When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, where he sat down beside a well. When Pharaoh heard about thisThe phrase indicates a pivotal moment of awareness and reaction. The Hebrew root for "heard" (שָׁמַע, shama) implies not just the act of hearing but an understanding and acknowledgment that demands a response. Pharaoh's hearing signifies the reach of Moses' actions and the threat they posed to the Egyptian authority. Historically, Pharaohs were seen as divine rulers, and any challenge to their authority was met with severe consequences. This sets the stage for Moses' transition from a prince of Egypt to a fugitive. he tried to kill Moses
This phrase underscores the severity of Moses' situation. The Hebrew word for "kill" (הָרַג, harag) conveys an intent to destroy or put to death. Pharaoh's attempt to kill Moses reflects the zero-tolerance policy for insubordination in ancient Egypt. It also foreshadows the spiritual battle between the forces of God and the oppressive powers of the world. Moses' life is now in jeopardy, highlighting the cost of standing up for justice and God's people. but Moses fled from Pharaoh
The word "fled" (בָּרַח, barach) in Hebrew suggests a swift escape, driven by fear and urgency. Moses' flight marks a significant turning point in his life, moving from a place of privilege to one of exile. This act of fleeing is not just a physical escape but a spiritual journey towards his divine calling. It reflects the biblical theme of God using the wilderness as a place of preparation and transformation. and settled in the land of Midian
"Settled" (יָשַׁב, yashab) implies a temporary dwelling, a pause in Moses' journey. The land of Midian, located in the northwestern Arabian Peninsula, was inhabited by the Midianites, descendants of Abraham through Keturah. This region becomes a place of refuge and growth for Moses. Historically, Midian was a land of nomads, which contrasts with the structured society of Egypt, symbolizing a shift from worldly power to divine purpose. where he sat down by a well
The well is a significant biblical symbol, often representing life, sustenance, and divine encounters. In the ancient Near East, wells were central to community life, serving as gathering places. Moses sitting by a well suggests a moment of rest and reflection, a pause before the next phase of his journey. This setting foreshadows his meeting with Zipporah and the beginning of his integration into the Midianite community. Wells in scripture often serve as places of revelation and transformation, indicating that God is at work in Moses' life even in exile. Persons / Places / Events 1. PharaohThe ruler of Egypt who sought to kill Moses after learning of his actions. 2. MosesA Hebrew by birth, raised in Pharaoh's household, who fled Egypt after killing an Egyptian. 3. MidianA region where Moses sought refuge, located east of the Red Sea, inhabited by the Midianites. 4. The WellA significant location in Midian where Moses rested and later met the daughters of Jethro. Teaching Points Divine Providence in AdversityMoses' flight to Midian demonstrates God's providential care, even in dire circumstances. God uses our trials to prepare us for future purposes. Preparation in the WildernessThe wilderness is often a place of preparation and transformation. Moses' time in Midian was crucial for his development as a leader. Courage and FaithMoses' decision to flee reflects a courageous step of faith, trusting in God's plan over the fear of man. God's TimingGod's timing is perfect. Moses' 40 years in Midian were necessary for him to be ready to lead Israel out of Egypt. Seeking Refuge in GodLike Moses, we can find refuge in God when we face threats or challenges, trusting Him to guide our steps. Bible Study Questions 1. How does Moses' flight to Midian illustrate the concept of divine providence in our lives? 2. In what ways can the "wilderness" experiences in our lives prepare us for future service to God? 3. How does Moses' response to Pharaoh's threat demonstrate faith and courage, and how can we apply this in our own lives? 4. What lessons can we learn from Moses' time in Midian about waiting on God's timing? 5. How can we seek refuge in God during times of adversity, and what scriptures support this practice? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 3:1Moses' time in Midian is further detailed, where he becomes a shepherd for Jethro, leading to his encounter with God at the burning bush. Acts 7:29Stephen recounts Moses' flight to Midian, emphasizing his role as a deliverer and the preparation period in the wilderness. Hebrews 11:27Highlights Moses' faith in leaving Egypt, not fearing the king's anger, and seeing the invisible God. People Gershom, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Levi, Moses, Pharaoh, Reuel, ZipporahPlaces Egypt, Midian, Nile RiverTopics Death, Dwelleth, Dwelt, Face, Fled, Fleeth, Flight, Heareth, Kill, Matter, Midian, Mid'ian, News, Pharaoh, Presence, Sat, Seat, Seeketh, Settled, Slay, Sought, Stayed, Tried, Water-springDictionary of Bible Themes Exodus 2:15 5104 Moses, foreshadower of Christ
5181 sitting
5319 fugitives
5828 danger
7212 exile Exodus 2:10-15 5102 Moses, life of Exodus 2:15-16 4293 water Exodus 2:15-17 4296 wells Library The Ark among the Flags
'And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. 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. 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. 4. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. 5. And the daughter of Pharaoh came …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureHome as a Stewardship.
"Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages."--EXODUS II., 9. "For look, how many souls in thy house be, With just as many souls God trusteth thee!" The Christian home is a stewardship. The parents are stewards of God. A steward is a servant of a particular kind, to whom the master commits a certain portion of his interest to be prosecuted in his name and by his authority, and according to his laws and regulations. The steward must act according to the will of his …
Samuel Philips—The Christian Home The Upbringing of Jewish Children
The tenderness of the bond which united Jewish parents to their children appears even in the multiplicity and pictorialness of the expressions by which the various stages of child-life are designated in the Hebrew. Besides such general words as "ben" and "bath"--"son" and "daughter"--we find no fewer than nine different terms, each depicting a fresh stage of life. The first of these simply designates the babe as the newly--"born"--the "jeled," or, in the feminine, "jaldah"--as in Exodus 2:3, 6, 8. …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life The Secret of Its Greatness
[Illustration: (drop cap G) The Great Pyramid] God always chooses the right kind of people to do His work. Not only so, He always gives to those whom He chooses just the sort of life which will best prepare them for the work He will one day call them to do. That is why God put it into the heart of Pharaoh's daughter to bring up Moses as her own son in the Egyptian palace. The most important part of Moses' training was that his heart should be right with God, and therefore he was allowed to remain …
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making Motives to Holy Mourning
Let me exhort Christians to holy mourning. I now persuade to such a mourning as will prepare the soul for blessedness. Oh that our hearts were spiritual limbecs, distilling the water of holy tears! Christ's doves weep. They that escape shall be like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity' (Ezekiel 7:16). There are several divine motives to holy mourning: 1 Tears cannot be put to a better use. If you weep for outward losses, you lose your tears. It is like a shower …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12 The Faith of Moses.
"By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw he was a goodly child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to be evil entreated with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he looked unto the recompense of reward. By faith he forsook …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews Jesus Sets Out from Judæa for Galilee.
Subdivision B. At Jacob's Well, and at Sychar. ^D John IV. 5-42. ^d 5 So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 and Jacob's well was there. [Commentators long made the mistake of supposing that Shechem, now called Nablous, was the town here called Sychar. Sheckem lies a mile and a half west of Jacob's well, while the real Sychar, now called 'Askar, lies scarcely half a mile north of the well. It was a small town, loosely called …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Consolations against Impatience in Sickness.
If in thy sickness by extremity of pain thou be driven to impatience, meditate-- 1. That thy sins have deserved the pains of hell; therefore thou mayest with greater patience endure these fatherly corrections. 2. That these are the scourges of thy heavenly Father, and the rod is in his hand. If thou didst suffer with reverence, being a child, the corrections of thy earthly parents, how much rather shouldst thou now subject thyself, being the child of God, to the chastisement of thy heavenly Father, …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety Man's Misery by the Fall
Q-19: WHAT IS THE MISERY OF THAT ESTATE WHEREINTO MAN FELL? A: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever. 'And were by nature children of wrath.' Eph 2:2. Adam left an unhappy portion to his posterity, Sin and Misery. Having considered the first of these, original sin, we shall now advert to the misery of that state. In the first, we have seen mankind offending; …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity Genealogy According to Luke.
^C Luke III. 23-38. ^c 23 And Jesus himself [Luke has been speaking about John the Baptist, he now turns to speak of Jesus himself], when he began to teach, was about thirty years of age [the age when a Levite entered upon God's service--Num. iv. 46, 47], being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son [this may mean that Jesus was grandson of Heli, or that Joseph was counted as a son of Heli because he was his son-in-law] of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Adoption
'As many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.' John 1:12. Having spoken of the great points of faith and justification, we come next to adoption. The qualification of the persons is, As many as received him.' Receiving is put for believing, as is clear by the last words, to them that believe in his name.' The specification of the privilege is, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.' The Greek word for power, exousia, signifies …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity Appendix xii. The Baptism of Proselytes
ONLY those who have made study of it can have any idea how large, and sometimes bewildering, is the literature on the subject of Jewish Proselytes and their Baptism. Our present remarks will be confined to the Baptism of Proselytes. 1. Generally, as regards proselytes (Gerim) we have to distinguish between the Ger ha-Shaar (proselyte of the gate) and Ger Toshabh (sojourner,' settled among Israel), and again the Ger hatstsedeq (proselyte of righteousness) and Ger habberith (proselyte of the covenant). …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Appendix ii. Philo of Alexandria and Rabbinic Theology.
(Ad. vol. i. p. 42, note 4.) In comparing the allegorical Canons of Philo with those of Jewish traditionalism, we think first of all of the seven exegetical canons which are ascribed to Hillel. These bear chiefly the character of logical deductions, and as such were largely applied in the Halakhah. These seven canons were next expanded by R. Ishmael (in the first century) into thirteen, by the analysis of one of them (the 5th) into six, and the addition of this sound exegetical rule, that where two …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah John the Baptist's Person and Preaching.
(in the Wilderness of Judæa, and on the Banks of the Jordan, Occupying Several Months, Probably a.d. 25 or 26.) ^A Matt. III. 1-12; ^B Mark I. 1-8; ^C Luke III. 1-18. ^b 1 The beginning of the gospel [John begins his Gospel from eternity, where the Word is found coexistent with God. Matthew begins with Jesus, the humanly generated son of Abraham and David, born in the days of Herod the king. Luke begins with the birth of John the Baptist, the Messiah's herald; and Mark begins with the ministry …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Exodus 2:15 NIVExodus 2:15 NLTExodus 2:15 ESVExodus 2:15 NASBExodus 2:15 KJV
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