Exodus:2

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* Verse 1-4 - Observe the order of Providence : just at the time when Pharaoh 's cruelty rose to its height by ordering the Hebrew children to be drowned , the deliverer was born . When men are contriving the ruin of the church , God is preparing for its salvation . The parents of Moses saw he was a goodly child . A lively faith can take encouragement from the least hint of the Divine favour . It is said , Hebrews strkjv @11:23 ,. that the parents of Moses hid him by faith ; they had the promise that Israel should be preserved , which they relied upon . Faith in God 's promise quickens to the use of lawful means for obtaining mercy . Duty is ours , events are God 's . Faith in God will set us above the fear of man . At three months ' end , when they could not hide the infant any longer , they put him in an ark of bulrushes by the river 's brink , and set his sister to watch . And if the weak affection of a mother were thus careful , what shall we think of Him , whose love , whose compassion is , as himself , boundless . Moses never had a stronger protection about him , no , not when all the Israelites were round his tent in the wilderness , than now , when he lay alone , a helpless babe upon the waves . No water , no Egyptian can hurt him . When we seem most neglected and forlorn , God is most present with us . * Verse 5-10 - Come , see the place where that great man , Moses , lay , when he was a little child ; it was in a bulrush basket by the river 's side . Had he been left there long , he must have perished . But Providence brings Pharaoh 's daughter to the place where this poor forlorn infant lay , and inclines her heart to pity it , which she dares do , when none else durst . God 's care of us in our infancy ought to be often mentioned by us to his praise . Pharaoh cruelly sought to destroy Israel , but his own daughter had pity on a Hebrew child , and not only so , but , without knowing it , preserved Israel 's deliverer , and provided Moses with a good nurse , even his own mother . That he should have a Hebrew nurse , the sister of Moses brought the mother into the place of a nurse . Moses was treated as the son of Pharoah 's daughter . Many who , by their birth , are obscure and poor , by surprising events of Providence , are raised high in the world , to make men know that God rules . * Verse 11-15 - Moses boldly owned the cause of God 's people . It is plain from Hebrews 11 . that this was done in faith , with the full purpose of leaving the honours , wealth , and pleasures of his rank among the Egyptians . By the grace of God he was a partaker of faith in Christ , which overcomes the world . He was willing , not only to risk all , but to suffer for his sake ; being assured that Israel were the people of God . By special warrant from Heaven , which makes no rule for other cases , Moses slew an Egyptian , and rescued an oppressed Israelites . Also , he tried to end a dispute between two Hebrews . The reproof Moses gave , may still be of use . May we not apply it to disputants , who , by their fierce debates , divide and weaken the Christian church ? They forget that they are brethren . He that did wrong quarreled with Moses . It is a sign of guilt to be angry at reproof . Men know not what they do , nor what enemies they are to themselves , when they resist and despise faithful reproofs and reprovers . Moses might have said , if this be the spirit of the Hebrews , I will go to court again , and be the son of Pharaoh 's daughter . But we must take heed of being set against the ways and people of God , by the follies and peevishness of some persons that profess religion . Moses was obliged to flee into the land of Midian . God ordered this for wise and holy ends . * Verse 16-22 - Moses found shelter in Midian . He was ready to help Reuel 's daughters to water their flocks , although bred in learning and at court . Moses loved to be doing justice , and to act in defence of such as he saw injured , which every man ought to do , as far as it is in his power . He loved to be doing good ; wherever the providence of God casts us , we should desire and try to be useful ; and when we cannot do the good we would , we must be ready to do the good we can . Moses commended himself to the prince of Midian ; who married one of his daughters to Moses , by whom he had a son , called Gershom , "a stranger there ," that he might keep in remembrance the land in which he had been a stranger . * Verse 23-25 - The Israelites ' bondage in Egypt continued , though the murdering of their infants did not continue . Sometimes the Lord suffers the rod of the wicked to lie very long and very heavy on the lot of the righteous . At last they began to think of God under their troubles . It is a sign that the Lord is coming towards us with deliverance , when he inclines and enables us to cry to him for it . God heard their groaning ; he made it to appear that he took notice of their complaints . He remembered his covenant , of which he is ever mindful . He considered this , and not any merit of theirs . He looked upon the children of Israel . Moses looked upon them , and pitied them ; but now God looked upon them , and helped them . He had respect unto them . His eyes are now fixed upon Israel , to show himself in their behalf . God is ever thus , a very present help in trouble . Take courage then , ye who , conscious of guilt and thraldom , are looking to Him for deliverance . God in Christ Jesus is also looking upon you . A call of love is joined with a promise of the Redeemer . Come unto me , all ye that labour and are heavy laden , and I will give you rest , Matthew strkjv @11:28 . **** Matthew Henry 's Commentary ****

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