Question 1

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 2

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 3

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 4

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 5

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 6

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 7

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 8

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 9

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Exodus 2:1

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

The Birth and Adoption of Moses

The Rejection and Flight of Moses

God Hears the Cry of the Israelites

The Birth and Adoption of Moses

Cross References

Exodus 2:1

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

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The Birth and Adoption of Moses

The Rejection and Flight of Moses

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The Birth and Adoption of Moses

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