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The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:2
And the woman conceived. Not for the first time, as appears from Exodus 2:4, nor even for the second, as we learn from Exodus 7:7; but for the third. Aaron was three years old when Moses was born. As no difficulty has o…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:3-9
§ 3. The escape of Moses. The escape of Moses teaches three things especially — 1. God's over-ruling providence, and his power to make wicked men work out his will; 2. The blessing that rests upon a mother's faithful lo…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:3
She took for him an ark of bulrushes. The words translated "ark" and "bulrushes" are both of Egyptian origin, the former corresponding to the ordinary word for "chest," which is feb, teba, or tebat, and the latter corre…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:4
His sister. There can be no reasonable doubt that this is the "Miriam" of the later narrative (Exodus 15:20-21; Numbers 20:1), who seems to have been Moses' only sister (Numbers 26:59). She was probably set to watch by…
Matthew Henry on Exodus 2:5-10
Come, see the place where that great man, Moses, lay, when he was a little child; it was in a bulrush basket by the river's side. Had he been left there long, he must have perished. But Providence brings Pharaoh's daugh…
The Deliverance of Moses. (b. c. 1571.)
THE DELIVERANCE OF MOSES. (B. C. 1571.) 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…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:5
The daughter of Pharaoh. Probably a daughter of Seti I. and a sister of Rameses the Great. Josephus calls her Thermuthis; Syncellus, Pharia; Artapanus, Merrhis, and some of the Jewish commentators, Bithia — the diversit…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:6
The princess herself opened the "ark," which was a sort of covered basket. Perhaps she suspected what she would find inside; but would it be a living or a dead child? This she could not know. She opened, and looked. It…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:10
§ 4. The education of Moses. Education is to fit us for the battle of life. The first and most important point is that a child be "virtuously brought up to lead a godly life" In Egypt morality was highly regarded; and s…
Matthew Henry on Exodus 2:11-15
Moses boldly owned the cause of God's people. It is plain from Heb 11. that this was done in faith, with the full purpose of leaving the honours, wealth, and pleasures of his rank among the Egyptians. By the grace of Go…
Moses Slays an Egyptian; Rebukes a Contentious Hebrew. (b. c. 1533.)
MOSES SLAYS AN EGYPTIAN; REBUKES A CONTENTIOUS HEBREW. (B. C. 1533.) Moses had now passed the first forty years of his life in the court of Pharaoh, preparing himself for business; and now it was time for him to enter u…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:11-15
Moses "was grown." According to the tradition he had already distinguished himself as a warrior — was "a prince and a judge" amongst the Egyptians, if not over the Hebrews (Exodus 2:14). Learned, too, in all the wisdom…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:11-15
EXPOSITION.
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:11-15
FIRST ATTEMPT OF MOSES TO DELIVER HIS NATION, AND ITS FAILURE. After Moses was grown up — according to the tradition accepted by St. Stephen (Acts 7:23), when he was "full forty years old" — having become by some means…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:11
When Moses was grown. "When he had become a .mall of vigour and intelligence" (Kalisch). He went out. The expression is emphatic, and accords with the view above exhibited — that a complete change in the life of Moses w…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:11-12
§1. Moses as a would-be deliverer. Moses, as a would-be deliverer, shows us how zeal may outrun discretion. Actuated by deep love for his brethren, he had quitted the court, resigned his high prospects, thrown in his lo…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:11-12
The choice of Moses. Underlying this episode of killing the Egyptian there is that crisis in the history of Moses to which reference is made so strikingly in the eleventh of the Hebrews — "By faith Moses, when he was co…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:11-15
Unpurified zeal. We must certainly attribute the killing of the Egyptian, not to Divine inspiration, but to the natural impetuosity of Moses' character. At this stage Moses had zeal, but it was without knowledge. His he…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:12
He looked this way and that way. Passion did not so move him as to make him reckless. He looked round to see that he was not observed,, and then, when he saw there was no man, slew the Egyptian. A wrongful act, the outc…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:13-14
2. Moses as a peacemaker. A great sin disqualifies a man for many a long year from setting himself up to be a guide and teacher of others. It may at any time be thrown in his teeth, nothing could be better intended than…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:13-15
Moses the hater of all oppression. I. WE HAVE HERE FURTHER IMPORTANT REVELATIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE CHARACTER OF MOSES AND HIS FITNESS TO BE DELIVERER OF ISRAEL. 1. It is evident that his conscience did not accuse him,…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:13
The second day. i.e. "the following day." See Acts 7:26. Him that did the wrong. Literally, "the wicked one." Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? Literally "thy neighbour." In interposing here Moses certainly did nothing…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:14
Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? It was not his interference now, but his wrongful act of the day before, that exposed Moses to this rebuke. There was no assumption of lordship or of judicial authority in the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 2:15
Pharaoh heard. If we have been right in supposing the Pharaoh of the original oppression to have been Seti I., the present Pharaoh, from whom Moses flies when he is "full forty years old" (Acts 7:23), and who does not d…