The Birth of Moses

The International Sunday School Lesson October 2, 2022

Exo 2:1-10 (ESV) Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. 3 When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. 4 And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. 5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” 8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

Exo 2:1-10 (ESV)

Notes

Background

• Joseph was sold into slavery into Egypt.
• Joseph rose power in Egypt as a second in command.
• Joseph gets his entire family to come to Egypt.
• After this generation, a gnu, pharaoh comes to power
• the Egyptians are jealous of the Jews
• Egyptians enslaved the Jews
• The Pharaoh gave an order to kill the Jewish baby boys

The Birth of Moses Exodus 2:1-2

Num 26:59 (ESV) The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt. And she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses and Miriam their sister.

Num 26:59 (ESV)

The Basket Exodus 2:3

• Heb 11:23 (ESV)By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
• Dake — Hebrew: tebah(H8392), a box. Used of Noah’s ark 26 times (Genesis 6:14-9:18) and twice here (Exo 2:3, Exo 2:5). Like Noah’s, it was made by divine command.

Miriam at a Distance Exodus 2:4

• Exo 15:20 (ESV)Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.
• Gill — This was Miriam, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it; who is supposed to be about ten or twelve years of age, others say seven:

The Daughter of Pharaoh Exodus 2:5-6

• Gill — Her name, in Josephus (g), is called Thermuthis, and by Artapanus (h), an Heathen writer, Merrhis, perhaps from Miriam, and frequently by the Jewish writers.

Moses Mother Exodus 2:7-8

• Pulpit — No doubt, all had been prepared beforehand by the mother, who had selected the place and time of the exposure from a knowledge of the habits and character of the princess, had set her daughter to watch, and — so far as was possible — instructed her what she was to say.

Moses Nursed Exodus 2:9

• Gill — take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages; by which means she had not only the nursing of her own child, but was paid for it: according to a Jewish writer (t), Pharaoh’s daughter agreed with her for two pieces of silver a day.

Pharaoh’s Daughter Exodus 2:10

• Barnes —He became her son – See the margin reference. His training and education was, humanly speaking, all but indispensable to the efficient accomplishment of his work as the predestined leader and instructor of his countrymen. Moses probably passed the early years of his life in Lower Egypt, where the princess resided.
• Act 7:21-22 (ESV)and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.