I have been doing a chronological Bible study, the order of which was set forth by Skip Andrews here. Before continuing in Exodus, chapter 2, the chronological order directed me to Hebrews in the New Testament:
(Hebrews 11:23) By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
We learned at the end of the first chapter in Exodus that Pharaoh's last command to the people was to kill any boy Hebrew baby they came across. With this passage from the New Testament about the great faith of Moses, we learned that his parents hid their baby Moses for the first three months of his life. In reality, verse 23 spoke of Moses's parents' faith. They saw Moses was a special child and it was said they were not afraid of the king's commandment. I believe the sense is that once again they feared God more than men. They must have feared the commandment somewhat or they would not have hidden Moses, but their passion to save their beautiful baby was stronger than any fear of the king. As they were included in Hebrews' great people of faith, I have to believe when it says "they saw", that perhaps by the Holy Spirit of God, they knew Moses was special and must be saved. However, even without a unique vision from God, God-fearing people of faith would know that the king's commandment was against the laws of God and contrary to God's promise to multiply His people.
(24) By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son
of Pharaoh’s daughter, (25) Choosing rather to suffer affliction with
the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; (26)
Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
I'm not sure why the rest of the Hebrews passage about the faith of Moses would be placed chronologically before the rest of Exodus 2, but it is, and I find myself studying something that has not happened yet in Exodus 2. I believe the sense of the passage in this chronological place was to show that Moses, regardless of his upbringing, identified with the children of Israel. Although he could have surely enjoyed much honor and many benefits by being considered the son of Pharaoh's daughter, he had more regard for the promises of God. Even though he would suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than probable ease and honor and comfort as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, Moses chose to follow God. Moses was surely lifted up by God to be used by Him, and we know that God spoke to Moses, and the Holy Spirit of God surely inspired Moses to write the first five books of the Old Testament, so I feel certain that Moses had received prophetic knowledge of the coming Messiah, and that was by far the greatest reward, worth all the suffering that might come.
(Acts 7:17) “But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, (18) Till another king arose who did not know Joseph."
Next in the chronological study, I was directed to Acts 7:17-29. Although this passage does not really take place chronologically before the rest of Exodus, Stephen was speaking about the time of Moses, and his speech may provide a more complete picture of the events leading up to the rest of Exodus. As Exodus 1 began, so began Stephen's retelling of the time when the children of Israel grew and multiplied in Egypt and there arose a new king who did not know Joseph.
(19) “This man dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil affected our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, that they might not live."
Stephen told of how the new pharaoh dealt with the children of Israel in Egypt. He used the original word "katasophizomai", which to me looks like a combination of "catastrophe" and "schizophrenia", and the meaning might actually be closer to that than you might think! The KJV translators used the phrase "dealt subtilly" which was similar to the word used by the pharaoh in Exodus 1:10 when he said he wanted to "deal wisely" with the Israelites, which was more craftiness and deceit than it was wisdom. Strong's gave the meaning of the original word as "to be crafty against, that is, circumvent". Consider "catastrophic splitting" or breaking, as we previously learned the Egyptians were trying to do to the Israelites, and "katasophizomai" covers it pretty well! Stephen told of how the pharaoh's evil plans affected their forefathers, that they should cast out their babies that they, and therefore the Hebrew nation, might not live and grow.
(20) "In which time Moses was born, and was exceedingly fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months. (21) And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son."
Stephen told how Moses was born during this time and was nourished in his father's house for three months, but was apparently cast out as ordered by the king, and was taken by Pharaoh's daughter to be her son.
(22) “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds."
It appears that Moses had the finest education, being "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians". He was "mighty" in words and in deeds. The word translated as "mighty" was "dunatos", and it meant "powerful" or "capable". As a learned man, he had a command of language and was a capable man of great abilities. We will learn later in Exodus that Moses considered himself slow of speech, so being mighty in words may not have meant that he was a great orator, but he was a learned man wise with words and possibly with a vast vocabulary and understanding of language. However, as Stephen was speaking about Moses in the past after the exodus, he might have been referring to Moses's mighty communications and deeds as he led the children of Israel from Egypt.
(23) "And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel."
It appears that Moses lived in the palace of Pharaoh for 40 years, and at the end of that time, it came to him to visit his people, the children of Israel, probably by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God.
(24) “And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. (25) For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand."
We will learn when we return to Exodus that the Egyptian was striking a Hebrew, one of Moses's brethren, and Moses defended his brother by killing the Egyptian and hiding him in the sand. Moses was probably beginning to feel the leading of God to be the deliverer of his people and supposed that the people would understand that he was stepping in to save them, but they didn't see it that way at all.
(26) “And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and would have reconciled them, saying, 'Sirs, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ (27) But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? (28) Will you kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?' (29) Then Moses fled at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he had two sons."
The next day Moses appeared to two Hebrew men who were fighting and tried to intervene and reconcile them. However, when he asked why they were fighting, the one who was apparently in the wrong, shoved Moses away, and basically asked what right he had to interfere in their matter. When the man asked Moses if he would kill him as he killed the Egyptian the day before, Moses fled. We learn a little more of this incident in Exodus 2, that Moses was careful to be unobserved when he struck the Egyptian, so he now knew that what he had done was known, and he surely feared what would happen to him if Pharaoh heard what he had done. It appears that Moses made no further attempts to deliver Israel, but settled as a stranger in the land of Midian, where he had two sons. Now back to Exodus 2:
(Exodus 2:1) And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi.
The last thing we read in Exodus 1, was that Pharaoh had commanded his people to cast any Hebrew boy babies into the river. We now read of a man of the house of Levi who at this time married a daughter of Levi. We learned previously this was Amram, Moses's father, and Jochebed, his father’s sister.
(2) And the woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months.
Moses's mother conceived and bore Moses during the time of that terrible decree that all male Hebrew babies be destroyed. Moses's siblings, Aaron and Miriam, were older than he was, so were no doubt born before this decree. Moses's mother hid him for three months. You would think that any mother would try to hide her newborn baby and do all that she could to save her child from an evil law that would have him killed. However, from the Hebrews passage above, we learned that Moses's parents had great faith, faith in God and His will, and not fear and therefore a kind of faith, in a godless king and government. Stephen said above that evil affected their fathers so that they cast out their young children. Yes, it was an evil king and an evil law, but the people themselves cast out their babies. Moses's parents chose not to do this evil thing. They instead chose God; they chose life! Is that not a beautiful picture of what we should do when faced with an evil law and government? They did the right thing and they were considered among the great people of faith in Hebrews!
(3) And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of
bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. (4) And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.
When Moses's mother felt she could no longer hide him, she made a little boat for him, put him in it, and laid him in the reeds by the river's bank. She knew Moses's fate was death if she kept him with her, so her only hope that he might live was to put him in a basket and hope someone else would find him and save him. She even had his sister watching to see what would happen to him. When you think about it, Moses's mother must have placed him near where she knew the Egyptian princess might find him. Otherwise, if any other Egyptian had found him, he or she would have obeyed the king's commandment and killed the baby boy. If any Hebrew found him, he would be no safer than he was with his mother.
(5) And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and
when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to fetch it. (6) And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
Sure enough, Pharaoh's daughter came to that location in the river to wash and saw the little boat among the reeds. She sent her maid to fetch it. When she opened it and saw the crying baby, she had compassion for him, realizing he was one of the Hebrew children, destined to die.
(7) Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse
for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”
Moses's sister had obviously been prepared for this possibility, and immediately asked Pharaoh's daughter if she should get her a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for her.
(8) And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” And the maid went and called the child's mother.
I believe the maid here refers to "the maiden", Moses's sister, rather than the princess's own handmaiden. Pharaoh's daughter thought that was a good idea she had and sent her to find someone to nurse the baby. The girl went and fetched her own mother, also Moses's mother, again, obviously having been coached in this.
(9) And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” And the woman took the child, and nursed it.
And so Moses was saved from death, and his mother received the additional blessing of being paid to take care of her own child! I love how God works this way! I recall once when I was questioning whether my husband and I in good conscience could accept Social Security disability payments from such a wicked government as ours that promotes the killing of innocent babies, among many other evil things. He reminded me of this incident in the Bible where Moses's mother received wages for nursing her own child from the very household that killed Hebrew babies. Don't get me wrong, I believe there are or will be times when we must refuse to do evil if it is in conflict with God's laws, but in this instance, and in the matter of paying taxes to a wicked government, we have models. Jesus taught us to pay our taxes, and in the matter of accepting money from the government, we must remember that it is all God's anyway, and if He chooses to bless us with the government's money, we can accept it and thank and praise Him. However, I don't doubt that if it was in a person's heart not to accept money from an ungodly government, that God, knowing the person's heart, would find another way to bless him. That's the way our awesome God works! He is sovereign above all things and everyone, and He knows the heart of every man and woman.
(10) And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and she said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
Apparently, when the time of nursing was over, Moses's mother brought him back to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became the son of Pharaoh's daughter. She called his name Moses, the original word being "mosheh", meaning "drawn forth".
The chronological order of this particular Bible study now takes me to Exodus 6:23 and Numbers 26:60:
(Exodus 6:23) And Aaron took for himself Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nahshon, as wife; and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
(Numbers 26:60) And to Aaron was born Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
As Aaron was older than Moses, it is assumed that he was grown and married while Moses was still young and living in the palace of Pharaoh. Aaron took Elisheba as wife, the daughter of Amminadab, and the sister of Nahshon, a prince of the tribe of Judah. Elisheba bore Aaron four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Now back to Exodus 2:
(Exodus 2:11) And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their burdens; and he spied an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
I'm not crazy about this chronological order, as we have already been told about this incident by Stephen in the New Testament, long after it happened, but we are now returned to the time it originally happened. Moses was grown, 40 years old, according to Stephen, and he went out, apparently from the palace of Pharaoh where he had up to this point lived, to see his people, and he observed their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brethren.
(12) And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
In this original telling of this incident, we see that Moses sought to be unobserved in what he did. He obviously felt justified in defending his brother, and from Stephen's telling, may have even felt led by God to rescue his people, but he surely knew that the slaying of an Egyptian would never be seen as justified by the Egyptians and by Pharaoh.
(13) And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were
fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you
striking your neighbor?” (14) And he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” And Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!”
Moses was trying to hide what he did from the Egyptians, but he surely didn't expect his own people to spread the story and turn on him. He feared that surely this news would now spread to Pharaoh.
(15) Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.
Sure enough, when Pharaoh heard about this matter, he sought to kill Moses. That is when Moses fled to the land of Midian. As he came to Midian, he sat down by a well.
(16) Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.
The original word translated as "priest" was "kohen" and meant either "priest" or "prince". It was suggested by early commentaries that he might have been a priest of the one true God, or at least as a descendant of Abraham, might have retained the knowledge of the true God, and might be considered a priest of His. Otherwise, Moses who was being drawn to his own people, surely would not have married one of his daughters, as we will soon learn he did. In addition, if the seven daughters were daughters of a pagan prince, they more than likely would not have been drawing water for their father's flock, but would have surely had servants for such a task. If their father was a prince, then the daughters were honorably born, and humble and industrious.
(17) And the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
Rude shepherds coming to the well, and possibly even to the very troughs the maidens had already filled, drove the maidens' flock and possibly the maidens themselves out of their way. Moses, ever the man of honor and justice, helped the maidens and watered their flock.
(18) And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”
When the daughters of Reuel, the priest of Midian, came to their father, he asked how they could have finished so soon. Evidently, with Moses's help, they watered their flock and returned much faster than usual.
(19) And they said, “An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds,
and also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.”
Reuel's daughters mistook Moses for an Egyptian, probably judging by his dress and speech. I suppose he had been raised as an Egyptian up to this point.
(20) And he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”
The girls had surely been modest and didn't even consider bringing a strange Egyptian man home with them. However, their father recognized the man's kindness and wished to show his gratitude, and asked that they call the man to come eat with them.
(21) And Moses was content to dwell with the man; and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
Moses was content to live in or among Reuel's household, and eventually was given his daughter Zipporah in marriage to him.
(22) And she bore him a son; and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”
Zipporah bore Moses a son whom he named Gershom, which literally meant "refugee". Moses felt forced to leave his people to escape Pharaoh and was a stranger in this foreign land.
(23) And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died; and the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.
In the process of time, the current king of Egypt died, the one who had sought to kill Moses, but apparently things did not change for the children of Israel. They cried out to God because of the severity of their oppression and bondage at the hands of the Egyptians.
(24) And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. (25) And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.
God heard His people and "remembered" His covenant. It's not as if God ever forgets; He is ever mindful of all things. The sense of this "remembering" was that at that point, it was the proper time for God to act and to fulfill His promise and His covenant, proof that He remembered. God looked upon His children and acknowledged them and their oppression. God obviously had seen them and their situation for years leading up to this point. Apparently this was the proper time for God to act. In Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible, Mr. Henry observed that God heard, remembered, looked, and acknowledged the people, after they cried out to Him. Verse 23 didn't say specifically that they cried "to God", but it certainly can be inferred, because before this time they groaned and bore their troubles and fretted inwardly, but they finally reached the point where they cried out. That is certainly the way with our God, and that theme is repeated throughout the Bible, that God waits until His people turn back to Him and realize they need only Him, and then He acts in a big way. Matthew Henry also pointed out that in verses 24 and 25, God's name is mentioned 4 times. The way he expressed it was, "The name of God is here emphatically prefixed to four different expressions of a kind intention towards them....The frequent repetition of the name of God here intimates that now we are to expect something great, Opus Deo dignum - A work worthy of God. His eyes, which run to and fro through the earth, are now fixed upon Israel, to show himself strong, to show himself a God in their behalf." God was about to work in a big way!
(Exodus 6:25) And Eleazar Aaron's son took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as wife, and she bore him Phinehas; these are the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families.
Since this is a chronological order I am studying, apparently sometime after Moses married Zipporah and began having a family, Aaron's son Eleazar also married. He married one of the daughters of a man named Putiel, and she bore him a son named Phinehas. These men were some of the heads of the Levites, mentioned among the sons of Levi in Exodus 6.
