20130911 Wednesday, September 11 2013
Exodus 02: The Drawing Of Moses

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"She called his name Moses, Because I drew him out of the water"

The Israelites grew from a family of seventy people (see Genesis 46: The First Census Of Israel) into a great multitude during the four centuries that they sojourned in Egypt (see Exodus 1: I Will There Make Of Thee A Great Nation). They prospered and grew so well that the Egyptian king (the term "Pharaoh" originally referred to the palace of the Egyptian king, but was later used for the king himself) began to fear their presence in his kingdom. Eventually, the Pharaoh resorted to genocide, ordering the entire population to cast all newborn male Israelite infants into the Nile River to drown (although the Scriptures don't state it directly, most of the infants would also thereby have been consumed, alive or dead, by the numerous Nile crocodiles - one of the three kinds of "dragons" described in the Scriptures; see the Fact Finder question below). It was in that time that Moses, of the Israelite tribe of Levi (Moses was not a Jew; see Are Levites 'Jews'? and The Origin Of The Levite Priesthood; also Genesis 38: The First Jews) was born, and why his mother put him into the river (technically, she was obeying the Pharaoh's command to put male infants into the river).

"2:1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.

2:2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

2:3 And when she could not 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 river's brink.

2:4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him." (Exodus 2:1-4 KJV)

By no coincidence, the daughter of Pharaoh found the ark that saved Moses from the waters.

"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.

2:6 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." (Exodus 2:5-6 KJV)

Miriam was the firstborn of the family, several years older than her brother Aaron who was then about three years old (the reason that the order about infants did not apply to him). She was old enough, and quick-thinking enough, upon seeing her baby brother being found by the princess, to run up and ask "Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?" Miriam was a very bright girl.

"2:7 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?" (Exodus 2:7 KJV)

So it was that Moses was returned to his actual mother until he was weaned. While the Pharaoh's daughter gave him the name Moses (the Scriptures don't record the name that his actual parents gave to him) which means to draw out ("I drew him out of the water"), it's a name that could apply to him as much, or more, to his actual mother.

"2:8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother.

2:9 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.

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." (Exodus 2:8-10 KJV)

Moses grew up in the royal palace (see The Israelites Of The Pharaoh's Palace). We know from later incidents that his righteous character applied to everyone, just as it did one day when he defended the life of a Hebrew, killing an Egyptian in the process. While it may not yet have dawned upon many "exceptionalism" (in most cases, just another word for hypocrite) people, then and ever since, good is good, regardless of who does it, and evil is evil, regardless of who does it.

"2:11 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. 2:12 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." (Exodus 2:11-12 KJV)

The Scriptures do not record when Moses was made aware that he was as much an Israelite as they were, but an incident the next day makes obvious that the Israelites knew that he was an Israelite (many could have been made aware of it from Moses' parents, brother Aaron and sister Miriam) i.e. "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian?"

"2:13 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?

2:14 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." (Exodus 2:13-14 KJV)

Moses continued helping the oppressed, regardless of what nationality that they happened to be, after he fled into the Sinai (see also Paul's Geography Lesson).

"2:15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

2:16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

2:17 And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock." (Exodus 2:15-17 KJV)

The irony of the exile of Moses to the Sinai was that the Israelites regarded him as an Israelite, while the Egyptians and Moses' new family in the Sinai regarded him as an Egyptian: "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds" (technically, as the Israelites had by then been for centuries, Moses' political nationality was Egyptian i.e. if he had a birth certificate, it was be of Egypt; see also Does Rome Have Christ's Birth Certificate?).

"2:18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?

2:19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.

2:20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread." (Exodus 2:18-20 KJV)

Moses married Jethro's daughter Zipporah (see Moses And Zipporah). They eventually had two sons, Gershom Eliezer.

"2:21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

2:22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land." (Exodus 2:21-22 KJV)

Moses apparently intended to remain as a shepherd of the Sinai for the rest of his life. That turned out to be correct, but his flock would become the Israelites after the Exodus.

"2:23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.

2:24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

2:25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them." (Genesis 2:23-25 KJV)

Fact Finder: Which of the three kinds of Biblical "dragons" were specifically in the rivers of Egypt?
See The Dragons Of The Bible