Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 2:10

And the child grew, and she brought him unto 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.

10. grew ] Heb. became great, implying (cf. Gen 21:8) that he was 3 4 years old, and was weaned.

became a son to her ] was adopted by her, and naturally, therefore, cared for and educated by her. In the Old and Middle kingdoms, as Dillm. remarks, royal princesses had their own establishments, in a separate part of the palace.

Moses ] Heb. Msheh. Probably the Egypt, mosi, ‘born,’ which occurs not only as the second part of a theophorous name, as Thutmosi (Thothmes), ‘Thoth is born,’ Amosi (Amsis), ‘The moon is born,’ but also as a name by itself (Ebers, Gosen 1 , p. 526). LXX. vocalize , which was explained by the ancients as meaning ‘saved [ ] from the water [ ]’ (Jos. Ant ii. 9. 6, and others), or ‘taken [ ] from the water’ (gloss in Cod. Sarrav. [Swete, Introd. to the OT. in Greek, p. 137], cited by Ges. Thes. s.v.); but though the Egyptian words are correctly given, the compound is not correct; for ‘saved from the water’ would in Egyptian be wezenmou (Griffith).

Because I drew him, &c.] ‘Mosheh’ could mean only ‘ drawing out’; ‘ drawn out ’ would in Heb. be mshy. The explanation, like those of many other names in the OT. (e.g. Cain, Gen 4:1, Noah, Gen 5:29), rests not upon a scientific etymology, but upon an assonance: the name is explained, not because it is derived from mshh, to ‘draw out,’ but because it resembles it in sound. The note in RV. is intended to indicate this: it does not, it will be observed, say that ‘Mosheh’ means ‘drawn out,’ but only gives the reader to understand that it resembles the Heb. word signifying to ‘draw out.’ So in similar cases, as Gen. ll.cc., and Exo 29:32 to Exo 30:24.

The verb mshh is rare, occurring otherwise in Heb. only Psa 18:16 = 2Sa 22:17.

The simple Biblical narrative of Moses’ youth was decorated in later times with many imaginative details. Thus according to Josephus ( Ant. ii. 9. 3 9, 10), his father, Amram, when his wife was pregnant, had a vision foretelling how her child would in the future deliver his people; the Egyptian princess, being childless, adopted him that he might ultimately succeed to the throne; he was a precocious child, and attracted by his beauty the notice of the passers by; when Egypt was invaded by the Ethiopians, he was, in consequence of an oracle, appointed leader of the Egyptians, defeated the invaders, and pursued them to the gates of their capital, Meroe, &c.: according to Philo ( Vit. Mos. i. 5), he was a studious and thoughtful boy, Egyptian masters taught him arithmetic, geometry, music, and the philosophy contained in the hieroglyphic treatises; teachers from Greece, engaged for high fees, instructed him in other school-learning ( ); he learnt from others Assyrian letters, and Chaldaean astronomy 1 [100] : according to the more summary statement in Act 7:22 he was instructed in ‘all the wisdom of the Egyptians.’ A good education was valued in ancient Egypt; and the actual education of an Egyptian of the better class comprised such things as moral duties and good manners, reading, writing, composition, and arithmetic (Erman, pp. 164 6, 328 33, 364 8; 383 ff., 548 50). If however Moses was really instructed in ‘all the wisdom’ of the Egyptians, he must have learnt many things which from a Hebrew point of view it would be extremely undesirable for him to know: for it consisted largely of mythology, astrology, magic, and superstitious practices in medicine ( ibid. pp. 348 364).

[100] See further Stanley’s Jewish Church, i. 107, with the references.

‘The thought that in the life of such a great man the finger of God must have early manifested itself, and he must be shewn from the first to have overcome all hindrances which men opposed to him and his work, is perfectly correct, and has been, and still is, often verified: else the most diverse peoples would not have so variously given expression to it in their myths and legends, e.g. about Semiramis (Diod. ii. 4), Perseus (Apollod. ii. 4. 1), Cyrus (Hdt. i. 110 ff.), Romulus (Liv. i. 4), and especially in the singularly similar story of Sargon, king of Accad (b.c. 3800) 2 [101] . In particular cases, to be sure, it is always difficult, and even impossible, to determine how much in such narratives is historical. In Exo 1:15 to Exo 2:10 there are, as has been shewn, sufficient indications that the narratives were long current as tradition ( Sage) before they were written down’ (Dillmann).

[101] In the words of an inscription of the 8th cent. b.c., said to have been copied from an earlier one: ‘My mother, who was poor, conceived me, and secretly gave birth to me; she placed me in a basket of reeds, she shut up the mouth of it with pitch, she abandoned me to the river, which did not overwhelm me. The river bore me away, and brought me to Akki, the drawer of water, who received me in the goodness of his heart,’ &c. (Maspero, Dawn of Civil., p. 597 f.; KB. iii. 1, 101; Sayce, EHH. p. 161). For details about the others see Jeremias, ATLAO. p. 255 ff. (ed. 2, p. 410 ff.).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

He became her son – See the margin reference. His training and education was, humanly speaking, all but indispensable to the efficient accomplishment of his work as the predestined leader and instructor of his countrymen. Moses probably passed the early years of his life in Lower Egypt, where the princess resided. However, there may be substantial grounds for the tradition in Josephus that he was engaged in a campaign against the Ethiopians, thus showing himself, as Stephen says, mighty in word and deed.

Moses – The Egyptian origin of this word is generally admitted. The name itself is not uncommon in ancient documents. The exact meaning is son, but the verbal root of the word signifies produce, draw forth. The whole sentence in Egyptian would exactly correspond to our King James Version. She called his name Moses, i. e. son, or brought forth, because she brought him forth out of the water.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Exo 2:10

She called his name Moses

Moses trained in Egypt-a lesson in providence

The great lesson of this incident, as of so much before, is the presence of Gods wonderful providence, working out its designs by all the play of human motives.

In accordance with a law, often seen in His dealings, it was needful that the deliverer should come from the heart of the system from which he was to set his brethren free. The same principle which sent Saul of Tarsus to be trained at the feet of Gamaliel, and made Luther a monk in the Augustinian convent at Erfurt, planted Moses in Pharaohs palace and taught him the wisdom of Egypt, against which he was to contend. It was a strange irony of Providence which put him so close to the throne which he was to shake. For his future work he needed to be lifted above his people, and to be familiar with the Egyptian court as well as with Egyptian learning. If he was to hate and to war against idolatry, and to rescue an unwilling people from it, he must know the rottenness of the system, and must have lived close enough to it to know what went on behind the scenes, and how foully it smelled when near. He would gain influence over his countrymen by his connection with Pharaoh, whilst his very separation from them would at once prevent his spirit from being broken by oppression, and would give him a keener sympathy with his people than if he had himself been crushed, by oppression. His culture, heathen as it was, supplied the material on which the Divine Spirit worked. God fashioned the vessel, and ,then filled it. Education is not the antagonist of inspiration. For the most part, the men whom God has used for His highest service have been trained in all the wisdom of their age. When it has been piled up into an altar, then the fire of the Lord falls. Our story teaches us that Gods chosen instruments are immortal till their work is done. No matter how forlorn may seem their outlook, how small the probabilities in their favour, how opposite the gaol may seem the road He leads them, He watches them. Around that frail ark, half lost among the reeds, is cast the impregnable shield of His purpose. All things serve that will. The current in the full river, the lie of the flags that stop it from being borne down, the hour of the princesss bath, the direction of her idle glance, the cry of the child at the right moment, the impulse welling up in her heart, the swift resolve, the innocent diplomacy of the sister, the shelter of the happy mothers breast, the safety of the palace–all these and a hundred more trivial and unrelated things are spun into the strong cable wherewith God draws slowly but surely His secret purpose into act. So ever His children are secure as long as He has work for them; and His mighty plan strides on to its accomplishment over all the barriers that men can raise. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Birth and training of Moses

I. The wonderful clearness of bible portraits. Some of the pictures of the men whom the world has united in calling masters are well-nigh indistinguishable. They are like an old manuscript which you must study out word by word.

II. The superior dignity and glory of the human life. Where now is the city Cain builded? What about the civil movements of that far-off day? its political revolutions? Who cares any thing about them? Learn from this, that it is human life fashioned by the Divine Artificer, and in His own image, which is the noblest thing altogether in this world.

III. The birth and training of moses.

1. The time of the birth. Pharaohs Joseph had gone. His bones only were now in Egypt–a poor part of any man. Every son that is born of the Hebrews ye shall cast into the river. And so Moses was doomed before he was born. From his mothers womb to the waters of the Nile, ran the decree. And Moses did go to the Nile, but in Gods way–not in Pharaohs–as we shall see.

2. The goodliness, the beauty of the child. An infant child. Is there anything more beautiful? Look at its little hands. Can any sculptor match them? Behold the light of its eyes. Does any flower of earth open up with such a glory? Look upon the rose, the lily, the violet, as they first open their eyes upon this world. Ah I there is no such light in any of them. A man is far gone–a woman farther–when the child which comes to them–the immortal clasp of their two hearts–is not beautiful in their sight. Earth has no honour so great as the parentage of an immortal; heaven no higher dignity. But in Moses case beauty was to reach unto an end nobler than itself. It was to fill the mothers heart with a subtler strategy, with a bolder daring. It was to fascinate the eyes of a princess. It was to work the deliverance of a mighty nation. So beauty, when not abused, ever beyond itself reaches unto a nobler end. And this beauty of the sunset, of the landscape and the flower, fruits in the human life. It emphasizes purity, it lifts up towards God. Ah, mothers t be not so anxious to keep your child from the looking-glass as to teach her that she holds a noble gift from God in that face, in that form, of hers.

3. The exposed and endangered condition of the babe. For a while the mother hid him; hid him from the eyes of Pharaoh and his minions. But the powers that be have many eyes. And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein, and she laid it in the flags by the rivers brink. Did ever mother launch such a craft before? Ay, often. Every day they do it. Every day, every hour, some mother is committing her child to the currents of this world, than which the waters of the Nile were not more cruel. Think of harlotry, the painted devil. Think of intemperance, the destroying fiend. Think of dishonour, the consuming fire. Are not these worse than all the crocodiles that ever opened jaw in river of earth? And yet must they do it! Upon the angry surface of this worlds danger must mothers launch their hopes; their only consolation being–God is strong, and a Father to defend. I can imagine the mother of Moses weaving her little ark of bulrushes. Love makes her hands to be full of skill as ever shipbuilders were. So mothers now. The ark which they make is the covenant with their God; its lining, tile world-resisting element of a mothers prayers; and then with eyes that cannot see for tears, and with heart-strings breaking, they push forth their little craft–their hearts hope–their world. And now may God defend the boy, for the mother may not–cannot longer.

IV. The training of Moses. Note the elements of this.

1. He had his mother. Sure I am, if Pharaohs daughter could have glanced into that home just then, she would have thought that she had happened upon a most excellent nurse. Very affectionate, surely, she would have said, and I hope she has judgment. Yes, princess; never fear. Your nurse has excellent judgment, too. Her strange love will make her very wise. This was the first element of Moses training. A human life, like any other life, needs training. And for this work there is no one like the mother. Interest makes her wise. Love makes her unwearying. Were the Israelites accustomed to point to that hated throne? If so, all this story would filter through a mothers heart into the mind of the growing child. She would tell it him as he lay upon her lap. She would sing it to him as she rocked him to sleep. Talk it to him as he played about the house. The sympathetic instinct between mother and child would be a syphon, through which, with every hour of the day, would flow the story of Israels bitter wrong. And did the promise of the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and Jacob linger in the darkened minds of their enslaved descendants, keeping hope alive there, and the expectation of deliverance? If so, with this hope the mother would feed the mind and fill the heart of her growing boy. With the word freedom, she would daily stir his ambition.

2. His home in the palace of Pharaoh. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaohs daughter, and he became her son. He was to break the chains of slavery, not to be bound by them. Therefore he must be lifted up to the greatness of his work. Two most necessary elements of preparation he gained by going into the home of the Pharaoh. The first was knowledge. Moses, we read, was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And this he got as the adopted son of Pharaohs daughter. Good impulses, a noble spirit, is not enough. Knowledge is power, and necessary power, save when God works by miracles. Therefore Moses was homed in the palace. He goes to study the throne which he is yet to shake. Out of Pharaohs armoury he will gird himself for the coming contest with Pharaoh. His residence at court would serve to impress him with the immense power with which the Hebrews contended, and the heel of which was upon their necks. And yet he must know this, or he will not be prepared for his work.

3. The desert. He that believeth shall not make haste. So he that worketh for God shall not make haste. These forty years had taught him something. His first failure had taught him something. So had his desert life, in which he had been alone with God. Moses at eighty years of age, in his own estimation, was not nearly so much of a man as at forty. So of all growing men always. There are many now in the world, not yet out of their teens, who are a deal wiser and mightier, and fitter to cope with error and wrong, than they will be twenty years hence; that is, provided they keep on growing these twenty years. But God has a school ready for such (that is, if they are worth the schooling), and one which they will not be long in entering. It is the school of mistakes–of failure; the school in which many a man spells out this lesson, What a big fool I was! This was the training which God now gives to Moses. He allows him, in the impulse of youth, to strike a blow, and then gives him forty years in the desert t.o meditate upon its folly.

In conclusion, note some of the great lessons which our subject teaches.

1. We learn how low, oftentimes, God permits the true cause to sink. The world has often seen the lust stronghold of human rights defended by the might of one solitary arm. So it was here. Yes, Israels hope floated in the little ark of bulrushes among the flags upon the rivers brink. And yet Israels cause was safe enough. With faith in God, we need never fear. Suppose there is left but one human life for defence. God and such a one are always a majority.

2. We learn the measureless importance of one single human life. God often throws into the balance of the moral world a single life, to keep it even. Think of this, ye teachers, and count no life committed to your care common or unclean.

3. The grand work of man-building. This is what God, the Great Architect., is for ever engaged in. It is that which some–yes, all of us, are called to do. Time itself, with all its centuries, is only one of many hands engaged in this sublime work. Everything else in this world, all sorrow, all joy, all wars, all peace, all slavery, all liberty, all learning, all art, is only so much scaffolding. The slavery of the Hebrews; the cruel despotism of Pharaoh; the mothers love and the mothers fear; the princess, the Nile; ay, even the bulrushes which grew by its brink–all these were used of God in building up His servant, the man Moses. Up, up, upward unto God, rises the immortal man. His are the glory and power of an endless life.

4. We learn how easy it is for God to fashion a human life to suit His purpose. To the Nile with it, shouts Pharaoh from his throne. To the Nile, responds the power of Egypt. Yes, says God, to the Nile; but from it too; from it, unto a home, unto the palace, unto the headship of a mighty nation, unto Sinai, unto Pisgah. In the very palace of the Pharaohs, God nurses a life for the overthrow of the Pharaohs. With such delightful facility does God model and mould human life. (S. S. Mitchell, D. D.)

Moses

I. The child of poverty. You and I will draw near and look upon this strange nest and nestling. He was a foundling, that is, a child left by its parents and found by some passer-by. His name means water-saved. I knew a foundling who was called Horace Nelson, because he was found, one winter morning, on Glasgow Green near Nelsons monument. He was named from the monument, which was not harder than his mothers heart; and so Moses was named from the water out of which he was drawn. Each seemed to be nobodys child; and so the one was named as the child of the water, and the other as the child of the monument. That slaves child in the ark seems the poorest of the poor. Left as a prey to flood and famine, to crocodiles and vultures, was ever poor child in sadder plight? Yet his fame now fills the world as the man of men next to the Messias, the Conqueror of Pharaoh, the Leader of Israel, and the Giver of the Law to all mankind. At Moses cradle learn never to scorn a poor child because he is poor. Often the child of poverty has, like Moses, stood before kings, and proved himself kinglier than they. Let not the poor be discouraged; let not the rich be proud. But it is very sinful as well as very senseless to despise the poor. God never does so. Before leaving it, take another look at Moses cradle. Ah, the babys beauty makes us glad! Tis the human face divine. He is a goodly child; exceeding fair; he has an heavenly beauty. I have come to know hundreds of our poorest children, and have often been struck with their beauty, which shone through all their hardships. What fine powers of body and mind and heart many of them have! What cleverness! what wit! what kindly feeling I In their beautiful eyes you may notice the beamings of a promising soul. Indeed, I have sometimes wondered whether Gods bounty had not endowed them so richly with these better gifts in order to make up for the want of what money can buy. Imitate Pharaohs daughter whom you bless and admire. Turn not proudly or coldly away from the forsaken child.

II. The child of providence. Gods providence is Gods forethought, or foresight; His kind care over us in all things. I wish you would think about the wonders of providence. Take an instance from your school books. This nineteenth century has been shaped by the battle of Waterloo. And God did it all with a few drops of rain. The rain on the night before the battle made the clayey soil slippery, so that the French could not get their guns forward till the sun had dried the ground. But for the rain, Napoleon would probably have won. Gods providence brings about the greatest things by means of the smallest. The dangers around the child Moses were very great. The Nile might drown him; the sun by day or the moon by night might smite him; the crocodiles were around, and the vultures above him; there seemed no hope for the darling boy. The dangers around the most favoured children are perhaps as great, though not so easily seen. Believe firmly, then, that God is on earth as well as in heaven, and that His hand is in small things no less than in great. And think how much you owe to His fatherly providence. Your mother may have done all a mother could, your Miriam may have watched over you, but it was Gods providence that placed you in the ark of safety which has carried you on to this good hour. And you should thank Him also for unseen and unknown deliverances. The whole web of your life is woven with mercies.

III. The child of grace. Grace saved him from his greatest dangers. Through the palace a dark river ran, drowning mens souls in perdition. Vices more deadly than the crocodiles were rife around him. He found plagues in Pharaohs court more frightful than any he afterwards sent into it. I imagine that no youth ever had greater temptations than Moses (Heb 11:24). His character was formed by that choice: his blessed life was a harvest from that one seed. The choice you make between Christ and the world, makes you. Notice that Moses choice was most reasonable, though to the Egyptians it seemed sheer madness. Moses was also a joyous choice. Think not that he was the most wretched youth in Egypt when he forsook Egypts gods. Ah, no. His choice would pain him in many ways; but then he had the deep satisfaction of having done what was right. He had better joys than the Egyptians dreamt of. And he must have made in his boyhood this choice which he publicly confessed as soon as he came of age. Like him, choose Christ in youth, and declare your choice. You gather fresh flowers for your friends; and will you offer Christ only an old withered flower, that has lost all its beauty and perfume? (J. Wells.)

Child growth

Physically-mentally-morally.

1. Important to families–leaving home.

2. Interesting to strangers–princess.

3. Important to nations–Egypt. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

Child nomenclature

1. Perpetuating the memory of a cruel edict.

2. Perpetuating the memory of a loving mother.

3. Perpetuating the memory of a kindly providence.

4. Perpetuating the memory of a compassionate stranger.

Home life exchanged for palace life.

(1) It would be at first unwelcome–stranger.

(2) It would gradually become a temptation–its gaiety.

(3) It would forcefully become a discipline. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

Adoption by royalty

Suppose that you were to see the child of a beggar in the streets, or the child of a criminal in prison, and it so happened that the emperor of Russia or the queen of England were to see this little unfortunate creature and exclaim, I will adopt it as my own, and were to have it taken to a palace, clad in rich dresses, fed at the royal table, brought up under the royal care, and even prepared for a throne. Oh, you would think, what a change of life! what happiness for this child! And if it were an angel, or an archangel, or a seraph that adopted it, in order to make it, if it were possible, an angel that should never die; that would be a thousand times more glorious still. Think, now, what it is to become a child of God; and this is, nevertheless, what all of us may become by faith in Jesus Christ. What wonderful glory! what marvellous happiness! Thus St. John exclaims, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. And it is by faith that we become the children of God. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Prof. Gaussen.)

Moses education in Egypt

The adopted son of the daughter of an Egyptian king must have been trained in all the wisdom of Egypt. This is also in harmony with the tradition reported by Manethe, which makes Moses a priest of Heliopolis, and therefore presupposes a priestly education. It was precisely this education in the wisdom of the Egyptians, which was the ultimate design of God in all the leadings of His providence, not only with reference to the boy, but, we might say, to the whole of Israel. For it was in order to appropriate the wisdom and culture of Egypt, and to take possession of them as a human basis for Divine instruction and direction, that Jacobs family left the land of their fathers pilgrimage, and their descendants hope and promise. But the guidance and fate of the whole of Israel were at this time concentrated in Moses. As Josephs elevation to the post of grand vizier of Egypt placed him in a position to provide for his fathers house in the time of famine, so was Moses fitted by the Egyptian training received at Pharaohs court to become the leader and law-giver of his people. (M. Baumgarten, D. D.)

Moses choice

There can be no doubt that the foster-son of the kings daughter, the highly-gifted and well-educated youth, had the most brilliant course open before him in the Egyptian state. Had he desired it, he would most likely have been able to rise like Joseph to the highest honours. But affairs were very different now, Moses could not enter on such a course as, this without sacrificing his nation, his convictions, his hopes, his faith, and his vocation. But that he neither would, nor durst, nor could. (J. H. Kurtz, D. D.)

An incident expressed in a name

Admiral Bythesea, V.C., C.B., who has just retired after having for many years been the Consulting Naval Officer to the Government of India, was picked up as an infant far out at sea, lashed to a bale of goods. A lady–presumably his mother–was with him, but she was dead, and there was no evidence of any kind by which the name of the waif could be traced. The officers of the man-of-war which picked up the poor little infant did all they could to find out his relations, and, finding all their attempts futile, they determined to adopt the child, to whom they gave the name of By the Sea. He was sent to a naval school, and when old enough joined the navy. By a happy coincidence the first ship in which he served was the one which had saved his life as an infant. He took to his profession, and during the Crimean war distinguished himself at the Island of Wardo, where he earned the Victoria Cross and the decoration of C.B. Later on his services in India gave him the Companionship of the order of the Indian Empire, and he now retiree from the service with the rank of admiral–a consummation little dreamed of by the kind-hearted officers who rescued and educated him.

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 10. And he became her son.] From this time of his being brought home by his nurse his education commenced, and he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, Ac 7:22, who in the knowledge of nature probably exceeded all the nations then on the face of the earth.

And she called his name] mosheh, because min hammayim, out of the waters meshithihu, have I drawn him. mashah signifies to draw out; and mosheh is the person drawn out; the word is used in the same sense Ps 18:16, and 2Sa 22:17. What name he had from his parents we know not; but whatever it might be it was ever after lost in the name given to him by the princess of Egypt. Abul Farajius says that Thermuthis delivered him to the wise men Janees and Jimbrees to be instructed in wisdom.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

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.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

10. she brought him unto Pharaoh’sdaughterThough it must have been nearly as severe a trial forJochebed to part with him the second time as the first, she wasdoubtless reconciled to it by her belief in his high destination asthe future deliverer of Israel. His age when removed to the palace isnot stated; but he was old enough to be well instructed in theprinciples of the true religion; and those early impressions,deepened by the power of divine grace, were never forgotten oreffaced.

he became her sonbyadoption, and his high rank afforded him advantages in education,which in the Providence of God were made subservient to far differentpurposes from what his royal patroness intended.

she called his name MosesHisparents might, as usual, at the time of his circumcision, have givenhim a name, which is traditionally said to have been Joachim. But thename chosen by the princess, whether of Egyptian or Hebrew origin, isthe only one by which he has ever been known to the church; and it isa permanent memorial of the painful incidents of his birth andinfancy.

Ex2:11-25. HIS SYMPATHYWITH THE HEBREWS.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And the child grew,…. In stature and in strength, thriving under the care of its mother and nurse, through the blessing of God:

and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter; when grown up and weaned, and needed a nurse no longer: a Jewish chronologer u says, this was two years after his birth; and another says w, that when he was three years old, Pharaoh sitting at table, and his queen was at his right hand, and his daughter, with Moses, at his left, and his mother before him, when Moses in the sight of them all took the crown from Pharaoh’s head:

and he became her son; by adoption, for though she was a married woman, as some say, yet had no children, though very desirous of them, which accounts the more for her readiness in taking notice and care of Moses; so Philo the Jew says x, that she had been married a long time, but never with child, though she was very desirous of children, and especially a son, that might succeed her father in the kingdom, or otherwise it must go into another family: yea, he further says, that she feigned herself with child, that Moses might be thought to be her own son: and Artapanus y, an Heathen writer, says that the daughter of Pharaoh was married to one Chenephres, who reigned over the country above Memphis, for at that time many reigned in Egypt; and she being barren, took a son of one of the Jews, whom she called Moyses, and being grown up to a man’s estate, was, by the Greeks, called Musaeus:

and she called his name Moses, and she said, because I drew him out of the water; by which it appears, that this word is derived from the Hebrew word , “Mashah”, which signifies to draw out, and is only used of drawing out of water, 2Sa 22:17 which Pharaoh’s daughter gave him, he being an Hebrew child, and which language she may very well be thought to understand; since there were such a large number of Hebrews dwelt in Egypt, and she was particularly conversant with Jochebed her Hebrew nurse; and besides, there was a great affinity between the Hebrew and the Egyptian language, and therefore there is no need to derive the word from the latter, as Philo z and Josephus a do; who observe that “Mo” in the Egyptian language signifies “water”, and “Yses”, “saved”; besides, the Egyptian name of Moses, according to Aben Ezra, who had it from a book of agriculture in that language, is Momos: the Jewish writers b give to Moses many names, which he had from different persons, no less than ten: and Artapanns c says, that by the Egyptian priests he was called Hermes or Mercury, and probably was the Hermes of that people; he is called by Orpheus d , “born in water”, because drawn out of it.

u Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 2. w Chronicon. ib. Shalshal. ib. x De Vita Mosis, c. 1. p. 604, 605. y Apud Euseb, Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 432. z Ut supra. (x) a Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9.) sect. 6. b Vajikra Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 146. 3. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 2. Chronicon Mosis, fol. 4. 1. c Apud Euseb. ut supra. (praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 432.) d De Deo, v. 23.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

10. And the child grew. Here, however, their grief is renewed, when his parents are again obliged to give up Moses, and he is torn as it were from their bowels. For, on this condition, he passed over to the Egyptian nation, not only that he should be alienated from his own race, but that he should increase the number of their enemies in his own person. And certainly it is scarcely credible that he could be long tolerated in the tyrant’s court, and amongst the most cruel enemies of Israel, unless he professed to be a partaker of their hatred. We know of what corrupting influences courts are full; it is well known, too, how great was the pride of the Egyptians, whilst experience teaches us how prone even the best natures are to yield to the temptations of pleasure, wherefore we must wonder the more that, when Moses was engulfed in these whirlpools, he still retained his uprightness and integrity. Certainly the hope of their redemption might seem here again to suffer an eclipse, the course of circumstances being all against it; but thus the providence of God, the more circuitously it appears to flow, shines forth all the more wonderfully in the end, since it never really wanders from its direct object, or fails of its effect, when its due time is come. Nevertheless God, as with an outstretched hand, drew back his servant to himself and to the body of his Church, by suggesting in his name the recollection of his origin; for the king’s daughter did not give him this name without the preventing Spirit of God, that Moses might know that he was drawn out of the river when he was about to perish. As often, then, as he heard his name, he must needs remember of what people he sprang; and the power of this stimulus must have been all the greater, because the fact was known to everybody. The daughter of the king, indeed, could have by no means intended this, and would have rather wished the memory of his origin to be lost; but God, who put words in the mouth of Balaam’s ass, influenced also the tongue of this woman to bear loud and public testimony to the very thing which she would have preferred to conceal; and although she desired to keep Moses with herself, became his directress and guide in returning to his own nation. But should any be surprised that she did not fear her father’s anger in thus publicly recording the violation of his command, it may readily be replied that there was no cause of offense given to the tyrant, who would have willingly allowed any number of slaves to be born to him, so that the name of Israel were abolished. For why did he spare the lives of the female infants, but in order that Egyptian slaves might be born of them? And, regarding Moses in this light, he did not conceive that the act of his daughter had violated his command, nay, he rather rejoiced that the Israelitish nation was thus diminished, and the Egyptian nation numerically increased. One question only remains, viz., how it occurred to the mind of Pharaoh’s daughter to give Moses an Hebrew name, (28) when it is certain from Psa 81:5, that there was a great difference between the two languages: “he went out through the land of Egypt, where I heard a language that I understood not?” And again, we know that Joseph made use of an interpreter with his brethren when he pretended to be an Egyptian. (Gen 42:23.) We may probably conjecture that she asked the mother of Moses the word which expressed this signification, or we may prefer supposing that he had an Egyptian name, which was interpreted by his Hebrew one, and this I am most inclined to think was the case. When Moses subsequently fled, he again took the name his mother gave him.

(28) Calvin seems altogether to ignore the opinion of Philo, Clemens Alex., etc., that Moses was an Egyptian name, from Mo, or Moys, water, and Is, or Ises, or Hyse, preserved.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

MOSES-THE MATCHLESS AMONG MEN

Exo 2:1-2; Exo 2:10

THERE are lives so great that all men must have some familiarity with them, and yet no man has exhausted their study, and no speakers have brought to the thought of their fellows all the facts they inspire. Moses is one of those names! I say it without hesitation, that aside from Jesus Christ, Moses is the man of the Sacred Word. Peter was not one half so great; Paul was not his peer; and if we are disposed to dispute the claim, it only proves that while none of us know the New Testament too well, many are inexcusably ignorant of the Old, and hence unacquainted with some names that have inspired the past, and will profoundly influence the future.

Moses is not one of those names! He is the one of them. Ingersoll bleated about his blunders, and more honest and competent critics have and will add their attacks upon his name and the books that bear it; but when Ingersoll is forgotten and Infidelity comes to its grave, Moses will live in the memory of sainted minds, and the angel choirs in their grandest oratorio shall couple his name with that of The Lamb.

In order that we may understand his life, let us think about the facts that entered into it and made up the sum total. I dont know that they are different in quality from those that enter every life; but in quantity, how great!

I. THE ENVIRONMENT OF MOSES LIFE INFLUENCED AND AFFECTED THE MAN.

Cicero said, It is not the place which makes the man; but the man that makes the place. The same may be said of times and circumstances. They dont make men. The growth of plants may depend upon place, seasons, circumstances, but man is of other stuff, and, in a much greater measure, his life is independent of its environment. But true as that is, it is equally true that it touches him, influences him, and furnishes its share to the colors that go to make up his history. No student of the Pentateuch can question that Moses was affected by several factors in his environment.

Who can measure the result of the conjunction of the sacred and the secular in his education? From the account of Moses youth as related in the second chapter of Exodus, we know that the childs mother was the fortunate nurse to whom the Princess committed the care of the strangely saved little one. The record of her instruction is not to be found, save as men are able to read it in Moses after-life, and yet from that we know what it must have been. Whence his sense of brotherhood with the despised and degraded slaves of the land save from a mothers teaching? Whence his hot indignation at the injustice of the Egyptian lash, laid often and heavily on the poorly clad back of a Jew, save from a mothers teaching? Whence his own fine sense of virtue and right that left his name as clean as that of his illustrious predecessor, Joseph, save from a mothers restraining influence, and her example of chastity? Whence his faith in Jehovah as opposed to the calf of Egypt, save as Jochebed had whispered it into his soul, and prayed it into his hearts core? See the mother in the son! He is fortunate indeed whose early education is encompassed by the tender concern of a mother whose habits of life are simple, whose virtues are sung of angels, and whose faith in God is supreme! Some people seem to think that a mans complete education may be secular, and can be had from touching the world and studying books. That is a mistake! The best part of any youths training is had from the sacred instruction of a mothers life, and learned while yet in the school of the home.

In a sermon of John McNeils, he relates that true story brought from his native land, by saying, One day, long ago, a lad was setting out from a home in Fife in Scotland. He was beginning life; his childhoods days were gone. His mother was going along the road with him, and that mother was a true mother in Israel. He was not converted, and at the turning point of the road where mother and son were to part, she said, Now, Robert; just one thing I have to ask you, and you will promise me before I speak it? Robert was somewhat canny like his mother, and he said, No, I will not promise until I know. He had some notion what that promise would be. Oh! she said, it is not anything that will trouble you. It will not be hard or severe. Well, mother, he said, I will, Promise, said she, that every night before you lie down to sleep you will read a chapter from your Bible, and pray. He screwed his face, for it was an unpalatable promise, but he made it. Who was that Robert? That Robert was Robert Moffat, and Africa is coming into the Kingdom of God behind him, Who says that an education can be complete without a mothers lessons? Who dares affirm that the sacred lessons about God and Christ and the Bible and Eternity are non-essentials?

And yet, secular education has its place. It was the good fortune of Moses environment that at the Princess expense he came to be learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. When the boy comes to be the man, a mother cannot continue in her office of instructor. He yearns for wider fields of thought than she has explored, and seeks to be instructed by those who speak the language of exact sciences.

In Egypt, as the heir-apparent, Moses had every school open to him. In art, he was educated by the very furnishings of the palace in which he lived. No man can visit the Art Museums and look upon the Egyptian display in statuary, painting, and other antiquities without getting some idea of the scenes with which this fortunate son of a bond-woman was familiar in his early life. What an education for the finer tastes when a child is born and brought up among the richest hangings, looks on great paintings, listens to ennobling musiccontributions of Masters among the men of art. I cannot explain why a child of lowly birth and humble breeding should take pleasure in these things, and yet I know that the child in my life has its very soul inspired, and seems lifted above the sensual to commune with the great spirit of all good, when the sweeter notes of music touch the ear, when the finer strokes of the brush appeal to the eye, or when the perfect work of the chisel lifts before me a form that seems hiding a soul. If learning in Egypt included Egypts art, then I can understand where Moses caught harmonies of sound and color and form that enlarged his life.

There were philosophers in Egypt even then men who had felt after the keys of life, and vainly imagined they had found them. In the palace at Memphis, in her schools, and on the street, Moses must have met and whetted arguments with them. That is an education! I know that we laugh at what men call philosophy today; but mistaken and foolish as much of it has been, the minds that have pushed far into its misty realm have found jewels at times and dragged the rough diamonds of truth to the light, and with them men have bestudded life.

There were Priests in the palace. From them Moses learned about the religion of his foster-mother and the government of the realm. In view of their idolatry doubtless the religion of his race shone the brighter and became his deeper study and better hope; and along with secular learning he kept his religion. He is a fortunate youth before whom the halls of learning in art, science, and philosophy are open. They are all factors in the sum total of a great, deep, broad education. But he is to be pitied who gets a knowledge of them at the expense of his faith. Learning without religion is a poor stock in trade. The wisdom of Egypt without the sacred stamp of Jochebeds belief in God, would have served, in all probability, to shipwreck Moses soul. I have often pitied the blundering parents who dismiss their children to schools of great names, but of reputed godlessness. Some people say they dont approve of sectarian institutions, but believe rather in great secular universities. Every man to his choice, but I would prefer to send a child to the college unknown beyond the borders of a single state, if in that school learning was handmaid to religion, than to send him to the first university of the world, if its atmosphere, like that of most secular institutions and now increasingly of our denominational schools, was rank and stifling with unbelief.

In an address at Princeton college some years ago, that noble President, Francis L. Patton, said, It is natural for young men to think that the old is false and the new is to supersede it, and that this should have a disturbing influence upon the early faiths of educated young men. I am sorry for the young man who feels that his faith is undergoing eclipse; and that his education is lifting a barrier between him and those who are most dear to him, by preventing him from sharing their religious beliefs in the fulness of the old and unhesitating confidence. I pity the man who feels as he leaves college that he has more philosophy and less Bible than when he entered. Far sooner would I that a son of mine should never enter a college door, than that his college learning should be gained at the cost of his Christian faith. Who shall answer Patton? A stripling, just now flinging away his mothers prayers, and denying the power of his fathers God, cannot answer him; for he has not yet seen the end of such a course. A godless professor cannot answer him, because he knows not the value of a faith that has inspired such men as Patton through a long series of years; and no man can answer him, for Patton is right. Learning without religion may be of some value, but learning at the expense of religion is a pitiable misfortune for any man. Ah, Moses, your fame lives and will live because in your familiarity with the wisdom of Egypt the training of the home remained, and the lessons from the sacred teaching of a mother helped your faith to survive even in the luxurious and sensual palace of Pharaoh, the King! I want to walk up and down the earth crying into the ears of my young auditors, this text: Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. But unless you would play the fool and fail, dont believe that wisdom is ever had until your learning is wedded to the religion of Jesus Christ, the Gospel of love.

A second factor of influence in this sum of environments effect is found in the fact that Moses tasted at once slavery and sovereignty. By reason of his birth he was destined to share with the people of his own blood all their indignities, shame, and suffering. Not that tasks were ever heaped upon him, nor that any Egyptian slave-driver dared touch him with the lash! But what men escape in body they sometimes share in sympathies, and experience in soul. The record in Exodus tallies with that in Acts in teaching that Moses was forty years old before he ever saw the abuses of his brethren that were the daily practice in the field. Already, doubtless, he had tasted the sweets of life as a sovereign. Those forty years are left unrecorded, but surely not by reason of inaction on the part of the Princess favorite in all that time.

John Lord says, What a career did the son of the Hebrew bondwoman probably lead in the palace of Memphis, sitting at the monarchs table, feted as a conqueror, adopted as a grandson, and perhaps as heir, a proficient in all the learning and arts of the most civilized nation of the earth, enrolled in the college of priests, discoursing with the most accomplished of his peers on the wonders of magical enchantment, the hidden meaning of religious rites, and even the being and attributes of a Supreme God, the esoteric wisdom from which even a Pythagoras drew his inspiration.

But that sovereignty, while it educated him into feelings of all refinement, and acquainted him with what men style higher life, did not drown his sense of right, nor cause him to be indifferent to the woes of those who were poor, ignorant, and almost desperate in their bondage. It seems a strange thing how a little sovereignty exalteth some men to such heights that they come to despise all below. There were once small lords of the South who happened to be born white, and by inheritance owned a forty acre lot, who said, We doubt if a negro has a soul, and sported their right to rule the ebony skinned immortal without reference to his feelings or even physical comfort. Yes, and there are small lords in the North, who treat men, white of skin as themselves, though more humble in station, with an equal amount of indifference or even contempt. Haman was indeed the prototype of a multitude who have cursed the ages. Men, being promoted a little, at once conclude that all beneath them must bow themselves to the earth as they pass. It takes a great soul to occupy the superior positions of this world and yet keep his sympathies with the humble and oppressed. How many a boy has been sent to school with a trunk well-filled with clothes, every stitch in them having been taken by a poor, unlearned, yet great-souled and affectionate mother; with a purse that holds the last dollar that the old father earned and gladly added to his savings for the sake of the schooling of the son. A few years pass! That boy has made rapid strides. Society begins to toast him, and people of wealth often do honor to his culture by their attentions, and the hospitality of their homes. How will he behave now when the gap between him and his gets to be almost as great as that between the young prince of Pharaohs palace and the poor slave driven by Pharaohs lash? Will he come to the rescue of their declining years? Will he use his acquired power for their deliverance from burdens and seek to soothe them in sorrows hour? Or will he build a mansion of his own, surround himself with gay circles, move like a monarch among the titled, and prove himself as much of an ingrate as was George Elliots Tito Meleme? Which? Answer me that and I will tell you whether his better environment has developed him into the man that God can use, or the hypocrite in whom all hell delights. The spirit of every man is shown in his deportment toward those who hold lowest stations, but whose crimes are not blacker than misfortune, and whose lives have no other blight than crushing burdens.

Joseph Parker says finely enough of Moses, He was not ashamed to recognize the Hebrews as his brethren. He himself had had a day of wondrous luck, so-called; he might have sunned himself in the beams of his radiant fortune, and left his brethren to do as they could. Yes, he might, because other men have! I have known the mother of a man whose fortune was counted by hundreds of thousands, to beg; not because she was wicked and her name a reproach, but because he was stingy and wouldnt support her, and proud and would not own her as the fountain of his flesh and blood. That pride of life is contemptible and mean that makes the sovereign forget the slave. If the sovereignty is one of wealth and the slavery one of poverty; if the sovereignty is learning and the slavery is ignorance; if the sovereignty is one of good fortune and the slavery one of misfortune, the case is not altered. Be careful then how you treat the man that tends the stable and the woman that serves your table! God could reverse the order if He wished. Be ashamed when you seek to hide the fact that the ignorant old man, stooped with the weight of years, yet eternally fresh in his affection for you, is your father. Blush to the heart if you ever deny that sister or daughter whose sad experiences have taken away her beauty and broken her spirit, and cowed her to the dust. Only devils could be pleased with such haughty deportment. Heaven is happy when a Moses comes into the field and stoops to lift the bleeding slave to his jeweled bosom and says, He is my brother, rags and all.

You have read of the virtues of King Humbert. I saw a short time ago a bit of his history that well illustrates this point. Years ago Naples was being ravaged by the raging of cholera. At the same time the races were going on in Pardenone, and King Humbert had engaged to be present in their festive days. The news came to him that Naples was in distress and his answer by telegram to the racers was, At Pordenone they are having sport. At Naples they are dying. I will go to Naples. That was the spirit of Moses of whom the Apostle wrote, By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. Oh, Moses, how well might twentieth century men learn from thee how to make all sovereignty serve their suffering brothers good!

Finally, both the touch of

SOCIETY AND SECLUSION

gave coloring to his life. It is impossible for any man to become a rounded character who sees little or nothing of life among his fellows. Hermits have been reckoned as visionaries and wild dreamers as a rule. John the Baptist could never have attracted the people, led them to repentance, and added to their spiritual profit, had all his days been spent in the wilderness. But before he retired to that seclusion, he had moved through, and acquainted himself with the world. He only selected the wilderness as his auditorium. He knew the habits, character, and life of those about him from previous studya man in the midst of men. So did Moses. From the lords of a luxurious court down to the most despised among the Hebrew slaves, he was familiar with men. Does not that account for the language, life, and the laws that he laid down? There are a great many men in the world who know nothing outside of their study, counting-room, or office, save that men struggle for bread. They cant deal with their fellows; they cannot advise them when the besetments of life thicken; they cannot lay down laws for their conduct. The world is better off when they have least to say in the affairs that trouble. If we would know each other and help the weak, we must live in the world, and feel the throbbings of hearts that bleed and are ready to break.

And yet in every life, solitude should have a place. The man who is driven by the duties of each day from his waking moment to that in which he sleeps again, who has no moments for serious meditation, no solitude in which to reflect upon those greater problems of his present existence and his future good, is apt to become worn early and warped into unbelief; and life, losing its time for reflection and prayer, he is apt to become unbelieving and sick at heart. I was much pleased in reading Imago Christi to hear the author say of Christs habit of stealing away to a secluded spot to spend an hour or a night alone, There is more than solitude in such a situation to assist prayer; there is a ministry of nature which soothes the mind and disposes it to devotion. Never did I feel more strongly that in this habit Jesus had laid bare one of the great secrets of life than one day when I climbed all alone a hill above Invereray and lay on the summit, musing through a summer forenoon. On every hand there stretched a solitary world of mountain and moorland; the loch below was gleaming in the sun like a shield of silver; the town was visible at the foot of the hills, and the passengers could be seen moving in its streets but no sound of its bustle rose so high. The great sky was over all; and God seemed just at hand, waiting to hear every word. It was in spots like this that Jesus prayed. Who doubts that the Son of God got strength from the unheard language of such solitude? Great men in the past have given solitude a place in preparing for great work. Josephus tells how he got ready for his work by years of seclusion. John the Baptist, Paul, and Jesus enjoyed the same before their public ministry began. So of almost every reformer. Luther needed four hours a day, not for reading and study, but for reflection and prayer. The forty years in Midian were not so much lost from Moses life. The thoughts that occupied him then live today as do those that ran through the good John Bunyans mind while Bedford jail held his body within its iron grates. This great West of ours is wild in action; and energy well directed is right. But in justice to self, in the help of men, in the cause of God, he is stronger who keeps his closet of prayer, his time for reflection, and staying from the hurry of business and the mastering greed of gain, takes time to answer Gods ring, let Him into the room of the heart, and hold a quiet hour of communion with Him.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

CRITICAL NOTES.

Exo. 2:10. Moses] Heb. Mosheh (): if of Heb. origin, undoubtedly an activenot a passiveparticiple = drawing out, not drawn out. There is no difficulty in this. The starting point of the naming is from the act of drawing: the passive being drawn wd. necessarily be implied. But the active touches Gods providence at two points instead of one,the drawing of the individual son out of the Nile, and the drawing of the national son (Hos. 11:1) out of Egypt: Johovah drew out M. by Ph.s daughter, and Is. by M. While preferring the derivation just named, we need not decisively reject that adopted by some scholars, after Josephus, from the Coptic = Water-saved. It is certainly striking, that whereas Mo in Copt. sigs. water, Ph.s d., according to this ver., laid stress on the water:lit. OUT OF THE WATERS did I draw him. Thus rich in resources, we can assure Frst that we see no reason why the etymol. given in Exo. 2:10 shd not be taken seriously: certainly we need not give it up for his conjecture that M. is = son of Osiris!

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Exo. 2:10

THE BIRTH OF MOSES AND ITS LESSONS

More wisdom and blessing may be got from the contemplation of the birth of a truly great man into the world than from the tracing of the mightiest river to its source. In following up this, you may have to ascend among the everlasting hills; in tracking a great soul, you must rise to God. All souls come from God. Some souls are broader mirrors, are greater lights than others, they disclose more fully the way from one eternity to another. Consider the man Moses, specially as illustrating Gods method of raising up souls on earth for Divine use and service.

I. God gives and sends them as they are needed, they have their appointment according to the times. The reader of history cannot but see that the great parent Spirit creates and sends forth soulsof Teachers, lawgivers, deliverers, prophets, poets, kingsat the right time. There was need of Moses. See previous chapter. The greatest revelations come in the times of greatest need, that we may be well assured whose they are. The world owes much to little children, little children coming into it by God.

II. That they may be fully trained and prepared for their work, they are made like unto their brethren. Moses is born a child of the people that he may be a true brother and saviour of his people.

III. The very family and people that sought to destroy Israel are made instrumental in nourishing and rearing the deliverer of Israel and the avenger of his brethrens wrongs. God makes evil powers, evil men, evil counsels, and deeds serve Him, contrary to their own nature and intent, and when they have come to their highest pitch, work their own just retribution and overthrow. So Huss, Wickliffe, Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, Knox were trained in the monasteries and colleges of the Romish Church, to be the leaders in another Exodus out of Egyptian darkness and bondage. Injustice and cruelty are made to avenge themselves in the end.

IV. In the raising up of the man Moses we have a most instructive exemplification of the doctrine and working of the Divine providence. Gods providence does its mightiest works through human hearts.

V. In Pharaohs daughter, and the part she takes, we have the proof that human nature, the human heart, is one; and that all classes of mankind, all nations, are destined to become one in Gods great saving plan. [Pulpit Analyst.]

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSE

Exo. 2:10. Child-growthphysicallymentallymorally.

1. Important to familiesleaving home.
2. Interesting to strangersPrincess.
3. Important to nationsEgypt.

Child-nomenclature.

1. Perpetuating the memory of a cruel edict.
2. Perpetuating the memory of a loving mother.
3. Perpetuating the memory of a kindly Providence.
4. Perpetuating the memory of a compassionate stranger. Home life exchanged for palace life.
1. It would be at first unwelcomestranger.
2. It would gradually become a temptationits gaiety.

3. It would forcefully become a discipline. Providence is pleased sometimes to raise the poor out of the dust, to set them among princes (Psa. 113:7-8.)

Under Providence, parents of the Church may be forced to give up their children to strangers.
Acts of pity from earthly powers to the Churchs children, may give them liberty of naming them.
We have now the Church under state patronagethe patronage of a tenderhearted princess.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

(10) The child grew.Josephus regards these words as implying a growth that was strange and abnormal (Ant. Jud. ii. 9, 6). But nothing more seems to be intended than natures ordinary course. The child grew and reached the time when it was usual in Egypt that children should be weaned. We have no means of determining what this time was. It may have been the completion of the first year; but more probably it was the completion of the second (2Ma. 7:27).

She brought him unto Pharaohs daughter.Jochebed carried out the terms of her engagement faithfully, and gave up her son to the princess at the time agreed upon.

He became her son.Possibly by a formal act of adoption; but we have at present no evidence that adoption was an Egyptian custom. Perhaps the writer means simply that she brought him up as if he had been her son, gave him a sons education, and a sons privileges. (On the education of Moses, see Excursus II. at the end of this Book.)

She called his name Moses.In Egyptian probably Mesu, which is found as a name in the monuments of the nineteenth dynasty, and which is common as the latter half of a namee.g., Ra-mesu, Aah-mesu, Amen-mesu, &c. In ordinary use this word meant born and son. (Comp. the Latin natus.) It was, however, derived from an Egyptian verb, meaning to produce, to draw forth; and the princess justified her imposition of the name by a reference to this etymology. Owing to the existence of a cognate verb in Hebrew, it was possible to transfer her explanation into the Hebrew language exactly and literally. The play upon words cannot be rendered in English.

EXCURSUS B: ON THE EDUCATION OF MOSES (Exo. 2:10)

Moses would be educated like the sons of princesses generally, not like those of priests, or of persons destined for the literary life. St. Stephen, when he says that Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, does not (probably) mean more than this. The question then is, In what did the education of princes and young nobles at the time of the exodus consist?
It would consist, in the first place, of orthography and grammar. Moses would be taught to speak the Egyptian language, and to write it, correctly. He would probably not be taught the hieroglyphic character, the knowledge of which was reserved to the priests, but would be familiarised with the ordinary cursive writingthe hieratic, as it was called in later timeswhich was the common character for books, and even for official documents, in his day. Care would be taken to instruct him in the graces of style, so far as they were understood at the time; and he would be especially practised in epistolary correspondence, which was regarded as one of the most necessary of all gentlemanlike accomplishments. Whether his attention would be turned to poetry, might perhaps be doubtful;[113] but he would certainly be taught a clear and perspicuous prose style, such as was required for official reports and other communications between members of the governing class.

[113] The poetry of Moses his songs (Exo. 15:1-19; Deu. 32:1-43), his blessing (Deut. Xxxii), and his prayer (Ps. xc), indicate an actual study of Egyptian poetry, whether, it was a part of his education or not.

The next branch of his education would be arithmetic and geometry. The Egyptians had made considerable progress in the former, and their calculations ran up to billions. In the latter they are said to have been exact and minute, but not to have pushed their investigations very far. It was sufficient for a youth of the upper classes to be able to keep correct accounts; and a speculative knowledge of the intricacies of numbers, or of geometrical problems, scarcely formed a part of the established curriculum.
He would be further instructed in morality, and in the Egyptian views on the subjects of the Divine Nature, of the relations subsisting between God and man, of a future life, and of a judgment to come. Egyptian morality was, for the most part, correct so far as it went, and was expressed in terse gnomic phrases, resembling those of the Proverbs of Solomon. The points especially inculcated were obedience to parents and to authorities generally, courtesy to inferiors, and kindness to the poor and the afflicted. The mysteries of religion were the exclusive property of the priests; but life beyond the grave, judgment, reward and punishment, probably metempsychosis, were generally inculcated; and the mystic volume, known as the Ritual of the Dead, must have been pressed on the attention of all the educated.

It is not to be supposed that one brought up as the son of a princess would attain to the scientific knowledge possessed by Egyptian professionals of different kinds. Moses would not be an astronomer, nor an engineer, nor a physician, nor a theologian, nor even an historian; but would have that general acquaintance with such subjects which belongs to those who have enjoyed a good general education in a highly civilised community. He would also, no doubt, have a knowledge of the main principles of Egyptian jurisprudence. But here, again, his knowledge would be general, not close or intimate; and it would be a mistake to expect, in the Mosaical legislation, reproductions, to any extent, or adaptations, of the Egyptian judicial system.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

10. The child grew and he became her son This is all that Moses tells us of his own youth . How easily could he here have written lines which would have satisfied the curiosity of ages! but he hastens over years to touch the next link in the providential chain . The sacred writers ever show this baffling, unworldly reticence . Thus the youth of Moses’s great Antitype, Jesus, is almost a blank in history . In both instances apocryphal legends, beneath attention except as psychological curiosities, (witness Josephus and Philo,) have swarmed into the vacuum . There are, however, in the British Museum papyri of the eighteenth dynasty, (B . C . 1525-1325, according to Wilkinson,) which give something of an idea of the education of a youth designed for civil and military service in the Mosaic age . From these and other sources we learn that the education was in literature, philosophy, and the mystic lore of the Egyptian religion, rather than in science, although great attention was given to arithmetic, pure and applied geometry, mensuration, surveying, accounts, architecture, and astronomy . But especially were the children trained from infancy in grammar and rhetoric, and the drill in style was thorough enough to have satisfied Quintilian . Literary examination was indispensable for appointment to the lowest public office, and instructors were appointed and schools superintended by the government . Such was the training of Moses at Heliopolis, the Oxford of Egypt .

And she called his name Moses Rather, Mosheh, (from the Egyptian word mos, or mas, to draw,) using a word which was the root of several royal Egyptian names, as Teth- mos -is, A- mos -is, which was transcribed to Mosheh in Hebrew, and to by the LXX translators, (which means water-saved,) whence the Latin Moyses, and our Moses . Brugsch states that it is also the name of an Egyptian prince of the nineteenth dynasty, a viceroy of Nubia .

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Exo 2:10. And the child grew, &c. It is uncertain at what age Moses was delivered by his parents to the princess. It is, however, reasonable to suppose that his parents had so well instructed him in their religion, and taken such care to let him know both what relation they bore to him, and what hopes they had conceived of his being designed by Heaven to be the deliverer of his nation, that he made no other use of his education, which the princess gave him, than to confirm himself more and more against the superstitions and idolatry of the Egyptians, and to make himself fit to answer those ends for which he was designed by Providence. See Universal History.

He became her son, &c. That is, she adopted him for her own; in consequence of which she gave him such an education as comports with what is said, Act 7:22 that he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Some writers have said, that she pretended to be with child, and endeavoured absolutely to make Moses pass for her own son; a tradition which some have thought to be favoured by the words of the Apostle, Heb 11:24 he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; but this, unquestionably, may refer, with as much propriety, to his sonship by adoption. Besides, had this been the case, she would never have given him a name commemorative of his deliverance; for she called him Moses, or drawn out, mosheh, because she drew him out of the water.

REFLECTIONS.How admirable are the dispositions of God’s providence, in time, manner, means; all exact, critical, and wonderful! Observe,

1. The discovery of Moses by Pharaoh’s daughter. Struck with his beauty and innocent tears, compassion moved her to save the child. Note; (1.) The helplessness and innocence of infancy awaken pity in the hardest hearts. (2.) When Pharaoh is destroying the people, his daughter is preserving their deliverer. God can thus by his very enemies carry on his wise designs. (3.) Nothing happens by chance. The greater events depend upon circumstances, to outward appearance utterly trivial and fortuitous, but planned with deep design in the mind of the all-wise God.

2. The nurse provided: his own mother. No breast so natural as her’s who bore him. No wonder the child thrived. How many mothers, by refusing their breasts, become accessary to the death of their own offspring!
3. The child is educated in all the learning of Egypt, and in all the politeness of a court, and thus prepared for that part he was afterwards to act, both as the historian and leader of Israel. Providence not only raises great men from obscurity, but, by the steps of their advancement, wonderfully prepares them for the place for which they are intended.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Moses means, drawn out of the water. An Egyptian name. And this I think is very gratifying to the Gentile church; see Isa 19:25 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Moses In Midian

Exo 2:10

There seems to be a considerable gap between the ninth verse and the tenth. We parted with Moses when he was three months old, and we know nothing more of him until he became the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. We wish to know something of his home training. We would fain pry into the mother’s methods of dealing with such a child. What truths did she inculcate upon him? How did she explain the condition of the children of Israel to her son? Did she seek to prejudice his sympathies? Whilst he was being nurtured upon Pharaoh’s bread, did she instil into him teaching that would upset Pharaoh’s throne? Upon all these points we are left uninformed, though our interest is excited to the highest pitch. We like to know something of the home training of the men who have written the most famous chapters in history. There is a special pleasure in watching the growth of the sapling. The boyhood of the giant must be unlike the boyhood of ordinary men. We would see the giant in his teens, and watch him eagerly in the daily accretion of his strength. In this instance we are disappointed. Moses was trained in secret, and no tittle of his mother’s ministry is put on record. Is it true, however, that we have no means of learning the principles upon which Moses was trained? Are we so totally in the dark as we have supposed ourselves to be? Let us from the history of the man gather what we can concerning the tuition of the child.

“And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren” ( Exo 2:11 ).

A good deal of his mother’s training is visible in this verse. Moses was the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, yet he claimed the Hebrews as his brethren. The signature written in blood was not to be washed out by all the waters of the Nile. Nature asserted herself under circumstances which might have attempered the severity of her demands. Moses was not ashamed to recognise the Hebrews as his brethren. He himself had had a day of wondrous luck so called; he might have sunned himself in the beams of his radiant fortunes, and left his brethren to do as they could; he might, indeed, in self-excuse, and in order to quiet the monitions of any little unsophisticated nature which his seductive circumstances had left within him, have actually taken part against the Hebrews, and made his censures the bitterer by the fact of his alienated kinship. It was not so that Moses acted. And is no credit to be given to Jochebed, his mother, for this fine fraternal chivalry? Is it not the mother who is speaking in the boy when he calls the Hebrews his brethren? Observe, too, Moses looked upon the burdens of the Hebrews. Alas! some of us can go up and down society, and never see the burdens which our brethren are called to bear. It is something in a world like this to have an eye for the burdens of other men. We look upon difficulties without sympathy, we regard the burden-bearer as fulfilling but an ordinary vocation; Moses looked upon burdens as having moral significance, and so regarding them his deepest sympathies were drawn towards the oppressed. “Bear ye one another’s burdens.” A friendly recognition of the fact that a man is bearing a burden may itself help to lessen the load. It ought to have been something to the Hebrews to know that a man had risen amongst them who looked upon their burdens. Such a looking might be the beginning of a new state of affairs. There are some looks which have in them reform, revolution, and regeneration! Is there no trace of the mother of Moses in all this? Would he have known what a “burden” was, but for the explanations of his mother? Would not the Hebrew have been to him but a beast of labour, had not his mother revealed to his young eyes the man that lay silently within the slave?

“And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand” ( Exo 2:12 ).

This is one of the first recorded acts of the meekest of men! Do not let us be hard upon him. The impulse was right There must be men in society who can strike, and who need to strike but once. Let it be understood that this, after all, was but the lowest form of heroism, it was a boy’s resentment, it was a youth’s untempered chivalry. One can imagine a boy reading this story, and feeling himself called upon to strike everybody who is doing something which displeases him. There is a raw heroism; an animal courage; a rude, barbaric idea of righteousness. We applaud Moses, but it is his impulse rather than his method which is approved. Every man should burn with indignation when he sees oppression. In this instance it must be clearly understood that the case was one of oppressive strength as against down-trodden weakness. This was not a fight between one man and another; the Egyptian and the Hebrew were not fairly pitted in battle: the Egyptian was smiting the Hebrew, the Hebrew in all probability bending over his labour, doing the best in his power, and yet suffering the lash of the tyrant It was under such circumstances as these that Moses struck in the cause of human justice. Was there nothing of his mother in that fine impulse? Are we now as ignorant of his home training as we supposed ourselves to be a moment ago? In this fiery protest against wrong, in this blow of ungoverned temper against a hoary and pitiless despotism, see somewhat of the tender sympathy that was in Jochebed embodied in a form natural to the impetuosity of youth. Little did Moses know what he did when he smote the nameless Egyptian. In smiting that one man, in reality he struck Pharaoh himself, and every succeeding tyrant!

“And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?” ( Exo 2:13 ).

In the first instance we might have thought that in taking part with the Hebrew against the Egyptian, Moses was but yielding to a clannish feeling. It was race against race, not right against wrong. In the second instance, however, that conclusion is shown to be incorrect. We now come to a strife between two Hebrews, both of whom were suffering under the same galling bondage. How did the youthful Moses deport himself under such circumstances? Did he take part with the strong against the weak? Did he even take part with the weak against the strong? Distinctly the case was not one determined by the mere disparity of the combatants. To the mind of Moses the question was altogether a moral one. When he spoke, he addressed the man who did the wrong; that man might have been either the weaker or the stronger. The one question with Moses turned upon injustice and dishonourableness. Do we not here once more see traces of his mother’s training? yet we thought that the home life of Moses was a life unrecorded! Read the mother in the boy; discover the home training in the public life. Men’s behaviour is but the outcome of the nurture they have received at home. Moses did not say, You are both Hebrews, and therefore you may fight out your own quarrel: nor did he say, The controversies of other men are nothing to me; they who began the quarrel must end it. Moses saw that the conditions of life had a moral basis; in every quarrel as between right and wrong he had a share, because every honourable-minded man is a trustee of social justice and common fair play. We have nothing to do with the petty quarrels which fret society, but we certainly have to do with every controversy, social, imperial, or international, which violates human right, and impairs the claims of Divine honour. We must all fight for the right: we feel safer by so much as we know that there are amongst us men who will not be silent in the presence of wrong, and will lift up a testimony in the name of righteousness, though there be none to cheer them with one word of encouragement.

“And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known” ( Exo 2:14 ).

So it is evermore! Even his own brethren did not understand Moses. Though only yesterday he had killed an Egyptian, yet to-day he is snapped at and abused as if he had been an enemy rather than a friend. But when did a man’s own brethren ever fully understand and appreciate him? Jesus “came unto his own, and his own received him not.” A man’s foes are often those of his own household. One would have supposed that upon seeing Moses both the Hebrews would have forgotten their own quarrel, and hailed him with expressions of gratitude and trust. The heroic interposition of yesterday ought not to have been so soon forgotten. Forgotten? Nay, it was surely remembered, but that which might have been considered an honour was held over the head of Moses as a sword of vengeance. Men are often discouraged in attempting to serve their brethren; generally speaking, it is a thankless task. Good offices are resented, kind words are perverted, and the valiant man is hunted to death.

“But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock” ( Exo 2:15-17 ).

We find Moses in early life upon the river’s brink, now we find him sitting alone by a well. It will be quite easy to interpret the feelings which govern him as he sits in a strange land. Let us overhear him: “Never so long as I live will I interfere in another quarrel: I have had experience of two interpositions, and my heart is sad. When men are fighting again, I shall let them finish as they please; not one word will I say either on the one side or the other: from this day forth I shut my eyes in the presence of wrong, and hold my peace when righteousness is going to the wall.” What a wonderful speech to be delivered by such a man! He has fully made up his mind too! Nevermore can he be tempted to go with the weak against the strong! Watch him as he looks about, not knowing which way to turn. He hears sounds in the near distance. Presently he notices seven women coming to the well, and presently, too, he observes shepherds driving them away. Gloriously the late rough heroism reasserts itself! He had promised nevermore to interfere; but the moment that he sees another act of oppression, his mother’s training makes itself felt, and he springs to his feet to resist a cowardly tyranny. The wretches, who for many a day had driven the women from the well, had never heard a man speak to them before! The voice quite startled them, and they fell back unable to confront the face of an honest and determined man. So may all bad resolutions perish! We must interfere. The cause of righteousness is entrusted to us, and woe be to us if we take counsel with ourselves to save our own quiet at the expense of justice and honour!

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

Exo 2:10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto 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.

Ver. 10. She called his name Moses. ] He was also by the Egyptians called MOneves, as Diodorus Siculus relateth; and Monies, as Aben Ezra. Musaeus calleth him , Water sprung, because “drawn,” as David was afterwards, “out of many waters.” Psa 18:16 Clement of Alexandra saith, that at his circumcision, Moses was called Melchi; others say Joachim: but that is as uncertain as that he was the same with Mercurins Trismegistus.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

her son = as her son.

Moses, probably Egyptian water-saved, or Hebrew drawn out of the water. No record of his Hebrew name.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

and he: Gen 48:5, Act 7:21, Act 7:22, Gal 4:5, Heb 11:24, 1Jo 3:1

Moses: Drawn out

Because: Gen 4:25, Gen 16:11, 1Sa 1:20, Mat 1:21

Reciprocal: Gen 3:20 – Adam Exo 2:21 – content Exo 2:22 – for he said Psa 18:16 – drew

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Exo 2:10. And he became her son The tradition of the Jews is, that Pharaohs daughter had no child of her own, and that she was the only child of her father, so that when he was adopted for her son, he stood fair for the crown: however, it is certain he stood fair for the best preferments of the court in due time, and in the mean time had the advantage of the best education, with the help of which he became master of all the lawful learning of the Egyptians, Act 7:22. Those whom God designs for great services, he finds out ways to qualify for them. Moses, by having his education in a court, is the fitter to be a prince, and king in Jeshurun; by having his education in a learned court, (for such the Egyptian then was,) is the fitter to be an historian; and by having his education in the court of Egypt, is the fitter to be employed as an ambassador to that court in Gods name. She called his name Moses The Jews tell us that his father, at his circumcision, called him Joachim, the rising or establishing of the Lord; but Pharaohs daughter called him Moses, drawn out, namely, of the water, either from the Hebrew word , masha, to draw out, 2Sa 21:17; or from two Egyptian words, Mo uses, of the same import. Henry, taking it for granted that the latter is the etymology of the word, observes, The calling of the Jewish lawgiver by an Egyptian name was a happy omen to the Gentile world, and gave hopes of that day when it should be said, Blessed be Egypt my people, Isa 19:25. And his tuition at court was an earnest of that promise, (Isa 49:23,) Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers. Whether there be propriety in this observation or not, it is reasonable to suppose that this name, Drawn out, would tend to keep alive in the mind of Moses a remembrance of the danger he had escaped, and would induce him, out of gratitude for his deliverance, more readily to become a worker together with God in drawing his brethren out of still greater danger and misery.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments