Bible Commentaries

Here begins the story of Moses. When Pharaoh was beginning to take active steps to oppress the people, God brought to birth the man who was to break Egypt's power. A mother's love is seen scheming for the life of her child. The New Testament tells us that what she did, she did by faith. Was anything more unimportant, judged by all human standards, than the startled cry of a baby? Yet that cry opened the gate of a woman's heart and admitted to the center of Egyptian life the coming deliverer.

Between verses ten and eleven about forty years elapsed. During this period Moses had become learned in all the learning of the Egyptians. At man's estate the forces and fires of his own people flamed in him and the passion to deliver them was born in his heart. This passion was right, but the action was premature. Disappointed, he cut his connection with the court and fled to the wilderness in a mixture of fear and faith. The fear was incidental and transient. The faith was fundamental and abiding.

Again forty years passed. The hour of crisis arrived. The king of Egypt died. In time, despots always do. The children of Israel sighed and cried. Their cry went up into the ears of God. Note the phrases, "And God heard . .

. and God remembered . . . and God saw . . . and God took knowledge." These statements do not reveal any awakening or change in the attitude of God. They simply declare what had been perpetually true. Children of faith in every hour of darkness may comfort themselves by knowing that God is not unmindful and that He never forgets His covenant.