Exodus 2:3 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Exodus 2:3
And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.
to hide (by covering over) · verb, hiphil infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
took
וַתִּֽקַּֽחva.ti.kach-
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
ark
תֵּ֣בַתTe.vat
H8392
a box · noun, common feminine singular construct
bulrushes
גֹּ֔מֶאGo.me'
H1573
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
daubed
וַתַּחְמְרָ֥הva.tach.me.Rah
H2560
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
slime
בַחֵמָ֖רva.che.Mar
H2564
bitumen (as rising to the surface) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
pitch
וּבַזָּ֑פֶתu.va.Za.fet
H2203
asphalt (from its tendency to soften in the sun) · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
put
וַתָּ֤שֶׂםva.Ta.sem
H7760
to put (used in a great variety of applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
child
הַיֶּ֔לֶדhai.Ye.led
H3206
something born · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
laid
וַתָּ֥שֶׂםva.Ta.sem
H7760
to put (used in a great variety of applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
flags
בַּסּ֖וּףba.Suf
H5488
a reed · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
river’s
הַיְאֹֽרhay.'Or
H2975
a channel · definite article + proper noun, a place name
brink
שְׂפַ֥תse.Fat
H8193
the lip (as a natural boundary) · noun, common feminine singular construct
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 1:22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.
Genesis 6:14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
Acts 7:19 The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might…
Isaiah 18:2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered an…
Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Beth…
Matthew 2:13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his m…
Genesis 11:3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter…
Genesis 14:10 And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the m…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Exodus 2:1-4
Moses was a Levite, both by father and mother. Jacob left Levi under marks of disgrace (Gen 49:5); and yet, soon after, Moses appears a descendant from him, that he might typify Christ, who came in the likeness of sinful flesh and was made a curse for us. This tribe began to be distinguished from the rest by the birth of Moses, as afterwards it became remarkable in many other instances. Observe, concerning this newborn infant,
I. How he was hidden. It seems to have been just at the time of his birth that the cruel law was made for the murder of all the male children of the Hebrews; and many, no doubt, perished by the execution of it. The parents of Moses had Miriam and Aaron, both older than…
she took for him an ark of bulrushes--papyrus, a thick, strong, and tough reed.
slime--the mud of the Nile, which, when hardened, is very tenacious.
pitch--mineral tar. Boats of this description are seen daily floating on the surface of the river, with no other caulking than Nile mud (compare Isa 18:2), and they are perfectly watertight, unless the coating is forced off by stormy weather.
flags--a general term for sea or river weed. The chest was not, as is often represented, committed to the bosom of the water but laid on the bank, where it would naturally appear to have been drifted by the current and arrested by the reedy thicket. The spot is traditionally said to be the Isle of Rod…
An ark of bulrushes - תבת גמא 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 int…
The Church Fathers
Thus Moses in a former age Escaped proud Pharaoh's foolish law, And as the savior of his race Prefigured Christ who was to come. A cruel edict had been passed Forbidding Hebrew mothers all, When sons were born to them, to rear These virile pledges of their love. Devoutly scornful of the king, A zealous midwife found a way To hide her charge and keep him safe For future glory and renown.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Ark — Noah’s ark, a building of gopher-wood, and covered with pitch, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high (Gen. 6:14-16); an oblong floating house of three stories, with a door in the side…
Bitumen — Gen. 11:3, R.V., margin, rendered in the A.V. “slime”), a mineral pitch. With this the ark was pitched (6:14. See also Ex. 2:3.) (See SLIME.)
Bulrush — (1.) In Isa. 58:5 the rendering of a word which denotes “belonging to a marsh,” from the nature of the soil in which it grows (Isa. 18:2). It was sometimes platted into ropes (Job. 41:2; A.V.,…
Flag — (Heb., or rather Egyptian, ahu, Job 8:11), rendered “meadow” in Gen. 41:2, 18; probably the Cyperus esculentus, a species of rush eaten by cattle, the Nile reed. It also grows in Palestine. In Ex.…
Noah — Rest, (Heb. Noah) the grandson of Methuselah (Gen. 5:25-29), who was for two hundred and fifty years contemporary with Adam, and the son of Lamech, who was about fifty years old at the time of Adam’s…
Phylacteries — (Gr. phulakteria; i.e., “defences” or “protections”), called by modern Jews tephillin (i.e., “prayers”) are mentioned only in Matt. 23:5. They consisted of strips of parchment on which were inscribed…
Pitch — (Gen. 6:14), asphalt or bitumen in its soft state, called “slime” (Gen. 11:3; 14:10; Ex. 2:3), found in pits near the Dead Sea (q.v.). It was used for various purposes, as the coating of the outside…
Slime — (Gen. 11:3; LXX., “asphalt;” R.V. marg., “bitumen”). The vale of Siddim was full of slime pits (14:10). Jochebed daubed the “ark of bulrushes” with slime (Ex. 2:3). (See PITCH.)
Ark · 2. Of BULLRUSHES — 2. Of BULLRUSHES
Bitumen · .An inflammable mineral — .An inflammable mineral
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 up women usually go with child, she could hide him no longer, a birth of a child being then expected, and would be inquired about:
she took for him an ark of bulrushes; the word, according to Kimchi (b), signifies a kind of wood exceeding light, so Gersom and Ben Melech; an Arabic writer (c) calls it an ark of wood; it is generally taken to be the…
Exodus 2:1-10
1. And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
1. Abierat autem vir ex domo Levi, et acceperat filiam Levi.
2. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
2. Concepit autem mulier illa, et peperit filium; vidensque eum esse pulchrum, abscondit tribus mensibus.
3. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.
3. Et quia illum abscondere amplius non poterat, accepit ei arcam arundineam, et oblevit eam bitumine et pice,…
Birth and Education of Moses. - Whilst Pharaoh was urging forward the extermination of the Israelites, God was preparing their emancipation. According to the divine purpose, the murderous edict of the king was to lead to the training and preparation of the human deliverer of Israel.
Exo 2:1-2
At the time when all the Hebrew boys were ordered to be thrown into the Nile, "there went (הלך contributes to the pictorial character of the account, and serves to bring out its importance, just as in Gen 35:22; Deu 31:1) a man of the house of Levi - according to Exo 6:20 and Num 26:59, it was Amram, of the Levitical family of Kohath - and married a daughter (i.e., a descendant) of Levi," named Jochebed…
Papyrus reeds grew plentifully along the many streams into which the Nile River divided in the delta region of northern Egypt. They were light and flexible, well-suited for basket weaving. It is possible that Moses’ mother placed the basket in the water exactly where it was most likely to be found by the Egyptian princess.
Rashi on Exodus 2:3
ולא יכלה עוד הצפינו AND SHE COULD NO LONGER CONCEAL HIM, because the Egyptians calculated the period from when he (Amram) took her back. She, however, bore him after a term of six months and one day — for a woman who gives birth to a child in the seventh month may do so in incomplete months (i. e. the seventh month of pregnancy may not be completed) (Niddah 38b) — and they (the Egyptians) made enquiry regarding her at the end of nine months (the normal term of pregnancy, but in this case three months after the child’s birth; therefore “she could no longer conceal him”).
גמא PAPER-REED — In the language of the Mishna it is called גמי (Shabbat 78a), and in old French junc. It is a flexible su…
Herbs, & C · Mentioned in scripture: Bulrushes — Mentioned in scripture: Bulrushes
Jochebed · General references — General references
Moses · A Levite and — A Levite and
Nile, The River · Remarkable events connected with: Moses exposed on its banks — Remarkable events connected with: Moses exposed on its banks
Papyrus · (R. V., margin) — (R. V., margin)
Parents · Good - Exemplified: Mother of Moses — Good - Exemplified: Mother of Moses
Pitch · In making the basket in which Moses was hid — In making the basket in which Moses was hid
Rivers · Banks of: Covered with flags — Banks of: Covered with flags
Slime · Used in the ark (small basket) of Moses when he was an infant — Used in the ark (small basket) of Moses when he was an infant
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
