Exodus is proving to be a powerhouse of story and it’s not wasting any time. I don’t want to waste any time either so let’s dive in! 
Girl Power
If I may be so bold, Biblical history as we know it would never have existed without the intelligent, quick-thinking, and compassionate women of Exodus 2.
- Moses’ mother manages to hide a newborn baby for three months from a government that wishes him dead.
- She takes her chances with the Nile River (ironically obeying the Pharaoh’s edict) rather than let the people kill her son.
- Pharaoh’s daughter finds him and has pity on him.
- Moses’ sister seizes the opportunity and finds a way to let Moses’ mother nurse her son and get paid for it. That’s what we call in the ‘Biz a “win/win.”
The women come out of this whole thing looking pretty good. Which is a lot more than I can say for most of the men in the story so far.
Introducing: Moses!
Here he is folks! The Bible’s biggest hero to date. I thought it was weird spending a few weeks with Abraham, but this guy is going to be the main character for the next year or so.
Three things I notice about Moses:
- He is tri-cultural: Hebrew, Egyptian, and Midianite. No wonder he feels like an alien residing in a foreign land.
- He has a hero complex. On three occasions in this chapter Moses sees something he thinks is wrong and gets involved. He is the Biblical version of Jack Shephard from Lost.
- He is misunderstood by his own people: “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” These are words that will echo through Moses’ whole life.
Fun fact and/or total BS speculation! Moses is Egyptian for “out of the river.” If you want to refer to yourself as an Egyptian you would say “enta Mosri.”
Mosri and Moses have the same root. So I learned that Egypt is defined by its river and Moses’ name basically means “Egyptian.”
Mind: blown.
Seeing is Relieving.
Nine times in this chapter we are told that someone “saw” something. And each time someone saw something, they took an action to help.
Most importantly, God saw his people in slavery. And he is about to help.
I don’t know what he was doing while the people became more and more enslaved but the text doesn’t seem concerned with that. What matters now is that he sees them and remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
His people have cried out and he is about to do something that no one sees coming.
The Whole Dang Thing 
Love it! As a father of two girls the Bible is chock full of great role models – and this chapter is another great example of estrogen power. I especially like your turn of phrase regarding “Seeing is Relieving” – excellent!
Thanks Tor! Yeah, I was surprised to see that. It is this rapid fire progression of one awesome woman after another. These are all women that your girls should be very proud of. We all should be.
I think you just got me excited about Excodus. How can that be!? 🙂
This resonated with me >> Nine times in this chapter we are told that someone “saw” something. And each time someone saw something, they took an action to help.
Wouldn’t it be life altering if we as Christians did this same thing day in and day out? And, not just when I have my “ministry” hat on, but all the time!
wait till you see what God does tomorrow!
But I hear you. I almost never stop what I am doing to enter into a situation where someone needs to step up and do something. But each of the people who do that here are key for there to even be an Exodus story.
Ben, another great post! Love what you’re doing here. You’ve got some real chutzpah to tackle the “whole dang thing,” but you’re doing it with great aplomb!
Holy cow! Exodus wasn’t kidding huh? Get ‘er done, Ole Mo! He’s waisting no time in telling this story! So surprised by how much content we just covered in the first two chapters! Loved this verse: “God saw the people of Israel- and God knew.” I love how simply it states that their suffering wasn’t hidden from God. He knew. Period. (Same truth applies today, praise the Lord!) Can’t wait for the rest of this book! Thanks again for the great re-caps!