Reflections on Exodus 2

Exodus 02 (Contemporary English Version)


1. A man from the Levi tribe married a woman from the same tribe,
2. and she later had a baby boy. He was a beautiful child, and she kept him inside for three months.
3. But when she could no longer keep him hidden, she made a basket out of reeds and covered it with tar. She put him in the basket and placed it in the tall grass along the edge of the Nile River.
4. The baby's older sister stood off at a distance to see what would happen to him.
5. About that time one of the king's daughters came down to take a bath in the river, while her servant women walked along the river bank. She saw the basket in the tall grass and sent one of the young women to pull it out of the water.
6. When the king's daughter opened the basket, she saw the baby and felt sorry for him because he was crying. She said, "This must be one of the Hebrew babies."
7. At once the baby's older sister came up and asked, "Do you want me to get a Hebrew woman to take care of the baby for you?"
8. "Yes," the king's daughter answered. So the girl brought the baby's mother,
9. and the king's daughter told her, "Take care of this child, and I will pay you." The baby's mother carried him home and took care of him.
10. And when he was old enough, she took him to the king's daughter, who adopted him. She named him Moses because she said, "I pulled him out of the water."
11. After Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were hard at work, and he saw an Egyptian beating one of them.
12. Moses looked around to see if anyone was watching, then he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.
13. When Moses went out the next day, he saw two Hebrews fighting. So he went to the man who had started the fight and asked, "Why are you beating up one of your own people?"
14. The man answered, "Who put you in charge of us and made you our judge? Are you planning to kill me, just as you killed that Egyptian?" This frightened Moses because he was sure that people must have found out what had happened.
15. When the king heard what Moses had done, the king wanted to kill him. But Moses escaped and went to the land of Midian. One day, Moses was sitting there by a well,
16. when the seven daughters of Jethro, the priest of Midian, came up to water their father's sheep and goats.
17. Some shepherds tried to chase them away, but Moses came to their rescue and watered their animals.
18. When Jethro's daughters returned home, their father asked, "Why have you come back so early today?"
19. They answered, "An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds, and he even watered our sheep and goats."
20. "Where is he?" Jethro asked. "Why did you leave him out there? Invite him to eat with us."
21. Moses agreed to stay on with Jethro, who later let his daughter Zipporah marry Moses.
22. And when she had a son, Moses said, "I will name him Gershom, since I am a foreigner in this country."
23. After the death of the king of Egypt, the Israelites still complained because they were forced to be slaves. They cried out for help,
24. and God heard their loud cries. He did not forget the promise he had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
25. and because he knew what was happening to his people, he felt sorry for them.
    
    

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    These first two chapters of Exodus show God's hand in His preparation to remove them from Egypt and lead them to the land He promised to Abraham. One can hardly read this narrative without recognizing how God orchestrated and used every circumstance for His purpose and for the benefit of His people. Everything in these first two chapters was been directed by God and was an intended part in delivering the Hebrew people from Egypt. As reflected on in the first chapter, the oppressive labor placed on the Hebrews played a part. In this chapter we see how the terrible infanticide instituted by the Pharoah even played a part.
    
    God's orchestration of circumstances requires willing players, though. In these circumstances, as already noted in chapter one, the Hebrew midwives were willing players in God's plan when they refused to kill the Hebrew baby boys as ordered by Pharoah. Moses' mother was also a willing player, initially hiding her baby boy and then placing him in a reed basket and floating him in the Nile river. Though we are not told in scripture, one wonders if the outcome was the very one she intended. She undoubtedly knew that Pharoah's daughter regularly bathed in the particular location where she placed the basket on the river. And stationing her daughter to "see what would happen to him" (2:4) was also a shrewd move, placing her on hand to make the suggestion to Pharoah's daughter that she get a Hebrew woman to serve as a nurse for the baby.
    
    What irony that Moses' own mother was hired by Pharoah's daughter to care for him in her own home for the early years of his life. There was further irony in that Pharoah housed and trained the future deliverer of the Hebrew people. Pharoah and his daughter were not knowledgeable players in this drama, but they were willing nevertheless. Moses, as a young man, was also a willing player, choosing to identify with his own Hebrew people against his adopted Egyptian people. This he did at the risk of losing a position of ease and prestige and of finding himself in the same oppresive situation as his Hebrew kinsmen. Moses' escape to Midian was no insignificant circumstance nor was his meeting of the daughters of the priest of Midian at the well. Neither was Moses' choice to water the flock of the priest's daughters insignificant.
    
    Recognizing the significance of every situation in this narrative one must consider that nothing in life is insignificant or unrelated to God's purposes and plans. Over and over we are drawn back to the apostle Paul's statement to the Romans: "We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28) God uses all things in our lives, but we must be cooperative. We must love Him and accept His call to join Him in His purpose.