Exodus 2:2 Study Bible: The woman conceived, and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

◄ Exodus 2:2 ►

and she conceived and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him for three months.

and she became pregnant
This phrase marks the beginning of a significant event in the life of the Levite woman, Jochebed, and her family. The Hebrew root for "became pregnant" is "הָרָה" (harah), which signifies conception and the beginning of life. In the context of the Israelites' oppression in Egypt, this pregnancy is a beacon of hope and divine providence. Despite Pharaoh's decree to kill Hebrew male infants, God’s plan for deliverance is already in motion through this pregnancy.

and gave birth to a son
The birth of a son during this perilous time is both a moment of joy and fear. The Hebrew word for "son" is "בֵּן" (ben), which not only signifies a male child but also carries the connotation of a builder of the family name. This son, Moses, is destined to become a pivotal figure in Israel's history. His birth is a testament to God's faithfulness and the unfolding of His redemptive plan for His people.

When she saw that he was a beautiful child
The phrase "beautiful child" is translated from the Hebrew "טוֹב" (tov), meaning good, pleasing, or favorable. This description goes beyond physical appearance, suggesting that Moses was marked by God for a special purpose. In the cultural and historical context, beauty often indicated divine favor or a special destiny. This perception of Moses by his mother is an early indication of his future role as a leader and deliverer.

she hid him for three months
The act of hiding Moses is a courageous defiance of Pharaoh's edict. The number "three" in biblical terms often signifies completeness or divine perfection. Jochebed's decision to hide her son reflects her faith and trust in God’s protection. This period of concealment is a testament to the protective instincts of a mother and the providential care of God, who preserves Moses for his future mission.

Persons / Places / Events

1. Moses' Mother (Jochebed)
The mother of Moses, who is not named in this verse but is later identified as Jochebed. She is a Levite woman who demonstrates faith and courage by hiding her son.

2. Moses
The child referred to in this verse, who would grow up to become one of the most significant leaders in Israel's history, leading the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage.

3. Pharaoh's Decree
The backdrop of this event is Pharaoh's decree to kill all Hebrew male infants, which sets the stage for Jochebed's desperate and faithful actions.

4. Egypt
The land where the Israelites were enslaved, and where this event takes place.

5. The Nile River
Although not mentioned in this specific verse, it is significant in the broader account as the place where Moses is eventually placed in a basket.

Teaching Points

Faith in Action
Jochebed's decision to hide Moses for three months is a powerful example of faith in action. Despite the risk, she trusted in God's protection over her child.

The Value of Life
This verse underscores the inherent value and potential seen in every child. Jochebed's recognition of Moses' beauty and worth led her to protect him at all costs.

Courage Against Oppression
Jochebed's actions demonstrate the courage required to stand against unjust laws and decrees, trusting in God's higher authority.

God's Sovereign Plan
Even in dire circumstances, God is at work. Moses' preservation is part of a larger divine plan for the deliverance of Israel.

Bible Study Questions

1. How does Jochebed's faith and courage inspire you in your own life when facing difficult circumstances?

2. In what ways can we recognize and affirm the value of life in our communities today, as Jochebed did with Moses?

3. How can we discern when to stand against unjust laws or practices, and what role does faith play in those decisions?

4. Reflect on a time when you saw God's sovereign plan unfold in your life or the life of someone you know. How did it strengthen your faith?

5. How can the account of Moses' early life encourage us to trust in God's protection and provision, even when the future seems uncertain?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Hebrews 11:23
This verse in the New Testament highlights the faith of Moses' parents, emphasizing their courage in defying the king's edict.

Acts 7:20
Stephen's speech refers to Moses as "no ordinary child," echoing the description of Moses as beautiful and special.

Exodus 1:22
Provides context for Pharaoh's decree to kill Hebrew male infants, which directly influences the actions of Moses' mother.

Sermons

A Devoted Sister	H. O. Mackey.	Exodus 2:1-4
Children in Need of Preserving Mercy	A. Nevin, D. D.	Exodus 2:1-4
Divine Ordering of Events	G. Bush, D. D.	Exodus 2:1-4
God's Providence in Our Family Life	W. M. Taylor, D. D.	Exodus 2:1-4
Lessons	G. Hughes, B. D.	Exodus 2:1-4
Miriam	J. Wells.	Exodus 2:1-4
Miriam's Tact	J. Parker, D. D.	Exodus 2:1-4
Moses and Christ	H. Wonnacott.	Exodus 2:1-4
Parental Instruction Best	Cawdray.	Exodus 2:1-4
Sisters and Brothers	Dr. Talmage.	Exodus 2:1-4
The	J. S. Exell, M. A.	Exodus 2:1-4
The Ark of Bulrushes	J. C. Gray.	Exodus 2:1-4
The Babe in the Bulrushes	C. S. Robinson, D. D.	Exodus 2:1-4
The Beautiful Ministry of a Youthful Life	J. S. Exell, M. A.	Exodus 2:1-4
The Bulrush	W. M. Taylor, D. D.	Exodus 2:1-4
The Cradle on the Waters	J. S. Exell, M. A.	Exodus 2:1-4
The Events of Life Under a Divine Providence	T. De Witt Talmage.	Exodus 2:1-4
The Faith of Moses' Parents	H. Cowles, D. D.	Exodus 2:1-4
The Infancy of Moses	Caleb Morris.	Exodus 2:1-4
The Minute Providence of God	W. M. Taylor, D. D.	Exodus 2:1-4
The Mother of Moses	J. O. Davies.	Exodus 2:1-4
The Mother Remained At Home, Showing	J. S. Exell, M. A.	Exodus 2:1-4
The Watching Sister	J. Parker, D. D.	Exodus 2:1-4
Training of Children	Dr. Payson.	Exodus 2:1-4
Weak Links Useful	J. J. Van Oosterzee, D. D.	Exodus 2:1-4
The Infancy of Moses	D. Young	Exodus 2:1-9
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

Bare, Beareth, Beautiful, Birth, Bore, Child, Conceived, Conceiveth, Fair, Fine, Goodly, Hid, Hideth, Kept, Months, Secretly

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Exodus 2:2

5104 Moses, foreshadower of Christ
5812 concealment

Exodus 2:1-2

5720 mothers, examples

Exodus 2:1-3

4309 bitumen and tar
5102 Moses, life of

Exodus 2:1-6

4502 reed

Exodus 2:1-8

5737 sisters

Exodus 2:1-10

5652 babies
7775 prophets, lives

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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