Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary Verse 2. Bare a son] This certainly was not her first child, for Aaron was fourscore and three years old when Moses was but fourscore, see chap. vii. 7: and there was a sister, probably Miriam, who was older than either; see below, ver. 4, and see Num. xxvi. 59. Miriam and Aaron had no doubt been both born before the decree was passed for the destruction of the Hebrew male children, mentioned in the preceding chapter.
Goodly child] The text simply says awh byf yk ki tob hu, that he was good, which signifies that he was not only a perfect, well-formed child, but that he was very beautiful; hence the Septuagint translate the place, idontev de auto asteion, Seeing him to be beautiful, which St. Stephen interprets, hn asteiov tw qew, He was comely to God, or divinely beautiful. This very circumstance was wisely ordained by the kind providence of God to be one means of his preservation. Scarcely any thing interests the heart more than the sight of a lovely babe in distress. His beauty would induce even his parents to double their exertions to save him, and was probably the sole motive which led the Egyptian princess to take such particular care of him, and to educate him as her own, which in all likelihood she would not have done had he been only an ordinary child.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-4 - Observe the order of Providence: just at the time when Pharaoh' cruelty rose to its height by ordering the Hebrew children to be drowned, the deliverer was born. When men are contriving the ruin of the church, God is preparing for its salvation. The parents of Mose saw he was a goodly child. A lively faith can take encouragement from the least hint of the Divine favour. It is said, Heb 11:23, that the parents of Moses hid him by faith; they had the promise that Israe should be preserved, which they relied upon. Faith in God's promis quickens to the use of lawful means for obtaining mercy. Duty is ours events are God's. Faith in God will set us above the fear of man. A three months' end, when they could not hide the infant any longer, the put him in an ark of bulrushes by the river's brink, and set his siste to watch. And if the weak affection of a mother were thus careful, what shall we think of Him, whose love, whose compassion is, as himself boundless. Moses never had a stronger protection about him, no, no when all the Israelites were round his tent in the wilderness, tha now, when he lay alone, a helpless babe upon the waves. No water, n Egyptian can hurt him. When we seem most neglected and forlorn, God is most present with us.
Original Hebrew ותהר2029 האשׁה802 ותלד3205 בן1121 ותרא7200 אתו853 כי3588 טוב2896 הוא1931 ותצפנהו6845 שׁלשׁה7969 ירחים׃3391
