When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the little boy was crying. So she had compassion on him and said, "This is one of the Hebrew children." When she opened itThis phrase refers to Pharaoh's daughter opening the basket in which the infant Moses was placed. The act of opening signifies a moment of revelation and discovery. In the Hebrew context, the word for "opened" (פָּתַח, patach) often implies an unveiling or a new beginning. This moment marks the beginning of Moses' journey from a hidden Hebrew child to a future leader of Israel. It is a divine orchestration, where God uses unexpected people and circumstances to fulfill His purposes. she saw the child
The sight of the child is pivotal. The Hebrew word for "saw" (רָאָה, ra'ah) implies more than just physical sight; it often denotes perception and understanding. Pharaoh's daughter perceives the significance of the child, even if she does not fully understand it. This moment of seeing is a divine appointment, where God softens her heart towards Moses, setting the stage for his adoption into Egyptian royalty. and behold
The word "behold" (הִנֵּה, hinneh) is an interjection used frequently in the Bible to draw attention to something significant. It is a call to pause and consider the importance of what is being revealed. In this context, it emphasizes the unexpected and miraculous nature of the discovery of Moses. It invites the reader to recognize God's hand in the unfolding events. the boy was crying
The crying of the boy is a natural human response, yet it carries deeper significance. The Hebrew word for "crying" (בָּכָה, bakah) can also imply a call for help or an expression of need. This cry evokes compassion in Pharaoh's daughter, demonstrating how God uses the vulnerability of a child to move the heart of a powerful figure. It is a reminder of God's providence and His ability to use the simplest of actions to achieve His divine plans. She took pity on him
The phrase "took pity" (חָמַל, chamal) indicates a deep sense of compassion and mercy. In the ancient Near Eastern context, this kind of compassion was often seen as a divine attribute. Pharaoh's daughter's response is not just a human emotion but is portrayed as part of God's intervention. Her pity leads to action, showing how God can use the compassion of individuals to bring about His purposes. and said, 'This is one of the Hebrew children.'
This statement acknowledges the identity of the child. The term "Hebrew" (עִבְרִי, Ivri) is significant as it connects Moses to the covenant people of God. Despite the potential danger of harboring a Hebrew child, Pharaoh's daughter recognizes and accepts Moses' identity. This acknowledgment is crucial, as it sets the stage for Moses' future role in leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. It highlights the theme of identity and God's faithfulness to His covenant people throughout the narrative. Persons / Places / Events 1. Pharaoh's DaughterThe unnamed daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh who discovers Moses in the basket. Her compassion leads to Moses being raised in the Egyptian royal household. 2. MosesThe infant found in the basket, who would later become the leader of the Israelites and a central figure in the Exodus account. 3. The Nile RiverThe river where Moses was placed in a basket by his mother to save him from Pharaoh's decree to kill all Hebrew male infants. 4. Hebrew ChildrenRefers to the children of the Israelites, who were under threat due to Pharaoh's edict to control the Hebrew population. 5. CompassionThe emotional response of Pharaoh's daughter upon seeing the crying infant, which is pivotal in the preservation of Moses' life. Teaching Points Divine ProvidenceGod's hand is evident in the preservation of Moses' life, showing that He can use unexpected people and circumstances to fulfill His purposes. Compassion as a CatalystThe compassion of Pharaoh's daughter serves as a reminder of how a single act of kindness can have far-reaching consequences in God's plan. Courage in AdversityMoses' parents' decision to hide him reflects a courageous faith that trusts in God's protection despite dire circumstances. Identity and PurposeMoses' identity as a Hebrew child raised in an Egyptian palace illustrates how God can use our unique backgrounds for His glory. God's Sovereignty Over Human PlansDespite Pharaoh's attempts to suppress the Israelites, God's sovereign plan for Moses' life and the deliverance of His people prevails. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the compassion of Pharaoh's daughter in Exodus 2:6 reflect God's character, and how can we emulate this in our daily lives? 2. In what ways does the account of Moses' preservation challenge us to trust in God's providence during difficult times? 3. How can we identify and act upon opportunities to show compassion to those in need, as Pharaoh's daughter did? 4. Reflect on a time when God used an unexpected person or situation to bring about His purpose in your life. How does this encourage you in your current circumstances? 5. How does the account of Moses' early life connect with the broader account of God's deliverance and redemption throughout the Bible? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 1:22Provides context for Pharaoh's decree to kill Hebrew male infants, setting the stage for Moses' mother to hide him. Acts 7:21Stephen's speech in the New Testament recounts Moses being adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, highlighting God's providence in Moses' early life. Hebrews 11:23Speaks of the faith of Moses' parents in hiding him, emphasizing the divine protection over Moses from birth. People Gershom, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Levi, Moses, Pharaoh, Reuel, ZipporahPlaces Egypt, Midian, Nile RiverTopics Babe, Babies, Baby, Behold, Boy, Child, Compassion, Cried, Crying, Felt, Hebrew, Hebrews, Lad, Opened, Openeth, Opening, Pity, Sorry, Weeping, WeptDictionary of Bible Themes Exodus 2:6 5809 compassion, human Exodus 2:1-6 4502 reed Exodus 2:1-8 5737 sisters Exodus 2:1-10 5652 babies
7775 prophets, lives Exodus 2:5-6 5102 Moses, life of 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 2:6 NIVExodus 2:6 NLTExodus 2:6 ESVExodus 2:6 NASBExodus 2:6 KJV
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