Exodus | Reading Plan + Study QuestionsSample

EXODUS 2

BABY MOSES FLOATED DOWN THE NILE

A woman named Jochebed gives birth to a baby boy and keeps him hidden for three months so he will not be killed. When she realizes she can’t keep him hidden much longer, she makes a waterproof basket out of reeds and sets him in the river.

Downstream, the baby is discovered by Pharaoh's daughter, who takes pity on him. This whole time, the baby’s older sister is watching and sees what happened. She approaches Pharaoh’s daughter and asks, “Should I go get someone who can nurse him?” She then brings back his (and her) own mother!

Jochebed, with the help of her daughter, is now being paid by Pharaoh’s daughter to nurse her son. Pharaoh’s daughter does not know that this is his biological mother, so she adopts him as her own. She names him Moses, which means “to lift out” since she lifted him out of the Nile.

The chapter skips forward to when Moses is grown. Moses is aware that he is an Israelite, probably because he is circumcised. He sees an Egyptian beating one of his people, and he murders the Egyptian immediately, hiding his body in the dust. He didn’t think that anyone saw this, but news got around that Moses murdered an Egyptian. Pharaoh wants to kill Moses, so Moses flees to the land of Midian.

Moses meets his wife Zipporah at a well, and she gives him a son named Gershom.

God hears the groaning and misery of the Israelites as they are enslaved.

STUDY QUESTIONS

What tribe was Moses from? What is the significance of this tribe? (See Exodus 2:1 or use an internet search if you need help.)

The name Moses means “to lift out” or “to draw out.” What events could his name foreshadow or symbolize?