This chapter begins the story of Moses, that man of renown, famed for his intimate acquaintance with Heaven and his eminent usefulness on earth, and the most remarkable type of Christ, as a prophet, saviour, lawgiver, and mediator, in all the Old Testament.

Moses was a Levite, both by father and mother. Jacob left Levi under marks of disgrace ; 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.

Here is, I. Moses saved from perishing. Come see the place where that great man lay when he was a little child; he lay in a bulrush-basket by the river’s side.

Moses had now passed the first forty years of his life in the court of Pharaoh, preparing himself for business; and now it was time for him to enter upon action, and, I.

Moses here gains a settlement in Midian, just as his father Jacob had gained one in Syria, Gen. 29:2, &c. And both these instances should encourage us to trust Providence, and to follow it.

Here is, 1. The continuance of the Israelites’ bondage in Egypt, Ex. 2:23. Probably the murdering of their infants did not continue; this part of their affliction attended only the period immediately connected with the birth of Moses, and served to signalize it.