Exodus 2 focuses on the birth and early years of Moses. Moses is one of the central figures of world history. Therefore, the Bible mentions him a lot.
The story of Moses begins with a man named Amram and a woman named Jochebed, both from the tribe of Levi who got married. Jochebed became pregnant because that is more likely to happen when people get married and do marriage activities. She gave birth to a son and saw that he was a special baby, so she kept him hidden for three months. If you read the last Exodus post, you know the reason he needed to be hidden is that Pharaoh gave the order that all Jewish male babies be killed. That sounds like a good reason to hide your baby, but eventually, she couldn't hide him anymore. So she got a basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River. The baby's sister then stood at a distance, watching to see what would happen to him. Moses also had a brother three years older than him named Aaron.
Soon Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe in the river, and her attendants walked along the riverbank. When the princess saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it for her. When the princess opened it, she saw the baby. The little boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. "This must be one of the Hebrew children," she said. Then the baby's sister approached the princess. "Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?" she asked. "Yes, do!" the princess replied. So the girl went and called Jochebed. "Take this baby and nurse him for me," the princess told Jochebed. "I will pay you for your help." So Jochebed took Moses home and nursed him. What a gig that is. Moses' mom gives him up to save his life, only to be paid to do what she would have done anyway. That is the providence of God at work. But that blessing was temporary because later, when Moses was older, Jochebed brought him back to Pharaoh's daughter. She adopted him as her own son. The princess named him Moses (To Lift Out), for she explained, "I lifted him out of the water."
Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he visited his own people, the Hebrews, and saw how hard they were forced to work. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of Moses' fellow Hebrews. After looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand. Do you think Moses acted righteously in what he did? I would say no. Moses practiced a form of vigilante justice rather than waiting on God to act directly on his own or indirectly through his appointed governing authorities. The governing authorities have the right to exercise capital punishment, not mobs who just form themselves together, deciding to play judge, jury, and executioner.
The next day, when Moses revisited his people, he saw two Hebrew men fighting. "Why are you beating up your friend?" Moses said to the one who had started the fight. The man replied, "Who appointed you to be our prince and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?" Then Moses was afraid, thinking, "Everyone knows what I did." And sure enough, Pharaoh heard what had happened, and he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian. Midian was in the northwest Arabian Peninsula, on the east shore of the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea. His walk probably took about 18 days if you divide the 360-mile trip into 20 miles each day.
So Moses goes from being a prince in Pharaoh's palace to a fugitive on the run for murder. But God is not done with Moses, and that should be a comfort to many of us. If you're willing, God can still use you. Now, it took another 40 years before Moses was ready to fulfill God's plan for his life, but God did not cast him away.
When Moses arrived in Midian, he sat down beside a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters who came, as usual, to draw water and fill the water troughs for their father's flocks. But some other shepherds came and chased them away. So Moses jumped up and rescued the girls from the shepherds. Moses' action here, unlike his previous one, was not sinful. Yes, he stood up for someone that was being mistreated in both cases. But he did not kill the attacker out of uncontrolled anger. He simply rescued the girls from the shepherds. Moses didn't become weak, but he did become meek, which means to have strength under control. Then he drew water for their flocks. When the girls returned to Reuel, their father, he asked, "Why are you back so soon today?" "An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds," they answered. "And then he drew water for us and watered our flocks." "Then where is he?" their father asked. "Why did you leave him there? Invite him to come and eat with us." Moses accepted the invitation, and he settled there with him. In time, Reuel gave Moses his daughter Zipporah to be his wife. Later she gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom (A Foreigner There), for he explained, "I have been a foreigner in a foreign land."
Years passed, and the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. Finally, they cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God. God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God had made this promise multiple times to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You know if you were with me throughout the Genesis study. He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act. Have you ever cried out to God and felt like he wasn't listening? Remember, the time it took for the promise to be given to its fulfillment took 430 years. Because the Bible summarizes a lot of time in a short space, we may read quickly and think that all of these events happened in rapid succession. But slow down. Really slow down and pay attention to the details of what you read. That is one reason I like these studies because it forces me, and hopefully you as the reader, to do that. So don't assume God isn't listening. His timetable for a fulfilled promise might be longer than you think. It can even take longer than the entirety of your own life to come to pass. How many Israelite generations lived out their entire lives without any deliverance on the horizon? But that doesn't mean God lied. It just means we need to live with an eternal perspective, accepting that the world doesn't begin when we arrive and end when we die. It's not about you.
SOURCES
- Precept Upon Precept: Exodus
- Moses & the Exodus timeline by Bible Timelines
- Exodus 2
- Did Moses sin in killing the Egyptian? by Herman Hanko for the Protestant Reformed Churches of America
- Psalm 27:14
- Romans 13:1-7
- How long did it take Moses to walk from Egypt to Midian? by Clarence Uhrich on Quora
- Genesis 15:14-18
- Genesis 17:7
- Genesis 18:18
- Genesis 26:3, 24
- Genesis 28:12-14
- Genesis 46:2-4
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