Exodus
Summary
Exodus 2 records the birth and early life of Moses, the future deliverer of Israel. Born during a period of genocide, Moses was hidden by his mother and eventually discovered and adopted by Pharaoh’s own daughter—placing a Hebrew child in the heart of the Egyptian palace. After reaching adulthood, a pivotal act of intervention against an Egyptian taskmaster forced Moses to flee into the desert of Midian. There, he lived as a shepherd and stranger for forty years, marrying Zipporah and starting a family. The chapter concludes with the death of the Pharaoh and the rising cries of the enslaved Israelites, which God hears and answers according to His ancient covenant.
A man from the tribe of Levi married a woman from the same tribe.
She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw how healthy and special he was, she managed to hide him for three months.
When she could no longer hide him, she prepared a basket made of papyrus reeds and coated it with waterproof tar. She put the baby inside and placed the basket among the reeds at the edge of the Nile River.
The baby's sister stood a distance away to see what would happen to him.
Soon, Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the river to bathe while her attendants walked along the bank. She spotted the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to go and get it.
When she opened it, she found the baby, and he was crying. She felt sorry for him and said, "This must be one of the Hebrew babies."
Then the baby's sister stepped forward and asked Pharaoh’s daughter, "Shall I go and find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for you?"
Pharaoh’s daughter replied, "Yes, go." So the girl went and brought the baby’s own mother.
Pharaoh’s daughter told the woman, "Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay you for your work." So the woman took her son and cared for him.
When the child grew older, she brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her legal son. She [1] (named him Moses), saying, "I named him this because I pulled him out of the water."
Years later, after Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his own people and saw the terrible hardship they were forced to endure. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew man, one of his own people.
Moses looked around to make sure no one was watching, then he killed the Egyptian and buried his body in the sand.
The next day, he went out again and saw two Hebrew men fighting with each other. He asked the one who started it, "Why are you hitting your fellow countryman?"
The man replied, "Who made you our prince and judge? Are you planning to kill me just like you killed that Egyptian?" At that moment, Moses became terrified, realising that people knew what he had done.
When Pharaoh heard about what happened, he tried to have Moses executed. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian, where he sat down by a well.
The priest of Midian had seven daughters who came to the well to draw water. They were filling the troughs to water their father’s flock of sheep.
Some shepherds came along and tried to drive the women away, but Moses stood up in their defence, helped the daughters, and watered their flock for them.
When the daughters returned to their father Reuel, he asked, "How is it that you have finished your work so quickly today?"
They answered, "An Egyptian man protected us from the shepherds. He even drew the water for us and watered the sheep."
"Where is he now?" Reuel asked his daughters. "Why did you leave him there? Go and invite him to come and eat with us."
Moses agreed to stay with the man, and Reuel later gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.
She gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, "I have been a stranger in a foreign land."
Over a long period of time, the King of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their bitter slavery and cried out for help. Their cries reached God.
God heard their groaning and remembered His covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
God looked upon the Israelites and felt deep concern for their situation.