Exodus 2 — The Birth of Moses and His Flight to Midian

The basket was made of reeds and coated with bitumen and pitch. I know what kind of attention that takes because I have built things that need to hold water. You do not just twist the reeds and hope for the best. You work the pitch into every gap, running your fingers along the seams until you are certain nothing will get through. The water will find any weak spot, so you make sure there are none. You take your time.

Moses's mother did that work knowing she was sending her son into the river. She built a small ark, the same word used for Noah's vessel, and she placed her child inside and set him among the reeds along the Nile. She trusted the river she could not control because she had done everything she could to prepare the vessel that would carry him.

The chapter starts with a death sentence on every Hebrew male infant and ends with God remembering His covenant. Between those two points is one of the most improbable survival stories in scripture. A baby in a basket, a princess at a river, a sister watching, a mother nursing her own son for wages.

How Did Moses Survive Pharaohs Decree

Pharaoh commanded that every Hebrew son be thrown into the Nile. That was the law. The midwives had disobeyed, so the order had fallen to all the people.

Moses's mother hid him for three months, which is a long time to keep a baby quiet when soldiers might appear at any door. When she could no longer hide him, she made the basket and placed him in the river among the flags and reeds where the current was slow. And she sent his sister Miriam to watch from a distance.

Pharaoh's daughter came down to wash herself. She saw the basket and sent her maid to fetch it, and when she opened it the child was crying. She had compassion on him.

That is the hinge the whole story turns on. A woman who did not have to care looked inside a basket and felt something for the child she found there. She knew he was a Hebrew and she took him anyway.

Miriam stepped forward and offered to find a nurse among the Hebrew women. Pharaoh's daughter agreed, and Miriam brought their own mother.

So Moses was returned to his mother to be nursed and raised, with the full protection of Pharaoh's household, until he was old enough to enter the royal court. The woman who gave him that basket built the one that kept him safe.

There is a detail there that I keep turning over. God did not make the Nile recede or send a plague or a vision. He used a mother who built a basket along with a sister who watched and a princess who showed compassion on a crying child. The deliverance came through ordinary people doing small things that mattered.

I thought about the preparation involved when I was reading Exodus 1 alongside this one. The pattern of preservation is the same. God works through the specific actions of people who trust Him enough to act.

What Can We Learn From Moses Early Life

Moses grew up as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. That means he had access to every resource Egypt could offer — education, weapons, military training, political power. He was an Egyptian prince by adoption and a Hebrew by birth.

The text says that when he was grown, he went out to his brethren and looked on their burdens. That phrasing matters: he went out to them when he could have stayed in the palace. He chose to go see.

He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. He killed the Egyptian and hid the body.

The next day he tried to break up a fight between two Hebrews and they asked who made him a judge over them. They knew what he had done the day before. When Pharaoh heard, Moses fled.

Here is what I keep coming back to about this story. Moses tried to act before he was ready. His instinct was correct — he wanted to help his people. But he was still operating out of the palace, using the tools of the palace. He killed a man with his hands and thought that would solve something. It did not. It made everything worse.

He spent the next forty years learning a different way.

Meaning of Moses Fleeing to Midian

Midian was a long way from Egypt, and Moses sat down by a well there, which is where you find strangers in the ancient world. The daughters of the priest of Midian came to water their father's flock, and the shepherds drove them away. Moses stood up and helped the women draw water and watered their flock himself.

That is a different Moses from the one who killed the Egyptian. He did not fight the shepherds or hide a body, he just helped directly and without violence.

The priest took him in and gave him his daughter Zipporah to marry. Moses settled in Midian as a shepherd and raised a family. He named his son Gershom, meaning a stranger there, because he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

Forty years in the wilderness is a long time to sit in silence when you expected to be a deliverer. But Moses needed those years. The prince had to become a shepherd before he could lead the flock of Israel. The power of Egypt had to drain out of him so the power of God could fill him.

In the shop, I have a stack of walnut boards that have been drying for three years. If I tried to work them when they were fresh, the joints would twist and the finish would crack. Wood has to season before it can be trusted. Moses went into the wilderness green and came out seasoned.

God Remembering His Covenant in Exodus 2

The chapter ends with the king of Egypt dying and the children of Israel groaning under their bondage. Their cry came up to God.

And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them. — Exodus 2:24-25

Four statements in a row, each one carrying more weight: heard, remembered, looked, had respect.

When scripture says God remembered, it does not mean He forgot and then recalled. It means He was about to act. The remembering of the covenant is the turning point. The silence of four hundred years was ending.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why was Moses placed in a basket in the Nile

His parents hid him for three months, but when he could no longer be concealed, they made a waterproof basket of reeds and pitch and placed him in the river. The basket was a direct act of trust. They could not protect him any longer, so they put him in the hands of God and set him on the water.

Why did Moses flee to Midian

After killing an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave, Moses discovered the act was known and Pharaoh intended to execute him. He fled to Midian for refuge, escaping the reach of Egypt's authority and beginning a forty-year season of preparation.

What is the significance of God remembering Israel at the end of Exodus 2

When God remembers in scripture, He is not recalling a forgotten fact. He is acting on a prior promise. The mention of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob signals that the period of waiting is giving way to deliverance. The Exodus is about to begin.

What does the name Gershom mean

Moses named his first son Gershom, which sounds like the Hebrew for a stranger there. He said, I have been a stranger in a strange land. It reflects Moses's sense of displacement and his recognition that Midian was not his home. He was still waiting.

I keep thinking about the basket. A woman wove reeds and sealed them and placed her son on the river because she trusted God more than she feared the water. She did not know what would happen. She only knew what she could do, and she did it.

That is what faith looks like most of the time. Not a dramatic display but a small vessel set on a current you cannot see the end of.

-- D.