The Birth and Rescue of Moses
Exodus 2A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife. The woman conceived and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would be done to him. Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her servant to get it. She opened it, and saw the child, and the baby started crying. 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, 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,+2:10 “Moses” sounds like the Hebrew for “draw out”. and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
Moses Flees to Midian
In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers and saw their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers. He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.
He went out the second day, and saw two Hebrews fighting with each other. He said to the one who did the wrong, “Why do you strike your fellow?”
He said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?”
Moses was afraid, and said, “Surely this thing is known.” Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. When they came to Reuel their father, he said, “Why have y’all returned so early today?”
They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds. He drew-drew water for us and watered the flock.”
He said to his daughters, “Where is he? Why did y’all have leave the man? Y’all call him to eat bread.”
Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter. She bore a son, and he named him Gershom,+2:22 “Gershom” sounds like the Hebrew for “an alien there”. for he said, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”
In the course of those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel groaned because of the slavery. They cried, and their cry came up to God because of their slavery. God heard their groaning, and God remembered ʜɪꜱ covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the children of Israel, and God was concerned about them.