The Birth and Adoption of Moses
(Acts 7:20–22; Hebrews 11:23)
Now a man of the house of Levi married a daughter of Levi, Num 26:591Ch 23:12-14Exo 6:16-201Ch 6:1-3 and she conceived and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him for three months. Heb 11:23Act 7:20Psa 112:5
But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket 1and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. Exo 1:22Act 7:19Gen 6:14Isa 18:2Mat 2:16Mat 2:13Gen 11:3Gen 14:10 And his sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. Num 26:59Exo 15:20Mic 6:4Num 20:1Num 12:1-15
Soon the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe in the Nile, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. And when she saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maidservant to retrieve it. Act 7:21Psa 12:5Psa 9:9Exo 8:20Psa 46:1Exo 7:15Pro 21:1Psa 76:10 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the little boy was crying. So she had compassion on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew children.” 1Ki 8:501Pe 3:8Act 7:21Neh 1:11Psa 106:46Pro 21:1
Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call one of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” Exo 2:4Num 26:59Num 12:1Exo 15:20
“Go ahead,” Pharaoh’s daughter told her. And the girl went and called the boy’s mother. Isa 46:3-4Psa 27:10Exo 6:20Ezk 16:8
Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the boy and nursed him.
When the child had grown older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses 2and explained, “I drew him out of the water.” Act 7:21-22Heb 11:241Sa 1:20Gen 16:111Jn 3:1Gal 4:5Mat 1:21Gen 4:25
The Rejection and Flight of Moses
(Acts 7:23–29)
One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people 3and observed their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Heb 11:24-26Act 7:22-24Exo 1:11Luk 4:18Mat 11:28Exo 3:7Isa 58:6Exo 5:14 After looking this way and that and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. Act 7:24-26
The next day Moses went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your companion?” Act 7:26-281Co 6:7-8
But the man replied, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? 4 Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? 5” Luk 12:14Mat 21:23Gen 19:9Gen 37:19-20Luk 19:14Psa 2:2-6Act 7:26-28Act 7:35
Then Moses was afraid and thought, “This thing I have done has surely become known.”
When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, where he sat down beside a well. Act 7:29Heb 11:27Gen 24:11Gen 29:21Ki 19:1-31Ki 19:13-14Jhn 4:6Mat 10:23
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. Exo 3:1Gen 24:111Sa 9:11Gen 24:14-20Gen 29:6-10Gen 41:45Gen 14:18 And when some shepherds came along and drove them away, Moses rose up to help them and watered their flock. Gen 29:10Gen 21:25Exo 2:12Gen 26:15-22
When the daughters returned to their father Reuel, 6 he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?” Exo 3:1Exo 4:18Num 10:29Exo 18:1-12Num 19:20
“An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds,” they replied. “He even drew water for us and watered the flock.” Gen 29:10Gen 50:11
“So where is he?” their father asked. “Why did you leave the man behind? Invite him to have something to eat.” Gen 31:54Gen 43:251Ti 5:10Gen 18:5Gen 19:2-3Gen 24:31-33Heb 13:2Job 31:32
Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. Gen 31:38-40Heb 13:51Ti 6:6Exo 18:2-6Exo 2:10Exo 4:20-25Heb 11:25Jas 1:10 And she gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, 7 saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.” Act 7:29Heb 11:13-14Exo 22:211Ch 16:201Ch 29:15Psa 119:19Psa 39:121Ch 23:14-17
God Hears the Cry of the Israelites
After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God. Gen 18:20-21Jas 5:4Exo 3:7-9Act 7:30Deu 26:6-7Exo 22:22-27Gen 16:11Isa 19:20
So God heard their groaning, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Gen 26:3Psa 105:42Exo 6:5Gen 15:14-18Luk 1:72-73Psa 22:24Gen 26:24Psa 106:45 God saw the Israelites and took notice. Exo 4:31Psa 55:22Exo 3:7-8Luk 1:25Psa 1:62Sa 16:12Mat 7:231Sa 1:11