Exodus 2:1-10. Introduction

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1 Exodus 2:1-10 Introduction Exodus 1 is a story of suffering, and brutality, and terror. The king of Egypt has set for himself the goal of stopping and even reversing the astonishing multiplication of the people of Israel (1:7). First, he afflicted them ruthlessly with hard and bitter slave labor. Exodus 1:12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. So the Egyptians afflicted them all the more ruthlessly. When plan A proved not to be working out, the Pharaoh enlisted the Hebrew midwives to kill the baby boys at birth. But the Hebrew midwives refused, and the people continued to multiply and grew very numerous (1:20). Even the midwives themselves, who had most likely been barren, were now granted families of their own because they feared God (1:20). When Plan B also proved to be a failure, Pharaoh moved to Plan C. Exodus 1:22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live. This is where we leave off at the end of chapter one. Exodus 1 is a story of suffering, and brutality, and terror. And yet within this story is also the constant evidence of God s presence the God of creation, and the God of the covenant who is at all times working out His plan to bring the blessings of His heaven to all the earth. So we have a tension. We see clearly, in light of the continued multiplying of Israel and the story of the midwives that God is actively present; and yet He still remains painfully silent. But we know that this tension cannot last forever. By faith, we must believe that God will not remain silent forever. The suffering, and the brutality, and the terror of Exodus 1 cannot be the last word. So chapter 2 begins: I. Exodus 2:1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a daughter [a female descendant] of Levi. We may not think much of these opening words, but they would have signaled something of special significance and meaning to the first readers of the book of Exodus. Moses is very careful, and very explicit: Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a daughter of Levi. By the time these words were written down, everyone knew that the LORD had set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD to stand before the LORD to minister to Him and to bless in His name. (Deut. 10:8) The tribe of Levi was set apart as the one that would not only represent the people before God, but who would also instruct the people in God s law. And the ultimate goal of both these tasks was that the blessings of God s salvation might be lavished on God s people. So when Moses says, Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a daughter of Levi, that s our first clue. That s our first signal that something is about to happen that God s deliverance must be drawing near. And that first 1

2 clue only sets us up for the second. Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a daughter of Levi. II. Exodus 2:2a The woman conceived and bore a son We ve already seen that God s purpose in creation was for Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply so that the blessings of God s heaven might fill all the earth. We ve also seen that after the fall, God s purposes in creation are now being worked out through His covenant with Abraham where He promised: I will multiply you exceedingly I will make you exceedingly fruitful. (cf. Gen. 17:1-2, 6, 8; cf. 35:11-12) But in the midst of peoples and nations being fruitful and multiplying, there s also been the hope of one particular child who would grow up to crush the head of the serpent and bring the blessings of God s salvation to all the earth (Gen. 3:15). So for Moses, it s not just the birth of nations that s of interest, but also the birth of individual children. Moses himself records the very first birth that the world ever saw with these words: Genesis 4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain After Cain proved to be a wicked and murderous man, Moses introduces the line of his descendents with these words: Genesis 4:17 Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. In the end, Cain s descendants proved to be even more wicked than Cain, and so the miracle and hope of conception and birth ended in futility. In Genesis 16, Moses tells about Abraham s sinful relationship with Sarah s maid, Hagar, and how Hagar conceived a son (Ishmael; 16:4-5). Genesis 19 tells the sordid story of how the two daughters of Lot each conceived a son by him (Ammon and Moab the future enemies of God s people; 19:36). And so the miracle of the conception and the bearing of children continues to disappoint until Genesis 21. After the story of Cain in Genesis 4, this is the very next time that Moses speaks of a woman conceiving and bearing a son. Genesis 21:2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. The name of this son was Isaac, the child of promise. Isaac grew up and married Rebekah, and then we read in Genesis 25: Genesis 25:21 Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived [Jacob and Esau]. In chapters 29 and 30, Moses tells about the sons born to Jacob: Genesis 29:32 35; 30:5, 7, 17, 19, 23 And Leah conceived and bore a son [Reuben] She conceived again and bore a son [Simeon] Again she conceived and bore a son [Levi] And she conceived again and bore a son [Judah] Bilhah conceived and bore 2

3 Jacob a son [Dan] Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son [Naphtali] Leah conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son [Issachar] Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son [Zebulun] Rachel conceived and bore a son [Joseph] In these verses, we see hope, again, in the miracle of conceiving and bearing children. In Genesis thirty-eight, Moses tells of Judah s relationship with a Canaanite woman whose name was Shua. Genesis 38:3 4 And she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. As it turns out, God will strike both of these sons dead because of their wickedness, and so once again, the miracle of the conception and bearing of children disappoints. But then the most astonishing thing happens. Through a series of events, Judah ends up in an immoral relationship with (unknown to him) the widow of his own son. And so Moses tells us in Genesis 38:18 that Judah went into her, and she conceived by him [twins, Perez and Zerah]. Now Moses couldn t know this, but from the descendents of Perez would come Boaz (from the story of Ruth), and then King David himself, and then ultimately the Messiah! Fourteen times in Genesis Moses speaks of a woman conceiving and bearing a son. Eighteen times he says that a woman conceived. In Genesis, Moses is intensely interested in the conceiving and bearing of children. But after Genesis, there s only one more time in the five books of Moses where a woman is said to conceive. * In Exodus one, the theme has been the exceeding fruitfulness and multiplication of an entire nation. But now chapter two begins suddenly and wonderfully with these words: Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a daughter of Levi. The woman conceived and bore a son In light of all that we ve seen in chapter one (and throughout all of Genesis), we can t help but read the opening words of chapter two and see a most beautiful, and a most wonderful announcement that God s salvation must be drawing near. The God who has been present, but silent, is surely about to speak. But there s just one problem. We read at the end of chapter one: Exodus 1:22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile. And now we read at the beginning of chapter two: Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a daughter of Levi. The woman conceived and bore a son. III. Exodus 2:2 The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was good, she hid him three months. * In the rest of the OT, a woman is said to conceive only eleven times in just seven books. ( Conceived and bore ; Judg. 13:3; 1 Sam. 1:20; 2:24; 2 Kings 4:17; 1 Chron. 7:23; Isa. 8:3; Hos. 1:3, 6, 8; Conceived ; 2 Sam. 11:5; 1 Chron. 4:17) 3

4 The point here is not that this mother was surprised that her son was good. And the point is not that this son was healthier, or more beautiful, or more special and wonderful than any other son born to any other mother in those days. The point is that when this mother actually looked upon her son, and saw with her own eyes what every mother sees that her baby was good, that s when she knew that she would give anything, and do anything to keep her baby alive. And so for three months she hid him from prying eyes (as we also assume that many other mothers must have been trying their best to do). For three long months (while her husband was probably away working as a slave laborer) she kept her son secret maybe even from her own people for fear of betrayal. For three months, she would have had no more assurance that her son would survive than the many other mothers whose babies were discovered. We know how difficult and dangerous the situation must have been, because we read in the next verse that after three months, she could no longer keep him hidden at home. IV. Exodus 2:3-4 When she could hide him no longer, she took for him an ark made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would happen to him. It s hard to imagine what must have been going through the heart of this mother as she prepared this ark for her three-month-old baby boy to float in on the Nile. We don t actually know for sure what her plan was. Did she intend to keep him hidden there only at certain, especially dangerous times? Would she sneak him back home when there was less danger to change him and nurse him? Was the older sister standing watch in the hopes that no one would find him, but to be aware if anyone did? Or, did the mother place her child here specifically with the plan that he be discovered by the Pharaoh s daughter? Was this just an incredibly desperate gamble that she was willing to make in the absence of any other options? Some translations imply this when they say that his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. (ESV; cf. NKJV; ASV; Hamilton; Currid) I m of the opinion that this mother was still trying to keep her baby secret, and hidden, and undiscovered. (cf. Stuart; Durham) But whatever the case may be, it s hard to fully imagine how this mother must have been feeling. Then again, how this mother was feeling is not actually the main point rather, it s the ark that she prepared, and the Nile where she put it. We shouldn t imagine this ark to be a flimsy, easily tippable basket of the kind we ve often seen in pictures. (cf. Stuart) There s another Hebrew word for basket, but the word that Moses uses here is a word used for only one other thing in the Bible, and that s Noah s ark. So the point seems to be something capable of protection and safe-keeping especially on the water. But surely Moses had still another reason for referring to this floating box as an ark. It would have been impossible for anyone to miss This is the same phrase that we see in Genesis chapter one when God creates, and God saw that it was good. (Gen. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25) The point in Genesis is not that God was surprised that His creation was good, or that he had suddenly realized what He had momentarily forgotten. When God saw that what He had created was good, it was what He had expected and known all along, but the emphasis here is on the seeing it once it s actually happened. The emphasis is on the satisfaction of observing what s already been accomplished rather than the anticipation of something you ve planned (speaking anthropopathically). It was almost surely a covered papyrus box (possibly modified for the baby with air holes and/or insect netting), giving protection from insects and the sun much better than a typical basket would. Because v. 6 describes the need to open the ark, it had a secured lid. (Stuart) 4

5 the connection with the ark that God used to save Noah and his family, so that through Noah and his family He might preserve alive the human race and fulfill His purpose in creation to bring the blessings of His heaven to all the earth. And now, suddenly, here is another ark. What does it mean? Will God use this ark in some way not only to preserve alive this baby boy, but to fulfill His purposes in creation and covenant to bring blessing and salvation to all the earth? The meaning of the ark becomes even more obvious when we remember that if this baby boy had been discovered at home, he would have been cast into the Nile to drown. This baby boy is in the Nile, but he floats safely on top of the Nile, not in a basket, but in an ark. Nowhere in these verses is God mentioned, and yet everywhere Moses leaves us the hints and the signs that He is at work that Israel s deliverance must be drawing near even though at the time these events were taking place, all the actors in the story would have been completely unaware. A man from the house of Levi takes as a wife a daughter of Levi. The woman conceives and bears a son. The woman puts her child in an ark, and places him on the very river in which it was ordered that he be drowned. Moses means us now to be at a fever pitch of excitement and tension, not so much with the emotional drama of the story, but rather with the expectation of what God must be about to do the God of creation and covenant who has purposed to bring the blessings of His salvation to all the earth. What is this God about to do for His people? What happens next is one of those times when we almost just have to laugh out loud in wonder, and awe, and joy when we just have to laugh because, almost, there are no words. V. Exodus 2:5-9 Now the daughter of Pharaoh [the daughter of the Pharaoh who had ordered the drowning of all Hebrew baby boys in the Nile river!] came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, This is one of the Hebrews children. Then his sister said to Pharaoh s daughter, Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you? And Pharaoh s daughter said to her, Go. So the girl went and called the child s mother. And Pharaoh s daughter said to her, Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages. So the woman took the child and nursed him. This is one of those true stories where you get to the end, and you have to read it again just so it can begin to register. Did this really just happen? Was this Hebrew baby boy really discovered by the daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh? Did the Pharaoh s daughter really take pity on this Hebrew baby boy? Was the baby s older sister really so bold as to offer to call a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for the Pharaoh s daughter? Did the Pharaoh s daughter really say, Go? Did the girl really go and call the child s mother? Did the child s mother really end up being paid by the Pharaoh s daughter to nurse her own baby boy? YES! THAT S WHAT HAPPENED! But how did that happen again? I have to read that again. And then maybe again and again, and again! And each time, the pure delight of the story only becomes greater, and greater, and greater! Nowhere is God ever mentioned. And yet, surely, we are meant to see that He is the one at work! Here s the last thing that we hear the baby s mother does: So the woman took the child and If her words were not according to the careful plan and instruction of her mother, then her inward prompting must have come from God not a moment too soon or too late, with not a word too many or too few! (VanGemeren) 5

6 nursed him. But wouldn t something like this have been more fitting : So the woman, overcome with joy, took her child and nursed him. Once again, the point for Moses is not the emotional response of the mother (though we can surely imagine what that was!), but rather the evidence that God is at work. The point for Moses is not primarily what God has done for this mother or for her child, but what the God of creation and the God of covenant is preparing for all of His people the blessings of His salvation. A man from the house of Levi takes as a wife a daughter of Levi. The woman conceives and bears a son. The woman puts her child in an ark, and places him on the very river in which the Egyptian Pharaoh had ordered that he be drowned. And now the woman is paid to nurse her own son by none other than the daughter of Pharaoh. Surely, the God who has so far been painfully silent must be about to speak. Surely, God s deliverance must be drawing near! So far, Moses has carefully told this entire story in such a way as to focus our attention not so much on the emotional human drama of the story, but rather on the God who is at work preparing the salvation of His people. But it s only in verse ten that we reach the grand finale of this whole, amazing story. So far, no one in this story has been named not the Pharaoh, not the Pharaoh s daughter, not the baby boy, not the sister, and not even the mother. And so this only adds to the power and drama of verse ten when just one character is finally named. VI. Exodus 2:10 When the child grew older, she [the mother] brought him to Pharaoh s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, Because, she said, I drew him out of the water. Moses is almost certainly an Egyptian name (mose), meaning son. But apparently, the Pharaoh s daughter knew that mose sounded like the Hebrew word mosheh, which means one who draws out. So the point of the Egyptian name that sounds like the Hebrew name seems to be that Moses is the son of one who drew him out of the water. ** And so now we see it. Pharaoh had commanded all his people, Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile. And yet one day in the providence of God it would be the Pharaoh s own daughter who would draw a Hebrew boy out of the [Nile] even naming him MOSES. What delicious irony! (cf. Currid) As one commentator says, It is precisely by means of the Pharaoh s decree that God brings deliverance to His people. (Enns) Conclusion We ve learned, now, that all along in these verses, Moses has been telling the story of his own conception and birth. But there s no bragging or boasting here. Instead, we are meant to stand in awe along with Moses at the God who is so wonderfully and so miraculously preparing the salvation of His people. In the next passage, Moses will skip ahead to when he s forty years old, and in the passage after that, to when he s eighty years old. For eighty years after the events of this story, the people will continue in their slavery, unaware of the salvation that God was preparing. But now we know that often times when things seem the bleakest, God can still be at ** This approaches most closely the explanation of Stuart (see also the discussions in Hamilton, Durham, and VanGemeren) 6

7 work in the most astonishing, and wonderful, and awe-inspiring ways imaginable. A man from the house of Levi takes as a wife a daughter of Levi. The woman conceives and bears a son. For safe-keeping, the woman places her child in an ark. Through a series of unlikely circumstances, the woman ends up being paid to nurse her own son by none other than the daughter of Pharaoh. And in the end, Pharaoh s own daughter names this Hebrew boy MOSES, because she drew him out of the water the very water where Pharaoh had ordered that he be drowned. In every part of this story, we are meant to be reminded of the God of creation and the God of covenant, who will, in His time, bring the blessings of His salvation to His people, and ultimately to all the earth. And so in Luke chapter one, the angel Gabriel will speak to Mary using the very same formula that Moses so loved to use: Luke 1:30 31 Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. Even as God was preparing the salvation of His people from Egypt, He was also preparing a far greater salvation that was many centuries further away. As Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant, so Jesus will be the mediator of a New, and better Covenant. As Moses led God s people out of slavery in Egypt in the first Exodus, so Jesus will lead God s people out of slavery to sin and death in a second, and greater Exodus. As Moses and the people of Israel came up out of Egypt, so Jesus, with His family, will come up out of Egypt. (Mat. 2:14-15; cf. Hos. 11:1) But today, especially, we re reminded that even as Moses was born into this world under the death sentence of the Pharaoh (and delivered), so Jesus would one day come into this world and end up, even as a baby, under the death sentence of King Herod (and be delivered). Of course, none of these things could Moses know! But we can see it all! We upon whom the ends of the ages have come. So then how much more should we believe that even today no matter what today will ever look like God is always at work preparing our final deliverance? How confident should we be that Jesus meant what He said in John chapter 14: John 14:2 3 In my Father s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. The story of Moses birth over 3000 years ago encourages us all the more today to straighten up and lift up our heads, knowing that our redemption is at all times drawing near. (cf. Luke 21:28) 7