She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”
Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” The young woman went and called the child’s mother.
Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” The woman took the child, and nursed it.
The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v8 Man’s counsel cannot hinder that, which God hath determined…
Man’s counsel cannot hinder that, which God hath determined shall come to pass.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv6–10 Exo 2:6 And when she had opened [it], she…
Exo 2:6 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.
Ver. 6. One of the Hebrews’ children.] So called of Heber. {See Trapp on "Gen 13:14"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv6, 10 This she might very probably guess, both from the…
This she might very probably guess, both from the circumstances in which she found him, and from the singular fairness and beauty of the child, far differing from the Egyptian hue; and she might certainly know it by its circumcision.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv6–10 And when she had opened it,.... The ark, for…
And when she had opened it,.... The ark, for it was shut or covered over, though doubtless there were some apertures for respiration:
she saw the child in it, and, behold, the babe wept; and which was a circumstance, it is highly probable, greatly affected the king's daughter, and moved her compassion to it; though an Arabic writer says (p), she heard the crying of the child in the ark, and therefore sent for it:
Read full note →
and she had compassion on him, and said, this is one of the Hebrews' children; which she might conclude from its being thus exposed, knowing her father's edict, and partly from the form and beauty of it, Hebrew children not being swarthy and tawny as Egyptian ones: the Jewish writers (q) say, she knew it by its being circumcised, the Egyptians not yet using circumcision.
(p) Patricides apud Hottinger. p 401. (q) T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 12. 2. Aben Ezra in loc.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v10 And he became her son - The tradition of…
And he became her son - The tradition of the Jews is, that Pharaoh's daughter had no child of her own, and that she was the only child of her father, so that when he was adopted for her son, he stood fair for the crown: however, it is certain he stood fair for the best preferments of the court in due time, and in the mean time had the advantage of the best education, with the help of which, he became master of all the lawful learning of the Egyptians Acts vii, 22. Those whom God designs for great services he finds out ways for to qualify them. Moses, by having his education in a court, is the fitter to be a prince, and king in Jeshurun; by having his education in a learned court, (for such the Egyptian then was) is the fitter to be an historian; and by having his education in the court of Egypt, is the fitter to be employed as an ambassador to that court in God's name. The Jews tell us, that his father at his circumcision called him Joachim, but Pharaoh's daughter called him Moses, Drawn out of the water, so it signifies in the Egyptian language, The calling of the Jewish lawgiver by an Egyptian name is a happy omen to the Gentile world, and gives hopes of that day when it should be said, Blessed be Egypt my people, Isaiah xix, 25. And his tuition at court was an earnest of the performance of that promise, Isaiah xlix, 23. Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 10 Verse 6. She had compassion on him] The sight…
Verse 6. She had compassion on him] The sight of a beautiful babe in distress could not fail to make the impression here mentioned; See Clarke on Ex 2:2. It has already been conjectured that the cruel edict of the Egyptian king did not continue long in force; see Ex 1:22. And it will not appear unreasonable to suppose that the circumstance related here might have brought about its abolition. The daughter of Pharaoh, struck with the distressed state of the Hebrew children from what she had seen in the case of Moses, would probably implore her father to abolish this sanguinary edict.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v10 Exo 2:10. And he became her son — The…
Exo 2:10. And he became her son — The tradition of the Jews is, that Pharaoh’s daughter had no child of her own, and that she was the only child of her father, so that when he was adopted for her son, he stood fair for the crown: however, it is certain he stood fair for the best preferments of the court in due time, and in the mean time had the advantage of the best education, with the help of which he became master of all the lawful learning of the Egyptians, Act 7:22. Those whom God designs for great services, he finds out ways to qualify for them. Moses, by having his education in a court, is the fitter to be a prince, and king in Jeshurun; by having his education in a learned court, (for such the Egyptian then was,) is the fitter to be an historian; and by having his education in the court of Egypt, is the fitter to be employed as an ambassador to that court in God’s name. She called his name Moses — The Jews tell us that his father, at his circumcision, called him Joachim, the rising or establishing of the Lord; but Pharaoh’s daughter called him Moses, drawn out, namely, of the water, either from the Hebrew word משׁה, masha, to draw out, 2Sa 21:17; or from two Egyptian words, Mo uses, of the same import. Henry, taking it for granted that the latter is the etymology of the word, observes, “The calling of the Jewish lawgiver by an Egyptian name was a happy omen to the Gentile world, and gave hopes of that day when it should be said, Blessed be Egypt my people, Isa 19:25. And his tuition at court was an earnest of that promise, (Isa 49:23,) Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers.” Whether there be propriety in this observation or not, it is reasonable to suppose that this name, Drawn out, would tend to keep alive in the mind of Moses a remembrance of the danger he had escaped, and would induce him, out of gratitude for his deliverance, more readily to become a worker together with God in drawing his brethren out of still greater danger and misery.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv6, 10 She had compassion on him - The Egyptians regarded…
She had compassion on him - The Egyptians regarded such tenderness as a condition of acceptance on the day of reckoning. In the presence of the Lord of truth each spirit had to answer, “I have not afflicted any man, I have not made any man weep, I have not withheld milk from the mouths of sucklings” (‘Funeral Ritual’). There was special ground for mentioning the feeling, since it led the princess to save and adopt the child in spite of her father’s commands.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv6, 10 Hebrews, against whom the persecution raged. She saw it…
Hebrews, against whom the persecution raged. She saw it had received circumcision. (Theodoret, q. in Exodus)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv6, 10 when she had opened it, she saw the child--The…
when she had opened it, she saw the child--The narrative is picturesque. No tale of romance ever described a plot more skilfully laid or more full of interest in the development. The expedient of the ark, the slime and pitch, the choice of the time and place, the appeal to the sensibilities of the female breast, the stationing of the sister as a watch of the proceedings, her timely suggestion of a nurse, and the engagement of the mother herself--all bespeak a more than ordinary measure of ingenuity as well as intense solicitude on the part of the parents. But the origin of the scheme was most probably owing to a divine suggestion, as its success was due to an overruling Providence, who not only preserved the child's life, but provided for his being trained in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Hence it is said to have been done by faith (Heb 11:23), either in the general promise of deliverance, or some special revelation made to Amram and Jochebed--and in this view, the pious couple gave a beautiful example of a firm reliance on the word of God, united with an active use of the most suitable means.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv6, 10 6-9. There is a pathos in this description which…
6-9. There is a pathos in this description which shows that the writer’s heart was in it. That princess was his adopting mother. The self-reliant action of the king’s daughter, notwithstanding her father’s cruel and absolute command, well illustrates the independence in character and action which distinguished the Egyptian women, at least the high-born.
The Egyptians were taught also to regard mercy as one of the conditions of acceptance in the day of judgment. In the Funeral Ritual, or Book of the Dead, recently translated from a papyrus by Birch, the human spirit is represented as answering to the judge, “I have not afflicted any man; I have not made any man weep; I have not withheld milk from the mouths of sucklings.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv6–10 6. and behold, &c.] Heb. and, behold, a weeping…
6. and behold, &c.] Heb. and, behold, a weeping boy. The sight moved her compassion; and despite the Pharaoh’s orders, she determined to spare the child, and bring it up.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv6–10 (6) When she had opened it.—The princess opened the…
(6) When she had opened it.—The princess opened the ark herself, perhaps suspecting what was inside, perhaps out of mere curiosity.
The babe (rather, the boy) wept. Through hunger, or cold, or perhaps general discomfort. An ark of bulrushes could not have been a very pleasant cradle.
Read full note →
She had compassion on him.—The babe’s tears moved her to pity; and her pity prompted her to save it. She must have shown some sign of her intention—perhaps by taking the child from the ark and fondling it—before Miriam could have ventured to make her suggestion. (See the next verse.)
This is one of the Hebrews’ children.—The circumstances spoke for themselves. No mother would have exposed such a “goodly child” (Exo_2:2) to so sad a death but one with whom it was a necessity.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 10 The princess herself opened the "ark," which was a…
The princess herself opened the "ark," which was a sort of covered basket. Perhaps she suspected what she would find inside; but would it be a living or a dead child? This she could not know. She opened, and looked. It was a living babe, and it wept. At once her woman"s heart, heathen as she was, went out to the child its tears reached the common humanity that lies below all differences of race and creed and she pitied it. "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." This is one of the Hebrews" children. Hebrew characteristics were perhaps stamped even upon the infant visage. Or she formed her conclusion merely from the circumstances. No Egyptian woman had any need to expose her child, or would be likely to do so; but it was just what a Hebrew mother, under the cruel circumstances of the time, might have felt herself forced to do. So she drew her conclusion, rapidly and decidedly, as is the way of woman.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv9–10 Take this child away, and nurse it for me.
Exo_2:9
Take this child away, and nurse it for me.
Read full note →
Care for children
I. To none is Gods commendation vouchsafed more fully than to those who love children for Christs sake. The presence of childhood represents and brings back our own. Children confide in those around them with a sweet and simple faith. They obey from affection, not fear. And so our Father in heaven would have His children trust Him, casting all our care upon Him, for He careth for us.
II. Children teach us reverence as well as faith. They listen with a solemn awe when we talk to them of God. They tread softly, and speak with bated breath in His holy place.
III. Children teach us to be kind, pitiful, and tender-hearted. They cannot bear to witness pain. They do all they can to soothe. Have we these sorrowful sympathies?
IV. If the love of Christ is in our hearts, it should constrain us to do our very best, thoughtfully, prayerfully, generously, to preserve in the children and to restore in ourselves that which made them so precious in His sight, And makes them so like Him now--like Him in their innocence, their sweet humility, their love. (Dean Hole.)
The providence of God in relation to the young
I. As rescuing them from the peril of unhappy circumstances.
1. Moses was rescued from murder--in the Egyptian palace he was safe.
2. Moses was rescued from slavery--in the Egyptian palace he was free.
II. As ensuring an education necessary to fit them for their future engagements.
1. As the son of Pharaohs daughter, Moses had the opportunity of a good scholastic education.
2. As the son of Pharaohs daughter he would be prepared to undertake the freedom of his nation.
III. As employing the most unlikely agency. The tyrants daughter was the means of rescuing Moses from peril, and of educating him for his future calling. Unlikely means--
1. Because her father had issued an edict for the death of all Israelitish children.
2. Because it appeared unlikely that a royal daughter should wish to adopt the son of an Israelite.
IV. As employing the most efficient instrumentality.
1. The mother of the boy--who could better teach him the wrongs of his country than she--that hundreds had suffered the fate he had managed to escape--the slavery of his people the tyranny of the king. She instructed him during the earliest days of his youth--her instruction would therefore be enduring--hence he would go to the Egyptian court with a knowledge of his countrys woe--and of his fathers God.
2. The daughter of the king.
V. As requiring the utmost human effort possible.
1. His mother did the best for Moses that she could.
2. His mother was judicious in her conduct towards Moses.
VI. As perfectly consistent with the free agency of individuals. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The training of children
I. The first qualification for the training of children is the love of children. The hard heart in which the merriment of childhood kindles no sunshine and wakens no music, is no more fit for the resting and growing place of an infant, than the sands of the desert are fit for the planting of a vineyard or the sowing of a wheatfield.
II. The second grand essential to the right training of children, is to receive them as sacred trusts from God to be nursed for him. Whence do we think the child comes to us? What do we desire it to be, in its relation to ourselves, and to the world, and to God? A mere doll, to be dressed for the gratification of our vanity? A mere pet animal, to be fed and fondled for our amusement? A mere competitor in the race of life, to struggle for a little while after its pleasures, honours, and riches, and then pass away for ever? Or do we regard it as a being of unbounded susceptibilities, and destined to eternity, which God has committed to us to train for His glory and the enjoyment of Himself for ever? When this simple but sublime thought, that a human soul has been committed to us to be trained for God, has once possessed us, it will ally itself with our love for children working itself out without effort, and almost without thought into our daily conduct.
III. A third essential to the right training of children is the requirement of un-answering obedience. The best answer to a childs, Why must I do this, or abstain from that? is Because your father or mother requires it. If further explanations are to be given, they should come after as a reward for obedience, and not before, as its condition. The habit of unanswering obedience is easily established, and when once fixed is permanent. And it should be further remembered that this requirement of unanswering obedience is saturated and sweetened through and through by the love of children. It is exalted and lifted above the impulses of selfish petulance and passion, by a sense of the Divine trust committed to us.
IV. Parents ought diligently to cultivate and win the absolute confidence and affection of their children. So, as years roll on, authority will broaden out into loving companionship, and obedience become a delightful conformity to the wishes of those who are dearer than themselves. Tempered and guided by the principles already announced, this plan will succeed. I do not say there will be no exceptional eases. There is a mystery in the heredity of evil and in the working of iniquity which seems at times to defy all general rules. Let parents understand this: that their children may attain the highest ends of life without wealth, without social distinction, and even without the higher forms of secular education; but they cannot inherit the richest blessings of the family relation, without being thoroughly in love with their father and mother, as the representatives and appointed agents of God, who says, Take this child and nurse it for Me, and I will give thee thy wages. (H. J. Van Dyke, D. D.)
The education of Moses
There from a mothers lips he learned the story of the great forefather Abraham, his call, and gods covenant with him and his seed; the meaning of the mark of circumcision in his flesh, and the duties to which it bound him; the Divine unity and holiness; the worship and service that is the Creators due; was made tenderly alive to the wrongs and sufferings of his people; was taught patriotism and piety, and prepared to become in due time the vindicator of Israels freedom and faith. (R. A. Hallam, D. D.)
The education of Moses
1. See how much in the making up of the leader of His chosen people God makes of secular instruction--what ample provision God made for it in his equipment for his arduous and difficult task. The Scriptures give no countenance to ignorance. The world has knowledge to impart which the Church may gladly accept. The Church is in many ways beholden to the world. Egypt was largely a benefactor to Moses and to the Israelitish people. Nothing that Egypt had imparted would be without its use in such a task. God did not despise it as a means, but subsidized it, and brought all its resources and influences to bear in making for Himself the man who was to lift His Church from a tribe into a nation, from slavery to independence. Though He could have communicated all these qualifications to Moses by a direct gift, He did not, but chose to bestow them upon him by means. To despise secular knowledge, and think that we are better Christians for being destitute of worldly lore, is fanatacism, and not piety. Civilization is the ally of religion and not its foe. Intelligence strengthens godliness, and does not lower or injure it,
2. Finally, see the value of early and specially of maternal influence, in its bearing on the religious character and life. What a power both of impulsion and of resistance it had in the case of Moses! By this means Jochebed against fearful odds was successful, more than a match for them. An obscure woman, with no more than ordinary attainments, of a proscribed race, acting in a capacity little better than menial, she was too much for all Egypts sages, and scholars, and priests, and nobles and rulers. There were two things that gave her great advantage in the contest. She got the start of them. She worked by the law of love. Before any Egyptian influence could reach the child, she had possession of his ear and of his heart. What an encouragement is here to all mothers, to all parents! How much greater things they may be labouring for than they contemplate or foresee. (R. A. Hallam, D. D.)
Infancy of Moses
I. The duty enjoined.
1. The object--This child.
(1) What it may become. Philosopher, warrior, statesman, philanthropist, etc.
(2) What it must become. A responsible moral agent.
2. The duty--Nurse it. This includes--
(1) Attention to physical wants.
(2) Cultivation of mental faculties.
(3) Religious instruction.
II. The reward promised--And I will pay thee thy wages. You may be rewarded--
1. By seeing your efforts crowned with success.
2. You shall at any rate possess the consciousness of the Divine favour.
3. You shall leave your children with composure when you come to die.
4. You shall stand before them with confidence in the judgment day.
(1) Let pious parents be encouraged in the way of duty.
(2) Let negligent parents consider the cruelty of their conduct, and the bitter consequences which must result from it. (J. Burns, D. D.)
Gods method of raising up souls for His service
I. God gives and sends them as they are needed.
II. That they may be fully trained and prepared for their work, they are made like unto their brethren.
III. The very family and people that sought to destroy israel are made instrumental in nourishing and rearing the deliverer of israel and the avenger of his brethrens wrongs. Injustice and cruelty are made to avenge themselves in the end.
IV. In the raising up of the man Moses we have a most instructive exemplification of the doctrine and working of the Divine providence.
V. In Pharaohs daughter, and the part she takes, we have the proof that human nature, the human heart, is one; and that all classes of mankind, all nations, are destined to become one in Gods great saving plan. (Pulpit Analyst.)
The power of a mothers love
1. To control its impulse.
2. To school its utterance.
3. To make self-denial for the good of her child.
4. To enter into the method of Providence concerning the future of her boy. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
A beautiful pattern of self-control
1. Not arising from indifference.
2. Not arising from hard-heartedness.
3. But arising from the calm indwelling of faith. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
This mother a model nurse
1. Because she taught her son to have sympathy with the slave.
2. Because she taught him to despise injustice (Exo_2:12).
3. Because she taught him the folly of anger (Exo_2:13).
4. Because she taught him to defend the weak (Exo_2:17). (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
A mother the best nurse
1. Because she has truest sympathy with the circumstances of the childs life.
2. Because she is more truly concerned for the right development of its moral character.
3. Because then she will have gladdening memories of its infancy and childhood. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Bringing up in the faith
How can an outward action, or ceremony, like the baptism of water, alter the inward state and affect the real course of life? It can do it just as the Egyptian princess, by one gesture of her arm and one command from her lips, does in fact raise a new-born infant from the slaves cabin to the fellowship of monarchs. It is no miraculous or talismanic transformation. There is no violent revolution of the secret forces or moral circulations of the soul. But the child is set into new relations, and out of those new relations flow, as naturally as the stream through a new channel cut in the hills, new habitudes, new dispositions, a new life, a new heart, a new destiny. Observe that there is nothing here which insures the childs safety: nothing that precludes the possibility of his falling back again, if he chooses, into bondage; nothing that compels him to stay in his Lords house or in any way overrules his liberty--the awful liberty to apostatize into guilt and perdition. Now we pass on to another question. What will it be to nourish your child for Christ?
1. In the first place, it will be to keep in your own heart a constant feeling of the charge laid upon you in the childs spiritual nature. The power of this feeling will be manifested not only in express words and direct actions, but in countless and daily signs of your faith which the child is sure to understand. The unconscious part of education, especially of the education of the soul, is always, probably, the more important part, yet the least considered. In other words, what we are tells more on a child, in the long run, than what we say. Every father or mother is not only either for Christ or against Him in the house--but they are perpetually, inevitably, helping to set out and enlist their offspring for Him or against Him.
2. Again, those parents nourish the child for Christ, who, after they have presented him in holy baptism, take care not to contradict the vow they have there made by a systematic indoctrination of him into ideas and fashions which Christ abhors. They do not come here to give him up by a ceremony to his Maker, and then begin steadily to baptize him themselves into the bitter and polluted spirit of this world.
3. Turn to a more positive and attractive aspect of your obligation. You are to nourish your child into a familiar knowledge of his personal membership in Christ and his sonship in Christs kingdom.
Two other things must accompany this work; the one as a help, the other as a hope, but both of them powers, indispensable to your success.
1. The child is to be nourished with the habitual practice of intercessory prayer. Whatever you may fail of in your knowledge, or your earthly providing, or your power of religious influence otherwise, have hope in your intercessions.
2. And therefore, finally, take this child away and nourish him for Christ with the expectation of a blessing. That expectation is to be not only a comfort to you on the way, but one of the spiritual forces with which you are to prevail. This Lord, who has lent you the little one, not only loves the importunities of His people; He delights in their largest confidences. (Bp. F. D. Huntington.)
The children of the poor, the charge of the Church
I. First, let us look at the class of children who are specially committed to our care and concern. It seems a truth sufficiently obvious from analogy, that the strong ought to take care of the weak, and the rich ought peculiarly to regard the poor.
1. God especially regards the poor.
2. The souls of the poor are as valuable as the rich.
3. God has selected from among the poor many of the most eminent characters both in the Church and in the world.
II. Now let us glance at another point of the doctrine, and that is--the training we are to give them. Take this child, and nurse it for Me. We are to nurse them and train them for God. Here I would lay great emphasis. Education is an engine of great moral power. It enlarges the mind; it ennobles the individual; it furnishes him with a fund of enjoyment; it capacitates him for usefulness; it directs his energies to proper objects. But let it be well and thoroughly understood that if education be not founded on religious and on scriptural principles, you put a weapon into the hand of an individual to do more evil--to do it secretly and effectually. You render him a more expert agent to fight against God and to oppose the reign of holiness.
III. But there is another point which ought to be touched upon: and that is--the reward we may expect. I will give thee thy wages. Not apples of gold; not pictures of silver; not honours that shall adorn our brows, achieved by the victories of the noble and the wiles of the great. Not literal wages. But still there is a reward; good, and blessed and large. And what is this reward? Wages far higher than money can bring. Is there no reward in doing good? No reward, that when the ear hears you, then it blesses you; and when the eye sees you, it bears witness to you? No reward, to see those dear children growing up to fill important stations in life by your instrumentality? No reward, to reflect that you have been turning many in your generation to serve God, and to serve their generation? No reward, to think that you are acting out true patriotism, and training children who shall serve their country and bless the age in which they live? But especially, is there no reward, when the Master, whose glance is life and whose favour is better than life, shall at the last day say, Inasmuch as ye have done it, etc. (J. Sherman.)
The training of children for God
God speaks to every parent, teacher, pastor, with every child He puts into their care.
I. So He speaks to the parent with a definite and individual charge. He says not: Take some child, but, This one take and train. There is no question here as to which out of the many is to be the object of your care. How that definiteness enhances the solemnity of the charge! It is the very charge you would have chosen, too. The tie of nature is a stronger one than you can make with bands of gold or fetters of brass, and when that tie receives the strengthening sanction of Gods approval, it is the most enduring thing in all the world. God has organized, and He sanctions, the family and its sweet bonds.
II. For in these words of Pharaohs daughter, taken as the Kings own word to us, we find the secret of the training of the child. Nurse it for Me. Not for yourself are you to train this child entrusted to your care. It was not given for your amusement or your service. Nor may you train them for themselves, as though the world was made for them and all their business was to please themselves with it. The only right and worthy object of our labours for the children, and it should be an aim clearly before us, is to bring them up for God. We surely cannot do it unless it be our definite purpose. Train it not for, but in, Christian faith and love and obedience, and teach it always to live to please the Lord that bought us. The New Testament teaching is like the Old: based on the same principles, uttered in similar form--And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
III. And so we shall receive the reward. I will give thee thy wages. It was the daughter of the king who promised thus to Moses mother. It is the King Himself who gives His word to us. He pays us for taking care not of our children, but of His. Here is the worst mistake of all, if we do not recognize them as Gods children and we as only nurses in His employ. The promise is as definite as the charge. I will pay thee. It is the faithful parent or the faithful teacher who wilt be rewarded. (G. M. Boynton.)
Children to be educated for God
I. What is implied in educating children for God.
1. A realizing, heartfelt conviction that they are His property, His children, rather than ours; and that He commits them for a time to our care, merely for the purpose of education, as we place children under the care of human instructors for the same purpose.
2. A cordial and solemn dedication or surrender of them to Him, to be His for ever.
3. We must do all that we do for them from right motives.
4. If we would educate our children for God, we must educate them for His service.
(1) This implies that we pay more attention to the soul than to the body.
(2) It implies that we pay more attention to the heart or disposition than to the mind.
(3) It implies that we educate them for eternity rather than for time; for a future world--rather than for this.
II. The reward which He gives to those who perform this duty aright. This reward consists--
1. In the pleasure which attends every attempt to educate children for God.
2. Another part of the reward which God bestows on those who educate their children for Him, is the happiness which they enjoy when they see their labours crowned with success. (E. Payson, D. D.)
On the Christian education of children
What are the wages of fidelity in the important work of the Christian education of children?
1. In the first place, then, a part of the reward of fidelity in religiously educating your children consists in the pleasure of the work. It is an innocent, an interesting, and an honourable occupation.
2. There enters into the reward of religiously educating children, the pleasure which arises from doing good to society.
3. There is high honour in cooperating with God, and great happiness in conforming to the intentions of His providence.
4. The good of his children is what every parent purposes to himself, as the object, perhaps, of his fondest desire, as the motive to all his parental conduct. And herein is a large part of the wages of fidelity in religiously educating them, that thereby their great good in this life will be most effectually promoted. It is a perilous and unhappy world into which you introduce them. And yet the misfortune is, that in education respect is more generally had to its pleasures than its sorrows, to its honours than its snares. The great question concerning your offspring is, where in it shall wisdom be found, and where is the place of satisfaction? Look around you. See in what path they shall be most likely to find peace. Examine the claims of wealth, of honour, of rank, of power, of pleasure. Turn to religion. Institute a comparison between her claims and theirs. Inquire which of them has most efficacy to quell the passions, which are the parents of evil; to soothe the sorrows, which are the offspring of our condition; to open sources of happiness at which the weary spirit may always be refreshed; and to take the barbs from the arrows of death? Such a comparison will assuredly produce a result in favour of a Christian education.
5. The faithful parent has a recompense for his care in the religious education of his children, in the greater security of his own happiness. It is through the child that the heart of a parent is most vulnerable. The hour comes when your children shall stand around you, and you will perceive that you are leaving them without you in this evil world. What can mitigate this anguish of death? What but to be able to say of them, when you cast on them your final look, I am going unto my Father, and their Father; and to my God, and their God. They will honour me in their lives when I shall be gone. The Almighty is their Friend and He will protect them.
6. But not in this life is the reward of the faithful in any case complete. By far the largest part of the wages, which God, in His mercy, has promised to any of their good works, is reserved to be given them in the great day of the final consummation. (Bp. Dehon.)
Permanence of early impressions
A farmer decided to remove an old beech-tree which grew on his farm. The wood-cutter noticed on the bark of the tree some curious marks looking like the letters J. L., roughly cut, and below them some ornamental design. After the tree had been cut down and was being separated into lengths he was startled to find on the hard dry wood at the core of the tree, directly opposite the place on the bark where he had noticed the marks, the clearly cut letters J. L., on a dark background, and below them an anchor. On inquiries being made, it was found that the letters were the initials of a sailor named John Leland, who, in aa idle hour, had cut them on the beech-tree when it was young. There were thirty-seven rings between the letters and the bark of the tree, and the woodsman said that each ring represented one years growth of the tree. He inferred that the letters must have been cut in the year 1853, and his belief was confirmed when he learned that it was in that year that the sailor had spent some time in that neighbourhood. Thus the inscription had not only remained in the place where it was cut at the first, but as each year added to the growth of the tree, the letters still appeared on the surface, scarcely legible there, it is true, but perfectly clear at the core. It is so with human character. Many an old man, in spite of the rough usage of the world and the scar of time and trouble, bears upon his walk and conversation the marks of the handwriting which in his youth God put in his heart.
Care of children
A florist, who was so absorbed with his cuttings that he did not hear until twice spoken to, apologized, saying, I beg your pardon, but you see one must put his whole mind on these young things, if he would have them do well; and I cannot bear that one should die on my hands, for I should almost feel as if I had murdered it.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v10 Exo_2:10. Moses] Heb. Mosheh (משֶׁה): if of Heb. origin,…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Exo_2:10. Moses] Heb. Mosheh (משֶׁה): if of Heb. origin, undoubtedly an active—not a passive—participle = “drawing out,” not “drawn out.” There is no difficulty in this. The starting point of the naming is from the act of “drawing:” the passive “being drawn” wd. necessarily be implied. But the active touches God’s providence at two points instead of one,—the “drawing” of the individual son “out” of the Nile, and the “drawing” of the national son (Hos_11:1) “out” of Egypt: Johovah “drew out” M. by Ph.’s daughter, and Is. by M. While preferring the derivation just named, we need not decisively reject that adopted by some scholars, after Josephus, from the Coptic = “Water-saved.” It is certainly striking, that whereas “Mo” in Copt. sigs. “water,” Ph.’s d., according to this ver., laid stress on the water:—lit. “OUT OF THE WATERS did I draw him.” Thus rich in resources, we can assure Fürst that we see no reason why the etymol. given in Exo_2:10 shd “not be taken seriously”: certainly we need not give it up for his conjecture that M. is = “son of Osiris!”
Read full note →
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_2:10
THE BIRTH OF MOSES AND ITS LESSONS
More wisdom and blessing may be got from the contemplation of the birth of a truly great man into the world than from the tracing of the mightiest river to its source. In following up this, you may have to ascend among “the everlasting hills;” in tracking a great soul, you must rise to God. All souls come from God. Some souls are broader mirrors, are greater lights than others, they disclose more fully the way from one eternity to another. Consider the man Moses, specially as illustrating God’s method of raising up souls on earth for Divine use and service.
I. God gives and sends them as they are needed, they have their appointment according to the times. The reader of history cannot but see that the great parent Spirit creates and sends forth souls—of Teachers, lawgivers, deliverers, prophets, poets, kings—at the right time. There was need of Moses. See previous chapter. The greatest revelations come in the times of greatest need, that we may be well assured whose they are. The world owes much to little children, little children coming into it by God.
II. That they may be fully trained and prepared for their work, they “are made like unto their brethren.” Moses is born a child of the people that he may be a true brother and saviour of his people.
III. The very family and people that sought to destroy Israel are made instrumental in nourishing and rearing the deliverer of Israel and the avenger of his brethren’s wrongs. God makes evil powers, evil men, evil counsels, and deeds serve Him, contrary to their own nature and intent, and when they have come to their highest pitch, work their own just retribution and overthrow. So Huss, Wickliffe, Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, Knox were trained in the monasteries and colleges of the Romish Church, to be the leaders in another Exodus out of Egyptian darkness and bondage. Injustice and cruelty are made to avenge themselves in the end.
IV. In the raising up of the man Moses we have a most instructive exemplification of the doctrine and working of the Divine providence. God’s providence does its mightiest works through human hearts.
V. In Pharaoh’s daughter, and the part she takes, we have the proof that human nature, the human heart, is one; and that all classes of mankind, all nations, are destined to become one in God’s great saving plan. [Pulpit Analyst.]
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSE
Exo_2:10. Child-growth—physically—mentally—morally.
1. Important to families—leaving home.
2. Interesting to strangers—Princess.
3. Important to nations—Egypt.
Child-nomenclature.
1. Perpetuating the memory of a cruel edict.
2. Perpetuating the memory of a loving mother.
3. Perpetuating the memory of a kindly Providence.
4. Perpetuating the memory of a compassionate stranger. Home life exchanged for palace life.—
1. It would be at first unwelcome—stranger.
2. It would gradually become a temptation—its gaiety.
3. It would forcefully become a discipline. Providence is pleased sometimes to raise the poor out of the dust, to set them among princes (Psa_113:7-8.)
Under Providence, parents of the Church may be forced to give up their children to strangers.
Acts of pity from earthly powers to the Church’s children, may give them liberty of naming them.
We have now the Church under state patronage—the patronage of a tenderhearted princess.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7, 9 feed with milk from the breast
nurse
feed with milk from the breast
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7, 10 2:7-9 It is evidence of God’s grace and sovereignty…
2:7-9 It is evidence of God’s grace and sovereignty that Pharaoh’s daughter ironically paid Moses’ mother to nurse her own baby rather than having him killed according to Pharaoh’s command. The narrator seems to imply that the princess realized who the baby’s mother was (since she didn’t ask any embarrassing questions). If so, the two women chose to understand each other while maintaining a legal fiction. Moses was saved because God was at work, not because anyone was fooled.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.