And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

Wesley's Notes

2:2 Bare a son - It seems just at the time of his birth that 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. Moses's parents had Miriam and Aaron, both elder than he, born to them before that edict came out. Probably his mother had little joy of her being with child of him, now this edict was in force. Yet this child proves the glory of his father's house. Observe the beauty of providence: just when Pharaoh's cruelty rose to this height, the deliverer was born. She hid him three months - In some private apartment of their own house, though probably with the hazard of their lives had he been discovered. It is said, Heb 11:23. That Moses's parents hid him by faith: some think they had a special revelation that the deliverer should spring from their loins; however, they believed the general promise of Israel's preservation, and in that faith hid their child.

Scofield Reference Notes

[1] son

Moses, type of Christ the Deliverer Isa 61:1 Lk 4:18 2Cor 1:10 1Th 1:10.

(1) A divinely chosen deliverer Ex 3:7-10 Acts 7:25 Jn 3:16.

(2) Rejected by Israel he turns to the Gentiles Ex 2:11-15 Acts 7:25 18:5,6 28:17-28.

(3) During his rejection he gains a Gentile bride Ex 2:16-21 Mt 12:14-21 2Cor 11:2 Eph 5:30-32.

(4) Afterward he again appears as Israel's deliverer, and is accepted Ex 4:29-31 Rom 11:14-26 Acts 15:14-17.

(5) Officially, Moses typifies Christ as Prophet Acts 3:22,23. Advocate Ex 32:31-35 1Jn 2:1,2, Intercessor Ex 17:1-6 Heb 7:25 and Leader, or King Dt 33:4,5 Isa 55:4 Heb 2:10 while, in relation to the house of God, he is in contrast with Christ. Moses was faithful as a servant over another's house; Christ as a Son over His own house Heb 3:5,6.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. the woman . bare a son, &c.-Some extraordinary appearance of remarkable comeliness led his parents to augur his future greatness. Beauty was regarded by the ancients as a mark of the divine favor.

hid him three months-The parents were a pious couple, and the measures they took were prompted not only by parental attachment, but by a strong faith in the blessing of God prospering their endeavors to save the infant.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:1-4 Observe the order of Providence: just at the time when Pharaoh's cruelty rose to its height by ordering the Hebrew children to be drowned, the deliverer was born. When men are contriving the ruin of the church, God is preparing for its salvation. The parents of Moses saw he was a goodly child. A lively faith can take encouragement from the least hint of the Divine favour. It is said, Heb 11:23, that the parents of Moses hid him by faith; they had the promise that Israel should be preserved, which they relied upon. Faith in God's promise quickens to the use of lawful means for obtaining mercy. Duty is ours, events are God's. Faith in God will set us above the fear of man. At three months' end, when they could not hide the infant any longer, they put him in an ark of bulrushes by the river's brink, and set his sister to watch. And if the weak affection of a mother were thus careful, what shall we think of Him, whose love, whose compassion is, as himself, boundless. Moses never had a stronger protection about him, no, not when all the Israelites were round his tent in the wilderness, than now, when he lay alone, a helpless babe upon the waves. No water, no Egyptian can hurt him. When we seem most neglected and forlorn, God is most present with us.