Exodus 2:10 Study Bible: 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."

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When the child had grown older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses and explained, "I drew him out of the water."

Study Bible

When the child had grown older
This phrase indicates the passage of time from Moses' infancy to a point where he was weaned, which in ancient Egyptian and Hebrew culture could be around three years old. This period allowed Moses to bond with his biological family and learn about his Hebrew heritage, which would later influence his identity and mission.

she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter
Moses' mother, Jochebed, fulfilled her agreement with Pharaoh's daughter by bringing Moses to her. This act of faith and obedience highlights the providence of God in preserving Moses' life. Pharaoh's daughter, likely a member of the royal family, had the authority to adopt Moses, which would provide him with a unique position within Egyptian society.

and he became her son
Moses' adoption into the Egyptian royal family placed him in a position of privilege and education, preparing him for his future role as a leader. This adoption also fulfilled God's plan to raise a deliverer for Israel from within the house of their oppressors, showcasing God's sovereignty and wisdom.

She named him Moses
The name "Moses" is of Egyptian origin, possibly derived from the word "mose," meaning "son" or "born of." This name is significant as it reflects his dual identity as both a Hebrew and an Egyptian, which would play a crucial role in his life and mission.

and explained, “I drew him out of the water.”
This explanation connects Moses' name to the Hebrew verb "mashah," meaning "to draw out." This foreshadows Moses' future role in drawing the Israelites out of Egypt. The act of being drawn from the water also symbolizes salvation and deliverance, themes that are central to Moses' life and the Exodus narrative. Moses as a type of Christ can be seen here, as both were deliverers who brought their people from bondage to freedom.

Persons / Places / Events

1. Moses
The central figure in this verse, Moses is a Hebrew child who is adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. His name, derived from the Hebrew "Mosheh," is linked to the verb "mashah," meaning "to draw out," reflecting his rescue from the Nile.

2. Pharaoh’s Daughter
An unnamed Egyptian princess who adopts Moses. Her actions are pivotal in God's plan for the deliverance of Israel, showing compassion and defying her father's decree.

3. The Nile River
The place where Moses was found and drawn out by Pharaoh's daughter. It symbolizes both danger and deliverance in Moses' early life.

4. Moses' Mother
Though not named in this verse, she plays a crucial role in Moses' early life by nursing him and eventually bringing him to Pharaoh's daughter.

5. Egypt
The setting of this event, representing both the place of Moses' upbringing and the land of Israel's bondage.

Teaching Points

Divine Providence
God's hand is evident in Moses' life from the beginning. Despite the perilous circumstances, God orchestrates events for His purposes. We can trust in God's sovereignty in our own lives.

Identity and Purpose
Moses' dual identity as a Hebrew and an Egyptian prince foreshadows his role as a mediator between God and His people. Our identity in Christ calls us to a unique purpose.

Courage and Compassion
Pharaoh's daughter's actions demonstrate courage and compassion. We are called to act justly and show mercy, even when it goes against societal norms.

God's Timing
Moses' upbringing in Pharaoh's court was part of God's preparation for his future leadership. We should be patient and trust God's timing in our preparation for His plans.

Bible Study Questions

1. How does Moses' adoption by Pharaoh's daughter demonstrate God's providence, and how can we see God's hand in our own life circumstances?

2. In what ways does Moses' identity as both a Hebrew and an Egyptian prince prepare him for his future role? How does our identity in Christ prepare us for our calling?

3. What can we learn from Pharaoh's daughter's courage and compassion, and how can we apply these qualities in our interactions with others today?

4. How does the account of Moses' early life encourage us to trust in God's timing and preparation for our future roles?

5. Reflect on a time when you felt "drawn out" of a difficult situation. How did that experience shape your faith and understanding of God's purpose for your life?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Acts 7:21
Stephen recounts Moses' adoption by Pharaoh's daughter, highlighting God's providence in Moses' life from the beginning.

Hebrews 11:24-25
These verses reflect on Moses' faith and his choice to identify with the people of God rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin in Pharaoh's court.

Exodus 1:22
The decree by Pharaoh to cast Hebrew male infants into the Nile sets the stage for Moses' rescue and adoption.

Sermons

Adoption by Royalty	Prof. Gaussen.	Exodus 2:10
An Incident Expressed in a Name		Exodus 2:10
Birth and Training of Moses	S. S. Mitchell, D. D.	Exodus 2:10
Child Growth	J. S. Exell, M. A.	Exodus 2:10
Child Nomenclature	J. S. Exell, M. A.	Exodus 2:10
Moses	J. Wells.	Exodus 2:10
Moses' Choice	J. H. Kurtz, D. D.	Exodus 2:10
Moses' Education in Egypt	M. Baumgarten, D. D.	Exodus 2:10
Moses Trained in Egypt -- a Lesson in Providence	A. Maclaren, D. D.	Exodus 2:10
A Picture of True Faith	J. Urquhart	Exodus 2:1-10
By Works was Faith Made Perfect	G.A. Goodhart	Exodus 2:1-10
The Child of the Water	H.T. Robjohns	Exodus 2:1-10
A Child of Providence	J. Orr	Exodus 2:1-11
Moses and Christ	J. Orr	Exodus 2:1-25

People

Gershom, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Levi, Moses, Pharaoh, Reuel, Zipporah

Places

Egypt, Midian, Nile River

Topics

Bringeth, Calleth, Child, Daughter, Drawn, Drew, Grew, Groweth, Grown, Lad, Named, Older, Pharaoh, Pharaoh's, Saying

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Exodus 2:10

     5044   names, giving of
     5738   sons
     6609   adoption, nature of

Exodus 2:1-10

5652 babies
7775 prophets, lives

Exodus 2:10-15

5102 Moses, life of

Library

The Ark among the Flags
'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. 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. 5. And the daughter of Pharaoh came …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Home as a Stewardship.
"Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages."--EXODUS II., 9. "For look, how many souls in thy house be, With just as many souls God trusteth thee!" The Christian home is a stewardship. The parents are stewards of God. A steward is a servant of a particular kind, to whom the master commits a certain portion of his interest to be prosecuted in his name and by his authority, and according to his laws and regulations. The steward must act according to the will of his …
Samuel Philips—The Christian Home

The Upbringing of Jewish Children
The tenderness of the bond which united Jewish parents to their children appears even in the multiplicity and pictorialness of the expressions by which the various stages of child-life are designated in the Hebrew. Besides such general words as "ben" and "bath"--"son" and "daughter"--we find no fewer than nine different terms, each depicting a fresh stage of life. The first of these simply designates the babe as the newly--"born"--the "jeled," or, in the feminine, "jaldah"--as in Exodus 2:3, 6, 8. …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

The Secret of Its Greatness
[Illustration: (drop cap G) The Great Pyramid] God always chooses the right kind of people to do His work. Not only so, He always gives to those whom He chooses just the sort of life which will best prepare them for the work He will one day call them to do. That is why God put it into the heart of Pharaoh's daughter to bring up Moses as her own son in the Egyptian palace. The most important part of Moses' training was that his heart should be right with God, and therefore he was allowed to remain …
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

Motives to Holy Mourning
Let me exhort Christians to holy mourning. I now persuade to such a mourning as will prepare the soul for blessedness. Oh that our hearts were spiritual limbecs, distilling the water of holy tears! Christ's doves weep. They that escape shall be like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity' (Ezekiel 7:16). There are several divine motives to holy mourning: 1 Tears cannot be put to a better use. If you weep for outward losses, you lose your tears. It is like a shower …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

The Faith of Moses.
"By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw he was a goodly child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to be evil entreated with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he looked unto the recompense of reward. By faith he forsook …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

Jesus Sets Out from Judæa for Galilee.
Subdivision B. At Jacob's Well, and at Sychar. ^D John IV. 5-42. ^d 5 So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 and Jacob's well was there. [Commentators long made the mistake of supposing that Shechem, now called Nablous, was the town here called Sychar. Sheckem lies a mile and a half west of Jacob's well, while the real Sychar, now called 'Askar, lies scarcely half a mile north of the well. It was a small town, loosely called …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Consolations against Impatience in Sickness.
If in thy sickness by extremity of pain thou be driven to impatience, meditate-- 1. That thy sins have deserved the pains of hell; therefore thou mayest with greater patience endure these fatherly corrections. 2. That these are the scourges of thy heavenly Father, and the rod is in his hand. If thou didst suffer with reverence, being a child, the corrections of thy earthly parents, how much rather shouldst thou now subject thyself, being the child of God, to the chastisement of thy heavenly Father, …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Man's Misery by the Fall
Q-19: WHAT IS THE MISERY OF THAT ESTATE WHEREINTO MAN FELL? A: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever. 'And were by nature children of wrath.' Eph 2:2. Adam left an unhappy portion to his posterity, Sin and Misery. Having considered the first of these, original sin, we shall now advert to the misery of that state. In the first, we have seen mankind offending; …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Genealogy According to Luke.
^C Luke III. 23-38. ^c 23 And Jesus himself [Luke has been speaking about John the Baptist, he now turns to speak of Jesus himself], when he began to teach, was about thirty years of age [the age when a Levite entered upon God's service--Num. iv. 46, 47], being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son [this may mean that Jesus was grandson of Heli, or that Joseph was counted as a son of Heli because he was his son-in-law] of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Adoption
'As many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.' John 1:12. Having spoken of the great points of faith and justification, we come next to adoption. The qualification of the persons is, As many as received him.' Receiving is put for believing, as is clear by the last words, to them that believe in his name.' The specification of the privilege is, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.' The Greek word for power, exousia, signifies …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Appendix xii. The Baptism of Proselytes
ONLY those who have made study of it can have any idea how large, and sometimes bewildering, is the literature on the subject of Jewish Proselytes and their Baptism. Our present remarks will be confined to the Baptism of Proselytes. 1. Generally, as regards proselytes (Gerim) we have to distinguish between the Ger ha-Shaar (proselyte of the gate) and Ger Toshabh (sojourner,' settled among Israel), and again the Ger hatstsedeq (proselyte of righteousness) and Ger habberith (proselyte of the covenant). …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Appendix ii. Philo of Alexandria and Rabbinic Theology.
(Ad. vol. i. p. 42, note 4.) In comparing the allegorical Canons of Philo with those of Jewish traditionalism, we think first of all of the seven exegetical canons which are ascribed to Hillel. These bear chiefly the character of logical deductions, and as such were largely applied in the Halakhah. These seven canons were next expanded by R. Ishmael (in the first century) into thirteen, by the analysis of one of them (the 5th) into six, and the addition of this sound exegetical rule, that where two …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

John the Baptist's Person and Preaching.
(in the Wilderness of Judæa, and on the Banks of the Jordan, Occupying Several Months, Probably a.d. 25 or 26.) ^A Matt. III. 1-12; ^B Mark I. 1-8; ^C Luke III. 1-18. ^b 1 The beginning of the gospel [John begins his Gospel from eternity, where the Word is found coexistent with God. Matthew begins with Jesus, the humanly generated son of Abraham and David, born in the days of Herod the king. Luke begins with the birth of John the Baptist, the Messiah's herald; and Mark begins with the ministry …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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