Exodus 2 - The Rescue, the Mistake, and the Wilderness

A Baby Is Born

1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.

2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

   Exodus 1 ended with Pharaoh's darkest command yet. Every Hebrew baby boy was to be thrown into the Nile.

   That's the world Moses was born into.

   A man and woman from the tribe of Levi had a son. At first, they did what any parents would do.

   They looked at him. Held him. Loved him. And decided he was worth protecting.

   The Bible says his mother saw that he was "a goodly child." The focus isn't on his appearance as much as a mother's determination to save her son.

   So, she hid him. For one month. Then another. Then another. Three months passed.

   Every day carried a risk. Every cry could draw attention. Every knock at the door could bring trouble.

   Before Moses became a deliverer, he was simply a baby whose parents refused to give up on him.

   Sometimes you get dropped into hard situations you never asked for. Don't waste energy asking, "Why is this happening?" Focus on your next faithful step.

Letting Go

3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.

4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

   Eventually, hiding him was no longer an option. So, the child’s mother came up with a plan. She made a basket of bulrushes and sealed it with slime and pitch to make it waterproof.

   Then she placed the child inside and set the basket among the reeds by the edge of the Nile.

   Think about how hard that moment must have been. She couldn't keep him. She couldn't protect him forever.

   All she could do was place him in God's hands.

   Meanwhile, the child’s sister stood nearby, watching from a distance to see what would happen.

   The tension is building. A helpless baby. A basket in the river. A worried sister watching from shore.

   And no one knows how the story will end. They have done all they can do.

   Now they must trust God with what they cannot control.

   We all have situations we can't fix. Do what you can. Trust God with the rest.

An Unexpected Rescue

5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.

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.

   Then an unexpected person enters the story. Pharaoh's daughter.

   She came down to the river to bathe while her maidens walked along the riverbank.

   When she spotted the basket among the reeds, she sent a servant to retrieve it. Inside was a crying baby.

   Immediately, she realized what she was seeing. This was one of the Hebrew children.

   Instead of judgment, she feels compassion. And everything changes.

   The irony is impossible to miss.

   Pharaoh ordered Hebrew boys thrown into the Nile.

   Now the Nile has delivered one right into Pharaoh's own household.

   What looked like a hopeless situation suddenly takes a surprising turn.

   God's provision doesn't always show up through the people we'd expect. Sometimes help arrives from the most unlikely direction.

7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?

8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother.

9 And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the women took the child, and nursed it.

   At that moment, Moses' sister stepped forward. She had been watching the entire time.

   And she asked a simple question. "Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women?"

   Pharaoh's daughter agreed. So the girl ran and called her mother.

   The woman who had been forced to place her son in the river was now being asked to care for him. Even more surprising, Pharaoh's daughter offered to pay her for the job.

   The plan could not have come together any better.

   What began with fear is now filled with unexpected provision.

   Sometimes the turning point in a story comes through a simple act of courage. Don't assume today's obstacle is the end of the story.

​

10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

   As the child grew, his mother eventually brought him to Pharaoh's daughter. Pharaoh's daughter adopted him as her son. And she gave him a name. Moses. Because, she said, "I drew him out of the water."

   No one could have planned a rescue like this.

   Not Moses' parents. Not his sister. Certainly not Pharaoh.

   Moses was born with a target on his back. Now he found himself being raised in Pharaoh's household.

   What looked like the end of his story turned out to be only the beginning.

   While Pharaoh tried to eliminate a nation, God was already protecting a child whose story was just beginning.

   Sometimes the thing that looks impossible is where God starts working. Don't count God out just because you can't see the solution yet.

​

Moses Takes Matters into His Own Hands

11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.

12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

   Years passed. The baby in the basket was no longer a baby.

   Moses had grown up in Pharaoh's household, but he had not forgotten his Hebrew roots.

   One day he went out to visit his people and saw the hard labor they were enduring. Then he witnessed an Egyptian beating a Hebrew.

   Moses looked around. No witnesses. No crowd. No one seemed to be watching.

   Moses stepped in.

   And in a moment that would change his life, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

   Moses' actions reveal something we'll see throughout his life. He couldn't just stand there and do nothing. When he saw injustice, he wanted to act.

​

   In some ways, that shouldn't surprise us.

   His parents had already shown remarkable courage when they defied Pharaoh's command and protected their son.

   And… Moses and his parents came from the tribe of Levi. Generations earlier, Levi had responded passionately when he believed his family had been wronged.

   That same zeal runs like a thread through the story.

   Sometimes it leads to trouble. Sometimes God uses it in powerful ways.

   The issue was never the passion itself. The issue was learning to place that passion under God's direction.

   Here, Moses saw a real injustice.

   But he responded in his own way and in his own timing.

   God often works through the very qualities He gave you. Some of the things you dislike about yourself today may be the very things God wants to shape and use tomorrow. Moses' passion got him into trouble in Exodus 2. Later, God would use that same passion to stand before Pharaoh and lead a nation. The difference wasn't the passion. The difference was letting God direct it.

   Maybe you're the person who speaks up when nobody else will. Maybe you're passionate, driven, stubborn, protective, or willing to challenge what's wrong. Those qualities can get you into trouble when they're driven by impulse. But when they're surrendered to God, they can become some of your greatest strengths. God didn't ask Moses to become someone else. He taught him how to use who he already was.

   The goal isn't to become someone else. The goal is to surrender those qualities to Him and let Him shape them for His purposes.

13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?

14 And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.

   The next day, Moses went out again. This time, he saw two Hebrews fighting with each other.

   Trying to break it up, he asked the man in the wrong, "Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?"

   The response must have stopped Moses cold. "Who made you a prince and a judge over us?"

   Then came the question Moses wasn't expecting. "Are you going to kill me like you killed the Egyptian?"

   In that moment, Moses realized something. The secret wasn't a secret anymore. What he had buried in the sand had not stayed buried.

   News of his actions had spread. And now Moses knew he was in deep trouble.

Failure can make it feel like your future is over. Don't let a mistake become your identity.

From the Palace to the Desert

15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

   Pharaoh eventually heard what had happened. And this time, Moses wasn't protected by his position in the royal household.

   Pharaoh wanted him dead. Moses ran.

   The man who had grown up in a palace suddenly found himself living as a fugitive. He fled Egypt and settled in the land of Midian.

   Moses probably thought his life was falling apart. But Exodus is about to show that God often does some of His best work in places people never planned to be.

A New Beginning in Midian

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

17 And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?

19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.

20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.

21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

   Arriving in Midian, Moses sat down by a well.

   Before long, he witnessed another situation that needed intervention.

   The seven daughters of the priest of Midian had come to draw water for their father's flock. But some shepherds showed up and drove them away. Moses stepped in and helped them.

   Then he watered their flock.

   When the women returned home earlier than expected, their father wanted to know what happened. They told him about an Egyptian (Moses would look like an Egyptian having lived his whole life in the palace) who had come to their rescue.

   Soon Moses was welcomed into the household.

   He eventually married Zipporah, one of the daughters, and they had a son. Moses named him Gershom, saying, "I have been a stranger in a strange land."

   The prince of Egypt had become a shepherd in Midian. His life looked very different than it had just a few years earlier.

   Yet God's story wasn't finished.

   Sometimes the seasons that feel like detours become part of God's preparation.

God Hasn't Ghosted Them

23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.

24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

   While Moses was building a new life in Midian, the situation in Egypt remained difficult. The king of Egypt died. But Israel's suffering continued.

   The people groaned under their bondage and cried out for help. And their cry reached God.

   These verses contain some of the most comforting words in the chapter.

   God heard. God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God looked upon the children of Israel. God took notice.

   That doesn't mean God had forgotten and suddenly remembered. It means He remained fully aware of His people and His promises.

   Israel may have felt abandoned. But they were not forgotten.

   The chapter ends quietly.

   Moses is in Midian. The Israelites are still in bondage. No deliverance has happened yet.

   But beneath the surface, God is already moving the story toward the rescue He has promised.

   Sometimes God is working before we can see any evidence of it. When answers seem delayed, remember that unheard and unanswered are not the same thing. Even when nothing seems to be changing, God has not stopped listening, seeing, or working.

Exodus 2 is a chapter of huge turning points.

A baby survives a genocide order.

A princess shows unexpected compassion.

A future leader acts impulsively and crashes out.

A prince becomes a fugitive.

A fugitive learns to be a shepherd.

And while Moses is learning, failing, growing, and waiting, God is quietly setting up the rescue of Israel.

Nobody can see the full plan yet.

But God is already cooking. The deliverance story has begun.