SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:3
Y no pudiendo tenerle más escondido, tomó una arquilla de juncos, y la calafateó con pez y betún, y colocó en ella al niño, y lo puso en un carrizal a la orilla del río.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Exodus 2:3
Verse 3. An ark of bulrushes] amg tbt tebath gome, a small boat or basket made of the Egyptian reed called papyrus, so famous in all antiquity. This plant grows on the banks of the Nile, and in marshy grounds; the stalk rises to the height of six or seven cubits above the water, is triangular, and terminates in a crown of small filaments resembling hair, which the ancients used to compare to a thyrsus. This reed was of the greatest use to the inhabitants of Egypt, the pith contained in the stalk serving them for food, and the woody part to build vessels with; which vessels frequently appear on engraved stones and other monuments of Egyptian antiquity. For this purpose they made it up like rushes into bundles, and by tying them together gave their vessels the necessary figure and solidity. "The vessels of bulrushes or papyrus," says Dr. Shaw, "were no other than large fabrics of the same kind with that of Moses, ver. 3, which from the late introduction of planks and stronger materials are now laid aside." Thus Pliny, lib. vi., cap. 16, takes notice of the naves papyraceas armamentaque Nili, "ships made of papyrus and the equipments of the Nile:" and lib. xiii., cap. 11, he observes, chap. i psa quidem papyro navigia texunt: "Of the papyrus itself they construct sailing vessels." Herodotus and Diodourus have recorded the same fact; and among the poets, Lucan, lib. iv., ver. cxx16: Conseritur bibula Memphitis cymba papyro, "The Memphian or Egyptian boat is constructed from the soaking papyrus." The epithet bibula is particularly remarkable, as corresponding with great exactness to the nature of the plant, and to its Hebrew name amg gome, which signifies to soak, to drink up. See Parkhurst sub voce. She laid it in the flags] Not willing to trust it in the stream for fear of a disaster; and probably choosing the place to which the Egyptian princess was accustomed to come for the purpose specified in the note on the following verse.
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
ולא 3808 יכלה 3201 עוד 5750 הצפינו 6845 ותקח 3947 לו תבת 8392 גמא 1573 ותחמרה 2560 בחמר 2564 ובזפת 2203 ותשׂם 7760 בה את 853 הילד 3206 ותשׂם 7760 בסוף 5488 על 5921 שׂפת 8193 היאר׃ 2975
