Chapter Two

1–2. The birth of Moses. 3–10. His rescue and upbringing by the daughter of Pharaoh. 11–25. The killing by Moses of an Egyptian and his flight to the land of Midian.

Exodus 2:1. Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a daughter of Levi. The time of the execution of the third measure – the killing of Hebrew male infants – coincides with the birth of Moses, from Amram and Jochebed (Exod 6:20, Num 26:59).

Exodus 2:2. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him for three months. Being a natural expression of maternal feeling, the care for the salvation of the newborn was supported by his beauty (Greek ἀστεῖος – well-formed, shapely). According to the expression of the protomartyr Stephen, he was “beautiful before God” (Acts 7:20), distinguished by unusual, unearthly beauty. It spoke to the mother of the special destiny of the newborn, and, believing in this latter (Heb 11:23), she concealed him for three months. The possibility of preserving Moses during this very period is explained, perhaps, by the fact that his birth coincided with the beginning of the flooding of the Nile, which lasted three months. “At this time,” says the German theologian Beer, “communication with villages, outlying places, and dwellings situated on elevations is possible only by boat. In such a situation, unexpected visits are inconvenient. As evident from accounts of travels, each one then remains at home with a calm heart and passes the day peacefully. In these circumstances, it is entirely possible to undertake something at one’s house that remains unknown in the nearest place, and therefore the parents of Moses could, without exposing themselves to particular danger, hide their child from the Egyptians.”

Exodus 2:3. When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes, and daubed it with bitumen and pitch; and she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. When the inundation ended, and concealing the newborn became impossible, Jochebed devised a new means for his salvation. From the local plant papyrus (Hebrew “gome”), which served the Egyptians, according to the testimony of Theophrastus, Pliny, and others, as material for constructing light boats, baskets, she prepares an ark (Hebrew “teba”; see Gen 6:14), a box; for greater durability and with the aim of preserving the child in it as long as possible, she daubes it with pitch and, placing the child in it, sets the box not in an open place in the canal where the current could carry it away, but among the reeds, in “suf,” “εἰς τὸ ἕλος,” “in the marsh” (the bends of the river), that is, not in the reeds as the Russian Bible reads, but in the water plants, vegetation, since the Hebrew “suf,” judging from its use in the book of the prophet Jonah (Jonah 2:6), means precisely water plants.

Exodus 2:4. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. The remark of verse 4, as well as the deliberateness of the further actions of Moses’ sister – Miriam (Exod 15:20), testifying that she acts as if previously instructed on what to do, suggests that the coincidence of the place where the basket was set with the place where the daughter of Pharaoh bathed – is not a chance occurrence. There is nothing incredible in the thought that the mother of Moses, knowing where the daughter of Pharaoh bathed, chose this place with the purpose of finding in her the savior of her child.

Exodus 2:5. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside her; she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to fetch it. Exodus 2:6. When she opened it, she saw the child; and behold, the baby was crying; and she took pity on him and said: “This is one of the Hebrew children. The daughter of Pharaoh could conclude the Hebrew origin of the child not from circumcision, since the Egyptians also circumcised, but from his being found in the water. Having decided to save out of compassion a Hebrew child, she obviously does not fear punishment for non-compliance with the royal decree. In this case, she relies on the respect which Egyptian women in general enjoyed, especially representatives of the royal family. The queen was honored in Egypt more than the king: queens and even princesses received divine honors after death.

Exodus 2:7. 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? Exodus 2:8. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Exodus 2:9. 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. The agreement of the daughter of Pharaoh to take as nurse for the rescued Hebrew child a Hebrew woman, not an Egyptian, is a continuation of her efforts for the life of the child. Given the aversion of Egyptians to Hebrews, an aversion that went so far that Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, because this is an abomination to Egyptians (Gen 43:32), nothing and no one could assure the daughter of Pharaoh that a Hebrew child would remain whole and unharmed in the hands of an Egyptian nurse. On the contrary, entrusting him to a Hebrew woman ensured him life and health.

Exodus 2:10. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son; and she named him Moses, for she said: “Because I drew him out of the water. After the end of nursing with his mother’s milk, that is, after the lapse of three years (2 Macc 7:27), the child is brought to the daughter of Pharaoh and from her receives the name Moses. The giving of a name by an Egyptian woman speaks with certainty that by its origin it must be Egyptian. It is considered so already by Philo and Josephus, who, according to the latter, formed it from the combination of two Egyptian words: mo – water and isis – saved, and by some ancient church fathers – Clement of Alexandria, Eustathius of Antioch, and recent exegetes incline to the same conclusion. According to the most reliable explanation, the first half of the name Moses corresponds to the Egyptian mo – water, and the second – υσῆς; or υσῆυς – to the ancient Egyptian verb “udsha,” “udsh,” meaning to be saved. Therefore, Mudsha, Moisi, or with the Greek ending Moisis, means “saved from water.” The derivation of the name Moses from the Hebrew “masha” – to draw out – has no basis. The verb “masha” is used only in the active sense (2 Sam 22:17, Ps 17:17), and therefore the participle form “moshe” means “drawing out,” “leading out,” but not “drawn out,” which is the sense of the name Moses.

Exodus 2:11. One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. Exodus 2:12. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. Exodus 2:13. When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together; and he said to the one who was in the wrong: “Why do you strike your fellow? Exodus 2:14. He answered: “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought: “Surely the thing is known. After completing his instruction in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22), at the age of 40 years, Moses made an attempt to ease by his personal strength the difficult position of his countrymen. “He thought that his kinsmen would understand that God was giving them deliverance by his hand, but they did not understand” (Acts 7:25). In the person of the Hebrew whom he wished to protect from the insults of another of his kindred, the people did not recognize Moses as their ruler and judge.

Exodus 2:15. When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well. The land of Midian, to which Moses fled, is distinguished in the Bible from the Sinai Peninsula, and appears to lie beyond its boundaries (Exod 18:1-6). Its location is ordinarily indicated around the Gulf of Elana, on its eastern side, with confirmation in the ruins of the city Modiana, or Madiana, which was found here. The Midianites who inhabited this place descended from Abraham through Keturah (Gen 25:1, 1 Chr 1:32). Wells, around which flocks gathered with their shepherds (Gen 29:2 and following), were in the desert such a place where one could most likely meet a person. With this in view, Moses sat down by the well.

Exodus 2:16. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. Exodus 2:17. The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. Exodus 2:18. When they came to their father Reuel, he said: “Why have you come back so soon today? Exodus 2:19. They said: “An Egyptian helped us against the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock. Exodus 2:20. He said to his daughters: “Where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread with us. Exodus 2:21. And Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. Exodus 2:22. And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said: “I have become a sojourner in a foreign land.” And she bore another son, and he called his name Eliezer, for he said: “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. The forty-year sojourn (Acts 7:23) of Moses with the Midianite priest, bearing the double name Reuel-Jethro (Exod 18:1), served for him, according to the opinion of the holy Fathers, for instance, Gregory of Nyssa, a time of enlightenment and purification. An indicator of such a state is, among other things, the name of his second son – Eliezer: “The God of my father was my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.” The preceding life experiences convinced Moses that not in his own strength and wisdom, but solely in the God of his fathers should he seek help for himself. Such a disposition corresponded as much as possible with his future position as the leader of the Hebrew people.