Exodus 2:24

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Exodus 2:24-25. 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.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:23-25 The Israelites' bondage in Egypt continued, though the murdering of their infants did not continue. Sometimes the Lord suffers the rod of the wicked to lie very long and very heavy on the lot of the righteous. At last they began to think of God under their troubles. It is a sign that the Lord is coming towards us with deliverance, when he inclines and enables us to cry to him for it. God heard their groaning; he made it to appear that he took notice of their complaints. He remembered his covenant, of which he is ever mindful. He considered this, and not any merit of theirs. He looked upon the children of Israel. Moses looked upon them, and pitied them; but now God looked upon them, and helped them. He had respect unto them. His eyes are now fixed upon Israel, to show himself in their behalf. God is ever thus, a very present help in trouble. Take courage then, ye who, conscious of guilt and thraldom, are looking to Him for deliverance. God in Christ Jesus is also looking upon you. A call of love is joined with a promise of the Redeemer. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, Mt 11:28.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Remembered - This means that God was moved by their prayers to give effect to the covenant, of which an essential condition was the faith and contrition involved in the act of supplication. The whole history of Israel is foreshadowed in these words: God heard, remembered, looked upon, and knew them. It evidently indicates the beginning of a crisis marked by a personal intervention of God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

23. the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage—The language seems to imply that the Israelites had experienced a partial relaxation, probably through the influence of Moses' royal patroness; but in the reign of her father's successor the persecution was renewed with increased severity.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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

and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob; that he would bring their seed out of a land not theirs, in which they were strangers, and were afflicted, into the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.

Geneva Study Bible

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

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. their groaning] Exodus 6:5 a (P).

and God … remembered] cf. Exodus 6:5 b; also Genesis 8:1; Genesis 19:29 (all P).

his covenant with Abraham, &c.] The covenant concluded with Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 17:7-8; Genesis 17:19 P), and implicitly with Jacob (Genesis 35:12 P), which in Exodus 6:4-5 b also is represented by P as the motive for the deliverance of Israel from Egypt: cf. p. 176.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 24, 25. - God heard their groaning. God is said to "hear" the prayers which he accepts and grants; to "be deaf" to those which he does not grant, but rejects. He now "heard" (i.e. accepted) the supplications of oppressed Israel; and on account of the covenant which he had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - a covenant always remembered by him - he looked upon his people, made them the objects of his special regard, and entered on a course, which was abnormal, irregular, miraculous, in order to carry out his purposes of mercy towards them It is observed that anthropomorphic expressions are here accumulated; but this is always the case when the love and tenderness of God towards man are spoken of, since they form the only possible phraseology in which ideas of love and tenderness can be expressed so as to be intelligible to bureau beings. And God regarded them. Literally, "and God knew." God kept the whole in his thoughts - bore in mind the sufferings, the wrongs, the hopes, the fears, the groans, the despair, the appeal to him, the fervent supplications and prayers - knew all, remembered all-counted every word and sigh - gathered the tears into his bottle - noted all things in his book - and for the present endured, kept silence - but was preparing for his foes a terrible vengeance - for his people a marvellous deliverance



Exodus 2:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"God heard their crying, and remembered His covenant with the fathers: "and God saw the children of Israel, and God noticed them." "This seeing and noticing had regard to the innermost nature of Israel, namely, as the chosen seed of Abraham" (Baumgarten). God's notice has all the energy of love and pity. Lyra has aptly explained ויּדע thus: "ad modum cognoscentis se habuit, ostendendo dilectionem circa eos;" and Luther has paraphrased it correctly: "He accepted them."