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1–2. Birth of Moses. 3–10. Saving him and raising him as Pharaoh's daughter. 11–25. Moses killing an Egyptian and fleeing to the land of Midian. Ex.2:1. A man from the tribe of Levi went and took a wife from the same tribe. During the third measure, the birth of Moses from Amram and Jochebed falls (Exodus 6:20, Numbers 26:59). Ex.2:2. The wife conceived and gave birth to a son and, seeing that he was very handsome, hid him for three months; Being a natural manifestation of maternal feelings, concern for the salvation of the newborn was supported by his beauty (Greek ἀστεῖος - folded, slender). According to the expression of the first martyr Stephen, he was “beautiful before God” (Acts 7:20), and was distinguished by his extraordinary, unearthly beauty. She told her mother about the special purpose of the newborn, and, believing in this latter (Heb. 11:23), she hid him for three months. The possibility of Moses being preserved for this particular period may be explained by the fact that his birth coincided with the beginning of the flood of the Nile, which lasted three months. “At this time,” says the German theologian Beer, “communication with villages, country places and dwellings located on hills is possible only by ship. In this state of affairs, unexpected visits are inconvenient. As can be seen from the descriptions of travel, everyone then remains at home with a calm heart and spends the day calmly. At the same time, it is completely possible to undertake something at home that remains unknown in the nearest place, and therefore the parents of Moses could, without exposing themselves to special danger, hide their child from the Egyptians.” Ex.2:3. but unable to hide it any longer, she took a basket made of reeds and tarred it with asphalt and resin, and, putting the baby in it, placed it in the reeds near the river bank. At the end of the flood, when hiding the newborn became impossible, Jochebed comes up with a new means to save him. From the local papyrus plant (Hebrew “gome”), which served the Egyptians, according to Theophrastus, Pliny and others, as material for constructing light ships and baskets, she prepares an ark (Hebrew “thee”; see Gen. 6:14), a box; for greater strength and in order to preserve the child in it for the longest time, he resinates it and, having placed the baby in it, places the box not in an open place in the canal, where he could be carried away by the current, but near a tree, in the “suf”, “εἰς τὸ ἕλος”, “in the ray” (bend of the river), i.e. not into reeds, as read in the Russian Bible, but into algae, overgrowth, since the Hebrew “suf”, judging by its use in the book. the prophet Jonah (Jon.2:6), means exactly seaweed. Ex.2:4. and his sister began to observe in the distance what would happen to him. Note Art. 4, as well as the thoughtfulness of the further actions of Moses’ sister, Miriam (Ex. 15:20), indicating that she acts as if she had been taught in advance what should be done, suggests that the coincidence of the place where the box was placed with the place where Pharaoh’s daughter bathed is not a coincidence. There is nothing incredible in the fact that Moses’ mother, knowing where Pharaoh’s daughter was bathing, chose this place in order to find in her the savior of her child. Exodus 2:5. And Pharaoh's daughter went out to the river to wash herself, and her maidens walked along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave to take it. Ex.2:6. She opened it and saw the baby; and behold, the child is crying [in the basket]; and [Pharaoh’s daughter] took pity on him and said, “This is one of the children of the Hebrews.” Pharaoh’s daughter could conclude that the child was Jewish not by circumcision, since the Egyptians were also circumcised, but by his presence in the water. Deciding to save a Jewish child out of compassion, she obviously is not afraid of punishment for failure to comply with the royal decree. In this case, she relies on the respect that Egyptian women in general enjoyed, especially representatives of the royal family. The queen was revered in Egypt more than the king: queens and even princesses were given divine honors upon death. Exodus 2:7. And his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shouldn’t I go and call a Hebrew nurse to you, so that she can nurse your baby?” Exodus 2:8. Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go down. The girl went and called the mother of the baby. Exodus 2:9. Pharaoh's daughter said to her: Take this child and nurse him for me; I'll give you a fee. The woman took the baby and fed him. The agreement of Pharaoh's daughter to take a Jewish woman, and not an Egyptian woman, as a wet nurse for the saved Jewish baby, is a continuation of her concerns about the life of the child. Given the disgust of the Egyptians towards the Jews, the disgust that reached the point that the Egyptians could not eat with the Jews, because it was an abomination for the Egyptians (Gen. 43:32), nothing and no one could guarantee the daughter of Pharaoh that the Jewish child would remain safe and sound in the hands of the Egyptian nurse. And vice versa, giving it to a Jewish woman ensured his life and health. Ex.2:10. And the child grew up, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she had him instead of a son, and she called his name Moses, because, she said, I took him out of the water. At the end of breastfeeding, i.e. after three years (2 Mac 7:27), the baby is brought to Pharaoh's daughter and from her he receives the name Moses. The naming of a name by an Egyptian speaks with certainty that it must be Egyptian in origin. Philo and Josephus consider it to be such, and, according to the latter, it is formed from the combination of two Egyptian words: mo - water and isis - preserved, as well as some ancient church writers - Clement of Alexandria, Eustathius of Antioch, and modern exegetes are inclined to the same conclusion. According to the most reliable explanation, the first half of the name Moses corresponds to the Egyptian mo - water, and the second - υσῆς; or υσῆυς – the Draene-Egyptian verb “udsha”, “udsh”, meaning to be saved. Therefore, Moudshe, Moses, or with the Greek ending Moisis, means “saved from the water.” The derivation of the name Moses from the Hebrew “mash” has no basis in itself. The verb “masha” is used only in its actual meaning (2 Samuel 22:17, Ps. 17:17), therefore the participial form “moshe” means “draws out”, “brings out”, but not “drawn out”, which is the meaning of the name Moses. Exodus 2:11. After a long time, when Moses grew up, it happened that he went out to his brothers [the sons of Israel] and saw their hard work; and he saw that the Egyptian was beating one of the Hebrews of his brothers [the sons of Israel]. Ex.2:12. Looking here and there and seeing that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. Ex.2:13. And he went out the next day, and behold, two Jews were quarreling; and he said to the offender: Why do you beat your neighbor? Ex.2:14. And he said: Who made you a leader and a judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me like you killed the Egyptian [yesterday]? Moses was afraid and said: Surely, they learned about this matter. After completing his training in all the wisdom of Egypt (Acts 7:22), at the age of 40 (23), Moses makes an attempt to alleviate the plight of his compatriots by personal force. “He thought that his brothers would understand that God would grant them salvation by his hand; but they did not understand” (Acts 7:25). In the person of that Jew, from whose insults he wanted to protect his other neighbor, the people did not recognize Moses as their leader and judge. Exodus 2:15. And Pharaoh heard about this matter and wanted to kill Moses; but Moses fled from Pharaoh and stopped in the land of Midian, and [having arrived in the land of Midian] sat down by a well. The land of Midian, to which Moses retired, differs in the Bible from the Sinai Peninsula and appears to lie beyond its borders (Ex. 18:1–6, 27). Its position is usually indicated near the Elanite Gulf, on its eastern side, as indicated by the ruins of the city of Modian, or Midian, located here. The Midianites who inhabited this area descended from Abraham through Keturah (Gen. 25:1, 1 Chron. 1:32). Wells, near which flocks gathered with their shepherds (Gen. 29:2, etc.), were the places in the desert where one could most likely meet a person. With this calculation, Moses sat down at the well. Ex.2:16. The priest of Midian [had] seven daughters [who tended the sheep of their father Jethro]. They came and drew water and filled the troughs to water the sheep of their father [Jethro]. Exodus 2:17. And the shepherds came and drove them away. Then Moses stood up and protected them, [and drew water for them] and watered their sheep. Exodus 2:18. And they came to their father Raguel, and he said to [them], “Why have you come so quickly today?” Ex.2:19. They said: some Egyptian protected us from the shepherds, and even drew water for us and watered [our] sheep. Exodus 2:20. He said to his daughters: where is he? why did you leave him? call him and let him eat bread. Exodus 2:21. Moses liked to live with this man; and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses. Exodus 2:22. She [conceived and] gave birth to a son, and [Moses] called his name Gersham, because, he said, I have become a stranger in a strange land. [And having conceived again, she gave birth to another son, and he called his name Eliezer, saying: The God of my father was my help and delivered me from the hand of Pharaoh.] The 40-year stay (Acts 7:23, 30) of Moses with the Midian priest, who bore the double name of Raguel-Jethro (Ex. 18:1, 2:18), served for him, according to the Holy Fathers, for example, Gregory of Nyssa, as a time of enlightenment and purification. An indicator of this state is, by the way, the name of his second son, Eliezer: “The God of my father was my helper and delivered me from the hand of Pharaoh.” Previous life experiences convinced Moses that he should seek help for himself not in his own strength and wisdom, but only in the God of his fathers. Such a mood could not have been more consistent with his future position as the leader of the Jewish people. You might be interested in: