Exodus 2:7

2:5-10 Come, see the place where that great man, Moses, lay, when he was a little child; it was in a bulrush basket by the river's side. Had he been left there long, he must have perished. But Providence brings Pharaoh's daughter to the place where this poor forlorn infant lay, and inclines her heart to pity it, which she dares do, when none else durst. God's care of us in our infancy ought to be often mentioned by us to his praise. Pharaoh cruelly sought to destroy Israel, but his own daughter had pity on a Hebrew child, and not only so, but, without knowing it, preserved Israel's deliverer, and provided Moses with a good nurse, even his own mother. That he should have a Hebrew nurse, the sister of Moses brought the mother into the place of a nurse. Moses was treated as the son of Pharoah's daughter. Many who, by their birth, are obscure and poor, by surprising events of Providence, are raised high in the world, to make men know that God rules.

Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter,.... Miriam the sister of Moses, who observing the ark taken up, and the maidens that were walking upon the bank of the river, and other women perhaps, gathering about it to see it; she made one among them, and after hearing their discourse about it, proposed what follows to Pharaoh's daughter: Jarchi says, that Pharaoh's daughter tried several Egyptian women to suckle it, but it would not suck of them: Josephus (r) says the same, and it also is in the Talmud (s); and that, if true, gave Miriam a fair opportunity to offer to do the following message for her: shall I go and call for thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? for she perceived that she was desirous of having the child brought up as her own. (r) Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9. sect. 5. (s) T. Bab. Sotah, ut supra. (fol. 12.1)

(7) Then said his sister. —Miriam had bided her time. She had still kept in the background, but had approached within hearing distance; and when the princess observed that the babe must be “one of the Hebrews’ children,” was prompt with the rejoinder, “Shall I not fetch thee then a Hebrew mother to nurse him?” If the child was to be nursed at all—if he was to be brought up—a Hebrew nurse would be the fittest. That she may nurse the child for thee.—“For thee.” Miriam divines the thought of the princess, or half divines, half anticipates it, and helps to make it take a fixed shape. She assumes that the child is to be brought up, and for the princess, as her protegé, at any rate, if not something more.

She had compassion on him - The Egyptians regarded such tenderness as a condition of acceptance on the day of reckoning. In the presence of the Lord of truth each spirit had to answer, "I have not afflicted any man, I have not made any man weep, I have not withheld milk from the mouths of sucklings" ('Funeral Ritual'). There was special ground for mentioning the feeling, since it led the princess to save and adopt the child in spite of her father's commands.

Verses 7-9. - Then said his sister . Miriam had watched to some purpose. She had seen everything - she had drawn near as she beheld the "maid" go down to the water's edge, and take the ark out. She had heard the words of the princess; and thereupon she promptly spoke - "Shall I go and call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women?" No doubt, all had been prepared beforehand by the mother, who had selected the place and time of the exposure from a knowledge of the habits and character of the princess, had set her daughter to watch, and - so far as was possible - instructed her what she was to say. But Miriant at least carried out the instructions given her with excellent judgment and tact. She did not speak too soon, nor too late. She did not say a word too much, nor too little. "Surely," exclaimed the princess, "this is one of the Hebrews, children." "Shall I fetch thee then a Hebrew mother to nurse him? is the rejoinder. Egyptians, it is implied, cannot properly nurse Hebrews - cannot know how they ought to be treated; an Egyptian nurse would mismanage the boy - shall I fetch one of his own nation?

And the princess, feeling all the force of the reasoning, answers in one short pregnant word - " Go ." "Yes," she means, "do so; that will be best." And then the result follows - " The maid (Miriam) went and called the child's mother ." So the scheming of the loving mother, and the skilful performance of the part assigned her by the clever sister, were crowned with success - Moses' life was saved, and yet he was not separated from his natural guardian, nor given over to the tender mercies of strangers: the child went back to his own home, to his own apartment, to his own cradle; continued to be nourished by his own mother's milk; and received those first impressions, which are so indelibly impressed upon the mind, in a Hebrew family. Pharaoh's daughter said, "Take this child away, and nurse it for me ." "Take him with you - take him to your own home for a while - and there nurse him for me, as long as he needs nursing." And to mark that he is mine, and not yours - to silence inquiry - to stop the mouths of informers - " I will give thee thy wages ." Jochebed was more than content, and " took the child and nursed it ." Exodus 2:7

7 . of the Hebrew women ] The Egyptians, even till the time when they came in contact with the Greeks (Hdt. ii. 178), were exclusive, and unfriendly towards foreigners (cf. ibid. 41; Genesis 43:32 ). So a native Egyptian woman would not have undertaken the task. a nurse ] lit. a woman giving suck : so Genesis 24:59 ; Genesis 35:8 . So the verb ‘nurse’ is lit. give suck to ( vv. 7, 9).

6-9. when she had opened it, she saw the child—The narrative is picturesque. No tale of romance ever described a plot more skilfully laid or more full of interest in the development. The expedient of the ark, the slime and pitch, the choice of the time and place, the appeal to the sensibilities of the female breast, the stationing of the sister as a watch of the proceedings, her timely suggestion of a nurse, and the engagement of the mother herself—all bespeak a more than ordinary measure of ingenuity as well as intense solicitude on the part of the parents. But the origin of the scheme was most probably owing to a divine suggestion, as its success was due to an overruling Providence, who not only preserved the child's life, but provided for his being trained in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Hence it is said to have been done by faith (Heb 11:23), either in the general promise of deliverance, or some special revelation made to Amram and Jochebed—and in this view, the pious couple gave a beautiful example of a firm reliance on the word of God, united with an active use of the most suitable means.

The exposure of the child at once led the king's daughter to conclude that it was one of the Hebrews' children. The fact that she took compassion on the weeping child, and notwithstanding the king's command ( Exodus 1:22 ) took it up and had it brought up (of course, without the knowledge of the king), may be accounted for from the love to children which is innate in the female sex, and the superior adroitness of a mother's heart, which co-operated in this case, though without knowing or intending it, in the realization of the divine plan of salvation. Competens fuit divina vindicta, ut suis affectibus puniatur parricida et filiae provisione pereat qui genitrices interdixerat parturire (August. Sermo 89 de temp.).

[Bible] and his sister stationeth herself afar off, to know what is done to him. And a daughter of Pharaoh cometh down to bathe at the River, and her damsels are walking by the side of the River, and she seeth the ark in the midst of the weeds, and sendeth her handmaid, and she taketh it, and openeth, and seeth him — the lad, and lo, a child weeping! and she hath pity on him, and saith, `This is [one] of the Hebrews` children.` And his sister saith unto the daughter of Pharaoh, `Do I go? when I have called for thee a suckling woman of the Hebrews, then she doth suckle the lad for thee;` and the daughter of Pharaoh saith to her, `Go;` and the virgin goeth, and calleth the mother of the lad, and the daughter of Pharaoh saith to her, `Take this lad away, and suckle him for me, and I — I give thy hire;` and the woman taketh the lad, and suckleth him. And the lad groweth, and she bringeth him in to the daughter of Pharaoh, and he is to her for a son, and she calleth his name Moses, and saith, `Because — from the water I have drawn him.` And it cometh to pass, in those days, that Moses is grown, and he goeth out unto his brethren, and looketh on their burdens, and seeth a man, an Egyptian, smiting a man, a Hebrew, [one] of his brethren, and he turneth hither and thither, and seeth that there is no man, and smiteth the Egyptian, and hideth him in the sand. And he goeth out on the second day, and lo, two men, Hebrews, striving! and he saith to the wrong-doer, `Why dost thou smite thy neighbour?` and he saith, `Who set thee for a head and a judge over us? to slay me art thou saying [it], as thou hast slain the Egyptian?` and Moses feareth, and saith, `Surely the thing hath been known.` And Pharaoh heareth of this thing, and seeketh to slay Moses, and Moses fleeth from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelleth in the land of Midian, and dwelleth by the well. And to a priest of Midian [are] seven daughters, and they come and draw, and fill the troughs, to water the flock of their father,