Why did Moses’ mother put him in an ark of bulrushes by the river?

Moses’ mother hid him as long as she could because Pharaoh had ordered all Hebrew boys to be killed. When she could not hide him any longer, she made an ark of bulrushes, sealed it so it would float, and placed him among the reeds by the river. This was not careless abandonment but a desperate act that still leaned on God’s care. She had no power to protect him from the king’s command, so she committed him to God’s providence, trusting that God could guard him where she could not.

What is the significance of Pharaoh’s daughter finding baby Moses?

Pharaoh’s daughter finding Moses shows how God can work through unlikely people, even within the enemy’s house. She sees a weeping Hebrew baby, feels compassion, and chooses to spare him, even though her own father has ordered such children to be killed. Through her, Moses is not only saved but raised in the royal household, gaining education and position. God turns a cruel law on its head, using the king’s own family to protect the child who will later lead Israel out of slavery.

Why did Moses kill the Egyptian who was beating the Hebrew man?

When Moses was grown, he went out to see his Hebrew brothers and saw their burdens. Seeing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, he looked around, saw no one, and killed the Egyptian, hiding him in the sand. His action shows that he identified with his people and could not bear their oppression. It also hints at a sense of calling to deliver them, though his way here was flawed. His fear afterward shows that, while his concern was right, his method put him in danger and forced him to flee.

Why did the Hebrew man say, “Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?”

The Hebrew man’s question comes after Moses tried to stop two Hebrews from fighting. Instead of accepting Moses’ correction, the man throws his past in his face: “Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian?” This shows that Moses’ earlier act was known, and it also shows that his people did not yet accept him as a leader. The words cut at Moses’ sense of calling and make clear that his attempt to act on his own timing had backfired.

Why did Moses flee to Midian, and what happened there?

When Moses realized that his killing of the Egyptian was known, and when Pharaoh tried to kill him, he fled from Pharaoh’s presence and went to live in Midian. There he sat by a well, helped the daughters of Reuel when rough shepherds drove them away, and watered their flock. Reuel welcomed him, gave him his daughter Zipporah as a wife, and Moses settled there. In Midian, Moses lived as a stranger, started a family, and was quietly prepared away from Egypt for what God would later call him to do.

What does the name Gershom mean, and why did Moses choose it?

Moses named his son Gershom and said, “I have been a stranger in a strange land.” The name is tied to the idea of being a stranger or sojourner. By choosing this name, Moses summed up his own experience in Midian. He had left Egypt, where he was raised, and now lived far from his people and their land. The name shows his sense of being in between worlds, not truly at home, and it quietly points to the waiting period before God would send him back to Egypt as Israel’s leader.

What does it mean that God heard Israel’s groaning and remembered his covenant?

When the king of Egypt died, the Israelites’ bondage did not ease. They sighed and cried out because of their slavery, and the passage says that God heard their groaning, remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, looked on them, and had respect to them. This does not mean God had forgotten and then recalled it, but that he now moved to act on promises he had already made. Their pain and prayers rose before him, and in his time he began to carry out the deliverance he had long planned.

What does this passage teach about God’s providence and timing?

This passage shows God working quietly behind the scenes. A baby is hidden, set in a small ark on a river, found by a princess, raised in a palace, then driven into exile after a rash act. None of this looks like a rescue plan at first, yet through each turn God is shaping Moses and preparing the way to free Israel. At the same time, God listens to the cries of his people and remembers his covenant. It reminds us that God’s care can be at work long before we see open answers.

How can Moses’ early life encourage believers who feel powerless or forgotten?

Moses began life as a helpless baby under a death order, and later as a fugitive in a foreign land. Still, God guarded him in the river, placed him where he would be trained, and watched over him when he felt like a stranger. Israel, under heavy bondage, might have felt forgotten, yet God heard their groans and remembered his promises. For believers, this shows that even when circumstances are harsh and confusing, God is not absent. His timing may be slow to us, but his care and his covenant love do not fail.

Exod.2.1

Exodus 2:1

KJV

And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.

The Birth and Adoption of Moses

1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.

2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.

4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

5 ¶ And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.

6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children.

7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?

8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother.

9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it.

10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

The Rejection and Flight of Moses

11 ¶ And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.

12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?

14 And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.

15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.

17 And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?

19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.

20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.

21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

God Hears the Cry of the Israelites

23 ¶ And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.

24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

Cross References

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