[10] And the child grew,
and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And
she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the
water.
And he became her son - The tradition of the Jews is,
that Pharaoh's daughter had no child of her own, and that she was the only
child of her father, so that when he was adopted for her son, he stood
fair for the crown: however, it is certain he stood fair for the best preferments
of the court in due time, and in the mean time had the advantage of the
best education, with the help of which, he became master of all the lawful
learning of the Egyptians Acts 7:22.Those whom God designs for great services
he finds out ways for to qualify them. Moses, by having his education in
a court, is the fitter to be a prince, and king in Jeshurun; by having
his education in a learned court, (for such the Egyptian then was) is the
fitter to be an historian; and by having his education in the court of
Egypt, is the fitter to be employed as an ambassador to that court in God's
name. The Jews tell us, that his father at his circumcision called him
Joachim, but Pharaoh's daughter called him Moses, Drawn out of the water,
so it signifies in the Egyptian language, The calling of the Jewish lawgiver
by an Egyptian name is a happy omen to the Gentile world, and gives hopes
of that day when it should be said, Blessed be Egypt my people, Isaiah
19:25. And his tuition at court was an earnest of the performance of that
promise, Isaiah 49:23.Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy
nursing mothers.
[11] And it came to pass in
those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and
looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one
of his brethren.
When Moses was grown he went out unto his brethren, and
looked on their burdens - He looked on their burdens as one that not only
pitied them, but was resolved to venture with them, and for them.
[12] And he looked this way
and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian,
and hid him in the sand. [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 fellow?
He slew the Egyptian - Probably it was one of the Egyptian
task - masters, whom he found abusing his Hebrew slave. By special warrant
from heaven (which makes not a precedent in ordinary cases) Moses slew
the Egyptian, and rescued his oppressed brother. The Jew's tradition is,
that he did not slay him with any weapon, but as Peter slew Ananias and
Sapphira, with the word of his mouth.
[14] And he said, Who made thee
a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst
the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.
He said, Who made thee a prince? - He challengeth his
authority; Who made thee a prince? - A man needs no great authority for
giving a friendly reproof; it is an act of kindness; yet this man needs
will interpret it an act of dominion, and represents his reprover as imperious
and assuming. Thus, when people are sick of good discourse, or a seasonable
admonition, they will call it preaching, as if a man could not speak a
word for God, and against sin, but he took too much upon him. Yet Moses
was indeed a prince, and a judge, and knew it, and thought the Hebrews
would have understood it; but they stood in their own light, and thrust
him away. Acts 7:25,27.Intendest thou to kill me? - See what base constructions
malice puts upon the best words and actions. Moses, for reproving him,
is presently charged with a design to kill him.
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