Exodus 2:6

"Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her servant to get it."

Key Reflection

In Exodus 2:6, we see Pharaoh’s daughter descending to bathe in the Nile River, a common activity for Egyptian nobility. As she walks along the riverside with her attendants, she discovers the basket containing Moses and sends her servant to retrieve it. This scene highlights the cultural context of royal women engaging in public activities like bathing, often accompanied by numerous servants, and underscores the miraculous intervention of divine providence as Pharaoh’s own daughter rescues the baby destined to lead Israel out of slavery.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

She had compassion on him -The Egyptians regarded such tenderness as a condition of acceptance on the day of reckoning. In the presence of the Lord of truth each spirit had to answer, “I have not afflicted any man, I have not made any man weep, I have not withheld milk from the mouths of sucklings” (‘Funeral Ritual’). There was special ground for mentioning the feeling, since it led the princess to save and adopt the child in spite of her father’s commands.

More from Exodus 2

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