Incomparable God in Relationship with His People—The Book of Exodus #3
Remember the goals for this Bible Study:
1) To know God more through His revelation in the book of Exodus
2) To consciously apply the truths which He intended through the Book of Exodus
3) To learn how to interpret Old Testament literature like Exodus that contains both narratives and
law stipulations. This will be done by example—i.e. learn by doing and imitating what you see
me and your leader doing.
4) To encourage one another to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24-25)
Expectations: 1-2 hours a week of preparation/reading in preparation for discussion
Exodus Bible Study Number #3, Exodus 1-2
Suggested Homework:
1. Read over and understand the following BACKGROUND plot line summary material.
Discuss any questions about the material with your small group.

God’s plan has always been to create a people for Himself to be the visible representative of the
invisible God. They are to fill (multiply in) the earth and represent Him to the entire created
order and also to rule over the works of His hands i.e. His creation (Genesis 1:26-27).

God started with Adam and Eve. They and their descendents became corrupt and God wiped out
the entire population (except righteous Noah and his family) through the flood (Gen 6-9).

God again wanted Noah and His family after the flood to “be blessed and be multiplying” (Gen
9:7) fulfilling His original plan.

Noah’s descendents gathered and rebelled to make a name for themselves instead of God (Gen
11). God judged them again (not with a flood because He promised never to do that again). He
split them into various people groups (nations, Gen 10) according to their confused languages to
curtail the spread of sin.

Yet, God’s purpose would not be thwarted, He revealed Himself to a pagan, idolater, nomad
named Abraham. God promised him land, seed, and blessing in order to make him a great nation
of God’s people who would fulfill God’s purposes (Genesis 12:1-3). Abraham responded in faith
to the revelation of God and obeyed. The defining mark of God’s people now in a sin cursed
world would be that they would be a nation of people of Abrahamic type faith in the creator
God of the universe (Genesis 12-22).

The descendents of Abraham, were small in number and were challenged with many threats that
had the potential to destroy the small clan on their way to fulfill God’s plan. In all of these
threats (from Gen 12-50) God shows Himself faithful to His promises. And, God’s people learn
that a seeming “threat” from man’s perspective is an opportunity for God to sovereignty work.
Though not always quickly, His people respond in trust and faith in Him to fulfill what He said
He would do! [Potential Discussion Question: What numerous “threats” did God’s people face
then? How did God show Himself strong? What threats do God’s people (God’s college
students) face today?

One threat to Abraham’s descendents was being wiped out by the physical challenge of famine
(Gen 42:1-2). Even more significant, the small clan that was supposed to be characterized by
Abrahamic faith in the one true God was threaten by assimilation into the pagan culture—
Notice Judah’s intermarrying with the Canaanites in Genesis 38.

God specifically orchestrated all the Joseph story (Gen 37-50) to bring His people down to Egypt
to preserve them from 1) famine, and 2) from assimilation. They would not starve because God
had sent a forerunner (Joseph) to plan well for the years of famine. Secondly, they would not be
assimilated in Egypt through intermarriage because the Egyptians hated shepherds and nomads
which was the essential lifestyle of the Abrahamic clan (Gen 43:32; 46:33-34). Note that
Intermarrying was not a racial/ethnic concern primarily, but a spiritual concern (cf. 2 Cor 6:14).
There is nothing forbidden about interracial marriage. There are numerous problems, however,
with inter-faith marriage (believers/unbelievers).

Egypt was, in a sense, like a mother’s womb where a baby grows. God preserved, protected, and
multiplied His people in the “womb of Egypt” until they grew to be a numerous people. God’s
people could grow strong in Egypt until they could become a numerous people and then go back
to the land that God promised them and fulfill His purpose for them.

EXODUS PICKS UP THE STORY WITH GOD HAVING MULTIPLIED HIS PEOPLE AND
NOW THEY ARE STRONG IN NUMBERS. THE QUESTION NOW IS, “HOW WILL
THEY EVER BE PUSHED OUT OF EGYPT INTO THE LAND THAT GOD WANTS
THEM TO BE ???” EGYPT HAS BEEN A NICE COMFORTABLE PLACE FOR MANY
YEARS!!!!!
2. Read Exodus 1-2 again in the NIV translation below while considering the additional
“NOTES” and “DISCUSSION” questions that you will need to be prepared to discuss at
Bible Study
NIV Translation
1 These are the names of the sons of
Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each
with his family:
NOTE: Compare the underlined portion with
Genesis 46:8. What do you notice? The beginning
phrases are identical. This is not a mistake. This is a
literary device to connect the story of Exodus directly
with the end of the story of Genesis. These are meant
to be sequential.
NOTE: Notice the emphasis on “names” in Genesis.
God gives names to parts of His creation in Genesis
1. God gives Adam the authority to name the
animals and his wife in Genesis 2. As the
descendents of Adam become corrupt, they want to
make a name for themselves instead of making a
name for God (as His people and His representatives)
in the story of the tower of Babel (Genesis 11). God
gives these people who want a “name,” a name of
“confusion” (“Babel”) because they confused their
purpose. Subsequently, God starts anew in Genesis
12 with one individual, Abraham. God promised
Abraham a great “name” if he will step out in faith
and trust God. Now, this Exodus account begins with
the “names” of the sons of Israel, Abraham’s
descendents. And what follows is a long list of
names that grow into a swarm of people. Abraham
has a long and important family lineage which is the
significance of God making Abraham’s “name
great” (Genesis 12:2). POINT: We all want a great
name but the way to greatness is not seeking it but
making God’s name great and then He will exalt us at
the proper time.
2
Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3
Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; 4 Dan and
Naphtali; Gad and Asher. 5 The descendants
of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph
was already in Egypt.
6
Now Joseph and all his brothers and all
that generation died, 7 but the Israelites
were fruitful and multiplied greatly and
became exceedingly numerous, so that the
land was filled with them.
NOTE: From seventy to swarms. Verse seven has at
least 6 references to the concept of “increase”—
Literally it says, “But the sons of Israel 1. were
fruitful and 2. they swarmed, 3. and they multiplied,
4. and they were countless 5. in exceedingly
exceeding and 6. the land was filled with them. The
same phrases, “fruitful”/ “multiply”/ “fill the land,”
are used in the original creation mandate in Genesis
1:28. Furthermore, the verb “swarmed” which was
only used of sea animals in the creation mandate
(Genesis 1:20) is used of God’s people. The picture
being painted is that God has so richly blessed the
people that they are innumerable and swarming like
the fish of the sea (cf. Gen 15:5; 26:4; 28:14).
Discuss: The original audience of this book was the
“multitudes” of Israelites who came out of Egypt.
What do you think this little reminder about how now
they are swarms of people but they started out as only
70 in Egypt and before that—as hopeless, barren
Sarah and Abraham–was intended to invoke in the
people’s response?
Discuss: What does this increase as a result of
God’s blessing communicate about God’s desire for
His people?
8
Then a new king, who did not know
about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. 9
“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites
(lit. ‘the people, the sons of Israel’) have become
much too numerous for us.
NOTE: In the eyes of Pharaoh, for the very first
time, the descendents of Abraham have now become
“a people.” Looking back at the promises to
Abraham and his descendents (Gen 12:1-3, 7; 15:121, 17:1-8; 26:3-4;28:13-15) which promises have
been fulfilled? Which have yet to be? What is the
significance of those yet to be fulfilled for the
development of the Exodus story?
Discuss: The clear blessing of God will now result in
much trouble for the Israelites. Why do the blessings
of God result, sometimes, in trouble in this fallen
world? Can you think of other examples in Scripture
of this dynamic? However, the trouble that Israel is
about to experience is the impetus to continue to
fulfill God’s promises! How is this so? What should
we learn from this? How is the persecution of God’s
people ultimately a blessing for the world?
10
Come, we must deal shrewdly with them
or they will become even more numerous
and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies,
fight against us and leave the country.”
(probably a better translation is “take possession of
the land.”)
NOTE: Pharoah seeks to be shrewd. But who really
is shrewd in the following events?
11
So they put slave masters over them to
oppress them with forced labor, and they
built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for
Pharaoh. (Consider: Why would slavery be thought
to be a population control mechanism for the Hebrew
shepherd people?) 12 But the more they were
oppressed, the more they multiplied and
spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the
Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly.
14 They made their lives bitter with hard
labor in brick and mortar and with all
kinds of work in the fields; in all their
hard labor the Egyptians used them
ruthlessly.
Note: Pharaoh’s intent was to curtail the multiplying
(v. 10). God had different plans. Pharaoh says, “lest
they multiply.” God says “so they multiplied and
SPREAD.” This is the beginning of the battle
between Pharaoh’s plans and God’s plans.
Note: How many times is the word “work” or
“labor” used? In Hebrew there is a clear repetition of
the word translated as “work/labor” and is intended
to stress the intensity of the oppression and their
servitude. Later this same word will be used of the
Israelites service for the one true God. God is about
to take them from hard bitter “service/work” for
Pharaoh to blessed “service/work” in the presence of
God. Does this communicate a pattern for God’s
people in any way? (cf. Rom 6?)
Now, the first plan did not work so Pharoah sets in
motion a second plan involving the desire to kill
through intermediaries—the Hebrew midwives….
15
The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew
midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and
Puah, 16 “When you help the Hebrew
women in childbirth and observe them on
the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but
if it is a girl, let her live.” 17 The midwives,
however, feared God and did not do what
the king of Egypt had told them to do; they
let the boys live.
18
Then the king of Egypt summoned the
midwives and asked them, “Why have you
done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
19
The midwives answered Pharaoh,
“Hebrew women are not like Egyptian
women; they are vigorous and give birth
before the midwives arrive.”
20
So God was kind to the midwives and
the people increased and became even more
numerous. 21 And because the midwives
feared God, he gave them families of their
own.
Discuss: Is it surprising to you that the names of
midwives are recorded but the name of the ruling
Pharaoh is not? Why do you think this might be?
What do you anticipate was at stake for disobeying
the command of the king? Discuss fearing God vs.
fearing man.
In the Pentateuch “fear God” tends to mean “to be
honest, faithful, trustworthy, upright, and, above all,
religious.” The midwives may not have had great
knowledge of the traditions of the Patriarchs (limited
in their ethical content as those traditions necessarily
were at any rate) and like all their contemporary
Israelites certainly did not yet have what we would
call “scriptural” knowledge, but they did understand
that right and wrong are not human inventions but
part of a divinely created order. This is the
perspective of many proverbs from all over the
ancient world, not merely those of the Old
Testament, which reflect the idea that the fear of
God is the most important orienting truth available
in the world. To fear God does not mean being
afraid of him in general but being afraid of the
consequences of disobeying him. Since death was
the presumed consequence of disobeying the
pharaoh, this verse is one of many in the Bible
that implicitly witnesses to a belief in life after
death and a final judgment. These women clearly
feared what God could do to them after death
more than the death the pharaoh could put them
to.1
The first and second plan did not work so Pharaoh
implements a third plan—open killing.
22
Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his
people: “Every boy that is born you must
throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
NOTE: Pharaoh will reap what he sows. The 10th
divine plague will wipe out the Egyptian first born
males and God will drown all the Egyptian male
soldiers in the Red Sea event. Furthermore, just as
every intent of Pharaoh has been frustrated up to this
point, so the little boy, Moses, that will be placed
(not “thrown”) into the Nile will be the ultimate
frustration to Pharoah. Discuss: All evil intentions
by the enemies of God’s people God can use to do
bless his people.
2 Now a man of the house of Levi
married a Levite woman, 2 (an important detail
justifying Moses’ later role as a Levitical priest) 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
1
Stuart, D. K. (2007, c2006). Vol. 2: Exodus. " An exegetical and
theological exposition of Holy Scripture"--Cover. (electronic ed.).
Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (79).
Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
it among the reeds along the bank of the
Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see
what would happen to him.
NOTE: The Hebrew word for “basket” here is the
same for “ark.” In Genesis, a flood drowns all
humankind except a family in an ark. In this event,
Pharaoh threatens to drown all Hebrew male
children, yet deliverance will be rendered through an
individual in an “ark” (“basket”). Moses and Noah
were “deliverers/rescuers who were called by God to
lead people and animals through and out of danger
into a new location where those people and animals
would become dominant in establishing a new stage
of God’s unfolding plan of redemption of the
world.”2
Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to
the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were
walking along the river bank. She saw the
basket among the reeds and sent her slave
girl 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. And 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.”
5
Discuss: The baby boy once in peril is now under
royal protection!!
Discuss: The mother who gave up her baby boy
functioned as the primary care giver!!!
Discuss: There has been no direct mention of God’s
involvement in any of these events. However, each
turn of event is rather shocking. What does this teach
us about God’s working?
Discuss: How many men were involved in the
salvation of the Hebrew male babies? How many
women? Do the scriptures really “devalue” women
as some people might suggest? Or do the scriptures
exalt them?
2
Ibid., 88.
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 Glancing 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.
NOTE: The Midianites were descendents of
Abraham through Abraham’s second legitimate wife
after Sarah died (Gen 25:1-4). It is possible that the
Midianites retained some true and accurate
knowledge of the one true God, Yahweh, whom
Abraham knew. Moses’ soon to be father-in-law is
called a priest. But we do not know if he was a priest
of the one true God. Moses probably knew about the
Midianites and their heritage going back to Abraham
and fled to this rather isolated clan of his distant
kinsman.
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?” he 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 an alien in a foreign land.”
Discuss: The story’s introducing of the adult Moses
indicates some things about his character that would
make him a fit deliverer in the future. What types of
individuals is Moses portrayed as concerned about?
Although wrongly taking justice into his own hands,
how is Moses’ physical abilities portrayed?
include NT believers in any way? Cf. Eph 2
and Gal 3) In covenantal language the term
“remember” should not be misunderstood to
suggest that God was somehow unaware or
unconcerned previously. The Bible
consistently portrays him as intervening at
various times for various purposes, though
rarely as soon as humans, self-centeredly,
would like. Indeed, this particular
remembering comes at the end of no less
than 430 years of captivity (12:40)! Thus the
emphasis is on ongoing covenant: God’s
promises never stopped being valid,
however seldom most Israelites may have
called upon him to honor his promises in the
past. The average Israelite likely knew at
least something about the Abrahamic
covenant, and it may be useful for the
modern reader to realize that the term,
“remember,” is idiomatic for covenant
application rather than recollection (cf. Gen
9:15; Exod 6:5; Lev 26:42, 45; 1 Chr 16:15;
Pss 105:8; 106:45; 111:5; Jer 14:21; Ezek
16:60; Luke 1:72). In other words, to say
“God remembered his covenant” is to say
“God decided to honor the terms of his
covenant at this time.” What were those
terms? They were, from Gen 12:2–3, the
general promises of greatness (already
largely achieved) and blessing—including
protection (now needing to be addressed);
and from Gen 15:13–16, the specific
promises of punishment of the nation that
oppressed Israel in slavery and deliverance
with great possessions (esp. Gen 15:14).3
5) God was closely interested in his people and
in the process of making himself known to
them. Moses now mentioned God again for
the first time since the account of the
midwives in 1:17–20—not because God had
been disinterested or irrelevant but as a way
of heightening the fact that God alone was
the Israelite’s hope in this situation. The best
reading of the original, “God looked on
them and made himself known to them,”
sets the scene for what follows. God was
initiating the process of deliverance, and the
circumstances of both Moses and Israel were
about to change. Implicitly, the theological
issue here is not whether or how people
suffer; the issue is: does suffering go
unnoticed? If it does not—and indeed the
one doing the noticing is the true,
omnipotent, and loving covenant God—his
people can properly surmise that their
suffering may well be part of a plan, that it
is a suffering with a distinct beginning and
end, a hardship understood by and watched
over by a sovereign who will not let it
NOTE: Moses finds himself by a “well.” Formerly,
Isaac’s wife was found at a well. Jacob’s wives were
found at a well. And after each “well” episode a new
era of Isaac’s and Jacob’s life ensued. God worked
in patterns with His people so that they would
recognize His handiwork. Now, Moses is about to
embark on a new era of his life.
Discuss: How could God use Moses’ recognition of
his condition as a “stranger” (by the statement “I
have become a stranger in a foreign land”) to prepare
him to recognize Israel’s condition in Egypt? Why
might God have allowed Moses to experience being a
“stranger” in a foreiegn land for the next subsequent
40 years? What about our condition? (cf. Eph 2:19,
Heb 11:13, 1 Pet 1:17; 2:11)
Discuss: What perspective does Hebrews 11:23-26
give on this account?
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
remembered his covenant with Abraham,
with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked
on the Israelites and was concerned about
them.
Note: This important postscript to the story so far
makes 5 important assertions which sets the stage for
the next series of events.
1) The Pharaoh who sought Moses’ life died
allowing the possibility of Moses’ return.
2) Yet the status of Israel was still severely
oppressed and remained unchanged.
3) The people of Israel began to pray. The
subsequent deliverance did not come about
simply because the people were in trouble.
In whatever understanding of God they had,
they cried out to Him for help (cf. Deut
26:7).
4) God “remembered his covenant.” The
covenant in question is usually referred to as
the “Abrahamic covenant” because it was
made initially to Abraham and then simply
renewed, without change in essentials, to
both Isaac and Jacob. Here the statement
“remembered his covenant with Abraham,
with Isaac and with Jacob” is worded in
such a way as to emphasize that renewal to
each subsequent generation. (Does that
3
Ibid., 103.
continue without good purpose and result. 4
This suffering will be the exact impetus to
thrust the people out of Egypt and into the
land of promise—Thus, continuing to fulfill
God’s promises to his people.
Discuss: What have you learned about God?
Discuss: What have you learned about God’s plan
for His people?
Discuss: How specifically can you apply what you
have learned?
3. (Optional) Part of learning to interpret Scripture is
to read the Scripture in various translations.
Translating is not a precise science. Your
English versions of Scripture are all very good
translations. However, translations ALWAYS
involve some subjectivity and interpretation to
render the meaning in a language different than
the original language in which it was written.
Reading scripture in different translations may
help you observe more insights to the text than
one translation could alone. Therefore, I have
given you an additional translation for Exodus 12. Please read it and be prepared to discuss
how reading in multiple translations may help
you.
Exodus 1-2 Translation by
Durham, J. I. (2002). Vol. 3: Word Biblical
Commentary : Exodus. Word Biblical
Commentary (25). Dallas: Word,
Incorporated.
1
And these are the names of the sons of
Israel, the ones who went down into Egypt
with Jacob—to a man they went, each with
his family: 2Reuben (“Behold, a son!”),
Simeon (“He Surely Heard!”), Levi
(“Joined”) and Judah (“Object of Praise”),
3
Issachar (“There is recompense”), Zebulun
(“Honored”) and Benjamin (“Son of the
Right Hand”), 4Dan (“Judge”) and Naphtali
(“My Wrestling”), Gad (“Good Fortune”)
and Asher (“Happy One”). 5Thus was the
full issue of the loins of Jacob seventy souls,
4
Ibid, 104.
since Joseph (“Increasing One”) was
already in Egypt.
6
In time, Joseph died, and his brothers
and indeed that entire generation as well.
7
But the sons of Israel were fertile, and
so they became a teeming swarm. Indeed,
they became so many they were a strength to
be reckoned with by their numbers alone.
The land was simply filled with them.
8
Then a new king came to power over
Egypt, one with no experience of Joseph.
9
Thus it was that he said to his people, “Just
look: the people of the sons of Israel are
numerous and so stronger even than we are.
10
My advice is that we outsmart them before
theybecome so many that in the event of a
war they could join themselves—indeed they
could—with those who hate us to do battle
against us. Under such conditions, they
might even go up from the land.”
11
So they set in authority over them
slave-gang overseers, in order to keep them
under control with hard labor. Thus did
Israel build supply-cities for Pharaoh,
Pithom, and Ra˓amses. 12Yet even as they
heaped hard labor upon them, they became
more numerous still and broke through the
limits imposed upon them. And so the
Egyptians came to have a sickening dread
because of the presence of the sons of Israel.
13
The Egyptians then forced the sons of
Israel to toil more unremitting than ever,
14
making their lives utterly bitter with a
backbreaking slavery, mixing mortar, and
molding bricks, and even doing every kind of
field-labor. In all the toil to which they
forced them, the Egyptians made them work
without relief,
15
Still not satisfied, the king of Egypt
said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom
was named Shiphrah (“Fair One”), and the
second of whom was named Puah
(“Fragrant One”), 16“In your midwifery to
the Hebrew women, take care to determine
the sex of the infant: if it is a son, kill him
instantly; if however it is a daughter, she
may live.”17But the midwives believed in
God, and they would not do what the king of
Egypt had told them to do. Rather did they
help the male children live. 18For this reason
the king of Egypt summoned the midwives
and said to them, “On what authority have
you done such a thing, that you would
permit the male children to live?”
19
Thinking fast, the midwives said to
Pharaoh, “We couldn’t help it, because
unlike Egyptian women, the Hebrew women
are robust—in fact, before the midwife can
get to them, they have already delivered
their babies!”20Thus did God favor the
midwives. And the people of Israel became
more numerous still and so, increasingly,
very strong. 21Because the midwives
believed in God, he provided them
families.22The Pharaoh’s next move was to
command the whole of his people thus:
“Every son born to the Hebrews you must
pitch into the river Nile; every daughter may
be permitted to live.”
1
Coincident with these events a man of
the family of Levi had taken to wife a young
woman who was also Levite. 2The wife
became pregnant and gave birth to a son.
When she saw that he was a healthy child,
she hid him as one would hide a treasure,
for a three-month period. 3Then, when she
was no longer able to hide him away, she
got for him a papyrus-reed container,
waterproofed it with tar and pitch, put the
boy into it, and put it into the reeds at the
edge of the river Nile. 4Next, his sister took
up a position some distance away, to learn
what would happen to him.
5
Meanwhile, Pharaoh’s daughter came
down to bathe beside the river Nile. Her
attendants strolled along the river’s banks.
When the princess saw the container in the
middle of the reeds, she sent her
handmaiden down to fetch it. 6When she
opened it, she saw him, the little boy.
Understandably, the lad was weeping, and
her heart went out to him. She said, “This
boy is a Hebrew child!”
7
Just then, his sister called out to
Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and
summon for you a wet nurse from among the
Hebrew women to suckle the lad for you?”
8
Pharaoh’s daughter answered her,
“Go.” So the girl went and summoned the
mother of the boy, 9and Pharaoh’s daughter
said to her, “Take this child with you and
suckle him for me. In return, I will pay you a
wage.” So it was that the woman took the
little boy and suckled him.
10
Thus did the boy grow. His mother
brought him frequently to the daughter of
the Pharaoh, to whom he was as a son, and
she called his name “Moses.” “Because,”
as she put it, “I pulled him from the water.”
11
The days flew by, and Moses grew up.
He went out one day among his brethren,
and saw at first hand their oppressive
labors. Indeed, he saw an Egyptian man
striking a Hebrew man, one from among his
brethren. 12So he looked all around, and
when he saw nobody, he struck the
Egyptian, fatally, and hid his body in the
sand.
13
The next day, he went out again and
came upon two Hebrew men scuffling. He
said to the one in the wrong, “Why are you
striking your companion?” 14This man said,
“Who set you as a prince among men and a
judge over us? Are you to kill me, say, as
you killed that Egyptian?” This struck fear
into Moses, for he realized that the deed was
actually known.
15
Then Pharaoh heard about this deed,
and so put Moses under a death sentence.
Moses thus fled from Pharaoh’s jurisdiction,
traveling to the land of Midian, and camping
there by a well.
16
There was a Midianite priest who had
seven daughters, and they came regularly to
this well, drew water, and refilled the
troughs so that their father’s flock might
drink. 17Unfortunately, rough herdsmen also
came and usually forced the girls and their
sheep back. This time, however, Moses stood
up for them, took up their cause, and
watered their flock.
18
The girls came to Reuel (“Companion
of God”), their father, and he asked them in
surprise, “Why have you come so early
today?” 19They replied, “An Egyptian man
rescued us from the bullying of the
herdsmen, and also drew all the water for us
and gave the flock their drink.” 20He
immediately asked his daughters, “Where is
he? What is this? You have forsaken such a
man? Invite him to a meal!”
21
Moses was of course delighted to live
with such a man, and Reuel in turn gave
Moses Zipporah (“Little Bird”), his
daughter, as wife. 22In time, she gave birth
to a son, and Moses named him Gershom
(“Stranger There”), because he said, “A
stranger have I been in a land foreign to
me.”
23
Now while these many days were
passing, the king of Egypt died. And the sons
of Israel moaned from the agony of their
labor and cried out in need. Thus did their
cry for help go up to God from the agony of
their labor. 24And so of course God heard
their groaning, and also remembered his
covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and
with Jacob. 25God saw the sons of Israel,
and so God knew, by experience.