As we dive into Exodus 2 we are witnessing one of the greatest contests of strength in history. In one corner stood Pharaoh, and Pharaoh had a plan, kill every Hebrew baby boy. In the other corner was the Lord, who also had a plan, save one baby boy and through him save a nation.
Pharaoh had power, soldiers, and an army on his side. God had a crying baby in a waterproof basket. Guess who won?
Our passage today, Exodus 2:1–10, is the story of Moses’ birth, how God took the weakest thing imaginable and used it to topple the strongest empire in the world. But Exodus 2:1–10 is not just the story of Moses, it’s the story of a God who delivers His people through unlikely means, and who can turn the place of death into the place of life. If He could do it then, He can do it for us now.
Let’s see these things for ourselves in the Scripture. See first…
The Birth of Moses (v1-4)
“Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. 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 riverbank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him.”
Right away as the passage begins we’re introduced to Moses’ parents. We’re not told their names yet, we’ll find out later they are Amram and Jochebed, but what we are told is that they are Levites. This is not an insignificant detail, because it tells us that Moses, who is called by God to lead the people in all things spiritual, is himself from the tribe chosen by God to lead the spirituality of the nation.[1] That Moses will be a Levite by birth tells us as readers how he is qualified for the task of spiritual leadership.
The next thing we’re told about Moses’ parents is that they married and had a son. If we forget how chapter 1 ended, we might be filled with warm fuzzies celebrating with them at the birth of a child. But if we remember the end of Exodus 1, about Pharaoh’s plan of death for all Hebrew baby boys, we’re not filled with warm fuzzies but filled with dread for this newly married couple because we fear what might happen to their child. But in their action we see great courage. During the desperate times of Exodus 1, these two dared to marry and conceive, knowing they might give birth to a boy. But on they went, the moment came, and sure enough, the baby was a boy.
And what a boy he was! See that detail in v2? The Mother looks down at her newborn baby and sees that he was a fine child, so she hid him for three months. That word fine doesn’t mean the baby was beautiful instead of ugly, nor does it mean the baby was good instead of evil, no. Rather the word fine in v2 means the baby was healthy.[2] Many infants died just after birth, and so it seems the mother was worried about that, but when she looks at him she is happy to see him looking as well as a baby could. So what does she do? She hides him! Why? Because he was born under a death sentence and any moment some Egyptian might hear his cries, come get him, and cast him into the Nile.[3] The book of Hebrews confirms this in Hebrews 11:23 as it says, “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.” Why only hide him for three months? Because they must have thought they could hide him easily until about that time, when he would grow old enough, to be active enough, and loud enough to be noticed by others.
So v3 says when she could hide him no longer, she did what no one guess! She hid him in the one place no Egyptian would ever think to look, the Nile river, the exact place where Hebrew baby boys were supposed to be cast into.[4] Thus in quite the clever way she can be said to have obeyed Pharaoh’s dreadful decree.[5]
Two things are worth your attention here. First, do not miss what Moses is put in. It says in v3 that she took a basket made of bulrushes, covered it with bitumen (tar) and pitch to make it waterproof, and then put Moses in that basket and then put him in the river. The word for basket in the original Hebrew is the word tebah. This word is only used in one other portion of Scripture, in Genesis 6-9 where we find the description of Noah and the ark.[6] That small Hebrew word tebah is the word that's used again and again there for ark. Lesson? Moses’ mother places him in an little baby size ark! We're meant to see the connection here between Moses and Noah. They both were raised up by God to deliver God’s people, both were led by God into and out of danger to a new location, where God’s people would be established, as a new stage of God's redemptive plan began.[7]
Second, consider the mother’s motives here. The passage does not tell us what the mother is thinking in this action of hiding Moses in the river. We could just say that God put this plan into her heart for reasons only known to Him.[8] That would be true, but I think we can say more. I think to her she was doing the best she could to protect Moses in this little ark. And the river was a great place to hide him. The thickness of the reeds on the riverbank, the noise of the water and the animals around it would all be contributing factors to hiding the noise of the baby. By doing this she could continue to care for him, keep watch over him from a distance, visit him, and even nurse him when no one was nearby.[9]
And we learn more in v4. Up to this point we might think Moses is an only child, but now we find out he has an older sister. She’s unnamed here but we’ll learn later on that her name is Miriam. For now, just see his sister’s actions in v4. She stood at a distance to know what would come of her brother. Apparently this was something of her custom to do, staying off at a distance, watching to be aware of anything that happened to him.
At this point we’re left wondering, what will happen to him? Will he be alright? Will he be eaten by crocodiles? Will he be found by someone else? Will he survive? To find out we must turn to see the rest of our passage and our second heading. We’ve seen the birth of Moses, now see…
The Preservation of Moses (v5-10)
“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. 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.” 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?” And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child's mother. 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. 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.”
So we’ve seen the birth and the plan to hide Moses in a spot on the river where he was unlikely to be discovered. But then in v5-6 another important woman comes into the view, a daughter of Pharaoh. She comes down the river to bathe and lo and behold, she sees the basket and finds Moses. She gets the basket, hears the baby crying, opens it, sees it’s a Hebrew baby boy, and…what? We as readers think that the death of Moses is near at hand. Right? That’s supposed to happen when an Egyptian finds a Hebrew baby boy. But surprise of all surprises, in direct violation of her father’s command Pharaoh’s daughter has compassion on the baby.
Moses’ sister must have been close enough to see this play out, and notice Pharaoh’s daughter’s compassion toward the baby. Maybe she even heard her express worry in words like ‘Oh no, he’s crying’, or ‘He’s probably hungry’, or ‘I can’t leave him like this.’[10] Whatever she heard and saw, at this point Moses’ sister comes nearer and in v7 says, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” Of course, she knows who would be a perfect fit for this job. And Pharaoh’s daughter responds with one word, “Go.” So off she went to fetch her mother. Can you imagine what that conversation would’ve been like? She bursts into the home, sees their mother and says, ‘An Egyptian woman, one of Pharaoh’s daughters has found Moses!’ You have to think their mother was terrified at what that meant, but as she heard the whole story she surely would’ve been calmed and convinced that now she must go out and come face to face with what used to be her worst fears.[11]
We see the conversation between Moses’ mother and Pharaoh’s daughter in v9. Here another surprise comes. Whether there was more to this conversation or not, what we see in v9 is that Pharaoh’s daughter telling Moses’ mother that she will pay her to nurse the child. Which means two massive things. Not only does she no longer need to hide Moses, but also she could now openly care for him without worry. As wonderful as this news would’ve been, there was a sharp edge to it. One day in the future Pharaoh’s daughter would take Moses away from them, for Moses to grow up in Pharaoh’s own house. Even so, if she never sees him again, she is hoping a childhood growing up in the palace would not lead to working in the Hebrew slave camps. How crazy is this? One of Pharaoh’s own children delivers a Hebrew child who would later save God’s people from slavery to Pharaoh.[12] Only God could write such a story of redemption.
That moment comes in v10, see it? The time came, Moses grew older, Moses’ mother brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. And she names him Moses, saying “I drew him out of the water.” The name seems prophetic doesn’t it?[13] Just as Moses was drawn out and saved from the waters of the Nile, so too will Moses one day draw out and save the Israelites from the Egypt itself. But it has more than just this meaning. The name Moses also means ‘son of.’ It was a common ending to many names of Egyptian Pharaoh’s like Thutmose meaning son of Thut, Atmose meaning son of At, and Rahmose meaning son of Rah. That Moses is merely the ending means his name is just ‘son of.’ So the text itself leaves us wondering, whose son will he be? He was born a Hebrew, will he be a son of Israel? He’s going off to be raised in Pharaoh’s palace, will he be a son of Egypt? We know the answer of course, Exodus shows us and the book of Hebrews tells us briefly in Hebrews 11:24ff, “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” Church, we now get to see this play out before our very eyes as we keep on going in Exodus.
Conclusion:
I end with this thought: sometimes God’s greatest works begin in the most impossible places.
The birth of Moses doesn’t happen in a time of peace and comfort, it happens under a death sentence. Pharaoh’s decree has just gone out: every Hebrew boy is to be thrown into the Nile. The river that gives Egypt life has become a place of death. Into that darkness, a nameless couple has a child they’re not supposed to keep.
We might expect the story to be about their courage or their ingenuity, but it’s really about something else: the quiet, hidden hand of God. A basket floating in the Nile becomes an ark of salvation. The daughter of Pharaoh, the one who should be the enemy, becomes the rescuer. And the little baby who should have been drowned will one day stand before the king and lead a nation out of slavery.
The parallel to the birth of Jesus is clear. Moses is a savior, but he is not the Savior.[14] What Pharaoh was to Moses, Herod is Jesus. What his mother and sister are to Moses, Mary and Joseph are to Jesus. In both instances God sovereignly watches over and preserves the life of the little one who will emerge as the one chosen by God to save God’s people from their sins, either the sins of others (as in Moses’ case) or from their own sins (as in Jesus’ case).[15]
So, what do we do with this?
First, we must remember that God still works like this today. The same God who brought life out of the Nile and hope out of a manger is the same God at work in your life right now. Maybe you feel like you’ve been pushed into the reeds. Abandoned, vulnerable, exposed. But what looks like the end to you may just be the beginning to God. The hidden hand of God is not gone from you.
Second, we must remember that God delights to use weak things. A crying baby, a worried mother, a watchful sister, even the compassion of a pagan princess, these were the instruments God used to defeat Pharaoh. In the same way, He takes our weaknesses, our small faith, our trembling obedience, and He weaves them into His mighty plan. Don’t despise the day of small things. Don’t even despise the smallness of what you can do. God delights to use weak things for more than you could ever imagine.
Third, we look to Jesus. Moses was drawn out of the water so that one day he could draw out God’s people from slavery. But Jesus was drawn out of death itself so that He could draw us out of the slavery of sin. What Moses began, Jesus finished. And where Moses points us to hope, Jesus is our hope.
So Christian, take heart…
If your life feels like chaos, He can bring order.
If you feel dark, He can bring light.
If you see nothing but death, He can bring resurrection.
The same God who wrote Moses’ story is still writing yours. God still turns rivers of death into rivers of life. He still takes what is weak and makes it strong. He still delivers His people through unlikely means. And just as Moses was drawn out of the water, and Jesus was raised up from the grave, so too will God draw you out and bring you safely home on that final day. That’s the hope of Exodus 2, and that’s the hope of the gospel.
[1] Douglas K. Stuart, Exodus – NAC (Brentwood, TN: B&H Publishing, 2006) 86.
[2] John D. Currid, Genesis 1:1-25:18 - EP Study Commentary (Holywell, UK: Evangelical Press, 2015) 51-52.
[3] Philip Graham Ryken, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory – Preaching the Word Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015) 41.
[4] John I. Durham, Exodus - WBC (Waco TX: Word Books, 1987) 16.
[5] Durham, 16.
[6] Victor P. Hamilton, Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2023) 20.
[7] Stuart, 88.
[8] Currid, 53.
[9] Stuart, 89.
[10] Stuart, 92.
[11] Stuart, 92.
[12] Currid, 54.
[13] Hamilton, 23.
[14] Ryken, 49-50.
[15] Hamilton, 26.
