1253 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore God dealt well with the midwives,.... He approved of their conduct upon the whole, however difficult it may be to clear them from all blame in this matter; though some think that what they said was the truth, though they might not tell all the truth; yea, that they made a glorious confession of their faith in God, and plainly told the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God,.... And regarded his command, and not that of the king, though they risked his displeasure, and their lives: that he made them houses; which some understand of the Israelites making houses for them, being moved to it by the Lord, to preserve them from the insults of the Egyptians; others of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Pharaoh charged all his people,.... Finding he could not carry his point with the midwives, he gave a general order to all his people everywhere: saying, every son that is born ye shall cast into the river; the river Nile; not every son born in his kingdom, for this would have ruined it in time; but that was born to the Jews, as the Targums of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Exodus 2 This chapter relates the birth of Moses, and his preservation in an ark of bulrushes, Exodus 2:1. His being found by Pharaoh's daughter, took up, and put out to nurse by her, and adopted for her son, Exodus 2:4, some exploits of his when grown up, taking the part of an Hebrew against an Egyptian whom he slew, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And there went a man of the house of Levi,.... This man was Amram, the son of Kohath, and grandson of Levi, as appears from Exodus 6:18 and took to wife a daughter of Levi; one of the same house, family, or tribe; which was proper, that the tribes might be kept distinct: this was Jochebed, said to be his father's sister, [See comments on Exodus...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the woman conceived, and bare a son,.... Which was not her first child, nor indeed her first son, for she had both Aaron and Miriam before this: this son, which was Moses, was born, as the Jews say (t), in the thirty seventh year after the death of Levi, A. M. 2365, (or, as others, 2368,) on a Wednesday, the seventh of the month Adar, in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when she could no longer hide him,.... Because of her neighbours, who might hear the crying of the child, or because of the diligent search made by Pharaoh's officers, which some think was made every three months: the Jews (a) have a notion that his mother was delivered of him at six months' end, and therefore when the other three months were...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And his sister stood afar off,.... This was Miriam, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it; who is supposed to be about ten or twelve years of age, others say seven: she was placed (e), as the word may be rendered, by her parents, or, "she placed herself" (f), by their instruction, at some distance from the place where the ark was, that she might...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river,.... Her name, in Josephus (g), is called Thermuthis, and by Artapanus (h), an Heathen writer, Merrhis, perhaps from Miriam, and frequently by the Jewish writers (i), Bithia, which is the name of a daughter of another Pharaoh, 1 Chronicles 4:18 from whence they seem to have taken...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when she had opened it,.... The ark, for it was shut or covered over, though doubtless there were some apertures for respiration: she saw the child [in it], and, behold, the babe wept; and which was a circumstance, it is highly probable, greatly affected the king's daughter, and moved her compassion to it; though an Arabic writer says (p), she...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter,.... Miriam the sister of Moses, who observing the ark taken up, and the maidens that were walking upon the bank of the river, and other women perhaps, gathering about it to see it; she made one among them, and after hearing their discourse about it, proposed what follows to Pharaoh's daughter: Jarchi...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, go,.... She fell in at once with the proposal, being, no doubt, overruled, by the providence of God, to agree to have such a person called: and the maid went and called the child's mother; and her own, whose name was Jochebed the wife of Amram, as observed in Exodus 2:1.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her,.... Being come, having made all possible haste: take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages; by which means she had not only the nursing of her own child, but was paid for it: according to a Jewish writer (t), Pharaoh's daughter agreed with her for two pieces of silver a day. (t)...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the child grew,.... In stature and in strength, thriving under the care of its mother and nurse, through the blessing of God: and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter; when grown up and weaned, and needed a nurse no longer: a Jewish chronologer (u) says, this was two years after his birth; and another says (w), that when he was three years...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown,.... To man's estate; some of the Jewish writers say he was eighteen, others twenty years of age (e), but Stephen, who is most to be credited, says he was full forty years of age, Acts 7:23, that he went out unto his brethren the Hebrews: whom he knew to be his brethren, either by divine...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he looked this way, and that way,.... All around, to observe if there were any within sight who could see what he did; which did not arise from any consciousness of any evil he was about to commit, but for his own preservation, lest if seen he should be accused to Pharaoh, and suffer for it: and when he saw that there was no man; near at hand,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when he went out the second day,.... The day following: behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together; which the Jewish writers (h) take to be Dathan and Abiram: and he said to him that did the wrong; who was the aggressor, and acted the wicked part in abusing his brother: wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? friend and companion; signifying,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said, who made thee a prince and a judge over us?.... God had designed him for one, and so he appeared to be afterwards; but this man's meaning is, that he was not appointed by Pharaoh's order then, and so had nothing to do to interfere in their differences and quarrels; though Moses did not take upon him to act in an authoritative way, but...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses,.... Both for his killing the Egyptian, which by the laws of Egypt (i) was death, whether bond or free; and for his taking part with the Hebrews against the Egyptians, and knowing him to be a wise and valiant man, might fear he would put himself at the head of the Hebrews, and cause a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters,.... Who being a descendant of Abraham might have retained the knowledge of the true God, and might be a priest of his, as Melchizedek was, or otherwise it may be thought improbable that Moses would have married his daughter, as he afterwards did; and so Aben Ezra says, he was a priest of God; though...