Exodus 2 Bible Commentary

John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible

(Read all of Exodus 2)
This chapter relates the birth of Moses, and his preservation in an ark of bulrushes, Exodus 2:1. His being found by Pharaoh's daughter, took up, and put out to nurse by her, and adopted for her son, Exodus 2:4, some exploits of his when grown up, taking the part of an Hebrew against an Egyptian whom he slew, and endeavouring to reconcile two Hebrews at variance, when one of them reproached him with slaying the Egyptian, Exodus 2:11, which thing being known to Pharaoh, he sought to slay Moses, and this obliged him to flee to Midian, Exodus 2:15 where he met with the daughters of Reuel, and defended them against the shepherds, and watered their flocks for them, Exodus 2:16, which Reuel being informed of, sent for him, and he lived with him, and married his daughter Zipporah, by whom he had a son, Exodus 2:18 and the chapter is concluded with the death of the king of Egypt, and the sore bondage of the Israelites, and their cries and groans, which God had a respect unto, Exodus 2:23.

Verses 1. And there went a man of the house of Levi,.... This man was Amram, the son of Kohath, and grandson of Levi, as appears from Exodus 6:18

and took to wife a daughter of Levi; one of the same house, family, or tribe; which was proper, that the tribes might be kept distinct: this was Jochebed, said to be his father's sister, See Gill on "Ex 6:20": her name in Josephus {s} is Joachebel, which seems to be no other than a corruption of Jochebed, but in the Targum in 1 Chronicles 4:18 she is called Jehuditha.

{s} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9. sect. 4.

Verse 2. And the woman conceived, and bare a son,.... Which was not her first child, nor indeed her first son, for she had both Aaron and Miriam before this: this son, which was Moses, was born, as the Jews say {t}, in the thirty seventh year after the death of Levi, A. M. 2365, (or, as others, 2368,) on a Wednesday, the seventh of the month Adar, in the third hour of the day: some say it was on the twenty fourth of Nisan; but, according to Bishop Usher {u}, he was born forty one years after the death of Levi, A. M. 2433, and in the year before Christ 1571,

and when she saw him that he was a goodly child; exceeding fair and beautiful, as Stephen expresses it, Acts 7:20, the Jews say {w} his form was like an angel of God, and Trogus {x}, an Heathen writer, says his beautiful form recommended him: this engaged the affections of his parents to him, and who, from hence, might promise themselves that he would be a very eminent and useful person, could his life be preserved:

she hid him three months; in her bedchamber, some Jewish writers say {y}; others {z}, in a house under ground, that is, in the cellar; however, it was in his father's house, Acts 7:20.

{t} Shatshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 2. Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 7. 1. {u} Annal. Vet. Test. p. 18. {w} Pirke Eliezer, c. 48. fol. 57. 2. {x} Justin e Trogo, l. 36. c. 2. {y} Chronicon Mosis, fol. 3. 2. {z} Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c.48. fol. 57.2)


she took for him an ark of bulrushes; the word, according to Kimchi {b}, signifies a kind of wood exceeding light, so Gersom and Ben Melech; an Arabic writer {c} calls it an ark of wood; it is generally taken to be the "papyrus" or reed of Egypt, which grew upon the banks of the Nile, and of which, many writers say, small vessels or little ships were made, See Gill on "Isa 18:2"




{a} Targum Jon. & Jarchi in loc. {b} Sepher Shorash. rad. amg. {c} Elmacius apud Hottinger. p. 402. {d} Patricides, p. 25. Elmacinus, p. 46. apud Hottinger. Smegma, c. 8. p. 400.

Verse 4. And his sister stood afar off,.... This was Miriam, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it; who is supposed to be about ten or twelve years of age, others say seven: she was placed {e}, as the word may be rendered, by her parents, or, "she placed herself" {f}, by their instruction, at some distance from the place where the ark was, that she might not be observed and be thought to belong to it, and yet so near as to observe what became of it, which was the intent of her standing there, as follows:

to wit what would be done to him; to know, take notice, and observe, what should happen to it, if anyone took it up, and what they did with it, and where they carried it, for, "to wit" is an old English word, which signifies "to know," and is the sense of the Hebrew word to which it answers, see 2 Corinthians 8:1.

{e} butt "collocata fuerat," Vatablus. {f} "Stiterat sese," Junius & Tremellius, "stitit sese," Piscator, Drusius.

Verse 5. 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, 1 Chronicles 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 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.


she saw the child [in it], and, behold, the babe wept; and which was a circumstance, it is highly probable, greatly affected the king's daughter, and moved her compassion to it; though an Arabic writer says {p}, she heard the crying of the child in the ark, and therefore sent for it:

and she had compassion on him, and said, this is one of the Hebrews' children; which she might conclude from its being thus exposed, knowing her father's edict, and partly from the form and beauty of it, Hebrew children not being swarthy and tawny as Egyptian ones: the Jewish writers {q} say, she knew it by its being circumcised, the Egyptians not yet using circumcision.

{p} Patricides apud Hottinger. p 401. {q} T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 12. 2. Aben Ezra in loc.

Verse 7. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter,.... Miriam the sister of Moses, who observing the ark taken up, and the maidens that were walking upon the bank of the river, and other women perhaps, gathering about it to see it; she made one among them, and after hearing their discourse about it, proposed what follows to Pharaoh's daughter: Jarchi says, that Pharaoh's daughter tried several Egyptian women to suckle it, but it would not suck of them: Josephus {r} says the same, and it also is in the Talmud {s}; and that, if true, gave Miriam a fair opportunity to offer to do the following message for her:


{r} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 9. sect. 5. {s} T. Bab. Sotah, ut supra. (fol. 12.1)


and the maid went and called the child's mother; and her own, whose name was Jochebed the wife of Amram, as observed in Exodus 2:1.

Verse 9. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her,.... Being come, having made all possible haste:

take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages; by which means she had not only the nursing of her own child, but was paid for it: according to a Jewish writer {t}, Pharaoh's daughter agreed with her for two pieces of silver a day.

{t} Dibre Hayamim; sive Chronicon Mosis, fol. 4. 1.


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 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 hvm, "Mashah," which signifies to draw out, and is only used of drawing out of water, 2 Samuel 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} udogenhv, "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.

Verse 11. And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown,.... To man's estate; some of the Jewish writers say he was eighteen, others twenty years of age {e}, but Stephen, who is most to be credited, says he was full forty years of age, Acts 7:23,



and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren; the Egyptian was, according to Jarchi, a principal of the taskmasters of Israel, who was beating the Hebrew for not doing his work as he required, and the Hebrew, according to him, was the husband of Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, Leviticus 24:11, though others say it was Dathan {f}.

{e} Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 2. {f} lbid.



he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand; in a sandy desert place hard by, where having slain him with his sword, he dug a hole, and put him into it; See Gill on "Ac 7:24." Of the slaughter of the Egyptian, and the following controversy about it, Demetrius {g}, an Heathen writer, treats of in perfect agreement with the sacred Scriptures.

{g} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 19. p. 439.

Verse 13. And when he went out the second day,.... The day following:

behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together; which the Jewish writers {h} take to be Dathan and Abiram:








Verse 15. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses,.... Both for his killing the Egyptian, which by the laws of Egypt {i} was death, whether bond or free; and for his taking part with the Hebrews against the Egyptians, and knowing him to be a wise and valiant man, might fear he would put himself at the head of the Hebrews, and cause a revolt of them; and if there was anything in his dream, or if he had such an one, and had the interpretation of it given by his magicians, that an Hebrew child should be born, by whom Egypt would be destroyed, See Gill on "Ex 1:15," he might call it to mind, and be affected with it, and fear the time was coming on, and Moses was the person by whom it should be done; and he might be stirred up by his courtiers to take this step, who doubtless envied the growing interest of Moses in his court:


and dwelt in the land of Midian: a country so called from Midian, one of Abraham's sons by Keturah, Genesis 25:2. Jerom {k} calls it a city, and says it was on the other side of Arabia, to the south, in the desert of the Saracens, to the east of the Red sea, from whence the country was called Midian; and Philo {l} says, that Moses went into neighbouring Arabia; and which is confirmed by Artapanus {m} the Heathen historian, who says, that from Memphis, crossing the river Nile, he went into Arabia; and this country was sometimes called Cush or Ethiopia; hence Moses's wife is called an Ethiopian woman, Numbers 12:1

and he sat down by a well; weary, thoughtful, and pensive. It may be observed, that it was usual with persons in such like circumstances, being strangers and not knowing well to whom to apply for assistance or direction, to place themselves at a well of water, to which there was frequent resort, both for the use of families and of flocks; see Genesis 24:11. This well is now called, as some say, Eyoun el Kaseb, fourteen hours and a half from Magare Chouaib, or "the grot of Jethro" {n}; but if this was so far from Jethro's house, his daughters had a long way to go with their flock: but some other travellers {o} speak of a very neat and pleasant village, called Hattin, where they were shown the grave of Jethro, Moses's father-in-law; and in the neighbourhood of that place is a cistern, now called Omar, and is said to be the watering place where Moses met with the daughters of the priest of Midian. A late learned man {p} thinks, that Sharma, which is about a day and a half's journey southeast from Mount Sinai, is the place where Jethro lived. The Arabic geographer {q} says, at the shore of the Red sea lies the city Madian, greater than Tabuc, and in it is a well, out of which Moses watered the flocks of Scioaib, that is, Raguel.

{i} Diodor. Sicul. Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 70. {k} De locis Heb. fol. 93. A. B. {l} De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 609. {m} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 433. {n} See a Journey from Grand Cairo to Mecca, in Ray's Travels, vol. 2. p. 468. {o} Egmont and Heyman's Travels, vol. 2. p. 29. {p} See the Origin of Hieroglyphics, at the end of a Journal from Cairo, to Mount Sinai, p. 55. Ed. 2. {q} Climat. 3. par. 5.



{r} Ut supra, (Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27.) p. 434.



Verse 18. And when they came to Reuel their father,.... Or Ragouel, as the Septuagint; and so Artapanus {s} calls him. The Targum of Jonathan has it, their father's father; and so Aben Ezra says he was; and is the sense of others, induced thereto by Numbers 10:29, but it does not follow from thence: he said,


{s} Ut supra. (Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 434.)


and also drew water enough for us; or "in drawing drew" {t}; drew it readily, quickly and in abundance:


{t} hld hld "hauriendo bausit," Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator.





and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter; to be his wife. It is not to be supposed that this was done directly; though both Philo {u} and Josephus {w} intimate as if it was done at first meeting together; but it is not likely that Reuel would dispose of his daughter so suddenly to a stranger, though he might at once entertain an high opinion of him; nor would Moses marry a woman directly he had so slender an acquaintance with, so little knowledge of her disposition, endowments of mind and religion. The Targum of Jonathan says it was at the end of ten years; and indeed forty years after this a son of his seems to have been young, having not till then been circumcised, Exodus 4:22. The author of the Life of Moses says {x}, that he was seventy seven years of age when he married Zipporah, which was but three years before he returned to Egypt. This circumstance of Moses's marrying Reuel's daughter is confirmed by Artapanus {y} an Heathen historian; and also by Demetrius {z}, and expressly calls her Sapphora, who he says was a daughter of Jother or Jethro; and likewise by Ezekiel the tragedian {a}.

{u} De Vita Mosis, l. 1. p. 611. {w} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 11. sect. 2. {x} Chronicon Mosis, fol. 9. 1. {y} Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 27. p. 434. {z} Ib. c. 29. p. 439. {a} lb. c. 28.






by reason of the bondage; which may either be connected with their "cry," that that was because of their bondage; or with the "coming" of it unto God, he was pleased to admit and regard their cry, because their bondage was so very oppressive and intolerable.

{b} Annal Vet. Test. p. 19. A. M. 2494.

Verse 24. And God heard their groaning,.... The petitions they put up to him with groans and cries:



and God had respect unto [them]; had a favourable regard to them; or "knew" {b} not only them, the Israelites, and loved them, and approved of them, and owned them as his own, all which words of knowledge sometimes signify; but he knew their sorrows and sufferings, and took notice of what was done to them secretly; see Exodus 3:7.

{b} edyw "et eognovit," Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.