Exodus 2 Summary: A Concise Overview in 5 Minutes

Exodus 2 Summary - A Quick Overview

WHEN:

• Using the timeline we utilized for our Genesis study, Jacob’s family moved from Canaan to Egypt in approximately 1706 B.C.

• The Egyptians enslaved the Israelites sometime after Joseph’s death in approximately 1635 B.C.  

• Moses was born around 1591 B.C. and left Egypt at 40 years old (Acts 7:23).

CHARACTERS:

• Israelites (Hebrews) – The terms “Israelites” and “Hebrews” are used synonymously. They refer to the descendants of Jacob’s family that grew into a large nation.

• Moses – A Hebrew who grew up in the house of Pharaoh. He fled Egypt in Exodus 2 and went to live in Midian.

• Amram – Moses’ father (see Numbers 26:59). He was a descendant of Jacob’s son Levi.

• Jochebed – Moses’ mother. She was the daughter of Levi (Numbers 26:59).

• Miriam – The daughter of Amram and Jochebed and Moses’ sister.

• Pharaoh – The wicked ruler of Egypt who tried to suppress the growth of the Israelite nation by killing their infant male children.

• Reuel (Jethro) – The priest of Midian and Moses’ father-in-law.

• Zipporah – Reuel’s daughter who married Moses.

WHERE:

• In Exodus 2, Moses fled Egypt and made his home in Midian. 

OUTLINE:

• MOSES IS ADOPTED BY PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER (2:1-10):

  • A Levite man (Amram) and a Levite woman (Jochebed) got married in Egypt and had a baby son.

  • Jochebed hid her son for three months because of Pharaoh’s decree that all male babies were to be thrown into the Nile River and killed.

  • When she couldn’t hide him any longer, she made a basket of bulrushes, put her baby inside, and then put it in the reeds on the riverbank.

  • Jochebed’s daughter, Miriam, watched the basket from afar.

  • Pharaoh’s daughter came to the riverbank to bath and found the baby crying in the basket.

  • She recognized him as a Hebrew child and had pity on him.

  • Miriam asked Pharaoh’s daughter if she wanted her to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby, and when she told her she did, Miriam went and got Jochebed for the job.

  •  Pharaoh’s daughter named the boy Moses because she “drew him out of the water.”

• MOSES FLEES EGYPT AFTER KILLING AN EGYPTIAN (2:11-15):

  • Moses grew up in the house of Pharaoh but knew he was a Hebrew.

  • One day, he saw an Egyptian hitting a Hebrew slave, so he killed the Egyptian and buried his body in the sand.

  • When Pharaoh discovered what Moses had done, he wanted to kill him, so Moses fled into the land of Midian.

• MOSES IN MIDIAN (2:16-22):

  • Moses met the 7 daughters of the priest of Midian at a well and defended them against shepherds who were trying to scatter their flocks.

  • When the daughters told their father, Reuel, about the Egyptian who helped them, Reuel invited Moses to his home to eat.

  • Moses remained with Reuel in Midian and eventually married his daughter Zipporah.

• GOD PREPARES TO FREE ISRAEL FROM THE EGYPTIANS (1:23-25):

  • The Pharaoh of Egypt died and was replaced by a new king, but he offered no relief to the enslaved Hebrews.

  • God heard the “groaning” of His people and “remembered” His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

APPLICATION:

• Personally interacting with the weak, the suffering, and the vulnerable rarely leads to indifference.

• It’s easy to be indifferent about the plight of others when we aren’t present with them.

• Pharaoh’s daughter probably knew about her father’s genocidal command, but finding a helpless baby in the water revealed it’s barbarity.

• We need to interact with the weak and suffering (like Jesus did) so we understand their condition and see them as souls that are loved by God.