Exodus 2 begins with the story of Moses, through whom God delivered and shaped the people of Israel. This part of Exodus (chs. 2–15) describes how God used a Levite family and the forces of creation to bring these people out of Egypt into the Sinai wilderness. Exodus 2 includes Moses’ birth, his amazing deliverance and adoption (2:1–10), his identification with “his” Hebrew people, the killing of an Egyptian, his escape to the land of Midian, his marriage to Zipporah, and the birth of their son, Gershom (vv. 11–22). The chapter concludes with a reminder of the groaning of the people in Egypt and God’s attentive ear (vv. 23–25).

2:1–10 The women and baby Moses. Exodus 1 ends with the king’s phrase, “let every girl live.” Now it is the daughters who will thwart Pharaoh. The women of this te…