, there is no man,
faithful to a lonely duty or conviction, understanding that to have discerned it is a
gift and a vocation, but makes the world better and stronger, and works out part of
the answer to that great prayer "Thy will be done."
We have seen already that the religion of the Hebrews in Egypt was corrupted and
in danger of being lost. To this process, however, there must have been bright
exceptions; and the mother of Moses bore witness, by her very name, to her fathers'
God. The first syllable of Jochebed is proof that the name of God, which became the
keynote of the new revelation, was not entirely new.
As yet the parents of Moses are not named; nor is there any allusion to the close
relationship which would have forbidden their union at a later period (Exodus
6:20). And throughout all the story of his youth and early manhood there is no
mention whatever of God or of religion. Elsewhere it is not so. The Epistle to the
Hebrews declares that through faith the babe was hidden, and through faith the

man refused Egyptian rank. Stephen tells us that he expected his brethren to know
that God by his hand was giving them deliverance. But the narrative in Exodus is
wholly untheological. If Moses were the author, we can see why he avoided
reflections which directly tended to glorify himself. But if the story were a
subsequent invention, why is the tone so cold, the light so colourless?
ow, it is well that we are invited to look at all these things from their human side,
observing the play of human affection, innocent subtlety, and pity. God commonly
works through the heart and brain which He has given us, and we do not glorify
Him at all by ignoring these. If in this case there were visible a desire to suppress the
human agents, in favour of the Divine Preserver, we might suppose that a different
historian would have given a less wonderful account of the plagues, the crossing of
the Sea, and the revelation from Sinai. But since full weight is allowed to second
causes in the early life of Moses, the story is entitled to the greater credit when it
tells of the burning bush and the flaming mountain.
Let us, however, put together the various narratives and their lessons. At the outset
we read of a marriage celebrated between kinsfolk, when the storm of persecution
was rising. And hence we infer that courage or strong affection made the parents
worthy of him through whom God should show mercy unto thousands. The first
child was a girl, and therefore safe; but we may suppose, although silence in
Scripture proves little, that Aaron, three years before the birth of Moses, had not
come into equal peril with him. Moses was therefore born just when the last atrocity
was devised, when trouble was at its height.
"At this time Moses was born," said Stephen. Edifying inferences have been drawn
from the statement in Exodus that "the woman ... hid him." Perhaps the stronger
man quailed, but the maternal instinct was not at fault, and it was rewarded
abundantly. From which we only learn, in reality, not to overstrain the words of
Scripture; since the Epistle to the Hebrews distinctly says that he "was hid three
months by his parents"--both of them, while naturally the mother is the active
agent.
All the accounts agree that he was thus hidden, "because they saw that he was a
goodly child" (Hebrews 11:23). It is a pathetic phrase. We see them, before the
crisis, vaguely submitting in theory to an unrealised atrocity, ignorant how
imperiously their nature would forbid the crime, not planning disobedience in
advance, nor led to it by any reasoning process. All is changed when the little one
gazes at them with that marvellous appeal in its unconscious eyes, which is known to
every parent, and helps him to be a better man. There is a great difference between
one's thought about an infant, and one's feeling towards the actual baby. He was
their child, their beautiful child; and this it was that turned the scale. For him they
would now dare anything, "because they saw he was a goodly child, and they were
not afraid of the king's commandment." ow, impulse is often a great power for
evil, as when appetite or fear, suddenly taking visible shape, overwhelms the
judgment and plunges men into guilt. But good impulses may be the very voice of
God, stirring whatever is noble and generous within us. or are they accidental:

loving and brave emotions belong to warm and courageous hearts; they come of
themselves, like song birds, but they come surely where sunshine and still groves
invite them, not into clamour and foul air. Thus arose in their bosoms the sublime
thought of God as an active power to be reckoned upon. For as certainly as every
bad passion that we harbour preaches atheism, so does all goodness tend to sustain
itself by the consciousness of a supreme Goodness in reserve. God had sent them
their beautiful child, and who was Pharaoh to forbid the gift? And so religion and
natural pity joined hands, their supreme convictions and their yearning for their
infant. "By faith Moses was hid ... because they saw he was a goodly child, and they
were not afraid of the king's commandment."
Such, if we desire a real and actual salvation, is always the faith which saves.
Postpone salvation to an indefinite future; make it no more than the escape from
vaguely realised penalties for sins which do not seem very hateful; and you may
suppose that faith in theories can obtain this indulgence; an opinion may weigh
against a misgiving. But feel that sin is not only likely to entail damnation, but is
really and in itself damnable meanwhile, and then there will be no deliverance
possible, but from the hand of a divine Friend, strong to sustain and willing to guide
the life. We read that Amram lived a hundred and thirty and seven years, and of all
that period we only know that he helped to save the deliverer of his race, by
practical faith which made him not afraid, and did not paralyse but stimulate his
energies.
When the mother could no longer hide the child, she devised the plan which has
made her for ever famous. She placed him in a covered ark, or casket,(3) plaited
(after what we know to have been the Egyptian fashion) of the papyrus reed, and
rendered watertight with bitumen, and this she laid among the rushes--a lower
vegetation, which would not, like the tall papyrus, hide her treasure--in the well-
known and secluded place where the daughter of Pharaoh used to bathe. Something
in the known character of the princess may have inspired this ingenious device to
move her pity; but it is more likely that the woman's heart, in her extremity,
prompted a simple appeal to the woman who could help her if she would. For an
Egyptian princess was an important personage, with an establishment of her own,
and often possessed of much political influence. The most sanguinary agent of a
tyrant would be likely to respect the client of such a patron.
The heart of every woman was in a plot against the cruelty of Pharaoh. Once
already the midwives had defeated him; and now, when his own daughter(4)
unexpectedly found, in the water at her very feet, a beautiful child sobbing silently
(for she knew not what was there until the ark was opened), her indignation is
audible enough in the words, "This is one of the Hebrews' children." She means to
say "This is only one specimen of the outrages that are going on."
This was the chance for his sister, who had been set in ambush, not prepared with
the exquisite device which follows, but simply "to know what would be done to
him." Clearly the mother had reckoned upon his being found, and neglected
nothing, although unable herself to endure the agony of watching, or less easily

hidden in that guarded spot. And her prudence had a rich reward. Hitherto
Miriam's duty had been to remain passive--that hard task so often imposed upon
the affection, especially of women, by sick-beds, and also in many a more stirring
hazard, and many a spiritual crisis, where none can fight his brother's battle. It is a
trying time, when love can only hold its breath, and pray. But let not love suppose
that to watch is to do nothing. Often there comes a moment when its word, made
wise by the teaching of the heart, is the all-important consideration in deciding
mighty issues.
This girl sees the princess at once pitiful and embarrassed, for how can she dispose
of her strange charge? Let the moment pass, and the movement of her heart subside,
and all may be lost; but Miriam is prompt and bold, and asks "Shall I go and call to
thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?" It is a
daring stroke, for the princess must have understood the position thoroughly, the
moment the eager Hebrew girl stepped forward. The disguise was very thin. And at
least the heart which pitied the infant must have known the mother when she saw
her face, pale with longing. It is therefore only as a form, exacted by circumstances,
but well enough though tacitly understood upon both sides, that she bids her nurse
the child for her, and promises wages. What reward could equal that of clasping her
child to her own agitated bosom in safety, while the destroyers were around?
This incident teaches us that good is never to be despaired of, since this kindly
woman grew up in the family of the persecutor.
And the promptitude and success of Miriam suggest a reflection. Men do pity, when
it is brought home to them, the privation, suffering, and wrong, which lie around.
Magnificent sums are contributed yearly for their relief by the generous instincts of
the world. The misfortune is that sentiment is evoked only by visible and pathetic
griefs, and that it will not labour as readily as it will subscribe. It is a harder task to
investigate, to devise appeals, to invent and work the machinery by which misery
may be relieved. Mere compassion will accomplish little, unless painstaking
affection supplement it. Who supplies that? Who enables common humanity to
relieve itself by simply paying "wages," and confiding the wretched to a
painstaking, laborious, loving guardian? The streets would never have known
Hospital Saturday, but for Hospital Sunday in the churches. The orphanage is
wholly a Christian institution. And so is the lady nurse. The old-fashioned phrase
has almost sunk into a party cry, but in a large and noble sense it will continue to be
true to nature as long as bereavement, pain or penitence requires a tender bosom
and soothing touch, which speaks of Mother Church.
Thus did God fulfil His mysterious plans. And according to a sad but noble law,
which operates widely, what was best in Egypt worked with Him for the punishment
of its own evil race. The daughter of Pharaoh adopted the perilous foundling, and
educated him in the wisdom of Egypt.
PARKER 1-9, "How will these commands and purposes be received in practical
life? This inquiry will be answered as we proceed to the second chapter.

"And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi" (
Exodus 2:1).
There is nothing extraordinary in this statement. From the beginning men and
women have married and have been given in marriage. It is therefore but an
ordinary event which is described in this verse. Yet we know that the man of Levi
and the daughter of Levi were the father and mother of one whose name was to
become associated with that of the Lamb! May not Renown have Obscurity for a
pedestal? Do not the pyramids themselves rest on sand? What are the great rocks
but consolidated mud? We talk of our ancestry, and are proud of those who have
gone before us. There is a sense in which this is perfectly justifiable, and not only
Song of Solomon , but most laudable; let us remember, however, that if we go back
far enough, we land, ii not in a common obscurity, yet in a common moral
dishonour. Parents may be nameless, yet their children may rise to imperishable
renown. The world is a great deal indebted to its obscure families. Many a giant has
been reared in a humble habitation. Many who have served God, and been a terror
to the Wicked One, have come forth from unknown hiding-places. I would dart this
beam of light into the hearts of some who imagine that they are making little or no
contribution to the progress of society. Be honest in your sphere,—be faithful to
your children, and even out of your life there may go forth an indirect influence
without which the most sounding reputation is empty and worthless.
"And when she could not longer hide him, [that Isaiah , the child that was born to
her,] 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" ( Exodus
2:3).
The first going from home of any child always marks a period of special interest in
the family. What a going was this! When some of you went from home, how you
were cared for! How your family gathered round you to speak a kind farewell!
What a box-filling, and portmanteau-strapping, what a fluttering of careful, anxious
love there was! What has become of you? Were you suffocated with kindness? were
you slain by the hand of a too anxious love? Truly, some men who have had the
roughest and coldest beginning have, under the blessing of God, turned out to be the
bravest, the strongest, the noblest of men! I believe in rough beginnings: we have
less to fear from hardship than from luxury. Some children are confectioned to
death. What with coddling, bandaging, nursing, and petting, the very sap of their
life is drained away. There is indeed another side to this question of beginnings. I
have known some children who have hardly ever been allowed to go out lest they
should wet their feet, who have been spared all drudgery, who have had every wish
and whim gratified, whose parents have suddenly come to social ruin, and yet these
very children have, under their altered circumstances, developed a force of
character, an enduring patience, and a lofty self-control never to have been expected
from their dainty training. But a man is not necessarily a great man because he has
had a rough beginning. Many may have been laid on the river ile, whose names
would have done no honour to history. Accept your rough beginning in a proper

spirit; be not overcome by the force of merely external circumstances; wait, hope,
work, pray, and you will yet see the path which leads into light, and honour, and
peace. The mother of Moses laid the ark in the flags by the river"s brink. Ay, but
before doing so she laid it on the heart of God! She could not have laid it so
courageously upon the ile, if she had not first devoutly laid it upon the care and
love of God. We are often surprised at the outward calmness of men who are called
upon to do unpleasant and most trying deeds; but could we have seen them in secret
we should have known the moral preparation which they underwent before coming
out to be seen of men. Be right in the sanctuary, if you would be right in the
marketplace. Be steadfast in prayer, if you would be calm in affliction. Start your
race from the throne of God itself, if you would run well, and win the prize.
"And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him" ( Exodus 2:4).
Society needs watchers as well as workers. Had we been passing the spot at which
the sister of Moses took up her position of observation, we might have condemned
her as an idler standing there and doing nothing! We should be careful of our
condemnation, seeing how little we know of the reality of any case. In doing nothing,
the girl was in reality doing everything. If she had done more, she would have done
less. There is a silent ministry as well as a ministry of thunder. Mark the cunning of
love! The watcher stood afar off. Had she stood quite close at hand, she would have
defeated the very object of her watching. She was to do her work without the
slightest appearance of doing it. Truly there is a great art in love, and in all good
ministry. There are wise master-builders, and also builders who are very foolish.
Sometimes we must look without staring; we must speak without making a noise; we
must be artful without dissimulation, and hide under the calmest exterior the most
urgent and tumultuous emotion.
"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. 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" ( Exodus 2:5-6).
"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." When the child cried, the heart
of the daughter of Pharaoh was moved, as simple and beautiful a piece of human
nature as is to be found anywhere. How poor would the world be without its
helpless ones! Little children by their very weakness make strong men stronger. By
the wickedness of the wicked, the righteousness of the righteous is called forth in
some of its most impressive and winsome forms. Looking at the daughter of
Pharaoh from a distance, she appears to be haughty, self-involved, and self-
satisfied; but, stooping near that little ark, she becomes a woman, having in her the
instinct of motherliness itself! We should all be fathers and mothers to the orphan,
the lost, and the desolate. The government of humanity is so ordered that even the
most distressing circumstances are made to contribute to the happy development of
our best impulses and energies. o man can be permanently unhappy who looks
into the cradles of the poor and lonely, as Pharaoh"s daughter looked into this ark

of bulrushes. Go by the river"s side, where the poor lost child Isaiah , and be a
father and a mother to him if you would have happiness in the very core of your
heart! Even a king"s daughter is the richer and gladder for this stoop of love. Some
have been trying to reach too high for their enjoyments; the blooming fruit has been
beyond their stature; they have therefore turned away with pining and discontent,
not knowing that if they had bent themselves to the ground they would have found
the happiness in the dust, which they attempted in vain to pluck from inaccessible
heights.
"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?" ( Exodus 2:7).
The watcher came without making a noise. Who ever heard the light come over the
hills? Who ever heard the violet growing? The watcher, too, spoke to the king"s
daughter without introduction or ceremony! Are there not times in life when we are
superior to all formalities? Are there not sorrows which enable us to overcome the
petty difficulties of etiquette? Earnestness will always find ways for its own
expression. The child might well have pleaded timidity; fear of the greatness of
Pharaoh"s daughter, or shamefacedness in the presence of the great and noble;
under ordinary circumstances she would undoubtedly have done so; but the life of
her brother was at risk, the command of her mother was in her heart, and her own
pity yearned over the lonely one: under the compulsion of such considerations as
these, the watcher urged her way to the side of Pharaoh"s daughter, and made this
proposition of love. False excuses are only possible where there is lack of
earnestness. If we really cared for lost children, we should find ways of speaking for
them in high quarters. There is a boldness which is consistent with the purest
modesty, and there is a timidity which thinly disguises the most abject cowardice.
"And Pharaoh"s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the
child"s mother. And Pharaoh"s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and
nurse it lor me, and I will give thee thy wages" ( Exodus 2:8-9).
All done in a moment, as it were! Such are the rapid changes in lives which are
intended to express some great meaning and purpose of God. They are cast down,
but not destroyed; persecuted, but not forsaken! From the action of Pharaoh"s
daughter we learn that first thoughts are, where generous impulses are concerned,
the only thoughts worth trusting. Sometimes we reason that second thoughts are
best; in a certain class of cases this reasoning may be substantially correct, but,
where the heart is moved to do some noble and heroic thing, the first thought should
be accepted as an inspiration from God, and carried out without self-consultation or
social fear. Those who are accustomed to seek contribution or service for the cause
of God, of course know well what it is to encounter the imprudent prudence which
says, "I must think about it." Where the work is good, don"t think about it; do it,
and then think. When a person goes to a place of business, and turns an article over
and over, and looks at it with hesitation, and finally says, "I will call again," the
master of the establishment says in his heart, " ever!" If Pharaoh"s daughter had
considered the subject, the probability is that Moses would have been left on the

ile or under it; but she accepted her motherly love as a Divine guide, and saved the
life of the child.
"And the woman took the child, and nursed it" ( Exodus 2:9).
What her self-control in that hour of maddening excitement cost, no tongue can tell.
She took the child as a stranger might have taken it, and yet her heart was bursting
with the very passion of delight. Had she given way for one instant, her agitation
might have revealed the plot. Everything depended upon her calmness. But love can
do anything! The great question underlying all service is a question not so much of
the intellect as of the heart. We should spoil fewer things if our love was deeper. We
should finish our tasks more completely if we entered upon them under the
inspiration of perfect love. The mother consented to become a hireling,—to take
wages for nursing her own child! Love can thus deny itself, and take up its sweet
cross. How little did Pharaoh"s daughter know what she was doing! Does any one
really know what work he is doing in all its scope and meaning? The simplest
occasion of our lives may be turned to an account which it never entered into our
hearts to imagine. Who can tell where the influence of a gentle smile may end? We
know not the good that may be done by the echo as well as by the voice. There is a
joyful bridegroom throwing his dole into the little crowd of laughing eager boys.
One of those boys is specially anxious to secure his full share of all that is thrown: he
has snatched a penny, but in a moment it has been dashed out of his hand by a
competitor: see how anger flushes his face, and with what determination he strikes
the successful boy: he is a savage, he is unfit to have his liberty in the public streets,
his temper is uncontrollable, his covetousness is shocking: he wins the poor prize,
and hastens away; watch him: with his hard-earned penny he buys a solitary
orange, and with quick feet he finds his way up a rickety staircase into a barely-
furnished garret; he gives his orange to his poor dying sister, and the juice assuages
her burning thirst. When we saw the fight, we called the boy a beast; but we knew
not what we said!
We call the early life of Moses a miracle. There is a sense of course in which that is
literally true. But is there not a sense in which every human life has in it the
miraculous element? We are too fond of bringing down everything to the level of
commonplace, and are becoming almost blind to the presence of elements and forces
in life which ought to impress us with a distinct consciousness of a power higher
than our own. Why this worship of commonplace? Why this singular delight in ah
things that are supposed to be level and square, and wanting in startling emphasis?
I would rather speak thus with myself:—My life too is a miracle; it was put away
upon a river and might have been lost in the troubled water; kind eyes watched the
little vessel in which the life was hidden; other persons gathered around it and felt
interested in its fortunes; it was drawn away from the stream of danger and for a
time hidden within the security of love and comfort and guidance. It has also had to
contend with opposition and difficulty, seen and unseen; it has been threatened on
every side. Temptations and allurements have been held out to it, and it has been
with infinite difficulty that it has been reared through all the atmosphere intended
to oppress and to poison it. I could shut out all these considerations if I pleased, and

regard my life within its merely animal boundaries, and find in it nothing whatever
to excite religious wonder or religious thankfulness; but this is not the right view. To
do so would be to inflict injustice upon the Providence which has made my life a
daily wonder to myself. I will think of God"s tender care, of the continual mercy
which has been round about me, and of the blessed influences which have
strengthened and ennobled every good purpose of my heart; and I, too, will stand
side by side with Moses when he sings the wonders of the hand Divine. The miracle
is not always in the external incident; it may be hidden in the core of things and may
slowly disclose itself to the eyes of religious reverence and inquiry. O that men were
wise: that they would consider their beginning as well as their latter end, and learn
to trace the hand of Heaven even in those comparative trifles which are supposed to
lie within the scope and determination of time.
MACLARE , "THE ARK AMO G THE FLAGS
Exodus 2:1 - - Exodus 2:10.
I. It is remarkable that all the persons in this narrative are anonymous. We know
that the names of ‘the man of the house of Levi’ and his wife were Amram and
Jochebed. Miriam was probably the anxious sister who watched what became of the
little coffer. The daughter of Pharaoh has two names in Jewish tradition, one of
which corresponds to that which Brugsch has found to have been borne by one of
Rameses’ very numerous daughters. One likes to think that the name of the gentle-
hearted woman has come down to us; but, whether she was called ‘Meri’ or not, she
and the others have no name here. The reason can scarcely have been ignorance.
But they are, as it were, kept in shadow, because the historian saw, and wished us to
see, that a higher Hand was at work, and that over all the events recorded in these
verses there brooded the informing, guiding Spirit of God Himself, the sole actor.
‘Each only as God wills Can work-God’s puppets, best and worst, Are we: there is
no last nor first.’
II. The mother’s motive in braving the danger to herself involved in keeping the
child is remarkably put. ‘When she saw that he was a goodly child, she hid him.’ It
was not only a mother’s love that emboldened her, as it does all weak creatures, to
shelter her offspring at her own peril, but something in the look of the infant, as it
lay on her bosom, touched her with a dim hope. According to the Septuagint
translation, both parents shared in this. And so the Epistle to the Hebrews unites
them in that which is here attributed to the mother only. Stephen, too, speaks of
Moses as ‘fair in God’s sight.’ As if the prescient eyes of the parents were not
blinded by love, but rather cleared to see some token of divine benediction resting
on him. The writer of the Hebrews lifts the deed out of the category of instinctive
maternal affection up to the higher level of faith. So we may believe that the aspect
of her child woke some prophetic vision in the mother’s soul, and that she and her
husband were of those who cherished the hopes naturally born from the promise to
Abraham, nurtured by Jacob’s and Joseph’s dying wish to be buried in Canaan,
and matured by the tyranny of Pharaoh. Their faith, at all events, grasped the
unseen God as their helper, and made Jochebed bold to break the terrible law, as a
hen will fly in the face of a mastiff to shield her brood. Their faith perhaps also
grasped the future deliverance, and linked it in some way with their child. We may

learn how transfiguring and ennobling to the gentlest and weakest is faith in God,
especially when it is allied with unselfish human love. These two are the strongest
powers. If they are at war, the struggle is terrible: if they are united, ‘the weakest is
as David, and David as an angel of God.’ Let us seek ever to blend their united
strength in our own lives.
Will it be thought too fanciful if we suggest that we are taught another lesson,-
namely, that the faith which surrenders its earthly treasures to God, in confidence
of His care, is generally rewarded and vindicated by receiving them back again,
glorified and sanctified by the altar on which they have been laid? Jochebed clasped
her recovered darling to her bosom with a deeper gladness, and held him by a surer
title, when Miriam brought him back as the princess’s charge, than ever before. We
never feel the preciousness of dear ones so much, nor are so calm in the joy of
possession, as when we have laid them in God’s hands, and have learned how wise
and wonderful His care is.
III. How much of the world’s history that tiny coffer among the reeds held! How
different that history would have been if, as might easily have happened, it had
floated away, or if the feeble life within it had wailed itself dead unheard! The
solemn possibilities folded and slumbering in an infant are always awful to a
thoughtful mind. But, except the manger at Bethlehem, did ever cradle hold the seed
of so much as did that papyrus chest? The set of opinion at present minimises the
importance of the individual, and exalts the spirit of the period, as a factor in
history. Standing beside Miriam, we may learn a truer view, and see that great
epochs require great men, and that, without such for leaders, no solid advance in the
world’s progress is achieved. Think of the strange cradle floating on the ile; then
think of the strange grave among the mountains of Moab, and of all between, and
ponder the same lesson as is taught in yet higher fashion by Bethlehem and Calvary,
that God’s way of blessing the world is to fill men with His message, and let others
draw from them. Whether it be ‘law,’ or ‘grace and truth,’ a man is needed through
whom it may fructify to all.
IV. The sweet picture of womanly compassion in Pharaoh’s daughter is full of
suggestions. We have already noticed that her name is handed down by one
tradition as ‘Merris,’ and that ‘Meri’ has been found as the appellation of a princess
of the period. A rabbinical authority calls her ‘Bithiah,’ that is, ‘Daughter of
Jehovah’; by which was, no doubt, intended to imply that she became in some sense
a proselyte. This may have been only an inference from her protection of Moses.
There is a singular and very obscure passage in 1 Chronicles 4:17 - 1 Chronicles
4:18, relating the genealogy of a certain Mered, who seems to have had two wives,
one ‘the Jewess,’ the other ‘Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh.’ We know no more
about him or her, but Keil thinks that Mered probably ‘lived before the exodus’;
but it can scarcely be that the ‘daughter of Pharaoh,’ his wife, is our princess, and
that she actually became a ‘daughter of Jehovah,’ and, like her adopted child,
refused royal dignity and preferred reproach. In any case, the legend of her name is
a tender and beautiful way of putting the belief that in her ‘there was some good
thing towards the God of Israel.’
But, passing from that, how the true woman’s heart changes languid curiosity into
tenderness, and how compassion conquers pride of race and station, as well as
regard for her father’s edict, as soon as the infant’s cry, which touches every good

woman’s feelings, falls on her ear! ‘One touch of nature makes the whole world
kin.’ All the centuries are as nothing; the strange garb and the stranger mental and
spiritual dress fade, and we have here a mere woman, affected, as every true sister
of hers to-day would be, by the helpless wailing. God has put that instinct there.
Alas that it ever should be choked by frivolity or pride, and frozen by indifference
and self-indulgence! Gentle souls spring up in unfavourable soil. Rameses was a
strange father for such a daughter. How came this dove in the vulture’s cage? Her
sweet pity beside his cold craft and cruelty is like the lamb couching by the lion.
ote, too, that gentlest pity makes the gentlest brave. She sees the child is a Hebrew.
Her quick wit understands why it has been exposed, and she takes its part, and the
part of the poor weeping parents, whom she can fancy, against the savage law. o
doubt, as Egyptologists tell us, the princesses of the royal house had separate
households and abundant liberty of action. Still, it was bold to override the strict
commands of such a monarch. But it was not a self-willed sense of power, but the
beautiful daring of a compassionate woman, to which God committed the execution
of His purposes.
And that is a force which has much like work trusted to it in modern society too.
Our great cities swarm with children exposed to a worse fate than the baby among
the flags. Legislation and official charity have far too rough hands and too clumsy
ways to lift the little life out of the coffer, and to dry the tears. We must look to
Christian women to take a leaf out of ‘Bithiah’ s’ book. First, they should use their
eyes to see the facts, and not be so busy about their own luxury and comfort that
they pass the poor pitch-covered box unnoticed. Then they should let the pitiful call
touch their heart, and not steel themselves in indifference or ease. Then they should
conquer prejudices of race, pride of station, fear of lowering themselves, loathing, or
contempt. And then they should yield to the impulses of their compassion, and never
mind what difficulties or opponents may stand in the way of their saving the
children. If Christian women knew their obligations and their power, and lived up
to them as bravely as this Egyptian princess, there would be fewer little ones flung
out to be eaten by crocodiles, and many a poor child, who is now abandoned from
infancy to the Devil, would be rescued to grow up a servant of God. She, there by
the ile waters, in her gracious pity and prompt wisdom, is the type of what
Christian womanhood, and, indeed, the whole Christian community, should be in
relation to child life.
V. The great lesson of this incident, as of so much before, is the presence of God’s
wonderful providence, working out its designs by all the play of human motives. In
accordance with a law, often seen in His dealings, it was needful that the deliverer
should come from the heart of the system from which he was to set his brethren free.
The same principle which sent Saul of Tarsus to be trained at the feet of Gamaliel,
and made Luther a monk in the Augustinian convent at Erfurt, planted Moses in
Pharaoh’s palace and taught him the wisdom of Egypt, against which he was to
contend. It was a strange irony of Providence that put him so close to the throne
which he was to shake. For his future work he needed to be lifted above his people,
and to be familiar with the Egyptian court as well as with Egyptian learning. If he
was to hate and to war against idolatry, and to rescue an unwilling people from it,
he must know the rottenness of the system, and must have lived close enough to it to
know what went on behind the scenes, and how foully it smelled when near. He

would gain influence over his countrymen by his connection with Pharaoh, whilst
his very separation from them would at once prevent his spirit from being broken
by oppression, and would give him a keener sympathy with his people than if he had
himself been crushed by slavery. His culture, heathen as it was, supplied the
material on which the divine Spirit worked. God fashioned the vessel, and then
filled it. Education is not the antagonist of inspiration. For the most part, the men
whom God has used for His highest service have been trained in all the wisdom of
their age. When it has been piled up into an altar, then ‘the fire of the Lord’ falls.
Our story teaches us that God’s chosen instruments are immortal till their work is
done. o matter how forlorn may seem their outlook, how small the probabilities in
their favour, how divergent from the goal may seem the road He leads them, He
watches them. Around that frail ark, half lost among the reeds, is cast the
impregnable shield of His purpose. All things serve that Will. The current in the full
river, the lie of the flags that stop it from being borne down, the hour of the
princess’s bath, the direction of her idle glance, the cry of the child at the right
moment, the impulse welling up in her heart, the swift resolve, the innocent
diplomacy of the sister, the shelter of the happy mother’s breast, the safety of the
palace,-all these and a hundred more trivial and unrelated things are spun into the
strong cable wherewith God draws slowly but surely His secret purpose into act. So
ever His children are secure as long as He has work for them, and His mighty plan
strides on to its accomplishment over all the barriers that men can raise.
How deeply this story had impressed on devout minds the truth of the divine
protection for all who serve Him, is shown by the fact that the word employed in the
last verse of our lesson, and there translated ‘drawn,’ of which the name ‘Moses’ is
a form, is used on the only occasion of its occurrence in the Old Testament {namely
Psalms 18:16, and in the duplicate in 2 Samuel 22:17} with plain reference to our
narrative. The Psalmist describes his own deliverance, in answer to his cry, by a
grand manifestation of God’s majesty; and this is the climax and the purpose of the
earthquake and the lightning, the darkness and the storm: ‘He sent from above, He
took me, He drew me out of many waters.’ So that scene by the margin of the ile,
so many years ago, is but one transient instance of the working of the power which
secures deliverance from encompassing perils, and for strenuous, though it may be
undistinguished, service to all who call upon Him. God, who put the compassion into
the heart of Pharaoh’s dusky daughter, is not less tender of heart than she, and
when He hears us, though our cry be but as of an infant, ‘with no language but a
cry,’ He will come in His majesty and draw us from encompassing dangers and
impending death. We cannot all be lawgivers and deliverers; but we may all appeal
to His great pity, and partake of deliverance like that of Moses and of David.
LA GE, "Exodus 2:1. And there went.—‫ְָך‬‫ל‬ָ‫ה‬, according to Keil, serves to give a
pictorial description. Inasmuch as the woman had already borne Miriam and
Aaron, it would mislead us to take the word in this sense. The expression properly
means that he had gone; he had, in these dangerous times which, to be sure, at
Aaron’s birth had not yet reached the climax (he was three years older than Moses)
taken the step of entering the married state.—The descent of these parents from the
tribe of Levi is remarked. Energetic boldness had distinguished it even in the
ancestor ( Genesis 49:5; Exodus 32:26; Deuteronomy 33:8). Although originally not

without fanaticism, this boldness yet indicated the qualities needed for the future
priesthood.
BI 1-4, "An ark of bulrushes.
The Birth of Moses
I. As occurring of noble parentage.
1. They were of moderate social position.
2. They were of strong parental affection.
3. They were of good religious character.
Happy the child that is linked to the providence of God by a mother’s faith! Faith in God
is the preserving influence of a threatened life—physically, morally, eternally.
II. As happening in perilous times.
1. When his nation was in a condition of servitude. That this servitude was severe,
exacting, grievous, disastrous, murderous, is evident from the last chapter.
2. When a cruel edict was in force against the young.
III. As involving momentous issues.
1. Issues relating to the lives of individuals. The birth of Moses made Miriam a
watcher, gave her an introduction to a king’s daughter, and has given immortality to
her name. It brought Aaron into historical prominence.
2. Issues involving the freedom of an enslaved people.
3. Issues relating to the destiny of a proud nation.
IV. As exhibiting the inventiveness of maternal love.
1. In that she devised a scheme for the safety of her child. The mother was more
clever than the tyrant king and his accomplices. Tyranny is too calculating to be
clever. Maternal love is quick and spontaneous in thought.
V. As eluding the edict of a cruel king. The mother of Moses was justified in eluding this
edict, because it was unjust, murderous; it did violence to family affection, to the laws of
citizenship, and to the joyful anticipation of men. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The infancy of Moses
1. His concealment.
2. His rescue.
3. His restoration. (Caleb Morris.)
Lessons
1. Providence is preparing good, while wickedness is working evil to the Church.
2. Lines, tribes, and persons are appointed by God, by whom He will work good to

His people.
3. In the desolations of the Church’s seed, God will have His to marry and continue
it.
4. Tribes cursed for their desert, may be made instrumental of good by grace.
5. Choice and taking in marriage should be under Providence, free, and rational
(Exo_2:1).
6. The greatest instruments of the Church’s good God ordereth to being in the
common way of man.
7. God ordereth, in His wisdom, instruments of salvation to be born in times of
distinction.
8. No policies or cruelties of man can hinder God from sending saviours to His
Church (Exo_2:2). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
The ark of bulrushes
I. The goodly child—Moses.
1. Its birth.
(1) In an evil time. The edict of Pharaoh, like the sword of Damocles, over its
head. God takes care that men needed for His work in evil times shall be born in
them—Wickliffe, Luther.
(2) Of an oppressed people and humble origin. Great men often of lowly
extraction.
2. Its appearance—“Goodly.” Beautiful, not only to a mother’s eyes, but really so. Its
beauty appealed to the mother, as its tears to the princess.
3. The excitement caused by its birth. Babes usually welcomed. Here were fear and
sorrow and perplexity. This Divine gift becomes a trial, through the wickedness of
man. Sin turns blessings into Curses, and joy into sorrow.
II. The anxious mother—Jochebed.
1. Her first feelings. Touched by the rare loveliness of her child. Bravely resolves to
evade the decree. She had another son—Aaron—now three years of age (Exo_7:7);
but could not spare one.
2. Her careful concealment. For three months she contrived to preserve her secret
from the Egyptians. Anxiously thinking what she might presently do.
3. Her ingenious device. Concealment no longer possible. She will trust God rather
than Pharaoh.
III. The obedient daughter—Miriam.
1. Her obedience. The blessing of obedient children. Trusted by the mother. The
elder should care for, and watch over, the younger.
2. Her surprise. The princess and her retinue appear. She attentively watches. The
ark discovered, brought out, and opened. Her anxiety. She approaches.
3. Her thoughtfulness. She is quick-witted. Sees compassion in the princess’s face.

Shall she fetch a nurse? Of the Hebrew women?
4. Her great joy. Her brother saved. Her return home. Perhaps the mother was
praying for the child. Jochebed’s surprise and gratitude and joy. A great result grew
out of her obedience (1Pe_1:14; Eph_6:1; Col_3:20).
IV. The compassionate princess. Kindness in the house of Pharaoh! “Out of the strong
sweetness.” Children not always to be judged by their parents. Eli’s sons were not godly
(1Sa_2:12). Pharaoh’s daughter not cruel, as her father. Moved by an infant’s tears, she
at once comprehends the history of the child, Resolves to adopt it. Providential use of
compassion, maternal solicitude, filial obedience, infantile beauty and helplessness. “All
things work together for good.” Learn—
1. To prize a mother’s love, and return it.
2. To imitate Miriam’s obedience and sisterly affection.
3. Not to judge of children by their parents.
4. To admire the wisdom of Providence.
5. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given”—Jesus. (J. C. Gray.)
The cradle on the waters
I. The power of young life to endure hardship. Codling of children is foolish, unhealthy.
II. The use that one member of a family may be to another. Services which seem trifling
may prove far-reaching in effect. Miriam thus helped to bring about the freedom of her
nation.
III. The pathetic influence of a babe’s tears. Touching tokens of sorrow, weakness,
helplessness. Potent, inviting help. Many are moved by the sight of personal grief who
look unmoved upon a national calamity.
IV. The sensitive conscience of a tyrant’s daughter. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The babe in the bulrushes
I. Let us consider the perils which surrounded this purposeful life, which was rescued in
such a remarkable manner.
1. For one thing, it was the life of an infant child. Infancy alone is more than enough
to extinguish such a diminutive glimmer of existence; just leave him where he is a
little longer, and you will never hear of that child’s going up into Mount Sinai. There
is only the side of a slight basket between him and swift drowning; one rush of the
waves through a crevice, and the march through the wilderness will never be made.
2. Observe also this was the life of a proscribed child.
3. And then observe that this was the life of an outcast child. He had no friends. His
mother had already hidden him until concealment was dangerous.
II. Let us try to find some suggestions as to modern life and duty. There Moses lay,
before he was called Moses, or had any right to be—an infant, proscribed, outcast child!
You pity him; so do I pity him, with all my heart. Still, I will tell you frankly what I pity

more by far, and I trust to better purpose. There are hundreds of sons and daughters of
misery drifting out upon a stream of vice, which the Nile river, with all its murkiness and
its monsters, cannot parallel for an exposure of peril—a river of depraved humanity,
hurrying on before it everything stainless and promising into the darkness of destiny
behind the cloud. It was a woman who ultimately brought up this babe from the bulrush
ark. Women know how to save children better than men do. The spirit in which all this
work must be done is that of faith. There is a sense of possibility in every child’s
constitution, and this is what gives a loftier value to it than that which is possessed by
any other creature of the living God. A child owns in it what a diamond has not: a child
can grow, and a diamond cannot. They say it takes a million of years, more or less, to
make a big diamond; but the biggest of diamonds has a past only, and the smallest of
children has a limitless future. Faith and works are what seemed once to disturb the
balance of a man whose business it was to write an epistle in the New Testament. See
what a vivid illustration this has in the story here before us. Jochebed had absolute faith;
so had Amram; and so had Miriam for all we know. But it would have done no good to
fall down and go to crying, nor to sit down and quote the promises, nor to be trampled
down and give up the baby. Jochebed told Amram to get her some of the toughest rushes
he could find, and he went and did it; then she awaked Moses, and wrapped him in the
most comfortable way she could for an outing; then she took some pitch and bitumen,
and told Miriam a patient story as to how she was to watch her brother. The word “ark”
is found only in this instance, and in that not altogether unlike it in the case of Noah;
only in these two places has the inspired Word of God employed it. There was the same
principle at stake in both experiences—Noah believed God, and then made his “ark”;
Amram and Jochebed believed God, and then made their “ark.” And I can readily
imagine that these pious parents got their first notion of the plan to save the baby out of
the story of Noah; and so they used, whenever they spoke of it, to employ the same
name. At any rate, it has a lesson for every one of us. Trust God, always trust God; then
do all within your power to help on the purpose you prayerfully hope He is about to
undertake for you. Make the best ark you can; place it in the river at the safest spot you
can find; leave it there; then trust God. The main point is, venturesomeness is the
highest element of belief in our Father in heaven. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
The mother of Moses
I. The mother’s love of the child. Divine. Providential.
II. The mother’s ingenuity. Danger risked. Ample reward.
III. The mother’s heroism. A sacrifice of love. (J. O. Davies.)
The mother remained at home, showing-
1. The dignity of her faith—she could wait away from the scene of trial.
2. Her supreme hope in God—the issue was to be Divine.
3. Her happy confidence in her little daughter—children do their work better when
they feel that they are trusted with it entirely. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

The beautiful ministry of a youthful life
1. Loving.
2. Cautious.
3. Obedient.
4. Reflective.
5. Courteous.
6. Successful. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The faith of Moses’ parents
We shall study the history of Moses without the key if we overlook the point made by the
writer to the Hebrews (Heb_11:23). “By faith,” dec. Faith in God made them fearless of
Egypt’s cruel king. It may sometimes happen that profound interest in a babe of
apparently rare promise shall run in a very low and selfish channel, suggesting how
much he may do to comfort their own hearts, or to build up the glory of their house or of
their name; but when, by a heavenly faith, it takes hold of useful work for God, when it
prompts to a special consecration of all the possibilities of his future to the kingdom of
Christ, it is morally sublime. Such seems to have been the faith of the parents of the child
Moses. How their faith prompted ingenious methods of concealments; how it wrought in
harmony with God’s wise providence, not only to preserve the life of this consecrated
child, but to give him a place in the heart of Pharaoh’s daughter, and thus open to his
growing mind all the wealth of Egypt’s culture and wisdom, we learn somewhat from
this story. (H. Cowles, D. D.)
Moses and Christ
Moses and Christ stand together in the same supernatural scheme; they are in the line of
the same Divine purpose; they work together, though in different ways, towards the
same end. Although they occupy far distant ages, and live under completely different
conditions, they largely undergo the same experiences, conform to the same laws,
confront the same difficulties, and manifest the same spirit. In many cases the events of
their lives actually and literally correspond, and in many more it only needs that the veil
of outward manifestation be lifted to see that in spirit they are one. And this not by
accident, but by design. The plan of God is a complete whole. That Moses, the founder of
the preparatory dispensation, should be pre-eminently like Him who was to fulfil it, is
most natural; that he should, in his measure, set Him forth, is what we might expect (see
Deu_18:15; Joh_5:46). To point out that likeness, and, at the same time, mark the
contrasts, is the work upon which we enter. We shall study Moses in the light of Christ.
Like two rivers, at one time we shall see the two lives to flow together in the same
channel—the same quiet flowing, the same torturous course, the same cataracts in each;
but anon they divide, and pursue each a separate bed, only to meet again far away
beyond.
1. We take the two lives at their beginnings. The time of each is most significant. The
age in each case was charged with expectancy, Both were periods of bondage, and
bondage crying out for a deliverer. Both were born to be emancipators. But the one
birth is not like the other. The source of the one river is at our feet; the source of the

other is like Egypt’s own mysterious Nile—far, far away in a land of mystery, and
where mortals have never trodden.
2. The two deliverers are alike again in this—that they owe nothing of their greatness
to their parents. Amram and Joseph, Jochebed and Mary, stand upon the ordinary
level of mankind. God is not bound down to evolution. He can raise up a Moses from
the slave huts of Egypt; He can send forth His Christ from the peasantry of Galilee.
3. They start together from obscurity and poverty and adversity.
4. Both children are born to great issues, and both must meet, therefore, that
opposition with which goodness is ever assailed. It would seem that the birth of any
soul having great moral capabilities arouses the opposition of the powers of
darkness. Fable and legend have recognized this, and have made their heroes pass
through extraordinary dangers whilst only children. Romulus and Remus, cast away
to die, were nursed by a wolf, and thus lived to build the foundations of Rome and
the Roman Empire. Cyrus, the founder of the MedePersian monarchy, was said to
have been thrown out into the wilderness, and to have been adopted by a shepherd’s
wife, whose own babe was dead. Our own King Arthur, too, passed a similar peril.
Doubtless these are no more than legends, confused echoes possibly from the story
of Moses itself; but they serve to show us how mankind has ever recognized that lives
destined to be great are met by hardship and opposition. Moses and Christ are one in
this.
5. The likeness of the two births is not, however, completed until we notice the
special providences of God, by which they are delivered from their enemies. What
are the edicts of Pharaoh or the swords of Herod against the purposes of the Most
High? Who are kings and princes, that they should withstand the Lord? What are all
the combinations of evil, and all the plots of the devil, against His will, who ruleth
over all? (H. Wonnacott.)
The bulrush
The bulrush is the papyrus, or paper reed, of the ancients. It grows in marshy places, and
was once most abundant on the banks of the Nile; but now that the river has been
opened to commerce, it has disappeared, save in a few unfrequented spots. It is
described as having “an angular stem from three to six feet high, though occasionally it
grows to the height of fourteen feet; it has no leaves; the flowers are in very small
spikelets, which grow in thread-like, flowering branchlets, which form a bushy crown to
each stem.” It was used for many purposes by the Egyptians—as, for example, for shoes,
baskets, vessels of different sorts, and boats; but it was especially valuable as famishing
the material corresponding to our paper, on which written communication could be
made. To obtain this last fibre, the course exterior rind was taken off, and then with a
needle the thin concentric layers of the inner cuticle, sometimes to the number of twenty
to a single plant, were removed. These were afterward joined together with a mixture of
flour, paste, and glue; and a similar layer of strips being laid crosswise in order to
strengthen the fabric, the whole sheet was subjected to pressure, dried in the sun, beaten
with a mallet, and polished with ivory. When completed and written over, the sheets
were united into one, and rolled on a slender wooden cylinder. Thus was formed a book,
and the description of the process gives the etymology and primal significance of our
ownword “volume.” (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

Children in need of preserving mercy
The spot is traditionally said to be the Isle of Bodak, near old Cairo. In contrasting the
perils which surrounded the infancy of Moses with the security and comfort with which
we can rear our own offspring, we have abundant grounds of gratitude. Yet it should not
be forgotten that whatever care we may exercise for our little ones, or whatever
guardianship we may afford them, they as really require the preserving mercy of heaven
when reposing in their cradles or sporting in our parlours as did Moses when enclosed in
his ark of bulrushes and exposed to the waves or the ravenous tenants of the Nile. (A.
Nevin, D. D.)
Training of children
What if God should place in your hand a diamond, and tell you to inscribe on it a
sentence which should be read at the last day, and be shown then as an index of your
own thoughts and feelings? What care, what caution, would you exercise in the selection.
Now, this is what God has done. He has placed before you the immortal minds of your
children, more imperishable than the diamond, on which you are about to inscribe every
day and every hour by your instructions, by your spirit, or by your example, something
which will remain, and be exhibited for or against you at the judgment day. (Dr.
Payson.)
Parental instruction best
Even as a plant will sooner take nourishment and thrive better in the soil where it first
grew and sprung up than in any other ground, because it liketh its own soil best; so,
likewise, children will sooner take instruction and good nurture from their parents,
whom they best like, and from whom they have their being, than from any other.
(Cawdray.)
Divine ordering of events
The mother had done her part. The rushes, the slime, and the pitch were her prudent
preparations; and the great God has been at the same time preparing His materials, and
arranging His instruments. He causes everything to concur, not by miraculous influence,
but by the simple and natural operation of second causes, to bring about the issue
designed in His counsels from everlasting. (G. Bush, D. D.)
God’s providence in our family life
The phrase “special providence,” is liable to be misunderstood. The teaching of this book
is not that God overrules some things more than others, but that He is in all alike, and is
as really in the falling of a sparrow as the revolution of an empire. God was as truly in the
removal of the little ones that were taken away as He was in the saving of Amram’s son;
and there were lessons of love and warning from the one, no less than of love and
encouragement from the other. Nay more, God is in the daily events of our households

precisely as He was in those of the family of the tribe of Levi long ago. The births and the
bereavements; the prosperity and the adversity; the joys and the sorrows of our homes,
are all under His supervision. He is guiding us when we know it not; and His plan of our
lives, if we will only yield ourselves to His guidance, will one day round itself into
completeness and beauty. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
The events of life under a Divine providence
When Druyse, the gunsmith, invented the needle-gun, which decided the battle of
Sadowa, was it a mere accident? When a farmer’s boy showed Blucher a short cut by
which he could bring his army up soon enough to decide Waterloo for England, was it a
mere accident? When the Protestants were besieged at Bezors, and a drunken drummer
came in at midnight and rang the alarm bell, not knowing what he was doing, but;
waking up the host in time to fight their enemies that moment arriving, was it an
accident? When, in the Irish rebellion, a starving mother, flying with her starving child,
sank down and fainted on a rock in the night, and her hand fell on a warm bottle of milk,
did that just happen so? God is either in the affairs of men or our religion is worth
nothing at all, and you had better take it away from us, and instead of this Bible, which
teaches the doctrine, give us a secular book, and leg us, as the famous Mr. Fox, the
Member of Parliament, in his last hour, cry out: “Read me the eighth book of Virgil.” Oh
my friends; let us rouse up to an appreciation of the fact that all the affairs of our life are
under a King’s command, and under a Father’s watch. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
The minute providence of God
You must have been struck, as you read these opening verses of the biography of the
greatest of Old Testament worthies, with their simplicity and truth-likeness. There is no
mention of prodigies such as those which were said to attend the birth of Cyrus, and
such as mythology delighted to tell concerning Romulus and Remus. It is a plain
unvarnished story. There is no word of any miracle. The incidents are such as, allowing
for the difference between ancient and modern life, might have happened among
ourselves. And yet see how they fit into each other, altogether irrespective of, and indeed
independent of, human calculation. Had it been the case of a single fortunate
occurrence, we might have talked of chance; but the coalition of so many acts of so many
agents indicates design. When you come to a great railway junction, at which trains
arrive from north and south and west, in time to be united to another that is just starting
for the east, and you see the connection made, nobody talks of a happy coincidence.
There was a presiding mind guiding the time of the arrival of the train in each case, so
that the junction was reached by all at the required moment. Now, at the birth and
preservation of Moses, one feels himself standing at the meeting-place of many separate
trains of events, all of which coalesce to save the life of the child, and to put him in the
way of securing the very best education which the world could then furnish. (W. M.
Taylor, D. D.)
His sister:
Miriam
I. How she trusted in God. In Heb_11:1-40. we read that by faith Moses was hid of his

parents. It was chiefly the doing of his mother and Miriam. Amram probably had little
hand in it, as he had to work night and day, making bricks without straw under the lash
of ruffian slave-drivers. Now Miriam could not have so shared her mother’s confidence,
if she had not also shared her mother’s faith. And her faith was great, for it outlived great
trims. As she was a very quick-witted girl she must have had many a deep thought. The
hands of Providence were strangely crossed. But her faith did not fail. Oh girl, great is
thy faith, for thou trustest in Jehovah, though He seemeth to be slaying thee and thine.
How she condemns many girls who are content to live without God!
II. How she loved her family. She had real daughterly and sisterly feeling; she was true
to her family, helping her mother all she could, entering into her plan and making it a
success, risking her own life to save her brother’s. It is not the cleverness nor the success,
but the spirit of her act which you should think upon. What a help and a comfort she
must have been to her sorely-tried mother! Faith in God made her thoughtful and
feeling-hearted, and great sorrows drew out her sweetest, strongest sympathy with her
poor parents. She loved her folk more than she feared Pharaoh. In that level land
Pharaoh’s pyramids and palaces were the only mountains; how very small she must have
felt when she stood near them! And how awful and mighty Pharaoh must have seemed to
her! Yet she was not afraid of the king’s commandment. Hers was the true love which
makes the weak strong, the timid brave, and the simple wise; which betters what is best
in boy and girl, and works wonders for others’ good. It made Miriam the saviour of
Moses. It gave her great presence of mind, that is, the rare power of doing at once in a
moment of danger the very thing that needs to be done. As a pointsman by a single
timely jerk puts a whole train on the right line, so she by a single hint turned the
sympathy of the princess into the right channel, and moulded it into action before it
cooled down. No girl ever did greater service to her family and her kind. And she did it
not by aiming at some great thing, but by forgetting self and doing her work at home in
the right spirit. Cultivate the heavenly beauty of Miriam’s conduct. What is true and
good is beautiful with an everlasting beauty: disease cannot mar, death cannot destroy it.
In girls nothing is uglier than the lack of love at home. It is bad enough in a boy, but it
makes a girl simply hideous. For girls have been formed by God to soften and sweeten
life, and we are shocked when they poison the fountains at home.
III. How Miriam remained steadfast. We left Miriam with Pharaoh’s daughter; and we
meet her again, about eighty years afterwards, on the shore of the Red Sea (Exo_15:20).
Miriam was more than one hundred and twenty years old when she died, yet with only
one exception, so far as we know, she stood firm in God’s service.
IV. How she fell at Hazeroth. Oh Miriam, how art thou fallen from heaven, thou
beautiful star of the morning! The time came when Miriam must give place to Zipporah,
Moses’ wife, “an Ethiopian woman” (Num_12:1-16.). Miriam would naturally feel that
her share in the saving of Moses gave her special claims upon him. Her envy was stirred,
and she spake against Moses. Two things made her sin worse. She pretended that zeal
for religion was her motive, and so gained Aaron over to her side (verse 2). And then
Moses was the meekest of men; and her anger should have melted at his meekness. You
may wonder that I have praised for steadfastness one who had such a sad fall. But a
character is fixed not by an act or two, but by the habits of years. I remember standing
for the first time on the bridge of a far-famed river. Just under me there was a backward
eddy, and a stiff breeze was also rippling the surface backwards. I was quite deceived: I
fancied that the stream flowed in the direction of the eddy and the ripples. When I
walked along the bank I smiled at my mistake. I should do Miriam a great wrong did I
judge her by that act; for it was the one backward eddy, the one backward rippling in the
on-rushing current of a good life. Now, what exactly was Miriam’s sin? Was it not

selfishness bursting out into envy and jealousy? Her selfishness took a very common
form; for it filled her with ill-will against a new-comer into the family by marriage—that
Ethiopian woman! How natural! yet how ugly! If one could see the soul of an envious
girl, as the blessed angels see it, it would shock us as much as Miriam’s leprosy shocked
all beholders. Let the love of God in Christ fill and flood your soul; and then it will
absorb and change your self-love, as the ocean absorbed and changed the brook; and all
your selfish grumblings will disappear in the peace of God that passeth all
understanding. (J. Wells.)
The watching sister
Society needs watchers as well as workers. Had we been passing the spot at which the
sister of Moses took up her position of observation, we might have condemned her as an
idler standing there and doing nothing! We should be careful of our condemnation,
seeing how little we know of the reality of any case. In doing nothing, the girl was in
reality doing everything. If she had done more, she would have done less. There is a
silent ministry as well as a ministry of thunder. Mark the cunning of love! The watcher
stood afar off. Had she stood quite close at hand, she would have defeated the very
object of her watching. She was to do her work without the slightest appearance of doing
it. Truly there is a great art in love, and in all good ministry. There are wise master-
builders, and also builders who are very foolish. Sometimes we must look without
staring; we must speak without making a noise; we must be artful without dissimulation,
and hide under the calmest exterior the most urgent and tumultuous emotion. (J.
Parker, D. D.)
Miriam’s tact
“Stood afar off”! Mark that. There is tact in everything. Had she gone too near, she might
have been suspected. Eagerness would have defeated itself. Our watching must not be
obtrusive, officious, demonstrative, and formal. We are not policemen, but friends. We
are not spies, but brothers and sisters. We must watch as though we were not watching.
We must serve as though we were not serving. There is a way of giving a gift which
makes it heavy and burdensome to the receiver; there is a way of doing it which makes
the simplest offering a treasure. Sometimes we increase each other’s sorrow in the very
act of attempting to diminish it. (J. Parker, D. D.)
A devoted sister
Caroline Herschel was the devoted helper of her brother, Sir Wm. Herschel. Her only joy
was to share in his labours and help to his successes. She lived for years in the radiance
of genius; sharing its toils and privileges. After her brother’s death she was honoured by
various scientific societies in many ways. But these she regarded as tributes to her
brother, rather than the reward of her own efforts. (H. O. Mackey.)
Sisters and brothers
“Go home,” some one might have said to Miriam. “Why risk yourself out there alone on

the banks of the Nile, breathing the miasma and in danger of being attacked of wild
beast or ruffian; go home!” No; Miriam, the sister, most lovingly watched and bravely
defended Moses, the brother. Is he worthy her care and courage? Oh, yes; the sixty
centuries of the world’s history have never had so much involved in the arrival of any
ship at any port as in the landing of that papyrus boat caulked with bitumen. Its one
passenger was to be a none-such in history. Lawyer, statesman, politician, legislator,
organiser, conqueror, deliverer. Oh, was not Miriam, the sister of Moses, doing a good
thing, an important thing, a glorious thing, when she watched the boat woven of river
plants and made watertight with asphaltum, carrying its one passenger? Did she not put
all the ages of time and of a coming eternity under obligation, when she defended her
helpless brother from the perils aquatic, reptilian, and ravenous? What a garland for
faithful sisterhood! For how many a lawgiver, hero, deliverer, and saint are the world
and the Church indebted to a watchful, loving, faithful, godly sister? God knows how
many of our Greek lexicons and how much of our schooling was paid for by money that
would otherwise have gone for the replenishing of a sister’s wardrobe. While the brother
sailed off for a resounding sphere, the sister watched him from the banks of self-denial.
Miriam was the oldest of the family, Moses and Aaron, her brothers, are younger. Oh,
the power of the elder sister to help decide the brother’s character for usefulness and for
heaven! She can keep off from her brother more evils than Miriam could have driven
back water-fowl or crocodile from the ark of bulrushes. The older sister decides the
direction in which the cradle-boat shall sail. By gentleness, by good sense, by Christian
principle she can turn it towards the palace, not of a wicked Pharaoh, but of a holy God;
and a brighter princess than Thermutis shall lift him out of peril, even religion, whose
ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. Let sisters not begrudge the
time and care bestowed on a brother. It is hard to believe that any boy that you know so
well as your brother can ever turn out anything very useful. Well, he may not be a Moses.
There is only one of that kind needed for six thousand years. But I tell you what your
brother will be—either a blessing or a curse to society, and a candidate for happiness or
wretchedness. Whatever you do for your brother will come back to you again. If you set
him an ill-natured, censorious, unaccomodating example, it will recoil upon you from his
own irritated and despoiled nature. If you, by patience with all his infirmities and by
nobility of character, dwell with him in the few years of your companionship, you will
have your counsels reflected back upon you some day by his splendour of behaviour in
some crisis where he would have failed but for you. (Dr. Talmage.)
Weak links useful
And you, again, the weak and little ones, will you still fancy you may well be quite passed
by, when Miriam’s case proclaims to you how needful even the weak link is to join the
other links into one chain, and how God can avail Himself even of a child deemed
insignificant in the promotion of our human bliss and joy? (J. J. Van Oosterzee, D. D.)
2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a

Exodus 2 commentary

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