Verse 1 – We receive very little detail in this verse of Scripture but we do see that after four generations of dwelling in Mitsrayim that the Children of Yisra’el still maintain their tribal identities. As far as detail we can jump to Bemidbar: Num 26:59  And the name of Amram’s wife was Yoḵeḇeḏ the daughter of Lĕwi, who was born to Lĕwi in Mitsrayim. And to Amram she bore Aharon and Mosheh and their sister Miryam.

Amram – H6019 – “exalted people” ; Yokebed – H3115 – YHVH is glory.

Verse 2 – Heb 11:23  By belief, Mosheh, having been born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a comely child, and were not afraid of the sovereign’s command.

Act 7:20  “At that time Mosheh was born, and he was well-pleasing to Elohim. And he was reared three months in the house of his father.

It was an act of faith and courage for Yokebed to defy the command of Pharaoh. In our lives, if we fear YHVH more than man it can produce great examples of faith and courage even today.

Verse 3 – There is a little bit of confusion over this verse. Some think that the ark of Noah, the ark of Moshe and the Ark of the Covenant are the same type of ark. That is not true. The ark of Noah and Moshe are expressed in the word: H8392 – תּבה – têbâh – BDB Definition:1) ark 1a) vessel which Noah built 1b) basket vessel in which Moses was placed

H727 – ארן / ארון – ‘ârôn – BDB Definition: 1) chest, ark 1a) money chest 1b) Ark of the Covenant 2) coffin

Now, let me show you something really neat about the word for “wicker”: H1573 – גּמא – gôme’ – BDB Definition: 1) rush, reed, papyrus

c         – Gimel – camel’s foot, walk, carry, burden

m         – Mem – Water, chaos, people, nations

a         – Aleph – Leader, strength, yoke

To walk on the water with the Leader. Job 9:8  stretching out the heavens by Himself, and treading upon the waves of the sea;

Mar 6:49  And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought it was a phantom, and cried out,

Mar 6:50  for they all saw Him and were troubled. And immediately He spoke to them and said to them, “Take courage, it is I. Do not be afraid.”

Mar 6:51  And He went up to them, into the boat, and the wind ceased. And they were exceedingly amazed in themselves, and marvelled.

Verses 4-10 – The daughter of Pharoah (Thermuthis) enters the scene and is the victim of a spiritual conspiracy. Mosheh was placed in the basket in the reeds. Two things to remember, the Nile River was considered a god and it is infested with crocodiles, which were also worshiped as a god. In fact, the symbol of Pharaoh was a doorway framed with 3 crocodiles. The symbol of Ra was two upright columns formed with two crocodiles.

Miryam is watching to see what happens for many reasons including the crocodiles but also to be on hand if and when Mosheh is found. After he is discovered and brought to Thermuthis, she claims him and Miryam volunteers to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the child. Stop here for just a minute.

Let’s look at the fact that Thermuthis has come down to the muddy river, full of crocodiles to take a bath. Thermuthis had a bath in which to bathe. Probably, Thermuthis was infertile and was coming to the river after her latest menstrual cycle to purify herself and ask the river god to insure her fertility, which the river god represented: fertility and, would also explain the princess’ eagerness to adopt the child, even knowing that it was a Hebrew male child. This was undoubtably a H4723 – מִּקְוֵא  מִקְוֵה מִקְוֶה  –  miqveh  miqvêh  miqvê’ – mik-veh’, mik-vay’, mik-vay’ a pool for a ritual bath rather than being the main body or channel of the river.

Naturally, Miryam fetches her mother to come and feed the baby but now the baby is protected by the power of the daughter of Pharaoh and Yokebed gets paid wages to feed her own son. It is Thermuthis who names him Mosheh – drawn (from the water). Remember, Mem represents water and the Egyptian name for water was Mou and those that are saved for the water are called Eses making his name Mouses.

NOTE: We are not given much detail about Mosheh’s early life in Scripture but in Josephus we see that Mosheh had a superior intellect and had a gift for comprehension of ideas. Also, it is stated in Josephus that YHVH gave Mosheh the gift of tallness. (The Antiquities of the Jews: 2.9.6) Mosheh’s adopted mother called his appearance “divine beauty” and asked her father, Pharaoh, to make Mosheh the successor to the throne, while yet a child.

Mosheh then becomes a great military commander for Mitsrayim and while subduing Ethiopia’s capital city the Ethiopian king’s daughter sees him from the high city wall and falls in love with him. Through her handmaiden Tharbis (the Ethiopian princess) enters into a ketubah with Mosheh in exchange for opening the city gate to allow the Mistrian army to take over the city. We see evidence of this in Scripture: Num 12:1  Now Miryam and Aharon spoke against Mosheh because of the Kushite woman whom he had taken, for he had taken a Kushite woman.

Verses 11-15 – Let’s set the record straight about what happens next. We now see Mosheh at 40 years of age starting to identify with being a Hebrew. He sees a Hebrew being violently beaten and runs to his aid and kills the Mitsrian who was beating the Yisra’elite. THIS WAS NOT ILLEGAL! Enter ((Diodorus of Sicily was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history Bibliotheca historica, much of which survives, between 60 and 30 BCE)) taken from Wikipedia. Diodorus writes about the laws of Egypt (about the incident described in Scripture): “he who saw a man killed, or violently assaulted on the highway, and did not rescue him, if he could, was punished with death”; With this in mind, Mosheh could have received the death penalty for not coming to the aid of the Hebrew. The crime being that he was the “crown prince” and identified with the Hebrews making him ineligible to serve as Pharaoh. This is the part that angered Pharaoh when he heard about the incident.

After the second incident Mosheh flees to Midyan: H4080 – מדין – midyân – BDB Definition: Midian or Midianite = “strife” 1) son of Abraham by Keturah and progenitor of the tribe of Midianites or Arabians (noun proper masculine) Mosheh flees into a land called “Strife” and takes a break beside a well and sits down: Joh 4:13  יהושע answered and said to her, “Everyone drinking of this water shall thirst again,

Joh 4:14  but whoever drinks of the water I give him shall certainly never thirst. And the water that I give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

I underlined the word sit so that you would remember “yashab” which carries with it the meaning of sitting at the teacher’s feet and learning.

Verses 16-17 – I have teased that my father-in-law must have been a priest of Midyan because he had seven daughters. Such is the case here. His daughters functioned as shepherdesses and the male shepherds chased of their flocks so they had to go and round them up. This is where Charlton Heston, I mean Mosheh, whups the shepherds with his staff and pours water for the flocks of Reu’el (“friend of El”).

Verses 18-22 – The daughters arrive home early and Reu’el wants to know why and they tell the story of Mosheh. Reu’el invites Mosheh to eat with him and gives him his “oldest” daughter Tsipporah – H6855 – “bird” and they marry and have a son named Gereshom – H1647 – “exile or foreigner”.

Verses 23-25 – The old Pharaoh died but things did not get any better for the Children of Yisra’el. The Hebrews cried out to Elohim and He heard them: Isa 19:20  And it shall be for a sign and for a witness to יהוה of hosts in the land of Mitsrayim. When they cry to יהוה because of the oppressors, He sends them a Saviour and an Elohim, and shall deliver them.

Psa 18:6  In my distress I called upon יהוה, And to my Elohim I cried; He heard my voice from His Hĕkal, And my cry went before Him, into His ears.

Verse 24 tells us that heard their groaning and remembered His covenant. I believe the word would be better rendered as “mindful”. YHVH does not forget but He waits until we realize the depths of despair that we have gotten ourselves into, when it becomes so unbearable that we finally wake up, like the prodigal son in the mire of our own making, and we call out to YHVH to rescue us for our own mess.

Verse 25 – And Elohim knew: H3045 – ידע – yâda‛ – BDB Definition: 1) to know. It expresses the deep personal, intimate knowledge which YHVH has about each and everyone of us, His Children: Gen 18:19  “For I have known him, so that he commands his children and his household after him, to guard the way of יהוה, to do righteousness and right-ruling, so that יהוה brings to Aḇraham what He has spoken to him.”

Ahavah,