Exodus begins with, “And these are the names,” indicating Moses was continuing the story of Genesis. A list of the sons of Jacob who entered Egypt with their father, some seventy people not counting Joseph and his family, followed (Exodus 1:1-5).
The population of the children of Israel grew rapidly, to the point that Moses could say the land was filled with them. A Pharaoh ascended to the throne who did not know Joseph. Fear of the rapidly multiplying Hebrews led him to deal craftily with them by placing them in slavery. The Hebrews continued to grow in numbers, despite the hard work (Exodus 1:6-14).
Pharaoh told the two women in charge of the Hebrew midwives to kill all the boy babies at birth. They feared God more than any human authority, so they refused to be a part of such cruelty. When they did not follow Pharaoh’s instructions, the number of the people continued to grow. When questioned by Pharaoh, they explained that the Hebrew women were sturdier than the Egyptian women, and the children were born before midwives could even arrive on the scene. God blessed these women with homes and families, not because they lied to Pharaoh, but because they feared Him more than man (Exodus 1:15-21).
The failure of his first two plans caused Pharaoh to tell all his Hebrew subjects to cast every male child into the river. Amram and Jochebed, of the tribe of Levi, had a baby boy. Their faith in God motivated them to hide him for three months (Exodus 1:22-2:2; Acts 7:19-20; Hebrews 11:23).
When he could no longer be safely hidden, Jochebed put the baby in the river in an ark of bulrushes. Pharaoh’s daughter saw the ark and took him out of the water. Miriam, the baby’s sister, offered to get a wet nurse, which resulted in him being returned to the care of his own mother. Pharaoh’s daughter adopted the child, naming him Moses, which means “drawn out,” because she had drawn him out of the water (Exodus 2:3‑10). Moses, thus, came to know all about God and His people while also being educated in all the Egyptians’ wisdom (Acts 7:21‑22).
[Editor’s Note: Certainly, God is in control and works behind the scenes in conjunction with the activities of His enemies as well as with the efforts put forth by His faithful children (Genesis 45:5-7; 50:20). God’s providence is far-reaching, to include affecting nations (Daniel 4:17, 25, 32; 5:21). In the case of Moses, God determined that His deliverer—Moses—would live and prosper, afterward, delivering Israel from Egyptian captivity. ~ Louis Rushmore, Editor]
