LESSON VI.--MAY 8.

THE CHILD MOSES.--EXOD. 2:1-10.

      GOLDEN TEXT.--The Lord is thy keeper.--PSALM 121:5.
      TIME.--The Birth of Moses is placed about B. C. 1571.
      PLACES.--Probably the city of Zoan, also called Tanis, situated on a branch of the Nile.
      HELPFUL READINGS.--Exod. 1:12-22; Ps. 121:1-8; Heb. 11:24-27.
      LESSON ANALYSIS.--1. The Babe in the Ark; 2. The Daughter of Pharaoh; 3. The Son of Pharaoh's Daughter.

INTRODUCTION.

      It should be noted that the bondage of the Hebrews differs from modern slavery in one respect--that the bondmen were held by the king and the nation in their national capacity, and not by individuals. They were not held as private, but as public property. The king and the nation therefore, as such bore the guilt and the responsibility of this oppression, and God let his judgments for the most part smite them in such a way as to indicate their sin. A second feature of the oppression was the king's cruel edict to murder the male infants. This was first enjoined on the Hebrew midwives. Fearing God more than the Egyptian king, they evaded obedience, whereupon the king commanded all the male infants to be cast into the river. The reason assigned for both these measures was public policy, to prevent the rapid increase of the Hebrew population which, the king assumed, might be dangerous to his throne and people in case of a foreign invasion.--Cowles.

      Here begins the history of one of the great souls of the earth. In original endowments, in the grandeur of his mission, and in the permanence of his influence, no other man has been more highly honored of God. In law and literature, as well as in religion, in the world of action, as well as of thought, in the Occident as well as the Orient, what name outshines the name of Moses? No other man ever touched the world at so many points as he, and through no other did God ever so move the world. We must accept his claim to inspiration, or leave him a riddle unsolved.--F. H. Newhall.

      The proceeding detailed is a beautiful illustration of the connection which should always exist between the diligent use of means and a pious trust in Providence. Instead of sitting down in sullen despair or passive reliance on Divine interposition, everything is done which can be done by human agency to secure the wished-for result. The careful mother pitches every seam and chink of the frail vessel as anxiously as if its precious deposit were to owe its preservation solely to her care and diligence. Nor even yet does she think she has done enough. Miriam, her daughter, must go and at a distance watch the event, and strange would it be if she did not herself in the meantime take a station where she could watch the watcher. And here we behold all the parties standing precisely upon the line where the province of human sagacity, foresight and industry ends, and providential succor [132] begins. The mother had done her part; the rushes, the slime, and the pitch were her prudent and necessary preparations; and the great God has been at the same time preparing his materials and arranging his instruments. He causes everything to concur, not by miraculous influence, but by the simple and natural operation of second causes, to bring about the issue designed in his counsels from everlasting. The state of the weather, the flux of the current, the promenade of Pharaoh's daughter, the state of her feelings, the steps of her attendants, are all so overruled at that particular juncture as to lead to the discovery, the rescue, and the disposal of the child.--Bush.

      The monuments and the narratives of ancient writers show us in the Nile of Egypt in old times a stream bordered by flags and reeds, the covert of abundant wild fowl, and bearing on its waters the fragrant flowers of the various-colored lotus. Now in Egypt scarcely any reeds or water-plants--the famous papyrus being nearly if not quite extinct, and the lotus almost unknown--are to be seen, excepting in the marshes near the Mediterranean.--Smith.

      I. THE BABE IN THE ARK.--1. There went a man of the house of Levi. His name was Amram, and his wife, Jochebed, was also of his own tribe. We know that two children, Miriam and Aaron, were born before Moses, though the birth of the latter is the only one here given. At this time Miriam was probably thirteen and Aaron three years old. As it is certain that Aaron was three years old at the birth of Moses, and we have no intimation that his infancy was in any way exposed to peril, we may decide that the edict to destroy the male children was issued not long before the birth of Moses. To what extent the murderous edict was carried, or how long it was in force, we are not informed. When we consider that the love of offspring was an absorbing passion with the Israelites, inasmuch as all their future hopes depended on and were connected with a numerous issue, we can easily conceive the horror which must have hung over the people as long as the bloody statute was unrepealed.

      2. When she saw that he was a goodly child she hid him three months. As a wife and mother in Israel, she was looking and longing for the birth of another man-child; but that fond expectation was darkened by the bitter reflection that an order had gone forth which would in all probability consign her son, if she had one, to the jaws of the devouring crocodile of the Nile. Yet it is not improbable, from the apostle's words, (Heb. 11:23), that some extraordinary presentiments in the minds of his parents, accompanied the [133] birth of this illustrious child, and strengthened by this faith he was hidden three months from the rage of the Egyptian dragon.--Bush.

     

THE BULRUSHES, OR PAPYRUS

3. She took for him an ark of bulrushes. At the end of three months the vigor of the search on the part of her enemies convinced her that further concealment was impracticable, and that she must part with her treasure. She, therefore, probably by divine guidance, either known or unknown, commits him to the Nile. The ark, or basket, in which the babe was exposed, was constructed of reeds called bulrushes, that grew about ten feet high, and are better known in history as papyrus. It was used for the structure of boats and the manufacture of paper. In Isaiah 18:2 the prophet says: "That sendeth his ambassadors by the sea-shore in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters." The accompanying cut will give a better idea of the plant than a description.

      4. And his sister stood afar off. The child, placed in this water-tight basket, was left among the reeds near the margin in the waters. The sister, no doubt Miriam, now about thirteen years of age, it has been supposed, and undoubtedly older than Aaron, stood at a distance to watch over the fate of the castaway.

      II. THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAOH.--5. The daughter of Pharaoh. This princess was apparently the sister of Amenophis, the son of Amosis. He was a prosperous and able king, and during his reign the forced labor of the [134] Israelites seems to have been reduced to system; but we may feel sure, from his character, that he passed no such cruel decrees as that which condemned the children of the nobles to a watery grave.--R. Payne Smith. To wash herself. The fact that a king's daughter should bathe in the open river is certainly opposed to the customs of the modern Mohammedan East, where this is only done by women of the lower orders, and that in remote places; but it is in harmony with the customs of ancient Egypt, and in perfect agreement with the notions of the early Egyptians respecting the sanctity of the Wile, to which divine honors ever were paid; and with the belief, which was common to both ancient and modern Egyptians, in the power of its waters to impart fruitfulness and prolong life.--Keil. The habits of the princess, as well as her character, must have been well known to the mother of Moses, and probably decided her choice of the place.--Canon Cook. At the river. The facts recorded in these verses, according to M. Quatremere, suggest a satisfactory answer as to the residence of the daughter of Pharaoh and of the family of Moses. It must have been in the immediate neighborhood of the Nile; and, therefore, not at On or Heliopolis. It must have been near a branch of the Nile not infested by crocodiles, or the child would not have been exposed, nor would the princess have bathed there; therefore not near Memphis, where Amosis rebuilt the great temple of Ptah, from which the city took its name. At present crocodiles are not often found below the cataracts; but under the ancient empire they were common as far north as Memphis. These and other indications, agreeing with the traditions recorded by Eutychius, point to Zoan, Tanis, now San, the ancient Avaris, or the Tanitic branch of the river near the sea, where crocodiles are never found, which was probably the western boundary of the district occupied by the Israelites.--Canon Cook. She saw the ark. The ark was made of the papyrus, which was commonly used by the Egyptians for light and swift boats; the species is no longer found in the Nile below Nubia. It is a strong rush, like the bamboo, about the thickness of a finger, not round but three cornered.

      6. She saw the child. Rather; "She saw him, the child, and behold, a male infant weeping." The weeping child appealed to a sympathy, natural to the heart of a woman. She was a merciful daughter of a cruel father, and though she recognized him as one of the Hebrew children, doomed to death, she obeyed the dictates of her woman's heart, rather than the king's edict. . . . The voice of Egyptian edicts said, "It is a Hebrew, he must die." The mightier voice of nature--no, of God, spake within her, and said, "It is a human being--bone of your bone, and sharing the same life." That moment the princess of Egypt escaped from the trammels of [135] time-distinctions and temporary narrowness, and stood upon the rock of the eternal. So long as the feeling lasted she breathed the spirit of that kingdom in which there is "neither Jew nor Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free." So long as the feeling lasted, she breathed the atmosphere of Him who came not to be ministered unto but to minister.--F. W. Robertson.

      7. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter. Miriam, no doubt, came up and joined the train as if by accident. If she had not previously been instructed by her mother what to say under contingency of such an occurrence as now really took place, we cannot but refer this suggestion on the part of the little girl to an immediate inward prompting from above. How else should it have entered her thoughts to propose making the mother of the exposed infant its nurse?--Bush.

      III. THE SON OF PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER.--8. The maid went and called her mother. The plan worked out successfully. The kind hearted princess had found the child, her sympathy had been aroused, she had consented that a Hebrew woman should be called for the nurse of the child. The "maid," the child's sister, called his own mother. The term "maid" here used, implies a well-grown and marriageable virgin. This makes it probable that she was now about thirteen years of age, at least we may suppose.--Murphy. In the childhood of Moses, notice three things: (1) Helpless infancy. Moses in the ark. A beautiful sight. Unconscious of any danger. Mother far away. No one to help the child. Yes, unseen dangers have lurked around our infancy. We may never know how near we have been to peril. (2) Sisterly affection. Miriam afar off. Yet she watched the ark. Anxious to know her little brother's fate. A very pretty sight to see, one child caring for another. The elder sister nursing and tending and watching the infant. (3) Filial obedience. While love aided her in doing this, probably her mother incited her. She obeyed. Afar off, but not too far. Had she stayed away, or played, or forgotten her duty, Moses might have been taken and his mother not know by whom. Parents may be helped by dutiful daughters. Learn: (1) to have compassion on the very young. (2) To help parents without waiting for the command--J. C. Gray.

      9. Pharaoh's daughter said. The fact that she took compassion on the weeping child, and' notwithstanding the king's command (1:22), took it and had [136] it brought up may be accounted for by the compassion and love of children innate in the heart of woman. The mother evidently took the child to her own home (see next verse) to nurse it, not as her own, but as a child committed to her by the princess.

      10. She brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter. Though it must have been nearly as severe a trial with Jochebed to part with him the second time as the first, she was, doubtless, reconciled to it by her belief in his high destination as the future deliverer of Israel. His age, when removed to the palace, is not stated, but he was old enough to be well instructed in the principles of true religion; and those early impressions, deepened by the power of divine grace, were never forgotten or effaced.--R. Jamieson. Moses probably passed the early years of his life in Lower Egypt, where the princess resided. All the notices in this book indicate a thorough familiarity with that portion of the country, and scarcely refer to the Thebaid.--Canon Cook. There can be no doubt that, as the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter, Moses received a thoroughly Egyptian training, and was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, as Stephen states in Acts 7:22, in accordance with Jewish tradition. Through such an education as this he received just the training required for the performance of the work to which God had called him. Thus the wisdom of Egypt was employed by the wisdom of God for the establishment of the kingdom of God. She called his name Moses. The name of the great lawgiver was not given by his parents but by the princess. It is not Hebrew but Egyptian. Josephus says, "The Egyptians call water Mo and those who are rescued from water uses." This is all Moses tells us of the first forty years of his life.

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

      What the world calls chance is the overruling providence of God, shaping circumstances to accomplish its purposes.

      The divine providence takes into the sweep of its plan all events and all characters, and makes even human wills its unconscious instruments.

      Great results often come from little causes. But cause and effect sustain direct relation one unto the other. Whatever comes out in effect must go in as cause, whether it be obvious or concealed. Secondary causes which man may discover may be few and insufficient, but the first cause, God himself, suffices every time. Hence this feeble babe, drawn from the waters, became the Law-giver of the world, and his song is joined with that of the Lamb in the chorus of Revelation.--Vincent. [137]

      The King's Daughter when she went to the river meant only to wash herself; God fetches her thither to deliver the deliverer of his people. His designs go beyond ours. We know not, when we set our foot over our threshold, what he hath to do with us.--Bishop Hall.

      This is all that Moses tells us of his own youth. How easily could we have written lines which would have satisfied the curiosity of age! but he hastens over years to touch the next link in the providential chain. The sacred writers ever show this baffling, unworldly reticence. Thus the youth of Moses' great antitype, Jesus, is almost, a blank in history.--F. H. Newhall.

      PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER.--The traditions which give a name to this princess are probably of later origin and merely conjectual. Josephus call her Thermuthis, which means "the great mother," a designation of Neith, the special deity of Lower Egypt; but it does not occur as the name of a princess. The names Pharia, Merris, and Bithia are also found in Syncellus, Eusebius, and the rabbins. It is of more importance to observe that the Egyptian princesses held a very high and almost independent position under the ancient and middle empire, with a separate household and numerous officials.--Canon Cook.

      WOMAN IN EGYPT.--The intellectual and moral condition of woman in Egypt was far higher than in Asia or in Greece. Polygamy was rare, and the harem seclusion unknown. Women were respected and honored in society, much as in modern Europe and America, and the wives and daughters of kings succeeded to the throne of the Pharaohs. Wilkinson says that the Egyptians recognized the fact that the morals and manners of society depended on the respect shown to women.--F. H. Newhall.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

      1. Outline the state of Israel in Egypt. 2. Picture the appalling force of the cruel edict. 3. Point out the reasons why Moses was preserved by his parents. The babe hidden through faith. 4. Show who was the protector of the child, a child called of God to a mighty work. 5. Bring out the facts of the exposure of the child, and his rescue. 6. Show how the providence of God was manifest. 7. Point out the facts to the credit of Pharaoh's Daughter. 8. Give reasons why God permitted Moses to be rescued in the royal court. 9. Bring out all the facts of the first forty years of the life of Moses. 10. Point out some of the men named in both sacred and secular history that God has reared for an appointed work. [138]

Source: Barton Warren Johnson. The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1887. Des Moines, IA: