Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 2

There went. —Compare Genesis 35:22; Hosea 1:3. The expression is idiomatic, and has no special force.

A man of the house of Levi. —Note the extreme simplicity of this announcement; and compare it with the elaborate legends with which Oriental religions commonly surrounded the birth of those who were considered their founders, as Thoth, Zoroaster, Orpheus. Even the name of the man is here omitted as unimportant. It is difficult to conceive anyone but Moses making such an omission.

A daughter of Levi —that is, a woman of the same tribe as himself, a descendant of Levi—not a daughter in the literal sense, which the chronology makes impossible.

When she saw him that he was a goodly child. —St. Stephen says that Moses was "comely before God"—ἀστεῖος τῷ θεῷ (Acts 7:20). Trogus Pompeius spoke of him as recommended by the beauty of his personal appearance (ap. Justin, Hist. Philipp. xxvi. 2). His infant “goodliness” intensified the desire of his mother to save his life, but must not be regarded as the main cause of her anxiety.

She hid him three months. —As long as she could hope to conceal him effectively. It must be remembered that Egyptians were mixed with Israelites in Goshen, and that each Hebrew household would be subjected to espionage from the time of the issue of the edict.

An ark of bulrushes. —Literally, a chest of the papyrus plant. The words used are both of Egyptian origin. Teb, teba, or tebat, is a “box” or chest in Egyptian, and is well Hebraised by tebah, or, as it is here vocalised, têybah. The papyrus plant was in Egyptian kam, as in modern Coptic, from where probably the Hebrew gôme. It was a material frequently used by the Egyptians for boats and even larger vessels (Isaiah 18:2; Theophrast. Hist. Plant, iv. 8, §4; Plin. H. N. 13:11).

Slime and pitch. —By “slime” seems to be meant bitumen, or mineral pitch, as in Genesis 11:3; by “pitch” (zaphath), the ordinary vegetable pitch of commerce. Mineral pitch, though not a product of Egypt, was imported into the country from Mesopotamia, and was largely used for embalming (Brugsch, History of Egypt, vol. i. p. 361).

In the flags. —A rank aquatic vegetation abounds on the Lower Nile, and in all the back-waters and marshy tracts connected with it. Jochebed placed her child “in the flags,” that the ark might not float away down the river, and so be lost to her sight. The word used for “flag”— suph —seems to be a Hebraised form of tufi, a common Egyptian word, having this sense.

His sister: Presumably Miriam, the only sister of Moses mentioned elsewhere (Exodus 15:20–21; Numbers 26:59). To have taken the part assigned to her in this chapter, she must have been a girl of about fourteen or fifteen years of age, and possessed much quickness and intelligence.

The daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself. —This would be quite in accordance with Egyptian ideas. “Women were allowed great liberty in Egypt, and moved about much as they pleased. Cleanliness was especially regarded; and the Nile water was considered healthy and life-giving (Strab. 15 p. 695). The princess would, of course, seek a part of the river which was reserved for females. Probably Jochebed knew where she was accustomed to bathe.

Her maidens. —As a princess, she was, of course, accompanied by a number of female attendants (na’aroth). Even ordinary Egyptian ladies seem to have been attended at the bath by four or five such persons. One of them was, however, in particular her waiting-woman (âmah), and to her the princess addressed herself.