Exodus · Chapter 2

V. 1. And there went a man-Amram, from the place of his abode to another place. A daughter-That is, grand-daughter of Levi.

Verse 1. There went a man] Amram, son of Kohath, son of Levi, Exodus 6:16-20. A daughter of Levi, Jochebed, sister to Kohath, and consequently both the wife and aunt of her husband Amram, Exodus 6:20; Numbers 26:59. Such marriages were at this time lawful, though they were afterwards forbidden, Leviticus 18:12. But it is possible that daughter of Levi means no more than a descendant of that family, and that probably Amram and Jochebed were only cousin germans. As a new law was to be given and a new priesthood formed, God chose a religious family out of which the lawgiver and the high priest were both to spring.

1, He offered them his service, if they would have accepted it, 11-14. 2, He retired, that he might reserve himself for further service, 15-22. (4,) The dawning of the day of Israel’s deliverance, 23-25. NOTES ON CHAPTER 2.

Verse 1. There went a man — Amram, from the place of his abode to another place. A daughter — That is, grand-daughter of Levi.

Verse 1. Took to wife. Amram married Jochebed, his father’s sister, as in Exodus 6:20; that is, as the scriptures often afford example, his father’s relation. But doubts may be entertained of Josephus here, because she must have been very old when Moses was born.

BIRTH AND EDUCATION OF MOSES, 1-10.

1. A man of the house of Levi — Amram, a descendant of Levi through Kohath. And took to wife a daughter (descendant) of Levi — Jochebed. Exodus 6:20, where see note. See Introductory, (1.)

V. 2. Bare a son-It seems just at the time of his birth that cruel law was made for the murder of all the male-children of the Hebrews, and many no doubt perished by the execution of it. Moses’s parents had Miriam and Aaron, both elder than he, born to them before that edict came out. Probably his mother had little joy of her being with child of him, now this edict was in force. Yet this child proves the glory of his father’s house. Observe the beauty of providence: just when Pharaoh’s cruelty rose to this height, the deliverer was born. She hid him three months-In some private apartment of their own house, though probably with the hazard of their lives had he been discovered. It is said, Hebrews 11:23. That Moses’s parents hid him by faith: some think they had a special revelation that the deliverer should spring from their loins; however, they believed the general promise of Israel’s preservation, and in that faith hid their child.

Verse 2. Bare a son] This certainly was not her first child, for Aaron was fourscore and three years old when Moses was but fourscore, see Exodus 7:7: and there was a sister, probably Miriam, who was older than either; see below, Exodus 2:4, and see Numbers 26:59. Miriam and Aaron had no doubt been both born before the decree was passed for the destruction of the Hebrew male children, mentioned in the preceding chapter.

Goodly child] The text simply says awh byc yk ki tob hu, that he was good, which signifies that he was not only a perfect, well-formed child, but that he was very beautiful; hence the Septuagint translate the place, idontev de auto asteion, Seeing him to be beautiful, which St. Stephen interprets, hn asteiov tw qew, He was comely to God, or divinely beautiful. This very circumstance was wisely ordained by the kind providence of God to be one means of his preservation. Scarcely any thing interests the heart more than the sight of a lovely babe in distress. His beauty would induce even his parents to double their exertions to save him, and was probably the sole motive which led the Egyptian princess to take such particular care of him, and to educate him as her own, which in all likelihood she would not have done had he been only an ordinary child.

Verse 2. Bare a son — It seems just at the time of his birth that cruel law was made for the murder of all the male children of the Hebrews, and many no doubt perished by the execution of it. Moses’s parents had Miriam and Aaron, both elder than he, born to them before that edict came out. Probably his mother had little joy of her being with child of him, now this edict was in force. Yet this child proves the glory of his father’s house. Observe the beauty of Providence: just when Pharaoh’s cruelty rose to this height, the deliverer was born. When she saw that he was a goodly child — Fair to God, (Acts 7:20,) or very fair. Profane authors, Josephus and Justin, agree with the sacred writers in praising the peculiar beauty of this child. She hid him three months — In some private apartment of their own house, though probably with the hazard of their lives had he been discovered. Not that she would have done otherwise had he not been so beautiful. But the circumstance of his beauty strengthened her natural affection, and made her more concerned for his preservation. It is said, (Hebrews 11:23,) that his parents hid him by faith. It has been thought by some, that they had a special revelation that the deliverer should spring from their loins. Be this as it may, they believed the general promise of Israel’s preservation, and in that faith hid their child.

Ver. 2. A goodly child; a beautiful and fine looking infant. Hence she made an ark of papyrus, a water plant, proper for the purpose. This reed grew ten feet high, and was employed in making canoes, and was used for many other purposes. Its pith and seeds afforded food.

2. She saw… he was a goodly child — Literally, he was beautiful: “beautiful before God,” says Stephen. Acts 7:20, in margin. Every child is beautiful to the mother’s eye; but the spiritually-minded Jochebed, whose very name declared “JAH, her glory,” saw His beauty behind the child’s sweet face, and knew by faith that He who had given her such a treasure could guard it for her, even from Pharaoh. She hid him — “By faith” she hid the child, and “was not afraid.” Hebrews 11:23. She used all means, yet trusted; she had full trust, yet used all means. It is the old paradox of the divine-human life.

V. 3. And when she could no longer hide him, she put him in an ark of bulrushes-By the river side. God put it into their hearts to do this, to bring about his own purposes: that Moses might by this means be brought into the hands of Pharaoh’s daughter, and that by his deliverance, a specimen might be given of the deliverance of God’s church.

Verse 3. An ark of bulrushes] amg tbt tebath gome, a small boat or basket made of the Egyptian reed called papyrus, so famous in all antiquity. This plant grows on the banks of the Nile, and in marshy grounds; the stalk rises to the height of six or seven cubits above the water, is triangular, and terminates in a crown of small filaments resembling hair, which the ancients used to compare to a thyrsus. This reed was of the greatest use to the inhabitants of Egypt, the pith contained in the stalk serving them for food, and the woody part to build vessels with; which vessels frequently appear on engraved stones and other monuments of Egyptian antiquity. For this purpose they made it up like rushes into bundles, and by tying them together gave their vessels the necessary figure and solidity. “The vessels of bulrushes or papyrus,” says Dr. Shaw, “were no other than large fabrics of the same kind with that of Moses, Exodus 2:3, which from the late introduction of planks and stronger materials are now laid aside.” Thus Pliny, lib. vi., cap. 16, takes notice of the naves papyraceas armamentaque Nili, “ships made of papyrus and the equipments of the Nile:” and lib. xiii., cap. 11, he observes, Exodus ipsa quidem papyro navigia texunt: “Of the papyrus itself they construct sailing vessels.” Herodotus and Diodorus have recorded the same fact; and among the poets, Lucan, lib. iv., ver. 136: Conseritur bibula Memphitis cymba papyro, “The Memphian or Egyptian boat is constructed from the soaking papyrus.” The epithet bibula is particularly remarkable, as corresponding with great exactness to the nature of the plant, and to its Hebrew name amg gome, which signifies to soak, to drink up. See Parkhurst sub voce. She laid it in the flags] Not willing to trust it in the stream for fear of a disaster; and probably choosing the place to which the Egyptian princess was accustomed to come for the purpose specified in the note on the following verse.

Verse 3. When she could no longer hide him — For fear of being informed against by some of her Egyptian neighbours, with whom the Israelites lived intermixed, Exodus 3:22. Thus Moses, who was afterward to be the deliverer of Israel, was himself upon the point of falling a sacrifice to the fury of the oppressor; God so ordered it, that being told of this he might be the more animated with zeal for the deliverance of his brethren out of the hands of such bloody men. She took for him an ark of bulrushes — A small basket made of rushes, and water-proof by being coated within and without by a kind of bitumen and pitch. Or, perhaps, it might be formed of the tree called papyrus, of which the Egyptians made their paper, and which grew especially on the banks of the Nile. This ark or basket Moses’s mother laid in the flags by the river’s brink — That it might not be carried away by the stream, intending, we may suppose, to come by night to suckle the child. God undoubtedly put it into her heart to do this, to bring about his own purposes: that Moses might, by this means, be brought into the hands of Pharaoh’s daughter, and that, by his deliverance, a specimen might be given of the deliverance of God’s church.

3. When she could not longer hide him — She had already concealed him three months. She took for him an ark of bulrushes — Papyrus. The papyrus, or paper reed, from which paper was first made and named, has a triangular stalk, as thick as the finger, about a dozen feet high. Light, strong boats were made of it; also mats, mattresses, sails, and many other articles. The famous Egyptian papyri, whose contents are now being deciphered, were made from slices of the pith, dried and then pressed and glued together, forming strips of indefinite length. Daubed it with slime — Either bitumen or Nile mud. Jochebed cemented the rushes together with the Nile mud or bitumen, and then smeared the seams with liquid pitch to make it water-tight. Similar boats are common on the Tigris now. Flags — Rather, the Nile grass. She placed the child where she knew that the princess would see him, trusting for his safety to his captivating beauty and to God.

Ver. 4. His sister. Miriam, who was, according to Josephus, seventeen years of age.

4. His sister — Probably Miriam, who is the only sister named in the history. Numbers 26:59. The mother has now exhausted all her skill; she can think of but one thing more — to station Miriam afar off. And now, if ever, JAHVEH-JIREH, “The Lord will provide.” Genesis 22:14.

V. 5. And the daughter of Pharaoh came-Providence brings no less a person than Pharaoh’s 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.

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 xjr 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 Phæacians, 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:—

Tai dJ apJ aphnhv

Elmata cersin elonto, kai esforeon melan udwr.

Steibon dJ en baqroisi qowv, erida proferousai.

Autar epei plunan te, kaqhran te rupa panta,

Exeihv petasan para qinJ alov, hci malista.

Laiggav poti cerson apopluneske qalassa.

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 Phæacian princess and her ladies (kourh dJ ek qalamoio& amfipoloi allai) 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, נערתיה naarotheyha, comes down to the river, not to bathe herself, for this is not intimated, but merely to wash, xjrl 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, sfairh tai tJ ar epaizon, 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.

Verses 5, 6. And the daughter of Pharaoh came — Providence brings no less a person than Pharaoh’s 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.

Ver. 5. The daughter of Pharaoh [Thermutis, as in Josephus] came down to wash in the river, as was her usual religious practice, which was probably known to the parents of Moses. She is said, by Philo, to have been Pharaoh’s only daughter, and without children. She was evidently influenced by the spirit of God to preserve the child. This humane act would abate, without doubt, much of the cruelty of the king’s edict. Moses lived in the palace, and was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; he accompanied the army, as Josephus states, in an expedition to Ethiopia, and was mighty in word and deed among the Egyptians.

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.

Verse 6. She had compassion on him] The sight of a beautiful babe in distress could not fail to make the impression here mentioned; see Clarke on “Exodus 2:2”. It has already been conjectured that the cruel edict of the Egyptian king did not continue long in force; see Exodus 1:22. And it will not appear unreasonable to suppose that the circumstance related here might have brought about its abolition. The daughter of Pharaoh, struck with the distressed state of the Hebrew children from what she had seen in the case of Moses, would probably implore her father to abolish this sanguinary edict.

Verses 5, 6. And the daughter of Pharaoh came — Providence brings no less a person than Pharaoh’s 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.

6-9. There is a pathos in this description which shows that the writer’s heart was in it. That princess was his adopting mother. The self-reliant action of the king’s daughter, notwithstanding her father’s cruel and absolute command, well illustrates the independence in character and action which distinguished the Egyptian women, at least the high-born. The Egyptians were taught also to regard mercy as one of the conditions of acceptance in the day of judgment. In the Funeral Ritual, or Book of the Dead, recently translated from a papyrus by Birch, the human spirit is represented as answering to the judge, “I have not afflicted any man; I have not made any man weep; I have not withheld milk from the mouths of sucklings.”

Verse 7. Shall I go and call a nurse] Had not the different circumstances marked here been placed under the superintendence of an especial providence, there is no human probability that they could have had such a happy issue. The parents had done every thing to save their child that piety, affection, and prudence could dictate, and having done so, they left the event to God. By faith, says the apostle, Hebrews 11:23, Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. Because of the king’s commandment they were obliged to make use of the most prudent caution to save the child’s life; and their faith in God enabled them to risk their own safety, for they were not afraid of the king’s commandment-they feared God, and they had no other fear.

6-9. There is a pathos in this description which shows that the writer’s heart was in it. That princess was his adopting mother. The self-reliant action of the king’s daughter, notwithstanding her father’s cruel and absolute command, well illustrates the independence in character and action which distinguished the Egyptian women, at least the high-born. The Egyptians were taught also to regard mercy as one of the conditions of acceptance in the day of judgment. In the Funeral Ritual, or Book of the Dead, recently translated from a papyrus by Birch, the human spirit is represented as answering to the judge, “I have not afflicted any man; I have not made any man weep; I have not withheld milk from the mouths of sucklings.”

6-9. There is a pathos in this description which shows that the writer’s heart was in it. That princess was his adopting mother. The self-reliant action of the king’s daughter, notwithstanding her father’s cruel and absolute command, well illustrates the independence in character and action which distinguished the Egyptian women, at least the high-born. The Egyptians were taught also to regard mercy as one of the conditions of acceptance in the day of judgment. In the Funeral Ritual, or Book of the Dead, recently translated from a papyrus by Birch, the human spirit is represented as answering to the judge, “I have not afflicted any man; I have not made any man weep; I have not withheld milk from the mouths of sucklings.”

6-9. There is a pathos in this description which shows that the writer’s heart was in it. That princess was his adopting mother. The self-reliant action of the king’s daughter, notwithstanding her father’s cruel and absolute command, well illustrates the independence in character and action which distinguished the Egyptian women, at least the high-born. The Egyptians were taught also to regard mercy as one of the conditions of acceptance in the day of judgment. In the Funeral Ritual, or Book of the Dead, recently translated from a papyrus by Birch, the human spirit is represented as answering to the judge, “I have not afflicted any man; I have not made any man weep; I have not withheld milk from the mouths of sucklings.”

V. 10. And he became her son-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, with the help of which, he became master of all the lawful learning of the Egyptians Acts 7:22. Those whom God designs for great services he finds out ways for to qualify them. 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 as an ambassador to that court in God’s name. 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 should be said, Blessed be Egypt my people, Isaiah 19:25. And his tuition at court was an earnest of the performance of that promise, Isaiah 49:23. Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers.

Verse 10. And he became her son.] From this time of his being brought home by his nurse his education commenced, and he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, Acts 7:22, who in the knowledge of nature probably exceeded all the nations then on the face of the earth. And she called his name] hvm mosheh, because המים מנ min hammayim, out of the waters whtycm meshithihu, have I drawn him. hvm mashah signifies to draw out; and mosheh is the person drawn out; the word is used in the same sense Psalm 18:16, and 2 Samuel 22:17. What name he had from his parents we know not; but whatever it might be it was ever after lost in the name given to him by the princess of Egypt. Abul Farajius says that Thermuthis delivered him to the wise men Janees and Jimbrees to be instructed in wisdom.

Verse 10. And he became her son — 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, with the help of which he became master of all the lawful learning of the Egyptians, Acts 7:22. Those whom God designs for great services, he finds out ways to qualify for them. 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 as an ambassador to that court in God’s name. She called his name Moses — The Jews tell us that his father, at his circumcision, called him Joachim, the rising or establishing of the Lord; but Pharaoh’s daughter called him Moses, drawn out, namely, of the water, either from the Hebrew word hvm, masha, to draw out, 2 Samuel 21:17; or from two Egyptian words, Mo uses, of the same import. Henry, taking it for granted that the latter is the etymology of the word, observes, “The calling of the Jewish lawgiver by an Egyptian name was a happy omen to the Gentile world, and gave hopes of that day when it should be said, Blessed be Egypt my people, Isaiah 19:25. And his tuition at court was an earnest of that promise, (Isaiah 49:23,) Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers.” Whether there be propriety in this observation or not, it is reasonable to suppose that this name, Drawn out, would tend to keep alive in the mind of Moses a remembrance of the danger he had escaped, and would induce him, out of gratitude for his deliverance, more readily to become a worker together with God in drawing his brethren out of still greater danger and misery.

Ver. 10. Moses. Mou in the Egyptian tongue, as in all the dialects of Shem’s race, signifies water, and ses, saved or drawn out.

10. The child grew… and he became her son — This is all that Moses tells us of his own youth. How easily could he here have written lines which would have satisfied the curiosity of ages! but he hastens over years to touch the next link in the providential chain. The sacred writers ever show this baffling, unworldly reticence. Thus the youth of Moses’s great Antitype, Jesus, is almost a blank in history. In both instances apocryphal legends, beneath attention except as psychological curiosities, (witness Josephus and Philo,) have swarmed into the vacuum. There are, however, in the British Museum papyri of the eighteenth dynasty, (B.C. 1525-1325, according to Wilkinson,) which give something of an idea of the education of a youth designed for civil and military service in the Mosaic age. From these and other sources we learn that the education was in literature, philosophy, and the mystic lore of the Egyptian religion, rather than in science, although great attention was given to arithmetic, pure and applied geometry, mensuration, surveying, accounts, architecture, and astronomy. But especially were the children trained from infancy in grammar and rhetoric, and the drill in style was thorough enough to have satisfied Quintilian. Literary examination was indispensable for appointment to the lowest public office, and instructors were appointed and schools superintended by the government. Such was the training of Moses at Heliopolis, the Oxford of Egypt. And she called his name Moses — Rather, Mosheh, (from the Egyptian word mos, or mas, to draw,) using a word which was the root of several royal Egyptian names, as Teth-mos-is, A-mos-is, which was transcribed to Mosheh in Hebrew, and to Mw ushv by the LXX translators, (which means water-saved,) whence the Latin Moyses, and our Moses. Brugsch states that it is also the name of an Egyptian prince of the nineteenth dynasty, a viceroy of Nubia.

V. 11. When Moses was grown he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens-He looked on their burdens as one that not only pitied them, but was resolved to venture with them, and for them.

Verse 11. When Moses was grown] Being full forty years of age, as St. Stephen says, Acts 7:23, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, i.e., he was excited to it by a Divine inspiration; and seeing one of them suffer wrong, by an Egyptian smiting him, probably one of the task-masters, he avenged him and smote-slew, the Egyptian, supposing that God who had given him commission, had given also his brethren to understand that they were to be delivered by his hand; see Acts 7:23-25. Probably the Egyptian killed the Hebrew, and therefore on the Noahic precept Moses was justified in killing him; and he was authorized so to do by the commission which he had received from God, as all succeeding events amply prove. Previously to the mission of Moses to deliver the Israelites, Josephus says, “The Æthiopians having made an irruption into Egypt, and subdued a great part of it, a Divine oracle advised them to employ Moses the Hebrew. On this the king of Egypt made him general of the Egyptian forces; with these he attacked the Æthiopians, defeated and drove them back into their own land, and forced them to take refuge in the city of Saba, where he besieged them. Tharbis, daughter of the Æthiopian king, seeing him, fell desperately in love with him, and promised to give up the city to him on condition that he would take her to wife, to which Moses agreed, and the city was put into the hands of the Egyptians.”-Jos. Ant. lib. ii., chap. 9. St. Stephen probably alluded to something of this kind when he said Moses was mighty in deeds as well as words.

Verses 11, 12. When Moses was grown, he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens — As one that not only pitied them, but was resolved to venture with them and for them. He slew the Egyptian — Probably it was one of the Egyptian task-masters, whom he found abusing his Hebrew slave. By special warrant from Heaven (which makes not a precedent in ordinary cases) Moses slew the Egyptian, and rescued his oppressed brother. The Jews’ tradition is, that he did not slay him with any weapon, but, as Peter slew Ananias and Sapphira, with the word of his mouth.

Ver. 11. When Moses was grown. When he was forty years of age, it came into his heart to visit his brethren. Acts 7:23. From these words of St. Stephen, and from Moses’ supposing his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them under him as their captain general, it is evident he must have had a secret call to this high mission, either by dream or vision. On this supposition, how great must have been his inward conflicts? The flesh would say, shall I leave this palace, these gardens, these riches, these princely hopes and pleasures, for a poor persecuted people at the brick kilns? Ah, I cannot do it; let the Lord deliver them by another. Reflection would next say, but if I disobey the Lord he may slay me, and give the glory to another. And what are the pleasures of the court? They are but transient, and they procure pains which endure for ever: an abject state of affliction with God’s people is preferable to this dignified constraint, and these scenes of dissipation. And what are all my riches and hopes in Egypt? A false accusation, a mere suspicion in the king’s mind, may deprive me of life or drive me to exile in a moment. In the name of the Lord, I will be weak no longer: I will renounce Egypt. I will own my brethren, and take my lot with my father’s God.

Now animated with the first fire of divine ardour, he went to investigate the afflictions of his brethren; and almost the first object which presented itself was, one of the taskmasters, one of the infant-murderers, smiting a Hebrew. Moses, knowing that God had appointed him judge of Israel, and seeing none of the Egyptians in sight, slew him. The next day, on repeating his visit, he found the affair had transpired; and fearing Pharaoh’s wrath he crossed the Red sea, or the desert to Midian, and reserved his services for a happier time.

MOSES’S FAILURE, AND FLIGHT FROM EGYPT, 11-22.

11, 12. Looked on their burdens — Looked with sympathy and longed to help. St. Stephen says (Acts 7:23) that he was now forty years old. In the prime of his powers, with the culture of Heliopolis and the faith of Jochebed — seeing his great mission dimly rising before him — with the quick sympathies of a kinsman and a patriot, and with a fiery soul that pined for action, he offered to cast in his lot with his brethren, and put himself at their head, “esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.” But neither he nor the people were yet ready. He was too precipitate and self-confident, nor did he yet see the immensity of his real mission. He needed the forty years’ desert chastisement and the solemn converse of the solitudes of Horeb. Nor had Israel yet felt the throe in which a nation is born. He felt that he was the born and commissioned leader to break the Egyptian chain; he felt that he had the revolutionary right to strike; but erred in thinking that the hour had come. He looked this way and that way — Not from criminal guilt, but with soldierly wariness. He looked on the war as begun, and himself as the captain in the field, and “supposed that his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them.” Acts 7:25.

V. 12. He slew the Egyptian-Probably it was one of the Egyptian task-masters, whom he found abusing his Hebrew slave. By special warrant from heaven (which makes not a precedent in ordinary cases) Moses slew the Egyptian, and rescued his oppressed brother. The Jew’s tradition is, that he did not slay him with any weapon, but as Peter slew Ananias and Sapphira, with the word of his mouth.

Verses 11, 12. When Moses was grown, he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens — As one that not only pitied them, but was resolved to venture with them and for them. He slew the Egyptian — Probably it was one of the Egyptian task-masters, whom he found abusing his Hebrew slave. By special warrant from Heaven (which makes not a precedent in ordinary cases) Moses slew the Egyptian, and rescued his oppressed brother. The Jews’ tradition is, that he did not slay him with any weapon, but, as Peter slew Ananias and Sapphira, with the word of his mouth.

Ver. 12. He slew the Egyptian, who was a prefect, or general superintendent of the Hebrew works.

MOSES’S FAILURE, AND FLIGHT FROM EGYPT, 11-22.

11, 12. Looked on their burdens — Looked with sympathy and longed to help. St. Stephen says (Acts 7:23) that he was now forty years old. In the prime of his powers, with the culture of Heliopolis and the faith of Jochebed — seeing his great mission dimly rising before him — with the quick sympathies of a kinsman and a patriot, and with a fiery soul that pined for action, he offered to cast in his lot with his brethren, and put himself at their head, “esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.” But neither he nor the people were yet ready. He was too precipitate and self-confident, nor did he yet see the immensity of his real mission. He needed the forty years’ desert chastisement and the solemn converse of the solitudes of Horeb. Nor had Israel yet felt the throe in which a nation is born. He felt that he was the born and commissioned leader to break the Egyptian chain; he felt that he had the revolutionary right to strike; but erred in thinking that the hour had come. He looked this way and that way — Not from criminal guilt, but with soldierly wariness. He looked on the war as begun, and himself as the captain in the field, and “supposed that his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them.” Acts 7:25.

Verse 13. Two men of the Hebrews strove together] How strange that in the very place where they were suffering a heavy persecution because they were Hebrews, the very persons themselves who suffered it should be found persecuting each other! It has been often seen that in those times in which the ungodly oppressed the Church of Christ, its own members have been separated from each other by disputes concerning comparatively unessential points of doctrine and discipline, in consequence of which both they and the truth have become an easy prey to those whose desire was to waste the heritage of the Lord. The Targum of Jonathan says that the two persons who strove were Dathan and Abiram.

13, 14. “But they understood not;” the iron had not yet gone deep enough into their souls, and Moses’s self-sacrifice in their behalf was too sublime for them to see. They betrayed their leader, (for a Hebrew must have informed against him,) and his first effort was a failure, not from Egyptian malice, but from Hebrew jealousy and envy.

V. 14. He said, Who made thee a prince?-He challengeth his authority; Who made thee a prince?-A man needs no great authority for giving a friendly reproof; it is an act of kindness; yet this man needs will interpret it an act of dominion, and represents his reprover as imperious and assuming. Thus, when people are sick of good discourse, or a seasonable admonition, they will call it preaching, as if a man could not speak a word for God, and against sin, but he took too much upon him. Yet Moses was indeed a prince, and a judge, and knew it, and thought the Hebrews would have understood it; but they stood in their own light, and thrust him away. Acts 7:25,27. Intendest thou to kill me?-See what base constructions malice puts upon the best words and actions. Moses, for reproving him, is presently charged with a design to kill him.

Verse 14. And Moses feared] He saw that the Israelites were not as yet prepared to leave their bondage; and that though God had called him to be their leader, yet his providence had not yet sufficiently opened the way; and had he stayed in Egypt he must have endangered his life. Prudence therefore dictated an escape for the present to the land of Midian.

Verse 14. He said, Who made thee a prince? — He challengeth his authority. A man needs no great authority for giving a friendly reproof; it is an act of kindness; yet this man will needs interpret it an act of dominion, and represents his reprover as imperious and assuming. Thus, when people are sick of good discourse, or a seasonable admonition, they will call it preaching, as if a man could not speak a word for God, and against sin, but he took too much upon him. Yet Moses was indeed a prince and a judge, and knew it, and thought the Hebrews would have understood it; but they stood in their own light, and thrust him away, Acts 7:25-27. Intendest thou to kill me? — See what base constructions malice puts upon the best words and actions!

13, 14. “But they understood not;” the iron had not yet gone deep enough into their souls, and Moses’s self-sacrifice in their behalf was too sublime for them to see. They betrayed their leader, (for a Hebrew must have informed against him,) and his first effort was a failure, not from Egyptian malice, but from Hebrew jealousy and envy.

V. 15. Moses fled from Pharaoh-God ordered this for wise ends. Things were not yet ripe for Israel’s deliverance. The measure of Egypt’s iniquity was not yet full; the Hebrews were not sufficiently humbled, nor were they yet increased to such a multitude as God designed: Moses is to be farther fitted for the service, and therefore is directed to withdraw for the present, till the time to favour Israel, even the set time, come. God guided Moses to Midian, because the Midianites were of the seed of Abraham, and retained the worship of the true God; so that he might have not only a safe, but a comfortable settlement among them; and through this country he was afterwards to lead Israel, which, that he might do the better, he now had opportunity of acquainting himself with it. Hither he came, and sat down by a well; tired and thoughtful, waiting to see which way Providence would direct him. It was a great change with him, since he was but the other day at ease in Pharaoh’s court.

Verse 15. Pharaoh-sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh] How can this be reconciled with Hebrews 11:27: By faith he (Moses) forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king? Very easily. The apostle speaks not of this forsaking of Egypt, but of his and the Israelites’ final departure from it, and of the bold and courageous manner in which Moses treated Pharaoh and the Egyptians, disregarding his threatenings and the multitudes of them that pursued after the people whom, in the name and strength of God, he led in the face of their enemies out of Egypt.

Dwelt in the land of Midian] A country generally supposed to have been in Arabia Petræa, on the eastern coast of the Red Sea, not far from Mount Sinai. This place is still called by the Arabs the land of Midian or the land of Jethro. Abul Farajius calls it the land of the Arabs. It is supposed that the Midianites derived their origin from Midian, the fourth son of Abraham by Keturah, thus:-Abraham, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan and Midian, Raguel, Jethro; see Genesis 25:1. But Calmet contends that if Jethro had been of the family of Abraham, either by Jokshan, or Midian, Aaron and Miriam could not have reproached Moses with marrying a Cushite, Zipporah, the daughter of Reuel. He thinks therefore that the Midianites were of the progeny of Cush, the son of Ham; see Genesis 10:6.

Verse 15. Moses fled from Pharaoh — God ordered this for wise ends. Things were not yet ripe for Israel’s deliverance. The measure of Egypt’s iniquity was not yet full; the Hebrews were not sufficiently humbled, nor were they yet increased to such a multitude as God designed: Moses is to be further fitted for the service, and therefore is directed to withdraw for the present, “till the time to favour Israel, even the set time, come.” God guided Moses to Midian, because the Midianites were of the seed of Abraham, and retained the worship of the true God; so that he might have not only a safe, but a comfortable settlement among them; and through this country he was afterward to lead Israel, which that he might do the better, he now had opportunity of acquainting himself with it. Hither he came, and sat down by a well — Tired and thoughtful, waiting to see what way Providence would direct him. It was a great change with him, since he was but the other day at ease in Pharaoh’s court.

Ver. 15. Midian. This nation was descended from Abraham by Keturah, whom Abraham married after the death of Sarah. Genesis 25:4.

15. And he sat down by a well — The (well-known) well (of that place). Midian was the country of the wandering descendants of Abraham’s son Midian, in the peninsula of Sinai, and reaching around the Arabian Gulf into the desert beyond. Knobel locates “the well” at Sherm, on the Arabian Gulf, northeast of Ras Mohammed. Here was once a sanctuary, and an hereditary priest and priestess, possibly successors of Jethro, and here are now deep, copious, and very ancient wells.

The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says (Hebrews 11:27) that Moses left Egypt “by faith,” and “not fearing the wrath of the king,” yet our narrative says that he feared and fled. How is this? Simply that he feared and evaded by flight the immediate and transitory consequences of his rash act, but feared not the grand result of the conflict on which he had staked all. He was ready to measure strength with Pharaoh when the time should come, “for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” The general who falls back in order to advance does not fear. (It is surprising that Alford should find difficulty here.)

Verse 16. The priest of Midian] Or prince, or both; for the original כהנ cohen has both meanings. See it explained at large, See Clarke’s note on “Genesis 15:18”. The transaction here very nearly resembles that mentioned Gen. xxix. concerning Jacob and Rachel; see the notes there.

Ver. 16. Priest of Midian. Hebrew, Cohen, is rendered prince by the Chaldaic paraphrase, and no wonder, for most of the priests of the gentiles were of princely descent. He was a worshipper of the true God, as Melchizedek, and Abraham; though this people gradually became idolaters, as in Ruth 1.

16, 17. Moses’s quick sense of right, and promptness to help the weak, are seen in the desert as well as in the brick-field, and he secures the hospitality of Reuel as Jacob did that of Laban. The priest’s flock consisted of sheep and goats, though he probably had also camels and asses; but for these there may not have been water and pasturage in the desert of Sinai. It is not likely that Reuel was a “prince,” as written in the margin.

V. 17. Stood up and helped them-This be did, because wherever he was, as occasion offered itself, he loved to be doing justice, and appearing in the defence of such as he saw injured. He loved to be doing good: wherever the Providence of God call us, we should desire and endeavour to be useful; and when we cannot do the good we would, we must be ready to do the good we can.

Verse 17. The shepherds-drove them] The verb µycrgy yegareshum, being in the masculine gender, seems to imply that the shepherds drove away the flocks of Reuel’s daughters, and not the daughters themselves. The fact seems to be, that, as the daughters of Reuel filled the troughs and brought their flocks to drink, the shepherds drove those away, and, profiting by the young women’s labour, watered their own cattle. Moses resisted this insolence, and assisted them to water their flocks, in consequence of which they were enabled to return much sooner than they were wont to do, Exodus 2:18.

Verse 17. Stood up and helped them — This he did, because wherever he was, as occasion offered itself, he loved to be doing justice, and appearing in the defence of such as he saw injured. He loved to be doing good: wherever the providence of God cast us, we should desire and endeavour to be useful; and when we cannot do the good we would, we must be ready to do the good we can.

16, 17. Moses’s quick sense of right, and promptness to help the weak, are seen in the desert as well as in the brick-field, and he secures the hospitality of Reuel as Jacob did that of Laban. The priest’s flock consisted of sheep and goats, though he probably had also camels and asses; but for these there may not have been water and pasturage in the desert of Sinai. It is not likely that Reuel was a “prince,” as written in the margin.

V. 18. Reul or Raguel (see Numbers 10:29,) seems to have been their grandfather and father of Hobab or Jethro, their immediate father.

Verse 18. Reuel, their father] In Numbers 10:29 this person is called Raguel, but the Hebrew is the same in both places. The reason of this difference is that the [ ain in רעואל is sometimes used merely as vowel, sometimes as g, ng, and gn, and this is occasioned by the difficulty of the sound, which scarcely any European organs can enunciate. As pronounced by the Arabs it strongly resembles the first effort made by the throat in gargling, or as Meninski says, Est vox vituli matrem vocantis, “It is like the sound made by a calf in seeking its dam.” Raguel is the worst method of pronouncing it; Re-u-el, the first syllable strongly accented, is nearer to the true sound. A proper uniformity in pronouncing the same word wherever it may occur, either in the Old or New Testament, is greatly to be desired. The person in question appears to have several names. Here he is called Reuel; in Numbers 10:29, Raguel; in Exodus 3:1, Jethor; in Judges 4:11, Hobab; and in Judges 1:16 he is called ynyq Keyni, which in Judges 4:11. we translate Kenite. Some suppose that Re-u-el was father to Hobab, who was also called Jethro. This is the most likely; see Clarke’s note on “Exodus 3:1”.

Verse 18. Reuel — Or Raguel (see Numbers 10:29) is thought by some to have been their grandfather, and father of Hobab or Jethro, their immediate father.

Ver. 18. Reuel. He is called Raguel, Numbers 10:29. He was of course, the grandfather of these seven fair guardians of the harmless flock. This mode of speaking frequently occurs. Jethro is twice called Hobab: Exodus 3:1. It was an ancient custom on some great achievement or honour, for a man to receive a new name.

18. Reu-El — Friend of God. The name implies that he worshipped the God of Abraham his father. Midian was the son of Abraham by Keturah. Genesis 25:2. On the relationship of Reuel, Jethro, and Hobab, see Concluding Note.

Verse 19. An Egyptian delivered us — Such they supposed him to be by his habit and speech; or perhaps he told them that he came from Egypt. Drew water enough — Hebrew, In drawing he drew, which phrase means that he drew it readily and diligently, which caused their quick return.

19. An Egyptian — For such Moses seemed to the Midianitish maidens, from his costume and language.

Verse 20. That he may eat bread.] That he may be entertained, and receive refreshment to proceed on his journey. Bread, among the Hebrews, was used to signify all kinds of food commonly used for the support of man’s life.

MOSES’S FAILURE, AND FLIGHT FROM EGYPT, 11-22.

11, 12. Looked on their burdens — Looked with sympathy and longed to help. St. Stephen says (Acts 7:23) that he was now forty years old. In the prime of his powers, with the culture of Heliopolis and the faith of Jochebed — seeing his great mission dimly rising before him — with the quick sympathies of a kinsman and a patriot, and with a fiery soul that pined for action, he offered to cast in his lot with his brethren, and put himself at their head, “esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.” But neither he nor the people were yet ready. He was too precipitate and self-confident, nor did he yet see the immensity of his real mission. He needed the forty years’ desert chastisement and the solemn converse of the solitudes of Horeb. Nor had Israel yet felt the throe in which a nation is born. He felt that he was the born and commissioned leader to break the Egyptian chain; he felt that he had the revolutionary right to strike; but erred in thinking that the hour had come. He looked this way and that way — Not from criminal guilt, but with soldierly wariness. He looked on the war as begun, and himself as the captain in the field, and “supposed that his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them.” Acts 7:25.

Verse 21. Zipporah his daughter.] Abul Farajius calls her “Saphura the black, daughter of Rewel the Midianite, the son of Dedan, the son of Abraham by his wife Keturah.” The Targum calls her the granddaughter of Reuel. It appears that Moses obtained Zipporah something in the same way that Jacob obtained Rachel; namely, for the performance of certain services, probably keeping of sheep: see Exodus 3:1.

Verse 21. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter — Whom he married, not immediately, but after some years of acquaintance with the family, as may be gathered from the youth of one of his sons, and his being uncircumcised forty years after this, Exodus 4:25.

21, 22. The Egyptian prince is content to become the shepherd of an humble Arab priest, whose daughter, a child of the desert, becomes the Zipporah (little bird) of his wilderness home. The sceptre that had been almost within his grasp is exchanged for a shepherd’s crook. The learning, luxury, and power of Egypt are exchanged for the barbarism, sand, and stones of Midian. It was the way of duty, but a wonderfully mysterious way! The deliverer is in the glory of his strength and eager for his work, and his people are dying — yet God does not speak! The name of his first-born, Gershom — a stranger there — tells us that he feels his exile, that his heart is with his far-off people, but we hear no murmur; and the name of his second born, Eliezer — my God (is my) help — shows that his faith was firm. He vanishes into the awful solitudes of Sinai, and we neither see nor hear of him any more for forty years.

V. 22. Gershom-That is, A stranger there. Now this settlement of Moses in Midian was designed by Providence. To shelter him for the present; God will find hiding places for his people in the day of their distress. It was also designed to prepare him for the services he was farther designed to. His manner of life in Midian, where he kept the flock of his father-in-law would be of use to him, to inure him to hardship and poverty; and to inure him to contemplation and devotion. Egypt accomplished him for a scholar, a gentleman, a statesman, a soldier, all which accomplishments would be afterwards of use to him; but yet lacketh he one thing, in which the court of Egypt could not befriend him. He that was to do all by divine revelation must know, what it was to live a life of communion with God, and in this he would be greatly furthered by the retirement of a shepherd’s life in Midian. By the former he was prepared to rule in Jeshurun, but by the latter he was prepared to converse with God in mount Horeb. Those that know what it is to be alone with God, are acquainted with better delights than ever Moses tasted in the court of Pharaoh.

Verse 22. Called his name Gershom] Literally, a stranger; the reason of which Moses immediately adds, for I have been an ALIEN in a strange land.

The Vulgate, the Septuagint, as it stands in the Complutensian Polyglot, and in several MSS., the Syriac, the Coptic, and the Arabic, add the following words to this verse: And the name of the second he called Eliezer, for the God of my father has been my help, and delivered me from the hand of Pharaoh. These words are found in Exodus 18:4, but they are certainly necessary here, for it is very likely that these two sons were born within a short space of each other; for in Exodus 4:20, it is said, Moses took his wife and his SONS, by which it is plain that he had both Gershom and Eliezer at that time. Houbigant introduces this addition in his Latin version, and contends that this is its most proper place. Notwithstanding the authority of the above versions, the clause is found in no copy, printed or MS., of the Hebrew text.

Verse 22. Gershom — That is, A stranger there. Now this settlement of Moses in Midian was designed by Providence to shelter him for the present; God will find hiding-places for his people in the day of their distress. It was also designed to prepare him for the services he was to be called to. His manner of life in Midian, where he kept the flock of his father-in-law, would inure him to hardship and fatigue, and to contemplation and devotion. Egypt accomplished him for a scholar, a gentleman, a statesman, a soldier; all which accomplishments would be afterward of use to him; but yet lacked he one thing, in which the court of Egypt could not befriend him. He who was to do all by divine revelation, must know what it was to live a life of communion with God, and in this he would be greatly furthered by the retirement of a shepherd’s life in Midian. By the former he was prepared to rule in Jeshurun, but by the latter he was prepared to converse with God in mount Horeb. Those that know what it is to be alone with God, are acquainted with better delights than ever Moses tasted in the court of Pharaoh.

Ver. 22. He called his name Gershom, to memorialize the goodness of God to him in a strange land. The vulgate adds here, from chap. 18., And he begot another whom he called Eliezer, saying, for the God of my fathers has been my helper, and has delivered me from the hand of Pharaoh. These names designate the piety of Moses. It is well in prosperity to remember that we were once poor and abject, and to be always humble in the eyes of God.

21, 22. The Egyptian prince is content to become the shepherd of an humble Arab priest, whose daughter, a child of the desert, becomes the Zipporah (little bird) of his wilderness home. The sceptre that had been almost within his grasp is exchanged for a shepherd’s crook. The learning, luxury, and power of Egypt are exchanged for the barbarism, sand, and stones of Midian. It was the way of duty, but a wonderfully mysterious way! The deliverer is in the glory of his strength and eager for his work, and his people are dying — yet God does not speak! The name of his first-born, Gershom — a stranger there — tells us that he feels his exile, that his heart is with his far-off people, but we hear no murmur; and the name of his second born, Eliezer — my God (is my) help — shows that his faith was firm. He vanishes into the awful solitudes of Sinai, and we neither see nor hear of him any more for forty years.

V. 23. The king of Egypt died-And after him, one or two more of his sons or successors. And the children of Israel sighed by reason of bondage-Probably the murdering of their infants did not continue, that part of their affliction only attended the birth of Moses, to signalize that. And now they were content with their increase, finding that Egypt was enriched by their labour; so they might have them for their slaves, they cared not how many they were. On this therefore they were intent, to keep them all at work, and make the best hand they could of their labour. When one Pharaoh died, another rose up in his place, that was as cruel to Israel as his predecessors. And they cried-Now at last they began to think of God under their troubles, and to return to him from the idols they had served, Ezekiel 20:8. Hitherto they had fretted at the instruments of their trouble, but God was not in all their thoughts. But before God unbound them, he put it into their hearts to cry unto him. It is a sign God is coming towards us with deliverance, when he inclines us to cry to him for it.

Verse 23. In process of time-the king of Egypt died] According to St. Stephen, (Acts 7:30, compared with Exodus 7:7,) the death of the Egyptian king happened about forty years after the escape of Moses to Midian. The words ההם הרבים בימים ויהי vayehi baiyamim harabbim hahem, which we translate And it came to pass in process of time, signify, And it was in many days from these that the king, &c. It has already been remarked that Archbishop Usher supposes this king to have been Ramesses Miamun, who was succeeded by his son Amenophis, who was drowned in the Red Sea when pursuing the Israelites, but Abul Farajius says it was Amunfathis, (Amenophis,) he who made the cruel edict against the Hebrew children.

Some suppose that Moses wrote the book of Job during the time he sojourned in Midian, and also the book of Genesis. See the preface to the book of Job, where this subject is considered.

Sighed by reason of the bondage] For the nature of their bondage, see Clarke note on “Exodus 1:14”.

Verse 23. The king of Egypt died — And, after him, one or two more of his sons or successors. And the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage — Probably the murdering of their infants did not continue; that part of their affliction only attended the birth of Moses, to signalize that. And now they were content with their increase, finding that Egypt was enriched by their labour; so they might have them for their slaves, they cared not how many they were. On this therefore they were intent, to keep them all at work, and make the best hand they could of their labour. When one Pharaoh died, another rose up in his place, that was as cruel to Israel as his predecessors. And they cried — Now at last they began to think of God under their troubles, and to return to him from the idols they had served, Ezekiel 20:8. Hitherto they had fretted at the instruments of their trouble, but God was not in all their thoughts. But before God unbound them, he put it into their hearts to cry unto him. It is a sign God is coming to us with deliverance when he inclines us to cry to him for it.

INCREASED OPPRESSION OF ISRAEL, 23-25.

23. In process of time — Literally, After many of those days. The king of Egypt died — [This king has been with good reason believed to be Remeses the Great, who reigned sixty-seven years and must have been almost a centenarian at his death. His reign was long enough to have covered the entire forty years of Moses’ sojourn in Midian, and also a considerable portion of his previous life in Egypt. Well might his death have been spoken of as occurring after many of those days! Great interest has been added to this history by the discovery, in 1881, of the mummies of most of the kings of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth dynasties, including the embalmed body of this great “Pharaoh of the oppression.” These bodies are now in the Bulaq Museum, Cairo, and photographs of their faces have been carried into many lands.]

V. 24. And God heard their groaning-That is, he made it to appear that he took notice of their complaints. The groans of the oppressed cry loud in the ears of the righteous God, to whom vengeance belongs; especially the groans of God’s children, the burdens they groan under, and the blessings they groan after. And God remembered his covenant-Which he seemed to have forgotten, but really is ever mindful of. This God had an eye to, and not to any merit of theirs in what he did for them. And God looked upon the children of Israel-Moses looked upon them and pitied them, but now God looked upon them and helped them. And God had respect unto them-A favourable respect to them as his own. The frequent repetition of the name of God intimates, that now we are to expect something great. His eyes which run to and fro through the earth, are now fixed on Israel, to shew himself strong, to shew himself a God in their behalf.

Verse 24. God remembered his covenant] God’s covenant is God’s engagement; he had promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give their posterity a land flowing with milk and honey, &c. They are now under the most oppressive bondage, and this was the most proper time for God to show them his mercy and power in fulfilling his promise. This is all that is meant by God’s remembering his covenant, for it was now that he began to give it its effect.

Verses 24, 25. And God heard their groaning — That is, he made it to appear that he took notice of their complaints. The groans of the oppressed cry loud in the ears of the righteous God, to whom vengeance belongs; especially the groans of God’s children, the burdens they groan under, and the blessings they groan after. And God remembered his covenant — Which he seemed to have forgotten, but really is ever mindful of. This God had an eye to, and not to any merit of theirs, in what he did for them. And God looked upon the children of Israel — Moses looked upon them and pitied them, but now God looked upon them and helped them. And God had respect unto them — A favourable respect to them as his own. The frequent repetition of the name of God intimates that now we are to expect something great. His eyes, which run to and fro through the earth, are now fixed on Israel, to show himself strong, to show himself a God in their behalf.

24, 25. God heard… remembered… looked… had respect — Through all those generations of heart-break, to the eye and ear of flesh God had seemed deaf, dumb, dead; yet all the while he remembered his covenant, saw each tear, heard each groan, knew his children with all the energy of love. In this graphic and emphatic way does the sacred writer picture our Father, and help every sufferer everywhere to get within the everlasting arms.

CONCLUDING NOTE.

REUEL, JETHRO, HOBAB. Some have made Reuel and Jethro the same; others, Hobab and Jethro the same; and others still have considered all three the same. The solution of the question depends on the meaning of the word ˆtj, which our translators have always rendered “father-in-law,” but which the Seventy render by gambrov, which means simply marriage relation, and may be father-in-law, son-in-law. brother-in-law, or bridegroom. The Seventy thus give us a wide liberty, which we must use to settle the relationship of these persons to Moses.

1. Reuel, or Raguel, is called the father of Zipporah, Moses’s wife, in Exodus 2:18. Also in Numbers 10:29, Reuel is called the ˆtj of Moses, that is, his “father-in-law.”

2. Jethro, or Jether, is in Exodus 3:1, and often thereafter, called the ˆtj of Moses, and “Jethro” we understand to be another name for Reuel. Jether, or Jethro, signifies “excellence,” and was probably a titular or honorary name which he received because of his priestly dignity.

3. Hobab is in Numbers 10:29 expressly called Reuel’s son, so he must have been Zipporah’s brother. But the same word is also applied to him in Judges 4:11, which we consider here to mean simply marriage relation, that is, in this case, brother-in-law. Other incidental notices confirm this view. Reuel, that is, Jethro, was advanced in life when Moses first met him, (Exodus 2:16,) since he had seven grown-up daughters. But, forty years after this, we find Hobab invited to accompany the Israelites in their journeyings, and aid them in selecting their encampments, (Numbers 10:31,) and he seems to have complied with the invitation, for his children are afterwards found settled in Canaan. Judges 1:16, and 4:11. This we should not expect of the aged Reuel, but it might betrue of Hobab, his son, who would then have been in the prime of life; while the character of a wise counsellor, such as is assigned to Jethro in Exodus 18, well suits the age and office of Reuel. Reuel and Jethro, then, we understand to be one and the same person, the father of Hobab and of Zipporah, the wife of Moses. Thus Hobab would be her brother.

Verse 25. And God had respect unto them.] אלהים [ויד vaiyeda Elohim, God knew them, i.e., he approved of them, and therefore it is said that their cry came up before God, and he heard their groaning. The word [dy yada, to know, in the Hebrew Bible, as well as ginwskw in the Greek Testament, is frequently used in the sense of approving; and because God knew-had respect for and approved of, them, therefore he was determined to deliver them. For אלהים Elohim, GOD, in the last clause of this verse, Houbigant reads אליהם aleyhem, UPON THEM, which is countenanced by the Vulgate, Septuagint, Chaldee, Coptic, and Arabic, and appears to have been the original reading. The difference in the original consists in the interchange of two letters, the y yod and h he. Our translators insert unto them, in order to make up that sense which this various reading gives without trouble.

THE farther we proceed in the sacred writings, the more the history both of the grace and providence of God opens to our view. He ever cares for his creatures, and is mindful of his promise. The very means made use of to destroy his work are, in his hands, the instruments of its accomplishment. Pharaoh orders the male children of the Hebrews to be thrown into the river; Moses, who was thus exposed, is found by his own daughter, brought up as her own son, and from his Egyptian education becomes much better qualified for the great work to which God had called him; and his being obliged to leave Egypt was undoubtedly a powerful means to wean his heart from a land in which he had at his command all the advantages and luxuries of life. His sojourning also in a strange land, where he was obliged to earn his bread by a very painful employment, fitted him for the perilous journey he was obliged to take in the wilderness, and enabled him to bear the better the privations to which he was in consequence exposed.

The bondage of the Israelites was also wisely permitted, that they might with less reluctance leave a country where they had suffered the greatest oppression and indignities. Had they not suffered severely previously to their departure, there is much reason to believe that no inducements could have been sufficient to have prevailed on them to leave it. And yet their leaving it was of infinite consequence, in the order both of grace and providence, as it was indispensably necessary that they should be a people separated from all the rest of the world, that they might see the promises of God fulfilled under their own eyes, and thus have the fullest persuasion that their law was Divine, their prophets inspired by the Most High, and that the Messiah came according to the prophecies before delivered concerning him.

From the example of Pharaoh’s daughter, (see Clarke’s note “Exodus 2:5”,) and the seven daughters of Jethro, (Exodus 2:16,) we learn that in the days of primitive simplicity, and in this respect the best days, the children, particularly the daughters of persons in the highest ranks in life, were employed in the most laborious offices. Kings’ daughters performed the office of the laundress to their own families; and the daughters of princes tended and watered the flocks. We have seen similar instances in the case of Rebekah and Rachel; and we cannot be too pointed in calling the attention of modern delicate females, who are not only above serving their own parents and family, but even their own selves: the consequence of which is, they have neither vigour nor health; their growth, for want of healthy exercise, is generally cramped; their natural powers are prematurely developed, and their whole course is rather an apology for living, than a state of effective life. Many of these live not out half their days, and their offspring, when they have any, is more feeble than themselves; so that the race of man where such preposterous conduct is followed (and where is it not followed?) is in a state of gradual deterioration. Parents who wish to fulfil the intention of God and nature, will doubtless see it their duty to bring up their children on a different plan. A worse than the present can scarcely be found out.

Afflictions, under the direction of God’s providence and the influence of his grace, are often the means of leading men to pray to and acknowledge God, who in the time of their prosperity hardened their necks from his fear. When the Israelites were sorely oppressed, they began to pray. If the cry of oppression had not been among them, probably the cry for mercy had not been heard. Though afflictions, considered in themselves, can neither atone for sin nor improve the moral state of the soul, yet God often uses them as means to bring sinners to himself, and to quicken those who, having already escaped the pollutions of the world, were falling again under the influence of an earthly mind. Of many millions besides David it may truly be said, Before they were afflicted they went astray.

EXODUS

Verses 24, 25. And God heard their groaning — That is, he made it to appear that he took notice of their complaints. The groans of the oppressed cry loud in the ears of the righteous God, to whom vengeance belongs; especially the groans of God’s children, the burdens they groan under, and the blessings they groan after. And God remembered his covenant — Which he seemed to have forgotten, but really is ever mindful of. This God had an eye to, and not to any merit of theirs, in what he did for them. And God looked upon the children of Israel — Moses looked upon them and pitied them, but now God looked upon them and helped them. And God had respect unto them — A favourable respect to them as his own. The frequent repetition of the name of God intimates that now we are to expect something great. His eyes, which run to and fro through the earth, are now fixed on Israel, to show himself strong, to show himself a God in their behalf.

24, 25. God heard… remembered… looked… had respect — Through all those generations of heart-break, to the eye and ear of flesh God had seemed deaf, dumb, dead; yet all the while he remembered his covenant, saw each tear, heard each groan, knew his children with all the energy of love. In this graphic and emphatic way does the sacred writer picture our Father, and help every sufferer everywhere to get within the everlasting arms.

CONCLUDING NOTE.

REUEL, JETHRO, HOBAB. Some have made Reuel and Jethro the same; others, Hobab and Jethro the same; and others still have considered all three the same. The solution of the question depends on the meaning of the word ˆtj, which our translators have always rendered “father-in-law,” but which the Seventy render by gambrov, which means simply marriage relation, and may be father-in-law, son-in-law. brother-in-law, or bridegroom. The Seventy thus give us a wide liberty, which we must use to settle the relationship of these persons to Moses.

1. Reuel, or Raguel, is called the father of Zipporah, Moses’s wife, in Exodus 2:18. Also in Numbers 10:29, Reuel is called the ˆtj of Moses, that is, his “father-in-law.”

2. Jethro, or Jether, is in Exodus 3:1, and often thereafter, called the ˆtj of Moses, and “Jethro” we understand to be another name for Reuel. Jether, or Jethro, signifies “excellence,” and was probably a titular or honorary name which he received because of his priestly dignity.

3. Hobab is in Numbers 10:29 expressly called Reuel’s son, so he must have been Zipporah’s brother. But the same word is also applied to him in Judges 4:11, which we consider here to mean simply marriage relation, that is, in this case, brother-in-law. Other incidental notices confirm this view. Reuel, that is, Jethro, was advanced in life when Moses first met him, (Exodus 2:16,) since he had seven grown-up daughters. But, forty years after this, we find Hobab invited to accompany the Israelites in their journeyings, and aid them in selecting their encampments, (Numbers 10:31,) and he seems to have complied with the invitation, for his children are afterwards found settled in Canaan. Judges 1:16, and 4:11. This we should not expect of the aged Reuel, but it might betrue of Hobab, his son, who would then have been in the prime of life; while the character of a wise counsellor, such as is assigned to Jethro in Exodus 18, well suits the age and office of Reuel. Reuel and Jethro, then, we understand to be one and the same person, the father of Hobab and of Zipporah, the wife of Moses. Thus Hobab would be her brother.