Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 2:5
And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash [herself] at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.
5. the daughter of Pharaoh ] Tradition gave her name as Tharmuth (Jubilees xlvii. 5), Thermouthis (Jos. Ant. ii. 9. 5), or Merris (Euseb. Praep. Ev. ix. 27). Rameses II is stated to have had 59 daughters (Petrie, Hist. iii. 38, 82); but neither of these names appears among the 45 that have been preserved ( ibid. p. 37 f.).
came down ] presumably, from her palace: though where this was, or where indeed the entire incident took place, the narrative does not state. Perhaps Tanis (Zoan), one of the chief royal residences in the NE. of the Delta, near the mouth of the Tanitic branch of the Nile, is intended.
to bathe ] Women of any position do not at present bathe in the Nile (Lane, Mod. Egyptians, ii. 36): whether the case was different formerly, we do not know. The painting, from a tomb in Thebes (Wilk.-Birch, ii. 353), referred to by Dillmann, and in the Speaker’s Comm., represents (Griffith) not a lady in her bath, but a lady seated in her clothing on a mat, and being anointed and adorned for a party by her attendants (cf. Erman, p. 187).
The Nile was regarded as sacred, and as a giver of life and fertility; but whether this led to the practice of bathing in it, is more than we know. The Heb. at or by the Nile, however, does not necessarily mean that Pharaoh’s daughter bathed publicly in the river; there might have been private bath-houses beside the river, into one of which she went.
her maidens ] The court-ladies in attendance on her.
walked along ] were walking.
her handmaid ] her female slave, which is what the Heb. ’mh regularly denotes (Exo 20:10; Exo 20:17, &c.).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The traditions which give a name to the daughter of Pharaoh are merely conjectural. Egyptian princesses held a very high and almost independent position under the ancient and middle empire, with a separate household and numerous officials. This was especially the case with the daughters of the first sovereigns of the 18th Dynasty.
Many facts concur in indicating that the residence of the daughter of Pharaoh and of the family of Moses, was at Zoan, Tanis, now San, the ancient Avaris (Exo 1:8 note), on the Tanitic branch of the river, near the sea, where crocodiles are never found, and which was probably the western boundary of the district occupied by the Israelites. The field of Zoan was always associated by the Hebrews with the marvels which preceded the Exodus. See Psa 78:43.
To wash – It is not customary at present for women of rank to bathe in the river, but it was a common practice in ancient Egypt. The habits of the princess, as well as her character, must have been well known to the mother of Moses, and probably decided her choice of the place.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Exo 2:5-6
This is one of the Hebrews children.
The princess and the orphan
I. The claims of the orphan
1. The first claim on her compassion was the claim of infancy. She saw the child. That sentence contains an argument. It was an appeal to the womans heart. Rank, caste, nationality, all melted before the great fact of womanhood. This feeling was spontaneous. She did not feel compassion because it was her duty, but because it was her nature. God has provided for humanity by a plan more infallible than system, by implanting feeling in our nature.
2. Consider the degradation of the childs origin. Hebrews children. The exclusiveness of the Egyptian social system was as strong as that of the Hindoo–slave–enemy–to be slain. Princess brought up with these ideas. She was animated by His Spirit who came to raise the abject, to break the bond of the oppressor.
3. The last reason we find for this claim was its unprotected state. It wept; those tears told of a conscious want–the felt want of a mothers arms.
II. The orphans education.
1. It was a suggestion from another. This woman brought up in luxury–had warm feelings–not knowing how to do good–was told by another. Results of this training:
1. Intellectually. He learned to ask Why the bush is not consumed.
2. In the moral part of his character we notice his hatred of injustice. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
The child
1. The moment of its degradation.
2. The moment of its sadness.
3. The moment of its hope.
4. The moment of its unknown future.
5. The moment of a mothers recompense. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
God rules
1. Providence sometimes raises the poor out of the dust to set them among princes (Psa 113:7-8), to make men know that the heavens do rule.
2. Those whom God designs for great services He finds ways to qualify and prepare beforehand. The fact of the princess disobeying her fathers command in adopting the child, so far from being a difficulty, as some have made it, is the very impress of truth itself. If there is a thing too strong for mans laws, it is a womans heart. Witness Antigone burying her brother. (A. Nevin, D. D.)
Womanly compassion of Pharaohs daughter
The sweet picture of womanly compassion in Pharaohs daughter is full of suggestions. Her name is handed down by one tradition as Merris, and Meri has been found as the appellation of a princess of the period. A rabbinical authority calls her Bithiah, that is, Daughter of Jehovah; by which was, no doubt, intended to imply that she became in some sense a proselyte. This may have been only an inference from her protection of Moses. There is a singular and very obscure passage in 1Ch 4:17-18, relating the genealogy of a certain Meted, who seems to have had two wives, one the Jewess, the other Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh. We know no more about him or her, but Keil thinks that Mered probably lived before the Exodus; but it can scarcely be that the daughter of Pharaoh, his wife, is our princess, and that she actually became a daughter of Jehovah, and, like her adopted child, refused royal dignity and preferred reproach. In any case, the legend of her name is a tender and beautiful way of putting the belief that in her there was some good thing towards the God of Israel. But, passing from that, how the true womans heart changes languid curiosity into tenderness, and how compassion conquers pride of race and station, as well as regard for her fathers edict, as soon as the infants cry, which touches every good womans feelings, falls on her ear One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. All the centuries are as nothing; the strange garb, the stranger mental and spiritual dress, fade, and we have here a mere woman, affected as every true sister of hers to-day would be by the helpless wailing. God has put that instinct there. Alas that it ever should be choked by frivolity or pride, and frozen by indifference and self-indulgence! Gentle souls spring up in unfavourable soil. Rameses was a strange father for such a daughter. How came this dove in the vultures cage? Her sweet pity beside his cold craft and cruelty is like the lamb couching by the lion. Note, too, that gentlest pity makes the gentlest brave. She sees the child is a Hebrew. Her quick wit understands why it has been exposed, and she takes its part, and the part of the poor weeping parents, whom she can fancy, against the savage law. No doubt, as the Egyptologists tell us, the princesses of the royal house had separate households and abundant liberty of action. Still, it was bold to override the strict commands of such a monarch. But it was not self-willed sense of power, but the beautiful daring of a compassionate woman to which God committed the execution of His purposes. And that is a force which has much like work trusted to it in modern society too. Our great cities swarm with children exposed to a worse fate than the baby among the flags. Legislation and official charity have far too rough hands and too clumsy ways to lift the little life out of the coffer, and to dry the tears. We must look to Christian women to take a leaf out of Bithiahs book. First, they should use their eyes to see the facts, and not be so busy about their own luxury and comfort that they pass the poor pitch-covered box unnoticed. Then they should let the pitiful call touch their heart, and not steel themselves in indifference or ease. Then they should conquer prejudices of race, pride of station, fear of lowering themselves, loathing, or contempt. And then they should yield to the impulses of their compassion, and never mind what difficulties or opponents may stand in the way of their saving the children. If Christian women knew their obligations and their power, and lived up to them as bravely as this Egyptian princess, there would be fewer little ones flung out to be eaten by crocodiles, and many a poor child, who is now abandoned from infancy to the devil, would be rescued to grow up a servant of God. She, there by the Nile waters, in her gracious pity and prompt wisdom is the type of what Christian womanhood, and, indeed, the whole Christian community, should be in relation to child life. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Gods providential care of children
I remember reading a story of a baby–a wee child–that travelled by railroad. Away whirled the coach very fast; but it soon knocked against something, and all were thrown out–men, women, mothers, and babes, some were pitched here, some there; heads were broken, hands cut off. In the midst of the confusion, a voice was heard crying–Where is my baby? Oh I my dear baby! I cannot find him anywhere. Did nobody see my sweet baby? What shall I do? One man lost his leg, another his hand, another his eye; but the mother did not mind them, but was going about, wringing her hands, and crying, Where is my baby? After much search for it, and for a great while in vain, at length a man went over to a place where there was a bandbox, he took up the bandbox, and what do you think he found under it? The baby, fast asleep! Now, if God takes care of babies, surely He would take care of all little children.
Womanly compassion
Of what infinite value to society is that tenderness, compassion, and benevolence which the Almighty has mercifully impressed on the female heart. It is a womans exclusive gift; it is the foundation of all her virtues; the mainspring of her usefulness. Let her then daily consider the awful responsibility of such a gift; let her consider it as amongst her most valuable possessions; and solely employ it for the benefit of her fellow-creatures; and more especially for the nursing, training, and educating the young of her own species: let her give her heart, her tenderness, her compassion, to the infant orphan and the deserted child; let her, in humble imitation of her great Master, become a teacher of the ignorant, and an instructor of babes; and let her, like Him, fold in her arms the lovely emblems of those beings that form the kingdom of heaven. Let her, with active zeal, bring little children to Christ, that He may bless them; and though, under her fostering care no great legislator, prince, or prophet may arise, a superior reward will await her labours: that which is promised to those who save a soul from death. It will be her peculiar and happy lot to rear good Christians and useful members of society; and above all, blessed spirits for eternal happiness in the communion of saints made perfect. (Mrs. King.)
Providentially preserved
Sir Thomas Gresham, who built the Royal Exchange in London, was the son of a poor woman, who, while he was an infant, abandoned him in a field. By the providence of God, however, the chirping of a grasshopper attracted a boy to the spot where the child lay; and his life was by this means preserved, (W. Baxendale.)
Royal compassion-
Some years ago, her Majesty the Queen came to open a new wing of the London Hospital. For some days previously nothing else was talked about in the papers and on the streets but Her Majestys intended visit. There was a little orphan child lying in one of the wards of the hospital, and she, too, had heard that the Queen was coming. She said to the nurse, Do you think the Queen will come and see met . . . I am afraid not, darling, said her nurse, she will have so many people to see and so much to do. But, I should so much like to see her, pleaded the little patient, I should be so much better if I saw her; and day after day the poor child was expressing her anxiety to see her Majesty. When the Queen came, the governor told her Majesty, and the Queen, with her large kindly heart and motherly instincts, said, I should like to see that dear child. Would you just take me to the ward? and Queen Victoria was conducted to the bedside of the orphan girl. The little thing thought it was one of the women come in the crowd to see the opening of the hospital, and said, Do you think the Queen will come and see me? I should like to see the Queen. I am the Queen, said her visitor. I heard you were anxious to see me. I hope you will be so much better now; and she stroked down her fevered, wasted, pale brow, gave some money to the nurse to get some nice things for the child, and went her way. The child said, I am ever so much better now that I have seen the Queen.
Gods purpose accomplished by unexpected agencies
The wheels in a clock or a watch move contrary one to another, some one way, some another, yet all serve the intent of the workman, to show the time, or to make the clock to strike. So in the world, the providence of God may seem to run cross to His promises. One man takes this way, another runs that way; good men go one way, wicked men another; yet all in conclusion accomplish the will and centre in the purpose of God, the great Creator of all things.
The Gentiles useful in the deliverance of Israel
In the fact that the deliverer of Israel from the power of Egypt was himself first delivered by the daughter of the king of Egypt, we find the same interweaving of the history of Israel with that of the Gentiles already observed in the history of Joseph; and we may now regard it as a law, that the preference shown to Israel when it was selected as the chosen seed on whom the blessings were first bestowed, was to be counterbalanced by the fact that the salvation of Israel could not be fully effected without the intervention of the Gentiles. (M. Baumgarten, D. D.)
The value of first thoughts
All done in a moment, as it were! Such are the rapid changes in lives which are intended to express some great meaning and purpose of God. They are cast down, but not destroyed; persecuted, but not forsaken! From the action of Pharaohs daughter we learn that first thoughts are, where generous impulses are concerned, the only thoughts worth trusting. Sometimes we reason that second thoughts are best; in a certain class of cases this reasoning may be substantially correct, but, where the heart is moved to do some noble and heroic thing, the first thought should be accepted as an inspiration from God, and carried out without self-consultation or social fear. Those who are accustomed to seek contribution or service for the cause of God, of course know well what it is to encounter the imprudent prudence which says, I must think about it. Where the work is good, dont think about it; do it, and then think. When a person goes to a place of business, and turns an article over and over, and looks at it with hesitation, and finally says, I will call again, the master of the establishment says in his heart, Never! If Pharaohs daughter had considered the subject, the probability is that Moses would have been left on the Nile or under it; but she accepted her motherly love as a Divine guide, and saved the life of the child. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The unconscious element in life
Pharaohs daughter little knew what she was doing. And do any of us know what we are doing? Is there not something behind the very plainest transaction which, after all, may be the shadow of the Divine hand? You throw a penny to a poor child in the street; that penny may buy an orange to moisten the lips of his poor mother, dying in an unknown garret. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Gods way of working
Israels deliverer is brought up on Pharaohs bread. This is Gods method of executing His purposes. He restrains the wrath of man, and causes the remainder to praise Him. He sets a watch upon His enemies. He puts His hook in the jaws of leviathan. He suddenly violates the security of the wicked, and shows kings that they reckon badly who reckon without Him. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. And the daughter of Pharaoh] Josephus calls her Thermuthis, and says that “the ark was borne along by the current, and that she sent one that could swim after it; that she was struck with the figure and uncommon beauty of the child; that she inquired for a nurse, but he having refused the breasts of several, and his sister proposing to bring a Hebrew nurse, his own mother was procured.” But all this is in Josephus’s manner, as well as the long circumstantial dream that he gives to Amram concerning the future greatness of Moses, which cannot be considered in any other light than that of a fable, and not even a cunningly devised one.
To wash herself at the river] Whether the daughter of Pharaoh went to bathe in the river through motives of pleasure, health, or religion, or whether she bathed at all, the text does not specify. It is merely stated by the sacred writer that she went down to the river to WASH; for the word herself is not in the original. Mr. Harmer, Observat., vol. iii., p. 529, is of opinion that the time referred to above was that in which the Nile begins to rise; and as the dancing girls in Egypt are accustomed now to plunge themselves into the river at its rising, by which act they testify their gratitude for the inestimable blessing of its inundations, so it might have been formerly; and that Pharaoh’s daughter was now coming down to the river on a similar account. I see no likelihood in all this. If she washed herself at all, it might have been a religious ablution, and yet extended no farther than to the hands and face; for the word rachats, to wash, is repeatedly used in the Pentateuch to signify religious ablutions of different kinds. Jonathan in his Targum says that God had smitten all Egypt with ulcers, and that the daughter of Pharaoh came to wash in the river in order to find relief; and that as soon as she touched the ark where Moses was, her ulcers were healed. This is all fable. I believe there was no bathing in the case, but simply what the text states, washing, not of her person, but of her clothes, which was an employment that even kings’ daughters did not think beneath them in those primitive times. Homer, Odyss. vi., represents Nausicaa, daughter of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians, in company with her maidens, employed at the seaside in washing her own clothes and those of her five brothers! While thus employed they find Ulysses just driven ashore after having been shipwrecked, utterly helpless, naked, and destitute of every necessary of life. The whole scene is so perfectly like that before us that they appear to me to be almost parallels. I shall subjoin a few lines. The princess, having piled her clothes on a carriage drawn by several mules, and driven to the place of washing, commences her work, which the poet describes thus: –
‘ ‘
, .
‘ , .
, ,
‘ , .
.
ODYSS., lib. vi., ver. 90.
“Light’ning the carriage, next they bore in hand
The garments down to the unsullied wave,
And thrust them heap’d into the pools; their task
Despatching brisk, and with an emulous haste.
When all were purified, and neither spot
Could be perceived or blemish more, they spread
The raiment orderly along the beach,
Where dashing tides had cleansed the pebbles most.”
COWPER.
When this task was finished we find the Phaeacian princess and her ladies ( ‘ – ) employed in amusing themselves upon the beach, till the garments they had washed should be dry and fit to be folded up, that they might reload their carriage and return.
In the text of Moses the Egyptian princess, accompanied by her maids, naarotheyha, comes down to the river, not to bathe herself, for this is not intimated, but merely to wash, lirchots; at the time in which the ark is perceived we may suppose that she and her companions had finished their task, and, like the daughter of Alcinous and her maidens, were amusing themselves walking along by the river’s side, as the others did by tossing a ball, ‘ , when they as suddenly and as unexpectedly discovered Moses adrift on the flood, as Nausicaa and her companions discovered Ulysses just escaped naked from shipwreck. In both the histories, that of the poet and this of the prophet, both the strangers, the shipwrecked Greek and the almost drowned Hebrew, were rescued by the princesses, nourished and preserved alive! Were it lawful to suppose that Homer had ever seen the Hebrew story, it would be reasonable to conclude that he had made it the basis of the 6th book of the Odyssey.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
5. the daughter of Pharaoh came downto wash herself at the riverThe occasion is thought to havebeen a religious solemnity which the royal family opened by bathingin the sacred stream. Peculiar sacredness was attached to thoseportions of the Nile which flowed near the temples. The water wasthere fenced off as a protection from the crocodiles; and doubtlessthe princess had an enclosure reserved for her own use, the road towhich seems to have been well known to Jochebed.
walked alonginprocession or in file.
she sent her maidherimmediate attendant. The term is different from that rendered”maidens.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river,…. Her name, in Josephus g, is called Thermuthis, and by Artapanus h, an Heathen writer, Merrhis, perhaps from Miriam, and frequently by the Jewish writers i, Bithia, which is the name of a daughter of another Pharaoh, 1Ch 4:18 from whence they seem to have taken it: she came down from the palace of her father, the gardens of which might lead to the Nile; for Zoan or Tanis, near to which, the Arabiac writers say, as before observed, the ark was laid, was situated on the banks of the river Nile, and was the royal seat of the kings of Egypt; though perhaps the royal seat at this time was either Heliopolis, as Apion testifies k, that it was a tradition of the Egyptians that Moses was an Heliopolitan, or else Memphis, which was not far from it; for Artapanus, another Heathen writer, says l, that when he fled, after he had killed the Egyptian, from Memphis, he passed over the Nile to go into Arabia: however, no doubt a bath was there provided for the use of the royal family; for it can hardly be thought that she should go down and wash herself in the open river: here she came to wash either on a religious account, or for pleasure: the Jews m say it was an extraordinary hot season throughout Egypt, so that the flesh of men was burnt with the heat of the sun, and therefore to cool her she came to the river to bathe in it: others n of them say, that they were smitten with burning ulcers, and she also, that she could not wash in hot water, but came to the river:
and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; while she washed herself; though it is highly probable she was not left alone: these seem to be the maids of honour, there might be others that might attend her of a meaner rank, and more fit to do for her what was necessary; yet these saw not the ark, it lying lower among the flags, and being nearer the bath where Pharaoh’s daughter was, she spied it from thence as follows:
and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it; the maid that waited on her while the rest were taking their walks; her she sent from the bath among the flags to take up the ark: the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, and R. Eliezer o, render it,
“she stretched out her arm and hand, and took it;”
the same word, being differently pointed, so signifying; but this is disapproved of, by the Jewish commentators.
g Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9. sect. 5. h Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 432. i T. Bab. Megillah, fol. 13. 1. Derech Eretz, fol. 19. 1. Pirke Eliezer, c. 48. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 2. k Apud Joseph. Contr. Apion, l. 2. sect. 2. l Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 433. m Chronicon Mosis, fol. 3. 2. Ed. Gaulmin. n Targum Jon. in loc. Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c.48. fol. 57.2.) o Ibid. Vid. T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 12. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Deliverance of Moses. | B. C. 1571. |
5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. 6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children. 7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? 8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother. 9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. 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.
Here is, I. Moses saved from perishing. Come see the place where that great man lay when he was a little child; he lay in a bulrush-basket by the river’s side. Had he been left to lie there, he must have perished in a little time with hunger, if he had not been sooner washed into the river or devoured by a crocodile. Had he fallen into any other hands than those he did fall into, either they would not, or durst not, have done otherwise than have thrown him straightway into the river; but Providence brings no less a person thither than Pharaoh’s daughter, just at that juncture, guides her to the place where this poor forlorn infant lay, and inclines her heart to pity it, which she dares do when none else durst. Never did poor child cry so seasonably, so happily, as this did: The babe wept, which moved the compassion of the princess, as no doubt his beauty did, Exo 2:5; Exo 2:6. Note, 1. Those are hard-hearted indeed that have not a tender compassion for helpless infancy. How pathetically does God represent his compassion for the Israelites in general considered in this pitiable state! Eze 16:5; Eze 16:6. 2. It is very commendable in persons of quality to take cognizance of the distresses of the meanest, and to be helpful and charitable to them. 3. God’s care of us in our infancy ought to be often made mention of by us to his praise. Though we were not thus exposed (that we were not was God’s mercy) yet many were the perils we were surrounded with in our infancy, out of which the Lord delivered us, Psa 22:9; Psa 22:10. 4. God often raises up friends for his people even among their enemies. Pharaoh cruelly seeks Israel’s destruction, but his own daughter charitably compassionates a Hebrew child, and not only so, but, beyond her intention, preserves Israel’s deliverer. O Lord, how wonderful are thy counsels!
II. Moses well provided with a good nurse, no worse than his own dear mother, v. 7-9. Pharaoh’s daughter thinks it convenient that he should have a Hebrew nurse (pity that so fair a child should be suckled by a sable Moor), and the sister of Moses, with art and good management, introduces the mother into the place of a nurse, to the great advantage of the child; for mothers are the best nurses, and those who receive the blessings of the breasts with those of the womb are not just if they give them not to those for whose sake they received them: it was also an unspeakable satisfaction to the mother, who received her son as life from the dead, and now could enjoy him without fear. The transport of her joy, upon this happy turn, we may suppose sufficient to betray her to be the true mother (had there been any suspicion of it) to a less discerning eye than that of Solomon, 1 Kings iii. 27.
III. Moses preferred to be the son of Pharaoh’s daughter (v. 10), his parents herein perhaps not only yielding to necessity, having nursed him for her, but too much pleased with the honour thereby done to their son; for the smiles of the world are stronger temptations than its frowns, and more difficult to resist. The tradition of the Jews is that Pharaoh’s 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 and improvements of the court, with the help of which, having a great genius, he became master of all the lawful learning of the Egyptians, Acts vii. 22. Note, 1. Providence pleases itself sometimes in raising the poor out of the dust, to set them among princes, Psa 113:7; Psa 113:8. Many who, by their birth, seem marked for obscurity and poverty, by surprising events of Providence are brought to sit at the upper end of the world, to make men know that the heavens do rule. 2. Those whom God designs for great services he find out ways to qualify and prepare beforehand. 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, in the name of God, as an ambassador to that court.
IV. Moses named. The Jews tell us that his father, at his circumcision, called him Joachim, but Pharaoh’s daughter called him Moses, Drawn out of the water, so it signifies in the Egyptian language. The calling of the Jewish lawgiver by an Egyptian name is a happy omen to the Gentile world, and gives hopes of that day when it shall be said, Blessed be Egypt my people, Isa. xix. 25. And his tuition at court was an earnest of the performance of that promise, Isa. xlix. 23, Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 5-10:
“The daughter of Pharaoh” was probably a sister of Rameses the Great. Josephus calls her “Thermuthis.” Other historians refer to her by different names. Tradition says that she had recently suffered the loss of an infant son.
It was not uncommon for royal princesses to bathe in the Nile River, at a place reserved for women. The Egyptians regarded the Nile as sacred, and its waters as health-giving. This princess was accompanied by her personal attendants. When she saw the chest floating among the “flags,” she ordered that it be brought to her. She opened the lid, and saw there the infant boy. At that precise moment, the child cried. This touched the mother instinct within the Egyptian princess, and at that point she determined that this would be her child, even though she recognized at once that this was a Hebrew boy, one who was under Pharaoh’s death sentence.
Miriam was nearby, to observe what would befall her baby brother. She offered to secure a nurse from among the Hebrew women, who would care for the child until he was weaned. The princess accepted her offer, and the baby’s own mother became his paid nurse.
The hand of God is evident throughout this narrative. God moved to bring Pharaoh’s daughter to the exact spot at the precise time in order to assure the safety of this special child. He arranged that the baby would cry at the exact moment to touch the heart of the princess. Then, God arranged that the pious and faithful Jochebed should have custody of this child during his formative years.
Jochebed took her son to the Egyptian princess at the proper time which was likely when he was weaned. He then became one of the princess’ family. As royalty, Moses received the best education possible, as well as training in military and administrative matters. This was to prepare him for his life’s work when Jehovah called him to service.
The princess named her adopted son “Moses,” which means “drawn out.” This is an allusion to his deliverance from drowning.
Jochebed took her son to the Egyptian princess at the proper time which was likely when he was weaned. He then became one of the princess’ family. As royalty, Moses received the best education possible, as well as training in military and administrative matters. This was to prepare him for his life’s work when Jehovah called him to service.
The princess named her adopted son “Moses,” which means “drawn out.” This is an allusion to his deliverance from drowning.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Exo. 2:6. She saw the child] This verse is surpassingly delightful for simple vividness, when rendered in oriental fashion: And she opens, and beholds himeven the child, and lo! a BOY, wesping!
Exo. 2:9. Take] More exactly: Take away. Prob. not said with aversion, but prompted by the childs danger and her own prudence. The time was not yet come for M. to be called the son of P.s daughter.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Exo. 2:5-9
THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD IN RELATION TO THE YOUNG
It is a great mercy that there is a kindly, and special Providence resting upon the lives of young children. They are so helplessthoughtlessso constantly exposed to dangerin the homein the streetin the schoolthat, but for the divine care they would come to woe. God is very near to infancy and childhoodmuch nearer than many imagine.
I. As rescuing them from the peril of unhappy circumstances.
2. Moses was rescued from murderin the Egyptian palace he was safe.
2. Moses was rescued from slaveryin the Egyptian palace he was free. It sometimes happens that young children, from the circumstances of their birth, are placed in perilby orphanage, at a disadvantage in the race of lifethese are especially under divine protection.
II. As ensuring an education necessary to fit them for their future engagements.
1. As the son of Pharaohs daughter, Moses had the opportunity of a good scholastic education. Had Moses remained at home, had his nation been free, he might have had a moderate educationbut certainly not so liberal and advanced as he got in Egypt, the very seat of learning. Thus, Providence placed him in the best school of the day. So it very often happens that God, in some remarkable manner, places a good education at the disposal of children of unfortunate circumstances, who otherwise would grow up ignorant, and unfit for the duty of life. Providence attends to the education of young children much more than many of us imagine.
2. As the son of Pharaohs daughter he would be prepared to undertake the freedom of his nation. Mere book knowledge is the poorestand least useful. Men require another education than that of the academy. They need to be trained in the meaning of life. Especially was this needful to Moses. Hence the discipline of the court was as necessary to his future usefulness as that of the school. In the palace he saw, in all its force, the tyranny of the kingthe degradation of Israeland the prowess of the nation he would have to combat. This, pre-eminently, was the school of his life, and he was made its scholar by Providence. So, many destitute young men are educated by Heavennot merely in the facts of history and sciencebut in the duties that pertain to their distinct avocation, whatever it may be.
III. As employing the most unlikely agency. The tyrants daughter was the means of rescuing Moses from peril, and of educating him for his future calling. Unlikely means:
1. Because her father had issued an edict for the death of all Israelitish children. All the newly-born children of Israel were to be thrown into the river. So Pharaoh had decreed. Yet his daughter saves, and educates the very child that is to prove his overthrow. The tyrant is defeated by his own daughter. How thoroughly wicked men are in the hand of God. So, young children of unfavourable early circumstances are often educated by the most unlikely instrumentalities.
2. Because it appeared unlikely that a royal daughter should wish to adopt the son of an Israelite. All hearts are in the divine hand. God can direct our sympathies to the most unlikely persons, and objects. He can put those who need our help into such an attitude that our pity must be awakened. The babe wept. These tears overcame all the improbabilities of the case. Providence uses instrumentality in the accomplishment of its purpose.
IV. As employing the most efficient instrumentality.
1. The mother of the boywho could better teach him the wrongs of his country than shethat hundreds had suffered the fate he had managed to escapethe slavery of his peoplethe tyranny of the kingand that during the most sensitive time of his life. His mother instructed him during the earliest days of his youthher instruction would, therefore, be enduringhence he would go to the Egyptian court with a knowledge of his countrys woeand of his fathers God. His murder of the Egyptian was the outcome of the former. His choosing to leave the royal court was the result of the latter. By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter.
2. The daughter of the king. Under no other tuition could he have gained a better preparation for his work of the future. Here he would learn sympathy with the oppressedhatred of the oppressor. When Heaven undertakes the education of a lifeit does so thoroughly and completely.
V. As requiring the utmost human effort possible.
1. His mother did the best for Moses that she could. She did not put him on the Nile directly he was born. She had the power to conceal him under her own care then. But when all her means of self-help were exhausted, then she gave him into the Divine care. So, as a rule, God does not educate the children of indolent parents. He moves in the line of the mothers best effort. When she has done her bestput him on the rivernot forgotten himprays for himthen God will send Pharaohs daughter to save, and educate the boy.
2. His mother was judicious in her conduct towards Moses. She did not let maternal affection endanger his safetyher mothers heart no doubt wished to keep him at home longerhad she done so, the officers of the king might have found him. Many parents ruin their children by excess of love. Moses was placed on the Nile at the right timeshe was a wise motherregarded his welfaresacrificed her own feelingat this point the safety of Moses commenced. Let parents do their best for the safety of their childrenphysicallymorallyin wisdomand Providence will find the means for their temporaland eternal rescueeducationdestiny.
VI. As perfectly consistent with the free agency of individuals. The daughter of the king undertook the training of Moses at the suggestion of her own sympathyunder a perfect knowledge of the casethere was no coercion brought to bear upon her. The providence of God uses willing instrumentalities.
THIS CRADLE ON THE WATERS TEACHES:
I. The power of young life to endure hardship. (Exo. 2:3.) The mother of Moses made an ark, in which to put her boy, and then placed him on the waters of the Nile. There are few mothers in these days who would put their babes in such a cradle, much less on the waters of a river. They wrap them upthey give them medicinethey treat them as though they had only got a spark of life in them: such codling treatment is foolishunhealthythe boy will be far more healthy out on the Nile. Young children are stronger than we imaginethe vital principle in them is not so easily put out. There are few, in these days, who begin life under the same condition as Mosesit would be better if there were more.
II. The use that one member of a family may be to another. (Exo. 2:7.) The sister of Moses was equal to the occasion; her love for her infant brother carried her through the difficulties of her duty. She was not timid at approaching a kingsa tyrants daughter. She knew when to make her suggestionGod told her anxious heartthe babe had weptthe womanly instincts of Pharaohs daughter: were touched, she had compassion on himat this moment Miriam stepped up, and suggested the need of a nurseshe was wise beyond her years; the idea was acceptedthe boys mother was fetched, and received the commission of nurse, with the unnecessary promise of wages. Miriam must have had a good home training; she appears in the scene as a brighthappyingeniousloving girl. Thus we see how the younger ones of a family can help each other in their perilsnecessities of life. And very extensive this help may be in its influence. Miriam, in helping Moses, rendered possible the freedom of her nation. The little kindness shewn by a sister to a brother may have an unexpected effect upon thousands. Thus we see the loving dexterity of a little girl.
III. The pathetic influence of a babes tears. (Exo. 2:6.) There is a great power in tears; they are tokens of sorrowweaknesshelplessness; but they are potentthey invite helpthey especially touch a womans heartthey defeat a monarchs crueltythey aid the intentions of Heaventhey prophesy the sorrows of the futurethey render welcome the tearless home. The tears of Moses won the compassion of the Monarchs daughter; they were a fit emblem of his nations grief. She was perhaps unmoved by the story of Israels bondageit was oldas she might think deserved; but the tears of Moses were newpatheticwere concentrated upon the tender sympathies of her nature. They conquered. Many are moved by the sight, or record of personal grief, who can look unmoved upon a national calamity. So inconsistent are we in the bestowal of our sympathy.
III. The sensitive coscience of a tyrants daughter. This is one of the Hebrews children. (Exo. 2:6.) She needed no voice to tell her to whom the child belonged, the silent monitor within was sufficient. Tyranny does not necessarily run from father to daughter; many a cruel parent has a tender-hearted child. The command of conscience is more authoritative than that of a kinga father. She saved the childall honour to her memory.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Exo. 2:5. Divine Providence sometimes unites the utmost peril with the best means of safety.
Divine Providence sometimes uses the most unlikely agency for the working of its holy purpose.
The pleasures of individuals are embraced by the wide scheme of Divine Providence.
Tender-hearted women are generally honoured by, and entrusted with, the finding of those who are to be the worlds patriots.
Divine providence generally uses an instrumentality that is completive:
1. Saw the arkmany see objects of pity, but do nothing more.
2. Took the arkpractical side of pity.
3. Ordered a nurse.
4. Welcomed the child to her own home.
The renewed mind enjoys one of its sweetest exercises while tracing the Divine footsteps in circumstances and events, in which a thoughtless spirit sees only blind chance or rigid fate [C. H. M.]
Exo. 2:6.
I. The claims of the orphan.
1. The first claim on her compassion was the claim of infancy. She saw the child. That sentence contains an argument. It was an appeal to the womans heart. Rank, caste, nationality, all melted before the great fact of womanhood. This feeling was spontaneous. She did not feel compassion because it was her duty, but because it was her nature. God has provided for humanity by a plan more infallible than system, by implanting feeling in our nature.
2. Consider the degradation of the childs origin. Hebrews children. The exclusiveness of the Egyptian social system was as strong as that of the Hindooslaveenemyto be slain. Princess brought up with these ideas. She was animated by His Spirit who came to raise the abject, to break the bond of the oppressor.
3. The last reason we find for this claim was its unprotected state. It wept; those tears told of a conscious wantthe felt want of a mothers arms.
II. The Orphans education.
1. It was a suggestion from another. This woman brought up in luxuryhad warm feelingsnot knowing how to do goodwas told by another. Results of this training:
1. Intellectually. He learned to ask Why the bush is not consumed.
2. In the moral part of his character we notice his hatred of injustice [F. W. Robertson].
Even a kings daughter is the richer and gladder for this stoop of love. Some of us have been trying to reach too high for our enjoyments; the blooming fruit has been beyond our stature; we have therefore turned away with pining and discontent, not knowing that if we had bent ourselves to the ground we should have found the happiness in the dust, which we attempted in vain to pluck from inaccessible heights [City Temple].
The Churchs children, though destroyed by some, yet are pitied by others.
The compassion of the daughter condemns the cruelty of the monarch-father. The child:
1. The moment of its degradation.
2. The moment of its sadness.
3. The moment of its hope.
4. The moment of its unknown future.
5. The moment of a mothers recompense.
Exo. 2:7. A good suggestion:
1. Made at a proper time.
2. Made in a proper spirit.
3. Made for a proper purpose.
Society would be enriched by many more good deeds if only Christian people would watch their opportunity, and suggest conduct to well-meaning but ignorant people.
Are there not sorrows that enable us to overcome the petty difficulties of etiquette? [City Temple].
If we really cared for lost children we could find ways of speaking for them in high quarters [City Temple].
Hebrew nurses are most desirable for Hebrew children.
Where God moves the question for saving his little ones, he prepares an answer of peace.
A mother the best guardian of infancy.
Exo. 2:8. The Princess gave a prompt reply to the inquiry of the little maid. She did not promise to consider the subject. If she had, the probabilities are that Moses would not have been rescued from the waters of the Nile.
Gods Providence excludeth not mans prudence [Trapp].
Providence can bring a mother to nurse the child she had concealed, because, through the edict of a cruel king, she could not longer keep it undetected in the house. When we save the lives of children we should see to their education afterwards.
Exo. 2:9. The kings daughter is made a mother, while the mother is made a nurse.
And the woman took the child and nursed it. What her self-control, in that hour of maddening excitement, cost, no tongue can tell. She took the child as a stranger might have taken it, and yet her heart was bursting with the very passion of delight. Had she given way for one instant, her excitement might have revealed the plot. Every thing depended on her calmness. But love can do anything! The great question underlying all service is a question not so much of the intellect as of the heart. We should spoil fewer things if our love was deeper [City Temple].
The power of a mothers love:
1. To control its impulse.
2. To school its utterance.
3. To make self-denial for the good of her child.
4. To enter into the method of Providence concerning the future of her boy.
A beautiful pattern of self-control:
1. Not arising from indifference.
2. Not arising from hard-heartedness.
3. But arising from the calm indwelling of faith.
This mother a model nurse:
1. Because she taught her son to have sympathy with the slave.
2. Because she taught him to despise injustice (Exo. 2:12).
3. Because she taught him the folly of anger (Exo. 2:13).
4. Because she taught him to defend the weak (Exo. 2:17).
A mother the best nurse:
1. Because she has truest sympathy with the circumstances of the childs life.
2. Because she is more truly concerned for the right developement of its moral character.
3. Because then she will have gladdening memories, of its infancy and childhood.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Exo. 2:1-10 Stronger far than educationgoing on before education can commence, possibly from the very first moments of consciousness, parents begin to impress themselves on their children. Our character, voice, features, qualitiesmodified, no doubt, by entering into a new being, and ruling a different organizationare impressed upon our children. Not the inculcation of opinions, but much rather the formation of principles, and of the tone of character, the derivation of qualities. Physiologists tell us of the derivation of the mental qualities from the father, and of the moral from the mother. But, be this as it may, there is scarcely one here who cannot trace back his present religious character to some impression in early life, from one or other of his parentsa tone, a look, a word, a habit, or even, it may be, a bitter exclamation of remorse [F. W. Robertson].
What if God should place in your hand a diamond, and tell you to inscribe on it a sentence which should be read at the last day, and be shown then as an index of your own thoughts and feelings? What carewhat caution would you exercise in the selection. Now, this is what God has done. He has placed before you the immortal minds of your children, more imperishable than the diamond, on which you are about to inscribe every day and every hours by your instructions, by your spirit, or by your example, something which will remain, and be exhibited for or against you at the judgment day [Dr. Payson].
Even as a plant will sooner take nourishment and thrive better in the soil where it first grew and sprung up than in any other ground, because it liketh its own soil best: so, likewise, children will sooner take instruction and good nurture from their parents, whom they best like, and from whom they had their being, than from any other [Cawdray].
Exo. 2:5-9. The wheels in a clock or a watch move contrary one to another, some one way, some another, yet all serve the intent of the workman, to show the time, or to make the clock to strike. So in the world, the providence of God may seem to run cross to His promises: One man takes this way, another runs that way; good men go one way, wicked men another; yet all in conclusion accomplish the will and centre in the purpose of God, the great Creator of all things [Sibbs Sermon].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(5) The daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself.This would be quite in accordance with Egyptian ideas. Women were allowed great liberty in Egypt, and moved about much as they pleased. Cleanliness was especially regarded; and the Nile water was considered healthy and fructifying (Strab. 15 p. 695). The princess would, of course, seek a part of the river which was reserved for females. Probably Jochebed know where she was accustomed to bathe.
Her maidens.As a princess, she was, of course, accompanied by a number of female attendants (naaroth). Even ordinary Egyptian ladies seem to have been attended at the bath by four or five such persons. One of them was, however, more especially her waiting-woman (mah), and to her the princess addressed herself.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. The daughter of Pharaoh came The intellectual and moral condition of women in Egypt was far higher than in Asia or in Greece . Polygamy was rare, and the harem seclusion unknown . Women were respected and honoured in society, much as in modern Europe and America, and the wives and daughters of kings succeeded to the throne of the Pharaohs . Wilkinson says, that the Egyptians recognised the fact that the morals and manners of society depended on the respect shown to women .
To wash Rather, to bathe: not to wash her clothes, as Dr . Clarke interprets, who in this case transferred to Egypt the manners of the Grecian lands in the Homeric age . The Nile was regarded as an emanation of the god Osiris, and the act of bathing in its waters was devotional as well as sanitary, for the Nile was deemed the mother of all life and fruitfulness .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Moses adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter
v. 5. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river, v. 6. And when she had opened it, she saw the child; and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children. v. 7. Then said his sister, v. 8. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. v. 9. And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, v. 10. And the child grew,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Exo 2:5. The daughter of Pharaoh Josephus calls this princess Thermuthis; Artaphanes calls her Meris; and the Alexandrian Chronicle, Myrrina. She came down to the river to wash herself, probably for religious purification as well as health or pleasure: for the ancient Egyptians were used to wash themselves, on both accounts, no less than four times in the twenty-four hours. She, for the greater privacy, retained one maid, to wait immediately upon her, while her maidens, or ladies, of higher rank, walked along the river’s side. The words in the Hebrew for maidens and maid are different. Zoan, or Tanis, the royal city, lay near the river; and therefore, probably, the king’s gardens extended themselves to the banks of it, where convenient bathing-houses might be contrived for the use of the royal family. This verse might be rendered, Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; her ladies walking, mean time, by the river’s side; and she saw the ark among the flags, and sent the maid, who attended her, to fetch it.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Observe the gracious interposition of God. Moses shall not only be preserved in the moment of danger, but preserved by the very daughter of the man who sought his life. Psa 107:43 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 2:5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash [herself] at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.
Ver. 5. And the daughter of Pharaoh. ] She was brought hither at this time by a special providence, to do that which she little dreamed of. So when Heidelberg was taken by the Imperialists, the copy of Ursinus’s Catechism enlarged by Pareus was among many other papers carried away by a plundering soldier; but happily dropped in the streets, and found the next day by a young student, who, knowing his master’s hand, restored it to his son Philip Pareus, who afterwards published that golden book, to the great glory of God, who had so graciously preserved it. a
a Vita David Parei, per Philippum filium.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
daughter: Act 7:21
herself: As the word herself is not in the original, Dr. A. Clarke is of opinion that it was for the purpose of washing, not her person, but her clothes, that Pharaoh’s daughter came to the river; which was an employment not beneath even king’s daughters in those primitive times.
when she: 1Ki 17:6, Psa 9:9, Psa 12:5, Psa 46:1, Psa 76:10, Pro 21:1, Jon 1:17, Jon 2:10
Reciprocal: Gen 12:15 – princes Exo 7:15 – he goeth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 2:5-6. And the daughter of Pharaoh came Providence brings no less a person than Pharaohs daughter just at that juncture, guides her to the place where this poor infant lay, inclines her heart to pity it, which she dares do, when none else durst. Never did poor child cry so seasonably as this did; the babe wept Which moved her compassion, as no doubt his beauty did.