Exodus 2:9

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.

And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her,.... Being come, having made all possible haste: take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages; by which means she had not only the nursing of her own child, but was paid for it: according to a Jewish writer (t), Pharaoh's daughter agreed with her for two pieces of silver a day. (t) Dibre Hayamim; sive Chronicon Mosis, fol. 4. 1.

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.

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.

With the directions, "Take this child away (היליכי for הוליכי used here in the sense of leading, bringing, carrying away, as in Zechariah 5:10 ; Ecclesiastes 10:20 ) and suckle it for me," the king's daughter gave the child to its mother, who was unknown to her, and had been fetched as a nurse.

[Bible] 1:22. Pharao therefore charged all his people, saying: Whatsoever shall be born of the male sex, ye shall cast into the river: whatsoever of the female, ye shall save alive. Exodus Chapter 2 Moses is born and exposed on the bank of the river; where he is taken up by the daughter of Pharao, and adopted for her son. He killeth an Egyptian, and fleeth into Madian; where he marrieth a wife. 2:1. After this there went a man of the house of Levi; and took a wife of his own kindred. 2:2. And she conceived, and bore a son: and seeing him a goodly child, hid him three months. 2:3. And when she could hide him no longer, she took a basket made of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and pitch: and put the little babe therein, and laid him in the sedges by the river's brink, 2:4. His sister standing afar off, and taking notice what would be done. 2:5. And behold the daughter of Pharao came down to wash herself in the river: and her maids walked by the river's brink. And when she saw the basket in the sedges she sent one of her maids for it: and when it was brought, 2:6. She opened it, and seeing within it an infant crying, having compassion on it, she said: This is one of the babes of the Hebrews 2:7. And the child's sister said to her: Shall I go, and call to thee a Hebrew woman, to nurse the babe? 2:8. She answered: Go. The maid went and called her mother. 2:9. And Pharao's daughter said to her: Take this child, and nurse him for me: I will give thee thy wages. The woman took and nursed the child: and when he was grown up, she delivered him to Pharao's daughter. 2:10. And she adopted him for a son, and called him Moses, saying: Because I took him out of the water. Moses... Or Moyses, in the Egyptian tongue, signifies one taken or saved out of the water. 2:11. In those days, after Moses was grown up, he went out to his brethren: and saw their affliction, and an Egyptian striking one of the Hebrews, his brethren.

[Reformed Biblical] umstances in which she found him, and from the singular fairness and beauty of the child, far differing from the Egyptian hue; and she might certainly know it by its circumcision. Exodus 2:7 Exodus 2:8 Exodus 2:9 Exodus 2:10 ## He became her son, by adoption, Heb_11:24. For, as Philo reports, she, though long married, had no child of her own; and therefore treated him as her own, and gave him royal education and instruction. See Act_7:21. ## Moses; it matters not whether this be an Egyptian name, or a Hebrew name answering to it in signification, seeing the meaning of it is here explained. Exodus 2:11 ## In those days, whilst Moses lived at court, and was owned as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and, as some write, designed to succeed Pharaoh in the throne. Moses was grown to maturity , being forty years old, Act_7:23. ## He went out unto his brethren; partly by natural affection and inclination, that he might learn the state of his brethren, and help them, as occasion should offer itself; and partly by Divine instigation, and in design that he might give some manifestation to them that he was rais ed and sent of God to deliver them; as may be gathered from Act_7:25. Exodus 2:12 ## Looked this way and that way; not from conscience of guilt in what he intended, but from human and warrantable prudence. This action of Moses was extraordinary, and is no t to be jus tified by t he common r

"For, seeing our race abundantly increase, His treacherous snares King Pharaoh 'gainst us laid, And cruelly in brick-kilns some of us, And some, in toilsome works of building, plagued. And towns and towers by toil of ill-starred men He raised. Then to the Hebrew race proclaimed, That each male child should in deep-flowing Nile Be drowned. My mother bore and hid me then Three months (so afterwards she told). Then took, And me adorned with fair array, and placed On the deep sedgy marsh by Nilus bank, While Miriam, my sister, watched afar. Then, with her maids, the daughter of the king, To bathe her beauty in the cleansing stream, Came near, straight saw, and took and raised me up; And knew me for a Hebrew. Miriam My sister to the princess ran, and said, Is it thy pleasure, that I haste and find A nurse for thee to rear this child Among the Hebrew women?' The princess Gave assent. The maiden to her mother sped, And told, who quick appeared. My own Dear mother took me in her arms. Then said The daughter of the king: Nurse me this child, And I will give thee wages.' And my name Moses she called, because she drew and saved Me from the waters on the river's bank. And when the days of childhood had flown by, My mother brought me to the palace where The princess dwelt, after disclosing all About my ancestry, and God's great gifts. In boyhood's years I royal nurture had, And in all princely exercise was trained, As if the princess's very son. But when The circling days had run their course, I left the royal palace."