The big picture
Moses enters Exodus through a chain of preservation that repeatedly turns Pharaoh's policy against itself. His mother places him in a waterproofed ark among the reeds, his sister watches, and Pharaoh's daughter recognizes exactly what kind of child she has found and saves him anyway. The result is almost comic in its reversal: Moses' own mother is paid from the royal household to nurse the Hebrew boy marked by royal decree. Adulthood is rougher. Moses kills an Egyptian who is beating a Hebrew, discovers that the act is known, and flees when Pharaoh seeks his life. In Midian he again intervenes for people being pushed aside, builds a household, and still calls himself a stranger. The chapter closes with Israel groaning, and God hearing, remembering, seeing, and attending before Moses knows he will be sent.
Central truth
Under Pharaoh’s decree against Hebrew boys, Moses survives through his mother’s protection, his sister’s intervention, and the compassion of Pharaoh’s own daughter. As Moses moves from intervention in Egypt to exile and a household in Midian, God hears Israel’s groaning and remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Exodus 2:1: “And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.”
Slow down at the turning point
Exodus 2:13: “And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy…”
Keep this word trail visible
Moses, child, daughter, Egyptian, Pharaoh’s, water
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Exodus 2:1–10
Exodus 2:1-2
A family under the decree
Start by putting 1:22 back on the board, because every verse of this passage lives under that order. Then read 2:1-2. The family is named only by tribe: a man of the house of Levi, a daughter of Levi. Explain "goodly child" as a fine or healthy child, and note that the word recalls the "good" of creation in Genesis 1. The mother hides him three months. Teach this first so the class feels the danger is real and the hiding is a risk, before any rescue appears.
Exodus 2:3-4
The ark among the flags
Explain the vocabulary: an "ark of bulrushes" is a basket of papyrus reeds, "slime" is bitumen, and the "flags" are reeds growing at the water's edge. Point out that the word ark is the same one used of Noah's vessel in Genesis 6, a container that carries a life through waters of death. Then place the sister: standing afar off, watching. Teach the setting carefully because learners usually picture a basket floating away, and the text shows a planned placement under watch.
Exodus 2:5-6
Recognition and compassion
Pharaoh's daughter comes down to wash with her maidens, sees the ark and sends her maid. Read 2:6 slowly. She opens it, the baby is crying, she has compassion, and she says, "This is one of the Hebrews' children". Stress the order: she knows who he is and what her father has ordered, and compassion wins. Explain that Exodus does not name her and does not tell us what she thought of the decree. This is the turning point of the passage and deserves the most time.
Exodus 2:7-9
The sister's question and the mother's wages
Now the sister steps in with her offer, and the princess answers with one word, "Go". The maid brings the child's own mother. Read 2:9 and let the class hear the irony: the mother receives her son back, is told to nurse him, and is paid for it from Pharaoh's household. Name the sister's quick thinking without inventing her words beyond the verse. Teach this after the compassion because the rescue depends on both women, the princess who can protect and the sister who knows what to ask.
Exodus 2:10
Drawn out of the water
Close with the weaning and the adoption: the child grows, is brought to Pharaoh's daughter, and "he became her son". She names him and gives her reason. Explain that the verse ties the name to the act of drawing him out, and that Exodus offers no other explanation. Point forward gently: the boy drawn out of the water will one day lead a people out through water in chapter 14. Leave that as a connection to watch for, not a claim the verse makes.
Exodus 2:11–25
Exodus 2:11-12
He went out unto his brethren
Begin by noting the jump in time: the child of 2:10 is now grown. Read "he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens" and point out that Moses identifies with the Hebrews though he was raised in the palace. Then read the killing plainly. The phrase "looked this way and that way" shows deliberation and secrecy; "hid him in the sand" shows he knew it would be judged. Do not praise or condemn beyond what the verse says, but teach the class to notice that Moses acts alone and in hiding. Explain that Acts 7:23-25 gives a later reflection on his motive.
Exodus 2:13-15
Who made thee a prince
On the second day the conflict is between two Hebrews. Moses asks a fair question, and the answer is a pair of questions that unmask him. Explain "a prince and a judge" as a ruler with the right to settle disputes, which is what Moses has been acting as. Then read "Surely this thing is known" and Pharaoh's attempt to kill him. Teach this step to show that zeal without commission fails: his own people do not accept him, and the palace turns against him. Moses flees and sits down by a well.
Exodus 2:16-20
At the well in Midian
Explain that a well is where travellers meet, and that Genesis has already shown meetings at wells, with Rebekah in Genesis 24 and Rachel in Genesis 29. Here seven daughters of the priest of Midian are driven off by shepherds and Moses stands up for them, then waters their flock. Read Reuel's questions with their natural surprise. Teach this after the failure in Egypt because it shows the same instinct to defend the weak, now without a killing, and it brings Moses into a household that receives him.
Exodus 2:21-22
A stranger in a strange land
Moses is "content to dwell with the man", marries Zipporah, and has a son. Explain the name Gershom through the verse's own reason: "I have been a stranger in a strange land." Moses is an Israelite raised as an Egyptian, now living in Midian. Let the class feel the distance: he has settled, but he names his son for his displacement. Explain that Reuel here and Jethro in 3:1 are commonly understood as names for the same man, and leave the details of that question for those who ask.
Exodus 2:23-25
God heard, remembered, looked
Finish where the chapter turns. Years pass, the king dies, and Israel is still in bondage, sighing and crying. Then the subject changes: God heard their groaning, God remembered his covenant, God looked, God had respect unto them. Explain that remembered does not mean God had forgotten; it means he acts on his promise. Point back to Genesis 15:13-14 and the covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Teach this last because it is the hinge into chapter 3, and because Moses' failures in this chapter are answered by God's initiative, not by Moses' improvement.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
Exodus 2:1–10
"Moses' mother put him on the river and let him float away."
The text says "she laid it in the flags by the river's brink" (2:3), among reeds at the edge, and that his sister "stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him" (2:4). Nothing drifts. It is a careful act by a mother who has already hidden him for three months, with a watcher posted. Correcting this restores the family's agency and makes the later rescue a meeting of plans rather than an accident of current.
"Pharaoh's daughter did not know he was Hebrew."
She says so herself: "This is one of the Hebrews' children" (2:6). She recognises him, and then she has compassion and takes him in. Her choice is made with full knowledge of her father's order in 1:22. Teach the class to hear that sentence, because it makes her one of the people in these chapters who refuse to take part in killing, alongside the midwives of chapter 1.
"The sister in this chapter is called Miriam."
Exodus 2 does not name her; she is "his sister" in 2:4 and 2:7, and "the maid" in 2:8. Numbers 26:59 names a sister Miriam, and readers commonly identify her with this girl, which is a reasonable inference. Teach the difference between what this chapter says and what later Scripture adds, so learners know where each fact comes from.
"God is not in this chapter, so it is just a lucky escape."
God is not named in 2:1-10, and that is worth noticing. But the chapter sits between 1:20-21, where God deals well with the midwives, and 2:24-25, where God hears and remembers. Hebrews 11:23 calls the parents' hiding an act of faith. Let the class see that the Book of Exodus can show God at work through ordinary people without announcing it in every verse.
Exodus 2:11–25
"Moses was a murderer, so God could never use him."
Exodus does not hide what Moses did (2:12), and Pharaoh seeks to kill him for it (2:15). But the chapter ends with God hearing and remembering (2:24), and chapter 3 calls this same man. Let the class hold both: the act was real and had consequences, and God's purpose is not ended by it. Do not excuse the killing, and do not pronounce a final verdict on Moses' motives where the text does not.
"Moses killed the Egyptian because God told him to."
There is no command in 2:11-12. Moses looks around, acts, and hides the body; the next day he is challenged with "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?" (2:14). His commission comes only in 3:10. Acts 7:25 says he supposed his brethren would understand that God would deliver them by his hand, which describes his expectation, not a command. Keep the lack of commission in view.
"When the king died, the slavery ended."
Verse 23 says the opposite: "the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage". A new Pharaoh brings no relief. What changes is that "God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant" (2:24). Teach that the turning point of Exodus is God's attention and promise, not a change of ruler, which is why chapter 3 begins with God speaking.
"Moses was an Egyptian, as the daughters said."
The daughters say "An Egyptian delivered us" (2:19), and that is how Moses looks to them. But 2:11 calls the Hebrews "his brethren", and 2:1 places his birth in the house of Levi. Teach the class to read a character's description as that character's view. Moses is a Hebrew raised in Egypt and living as a stranger in Midian, which is why he names his son Gershom.
Learning objectives
- Trace the child’s movement from concealment to adoption.
- Locate the ark at the river’s edge.
- Identify each woman’s distinct protective action.
- Explain why the princess’s recognition matters.
- Distinguish later biblical names from this passage’s wording.
- Explain the reversal created by the nursing arrangement.
- Trace Moses’ interventions in Egypt and Midian.
- Distinguish Moses’ concern from divine authorization of his actions.
- Explain the challenge to Moses’ authority in verse 14.
- Identify the contrasting descriptions of Moses’ belonging.
- Explain the significance assigned to Gershom’s name.
- Identify God’s actions in the passage’s closing verses.
Teacher preparation
- Read Exodus 1:22 first; preserve the threat beneath the familiar basket scene.
- Define “flags” as reeds, “to wit” as to know, and “nurse” here as someone feeding and caring for an infant.
- Sketch the riverbank with reeds, basket, watching sister, and approaching princess; do not draw an uncontrolled downstream voyage.
- Check Exodus 6:20 and Numbers 26:59 for Amram, Jochebed, and Miriam; label these as information supplied elsewhere.
- Plan sensitive language for separation and adoption; do not ask learners to discuss their own family origins.
- Read Exodus 2:1–10 and 3:1–10; place exile between palace adoption and divine commissioning.
- Define “strove” as fought, “stranger” as an outsider, and “had respect” as took notice in this context.
- Mark Egypt and Midian schematically; avoid claiming a precise flight route the text does not provide.
- Compare Reuel in 2:18 with Jethro in 3:1; prepare to acknowledge the naming question rather than conceal it.
- Read Acts 7:23–29 for Moses’ age and expectation; identify these as details supplied by Acts, not this passage.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Locate the three months of concealment, protected ark, watching sister, compassion, wages, and adoption in Exodus 2:2–10. Locate the killing and concealment in Exodus 2:12, Pharaoh’s pursuit in 2:15, and Moses’ help at the well in 2:17.
Scripture-supported
Use Exodus 6:20 and Numbers 26:59 to identify the parents and sister; Exodus 2:1–10 does not itself name them. Use Acts 7:25 for Moses’ expectation that his brethren would recognize deliverance through him; Exodus 2:11–14 does not state that expectation.
Strong inference
Infer from Exodus 1:22 and 2:6–10 that protection within Pharaoh’s household sharply reverses his policy; the princess knowingly recognizes a Hebrew child. Infer from “brethren,” “Egyptian,” and “stranger” in Exodus 2:11, 19, and 22 that the passage emphasizes Moses’ unsettled belonging.
Possible or traditional reading
Treat the proposal that the mother chose a known royal bathing place as possible; Exodus 2:3–5 supplies location and discovery, not her complete plan. Present Reuel and Jethro as two names for the same father-in-law as a possible explanation of Exodus 2:18 and 3:1, not an explanation supplied there.
Limit
Do not supply the sister’s age, the princess’s name, or Moses’ age at adoption; Exodus 2:4–10 leaves these unspecified. Do not claim God ordered the killing or forgot Israel until its cry; Exodus 2:12 gives no command, and 2:24 names covenant remembrance.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. Where is the ark placed, and who remains nearby?
What a good answer contains
The text says "she laid it in the flags by the river's brink" (2:3), among the reeds at the edge, not out on the current. "And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him" (2:4). A good answer places the basket deliberately and the sister on watch. A weak answer has the child drifting downstream alone, which is the picture many carry from illustrations and which leaves out the family's careful planning.
Show teacher guidance
Point to verses 3–4: among reeds at the river’s brink, with the sister watching at a distance. Correct the drifting-basket assumption.
2. What does Pharaoh’s daughter know before deciding to help?
What a good answer contains
She opens the ark, sees the child weeping, has compassion, and says "This is one of the Hebrews' children" (2:6). She knows exactly whose child it is and what her father's decree says about him. A strong answer notices that recognition comes before compassion and that she acts anyway. A weak answer imagines she thought the child was Egyptian, which takes the courage out of her choice.
Show teacher guidance
Use verse 6: she recognizes a Hebrew child and has compassion. Do not describe her as unknowingly protecting an Egyptian infant.
3. What does the sister’s question make possible?
What a good answer contains
"Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?" (2:7). The question gives Pharaoh's daughter a practical next step and brings the child's own mother back to him: "the maid went and called the child's mother" (2:8). A good answer sees the sister's quick thinking and the way the offer keeps the child among his people. A weak answer has the princess arrange everything herself.
Show teacher guidance
Trace verses 7–9: an offer to find a Hebrew nurse brings the child’s own mother into the arrangement.
4. Who receives wages, and why is that a remarkable reversal?
What a good answer contains
The mother does: "Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages" (2:9). The woman who had to hide her son is now paid by Pharaoh's household to raise him openly. A good answer names that reversal and keeps it modest: it is Pharaoh's daughter who pays, and the text says nothing about Pharaoh knowing. A weak answer invents his approval or a court scene.
Show teacher guidance
Identify the mother in verses 8–9. Pharaoh’s daughter funds the care of a child his decree endangered; do not invent Pharaoh’s personal approval.
5. How does verse 10 explain Moses’ name?
What a good answer contains
The verse reads, "she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water" (2:10). The explanation is hers and it is tied to what she did at the river. A good answer repeats the verse's reason. A weak answer presents an Egyptian or Hebrew etymology as though Exodus gave it; teachers may mention that scholars discuss the name's origin, but should say that the verse itself gives only this explanation.
Show teacher guidance
Repeat the verse’s explanation that he was drawn out of the water. Avoid presenting an additional etymology as though Exodus supplied it.
6. What do Hebrews 11:23 and Numbers 26:59 add to this passage?
What a good answer contains
Hebrews 11:23 adds that the parents hid him "by faith" and "were not afraid of the king's commandment". Numbers 26:59 names the parents, Amram and Jochebed, and a sister, Miriam. A good answer keeps these as later Scripture filling in what Exodus 2 leaves unnamed. A weak answer reads the names back into this chapter as though they were here, or claims the sister is named in 2:4.
Show teacher guidance
Distinguish the parents’ faith and the family names from Exodus’s local wording. Correct the claim that the sister is named here.
7. How do Moses’ interventions on the two Egyptian days differ?
What a good answer contains
On the first day he sees "an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren", looks "this way and that way", kills the Egyptian and hides him "in the sand" (2:11-12). On the second day he finds two Hebrews fighting and asks the wrongdoer, "Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?" (2:13). A good answer keeps the two days apart: violence in secret, then words in the open. A weak answer merges them into one fight.
Show teacher guidance
Compare verses 11–14: he kills an Egyptian, then questions a Hebrew wrongdoer. Correct any account that merges these into one encounter.
8. What does “Who made thee a prince and a judge” challenge?
What a good answer contains
It challenges his authority: "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?" (2:14). Moses has acted as though he had the right to judge, and no one has given it to him. The second question, "intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian?", exposes the killing. A strong answer sees both and notes that the commission Moses lacks here will be given in 3:10. A weak answer reads the Hebrew as simply ungrateful.
Show teacher guidance
Identify the rejection of Moses’ authority in verse 14, along with exposure of the killing. Reserve his explicit commission for Exodus 3.
9. What does Moses actually do for the women at the well?
What a good answer contains
"Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock" (2:17), and the daughters add that he "drew water enough for us" (2:19). He defends them against the shepherds who drove them away, and then does the ordinary work of drawing water for the whole flock. A good answer includes both the defence and the labour. A weak answer reduces him to a hero with a speech, when the verse gives him a bucket.
Show teacher guidance
Name both defense against the shepherds and watering the flock in verse 17. Avoid reducing his help to impressive words.
10. Why does Reuel ask where the helpful man has been left?
What a good answer contains
Because they have come home early and left the helper at the well. "How is it that ye are come so soon to day?" he asks (2:18), and when he hears, "where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread" (2:20). A good answer hears the father's surprise and the hospitality of a meal. Let the gentle humour come through; this is a household where a stranger is welcome.
Show teacher guidance
Use verses 18–20: the daughters report unusually prompt help, but have not brought the helper home. Let the practical invitation carry its gentle humor.
11. How do “brethren,” “Egyptian,” and Gershom’s name pull in different directions?
What a good answer contains
In 2:11 the Hebrews are "his brethren", the people Moses chooses as his own. In 2:19 the daughters call him "An Egyptian", which is how he looks and sounds. In 2:22 he names his son Gershom, "for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land." A strong answer holds all three: he belongs to Israel, appears Egyptian, and lives as a stranger in Midian. A weak answer picks one and drops the others.
Show teacher guidance
Trace verses 11, 19, and 22. Distinguish Moses’ identification, the women’s description, and his own explanation of being a stranger.
12. What changes in the closing verses after the king dies?
What a good answer contains
Verse 23 says "the king of Egypt died", but the bondage does not end: "the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried" (2:23). Then four verbs belong to God: he heard, remembered, looked, and "had respect unto them" (2:24-25). A good answer sees that a change of king solves nothing and that the turning point is God's attention to his covenant. A weak answer credits the death of Pharaoh with the change.
Show teacher guidance
Point to continued bondage and God hearing, remembering, looking, and taking notice in verses 23–25. A royal death has not itself liberated Israel.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Ask what a careful reader loses by replacing the riverbank details with a remembered film scene; revise one inaccurate description.
Relationships and community
Map how mother, sister, princess, and attendant contribute to protection; discuss cooperative care without soliciting family disclosures.
Use influence to protect
Present a fictional person with institutional access who notices danger to someone vulnerable; draw a limited analogy to the princess’s compassionate action.
Attend to suffering beyond the leader
Rewrite a Moses-only summary so it includes Israel’s continuing groaning and the covenant in verses 23–25.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
Exodus 2:1–10
45 minutes
The decree on the board
Write 1:22 on the board. Read 2:1-2 and ask what the hiding cost the mother.
The ark and the watcher
Read 2:3-4. Explain bulrushes, slime and flags, then ask question one and correct confusion one.
She knew
Read 2:5-6. Ask question two and take confusion two; underline "one of the Hebrews' children".
Wages and a name
Read 2:7-10. Ask questions three, four and five in turn.
Handout
Ask the class to name the three women who protect the child, read the key verse together and give out the sheet.
90 minutes
Under the decree
Reread 1:15-22, then 2:1-2. Ask what the mother saw in her son and what hiding him for three months meant.
The ark among the flags
Read 2:3-4. Explain the reed basket and compare the word ark with Genesis 6:14. Ask question one and correct confusion one with a sketch of the riverbank.
Recognition and compassion
Read 2:5-6 twice. Ask question two and take confusion two, then compare the princess with the midwives of 1:17.
The sister and the wages
Read 2:7-9. Ask questions three and four and list who does what in the rescue.
Drawn out
Read 2:10 and ask question five. Point forward to 14:21-22 as a connection to watch for.
Later Scripture
Read Hebrews 11:23 and Numbers 26:59. Ask question six and take confusions three and four.
Application
In pairs, work through the application on using influence to protect, with one fictional situation each.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together and pray for those who protect children in danger.
Exodus 2:11–25
45 minutes
The groaning first
Read 2:23-25 aloud before anything else and ask what God does in these verses. List the four verbs.
Two days in Egypt
Read 2:11-15. Ask questions one and two, then take confusions one and two together.
The well
Read 2:16-20. Ask questions three and four; let the class hear Reuel's surprise.
A stranger
Read 2:21-22 and ask question five, with confusion four.
Back to the covenant
Return to 2:23-25. Ask question six, take confusion three, read the key verse and give out the handout.
90 minutes
Before the groaning
Ask the group what changes when a cruel ruler dies. Take answers, then read 2:23 and keep the answers visible.
Looking this way and that
Read 2:11-12. Ask question one, then take confusion two with Acts 7:23-25 read alongside.
Who made thee a judge
Read 2:13-15. Ask question two and confusion one. Compare the challenge with the commission in 3:10.
The well in Midian
Read 2:16-20 with Genesis 29:1-12 alongside. Ask questions three and four.
A stranger in a strange land
Read 2:21-22. Ask question five and take confusion four.
God heard and remembered
Read 2:23-25 and Genesis 15:13-14. Ask question six and confusion three, returning to the opening answers.
Application
Work through the application on attending to suffering beyond the leader.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together and pray for people still waiting for relief.
Adapting the lesson
Exodus 2:1–10
Children
Use a small basket and a doll. Show how the mother hid her baby, made a basket that kept out water and set it in the tall grass at the edge of the river while big sister watched. Let one child be the sister who watches. Then the princess finds the baby, feels sorry for him and keeps him safe. Do not describe the king's order in detail; say only that the king was unkind to baby boys.
Youth
Ask who in the passage has power and who has courage, and let them notice they are not always the same person. The princess has power, the sister has quick words, the mother has love and a plan. Read 2:6 and ask what it cost the princess to say what she said. Talk about how ordinary people protect others in hard systems, using examples from history rather than their own lives.
Adults
Explore the irony that Pharaoh's household pays to raise the deliverer, and the theme of women preserving life across chapters 1 and 2. Read Hebrews 11:23 and Acts 7:20-22. Be aware of adults who have placed a child for adoption, adopted, or lost a child; speak of the mother's hiding and the princess's adoption with care and without judging anyone's family history.
One to one
Read the ten verses together and ask which of the three women they would most want to be like and why. If they feel powerless, notice that the sister is a child with no authority who asks one good question at the right moment. Let that be the take-home, and do not press for personal accounts of family or adoption unless they offer them.
Exodus 2:11–25
Children
Tell children that Moses grew up in the palace but knew the Hebrew slaves were his own people. Say simply that he did something very wrong in anger and had to run away; do not describe the killing. Then act out the well: seven sisters, rough shepherds, and Moses who helps them water the sheep. End with God hearing his people cry, and ask children what God does when we cry to him.
Youth
Ask them whether doing the right thing in the wrong way still counts as right. Read 2:11-15 and let them argue about Moses, then show how the Hebrew's question exposes the problem: no one gave him authority. Contrast the well in 2:17, where he helps without violence. Talk about anger at injustice and what to do with it, keeping examples general rather than personal.
Adults
Spend time on Moses' identity across three cultures and on the forty years Acts 7:23-30 places around these verses. Discuss vigilante action, the need for commission, and what changes between 2:12 and 2:17. Some adults have done things they regret deeply; let the chapter's end show God's initiative without minimising what Moses did, and do not ask for confessions.
One to one
Read the chapter together and ask where they feel most like Moses: angry at wrong, rejected by their own, or settled somewhere that never quite feels like home. Follow that. If they feel far from where they belong, read 2:22 and 2:24 together and let the person hear that God remembers his people even when nothing seems to move.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Exodus 2:1–10
The passage in brief
Under Pharaoh's order to throw the baby boys into the river, a Levite woman hides her son for three months. When she cannot hide him any longer, she makes a reed basket and sets it among the reeds by the river, while his sister watches. Pharaoh's daughter finds him, knows he is a Hebrew child, and feels sorry for him. The sister offers to find a nurse and brings the baby's own mother, who is paid to raise him. Pharaoh's daughter names him Moses.
A verse to keep
And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children.
Exodus 2:6 · King James Version
Questions to take home
Where did the mother put the basket, and who stayed to watch?
What did Pharaoh's daughter know about the baby when she decided to help him?
Why is it surprising that the mother was paid to nurse her own son?
This week
This week, look for one small, practical way you can protect or speak up for someone more vulnerable than you.
Exodus 2:11–25
The passage in brief
When Moses grows up, he sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and kills him. The next day a Hebrew asks who made him a judge, and Moses realises his act is known. Pharaoh tries to kill him, so he flees to Midian. At a well he defends seven sisters from shepherds and waters their flock. Their father welcomes him, and Moses marries Zipporah and names his son Gershom. In Egypt the king dies, the Israelites cry out in slavery, and God hears and remembers his covenant.
A verse to keep
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.
Exodus 2:24-25 · King James Version
Questions to take home
How was the way Moses helped at the well different from what he did in Egypt?
Why did Moses name his son Gershom?
What four things does God do in 2:24-25?
This week
When you pray this week, bring God one specific trouble, remembering that he heard Israel's groaning.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
