Read Exodus 2
The Birth of Moses
1 Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.
7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”
8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother.9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”
Moses Flees to Midian
11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”
14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”
15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. 16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.
18 When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”
19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
20 “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”
21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”
23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he rememberedhis covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
Go Deeper
Today’s reading introduces us to Moses, one of the main characters in the Old Testament. He was born an Israelite, but was raised an Egyptian. Moses grew up privileged in Pharaoh’s house but never forgot where he came from. We see that today, as he rushed to defend a fellow Israelite and, in the process, ended up murdering an Egyptian.
Acts 7:25 says that “Moses thought that his own people would realize God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.” He must’ve seen himself as the rightful savior of the Israelites. After all, he was an Israelite, but with the wealth, power, and resources of the Egyptians. That unique combination made him fit to be the one to rescue the Israelites from slavery, or so he thought. Once he realized the Israelites didn’t see him that way, however, he fled the country in shame.
While things looked hopeless for Moses and the Israelites, at the end of today’s chapter, we see who the true Savior for the Israelites is. “God heard their groaning and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.” (v. 24-25) God will use Moses to deliver His people, but don’t overlook who the true Deliverer is: God. He uses people, but He, and He alone, is the One who rescues, delivers, and saves.
Moses tried to take matters into his own hands and ended up a murderer and a fugitive hundreds of miles away from the people he was trying to save. We end up in similar places when we try to play God. When we try to be the savior for a friend in need, or try to take on a burden not meant for us to carry alone, this leads to nothing more than burnout and more problems. We’ll see Moses learn this lesson and begin to allow God to work through him, and as a result, save an entire group of people. We need to learn that same lesson. Philippians 2:13 says, “It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.” Instead of acting out of our own strength, let’s humble ourselves, allow God to work through us, and be amazed at what He does.
Questions
How does Moses’ unique upbringing set the stage for what God has planned for him? How does your unique perspective set the stage for what God might want to do through you?
How have you been tempted to rely on your own strength before? How does that turn out?
Why is it so hard to trust and rely on God’s power rather than our own? Is there an area in your life that you’re relying on yourself and not God? How can you surrender that to God today?
Did You Know?
Scripture and other historical sources give us some insight into Moses’ background. In Acts 7:21-22, Stephen says that Moses was a man of power. Josephus, the ancient historian, claimed that Moses was a general in the Egyptian army that conquered the Ethiopians. While we can’t confirm that for sure, we do know that Moses was influential in Egypt but became an outsider once he arrived in Midian.
10 thoughts on “Exodus 2”
God is always, always at work. He has a plan and the evil one working in us, is always trying to thwart and oppress God’s plans. BUT GOD is going to have His way. What is meant for evil will turn out good. All descions should be made with God in the middle. Even when the enemy has sent out a decree to kill all newborn baby boys, BUT GOD showed one woman how to keep her baby alive. He had the plan, she just listened with ears to hear, then follow through. Our world is getting more corupt by the day BUT GOD has plans. Our job is to listen to hear Him, and then do His will. We all need to be Jochebed, to heed the Lord. We have a Moses in our midst. “God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel — and God knew.” (Exodus 2:24–25) God is present, He remembers His promises, He is faithful.
God thank You for Your faithfulness. God to give You honor, glory, thanksgiving, love, ears to hear, a heart to show Your love, a mind to follow You, breath life to praise You, hands to do good for Your glory, feet to take me where You are leading, a continual longing to desire to know You more intimately. God I plead with You to continue to grow me today in these things in these minutes of this day, that my words be pleasing to Your ear and my heart be fully overflowing, effervesing joys of You in Jesus name amen.
WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them” (v24-25).
This verse gives us some important characteristics of God’s character, as one who hears, remembers and sees the state of our circumstances. He is concerned and cares about our plight, not for a moment are we forgotten by him. The one who numbers the hairs of our head shows us unmerited love and compassion, and will always be true to his character and keep his promises. (Side note, I love how when God was about to do a great work in history, scripture records in detail the birth of a baby—Moses, John the Baptist & Jesus come to mind.)
19 “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
Yes, Moses certainly demonstrates a calling to be a protector! Let me live likewise, but not succumb to rage and overreaction as Moses did.
God’s Sovereignty prevails in delivering His people. What a powerful story we can use as a reminder that even in the moments of vulnerability, God’s purpose unfolds beyond human comprehension. May my faith outweigh my fear.
Exodus 2 is particular favorite of mine as it sets the stage for one of the sweetest, most significant chapters of my family story.
We, too, have a “Moses” baby.
After our two biological children were born, God called Brent and I to grow our family through international adoption. We had been deeply moved by the growing need for forever families for millions of orphaned Chinese girls. These children had been displaced by the country’s One Child Policy, a population control program instituted by a nation struggling to feed one third of the world’s population … on only seven percent of the world’s arable land.
(How often do we read in Scripture of tectonic shifts in history caused by famine? Think of the chapters we just read in Genesis!)
This sad chapter in China’s recent history flips the script of Exodus 2 – it is the girl babies the people cannot keep. And not because they don’t love their daughters – but because they depend on their sons. Did you know? Traditionally, Chinese sons have been expected to care for their parents in old age; without sons, too many Chinese seniors have little to no means to survive.
How heartbreaking.
What often happens is similar to what we read in Exodus 2: the baby is born and someone (usually a female friend or relative) places the baby somewhere safe, then hides where she can watch and confirm the baby has been picked up. In our case, we expect that’s pretty much what happened. Instead of a river and Pharaoh’s daughter, our daughter Elizabeth was delivered to a police station in a community with a nearby orphanage.
When I first heard “police station,” I pictured something like the Woodway Public Safety Department. However, having visited the spot in person, I was amazed by this imposing, fenced-in complex, gated and guarded at a single entry point. I know almost nothing about Elizabeth’s family, but I do know this: they did not abandon her. They PLACED her purposely where she would be quickly discovered and cared for. And they did so at personal risk — while it’s logistically almost impossible to keep these babies — it’s illegal to let them go.
Which tells me they loved her.
Elizabeth has endured countless struggles since she joined our family; from the outset her story was marked by separation and loss. Before she was old enough to walk she had been removed from the family and country of her birth, as well as her orphanage family (the only caregivers she knew until we went and got her). Her story sets her apart from from most people she knows, not the least of which are her own immediate family.
BUT GOD is writing in her life a bigger story, one that links her with faith heroes like Moses. He has and will accomplish amazing things through her. I cannot know fully God’s eternal purpose my daughter – but I DO know every time I look at her, I see a living representation of His miraculous grace.
I also don’t know how many people could relate this personally to the story of Moses’ birth. (Let’s face it, it is rather peculiar!) However, who among us has not known separation, loss, and heartache? Or the set-apart-ness of “no one knows what it’s like to be me”?
(BTW, If you are in the midst of such struggles, I invite you to consider the HCBC ministries Regen, GriefShare and/or Courageous Hope. There ARE people who DO KNOW what it’s like!)
Meanwhile, at this point in my own history, I come away from this beloved, familiar story with the following takeaway:
Will I run and hide, hoping to escape the consequences of my own sin?
Or will I position myself to meet God on holy ground, and receive and respond to his call? Who knows what message of deliverance he might be trying to share through me!
PS. You can see pictures of our precious “Moses baby” on my Facebook and Insta. Born Chu Bencan, which means “bright origin,” Elizabeth Mae — our “Blessed Gift of God” — is a bright and beautiful gift to all who know her!
Thank you for sharing about your Moses baby! What a blessing she is.
Thank you, John!
Wow! What a beautiful story!
Adoption has been a big part of our family’s calling as well. I have always been amazed and will be forever grateful for the courage of these young women who chose life for these children in the face of very adverse circumstances. Thank you, brave mothers!
Thank you, Erik!
God has given me unique experiences living in different places w different living situations. I feel to bring that unique perspective sometimes and can totally relate to Moses. God was patient with me and so whenever god works through me to share his plans/wisdom with others. I have to understand that nothing happens overnight with others.
Be patient and do others unto what I have done for u – John
Golden rule.