And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took as a wife a daughter of Levi.
verse value 1848
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 25 letters. The shortest word is "man" (אִ֖ישׁ, 3 letters) and the longest is "a·daughter·of·Levi" (אֶת־בַּת־לֵוִֽי, 7 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "a·daughter·of·Levi" (אֶת־בַּת־לֵוִֽי). 4 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "man" (root איש, 90x in Exodus); "and·took" (root לקח, 80x in Exodus); "and·went" (root הלך, 71x in Exodus). First appearance of the root הלך ("and·went") in Exodus. First appearance of the root לקח ("and·took") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Levi', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 2 words. Full calculation: וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ [and·went] (66) + אִ֖ישׁ [man] (311) + מִבֵּ֣ית [from·the·house·of] (452) + לֵוִ֑י [Levi] (46) + וַיִּקַּ֖ח [and·took] (124) + אֶת־בַּת־לֵוִֽי [a·daughter·of·Levi] (849) = 1848.
Onkelos
A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi.
Rashi
ויקח את בת לוי AND HE HAD TAKEN TO WIFE A DAUGHTER OF LEVI — He had lived apart from her in consequence of Pharaoh’s decree that the children should, on their birth, be drowned. Now he took her back and entered into a second marriage with her, and she also physically became young again. For really she was then 130 years old — for she was born “between the walls” when they were about to enter Egypt (cf. Rashi on Genesis 46:15) and they (the Israelites) remained there 210 years, and when they left Egypt Moses was 80 years old; consequently when she became pregnant with him she was 130 years old — and yet Scripture calls her בת לוי a young daughter of Levi (Sota 12a; Bava Batra 119b).
Ramban
AND THERE WENT A MAN OF THE HOUSE OF LEVI. Our Rabbis have said that he went after the advice of his daughter. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that the Israelites dwelled in many cities, and this woman Jochebed lived in another city. [This would explain the term “went” in the above verse, i.e., he went to another city for his wife.] But what need is there for Scripture to mention this?In my opinion Scripture uses the term “went” because this man paid no heed to Pharaoh’s decree and took to himself a woman to beget children. Such is Scripture’s way of speaking of anyone who prompts himself to do something new. Thus: And Reuben went and lay with Bilhah; So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites; Come, and let us smite him with the tongue; Come now, and let us reason together. Similarly this man Amram alerted himself and married a daughter of Levi. The reason Scripture does not mention the name of the man nor the name of the woman he married is to avoid tracing their genealogy and mentioning who their fathers and their fathers’ fathers were up to Levi. At this point, Scripture desires to shorten the subject until the birth of the redeemer takes place, and after that, in the second seder, He traced the genealogy even of other tribes on account of Moses. In line with the simple meaning of Scripture, i.e., that this was a first marriage [and not a remarriage as stated above], there is no significance in its being mentioned earlier or later in the chapter. This marriage took place before Pharaoh’s decree [that all male Hebrew children be killed], and she gave birth to Miriam and Aaron. After that, Pharaoh decreed, Every son that is born, ye shall cast into the river, and then she gave birth to this goodly son Moses. Scripture did not mention the birth of Miriam and Aaron inasmuch as there was nothing new about them. However, in the opinion of our Rabbis, this was a remarriage, since Amram separated from his wife in consequence of Pharaoh’s decree and then took her back on account of his daughter’s prophecy. He made her a wedding and placed her in the litter, while Miriam and Aaron danced about them in their joy because through this marriage, Israel would be redeemed [from Egypt]. Even though Aaron was young [at that time], G-d put gladness in his heart for this occasion, or possibly his sister Miriam taught him.
Ibn Ezra
"And he went" — the Israelites were dwelling in many cities, for they were numerous, and all of it was called the land of Rameses; perhaps this event occurred in a different city. "A daughter of Levi" — she was a daughter of Israel [Jacob], and she was [Amram's] paternal aunt. He who says that produce sown in one field will thrive [only] in a different field but will not properly thrive in that same field — he has not spoken correctly; for the essential prohibition of forbidden unions is so that Israel shall be holy.
Chizkuni
וילך איש, Rabbi Yehudah son of Bizna in the Talmud Sotah folio 12, is quoted as saying: “why does this verse commence with the word: וילך, “he went?” [The word seems superfluous. Ed.] Answer: “he took the advice of his daughter.” We had been taught that when Amram, eventually Moses’ father, heard of the decree that all male babies had to be drowned, he divorced his wife so that he would not produce a child that would be drowned. When his daughter Miriam heard of his reasoning, she accused him of being worse than Pharaoh who only wanted to kill male Jews, whereas he would prevent the birth of any Jews if the people were to follow his example. Not only that, she said, but Pharaoh deprived the Jews only of life in this world, on earth, whereas her father’s policy would also deprive them of their share in the world to come. Amram saw the logic of his daughter and went and re married Yocheved, the wife he had just divorced. Nonetheless, according to the plain meaning of the text, what is reported here as Amram getting married to Yocheved and siring Miriam and Aaron, took place prior to the decree of Pharaoh to drown Jewish boy babies; however seeing that the Torah was interested in reporting to us what transpired later, it commenced with telling us about when Amram got married first and to whom, i.e. a daughter of Levi, many years his senior.
Kli Yakar
“And a man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi.” Rashi explains that he had separated from her, etc. It seems that he learned this from the verse saying “and a man went,” without specifying from where he went and to where he went. Also [the phrase] “from the house of Levi” — it should have said “and a Levite man went.” Rather, because we find the language of “going” used in divorce, as it says: and she shall go and be to another man (Deuteronomy 24:2). And a woman is called a “house,” and “Levi” is a term for the connection between husband and wife, as in this time my husband will be attached to me. Therefore, it says and a man went from the house of Levi, meaning he departed from his house, that is, his wife, and from the connection through which he was attached to her. And afterward, he returned and took the daughter of Levi. He made a second taking [marriage] with her, because this time her first husband would be attached to her again. This is why it says “the daughter of Levi.”
Tur HaArokh
וילך איש מבית לוי, “A distinguished man from the house of Levi went, etc.” our sages comment that this means that Amram followed the advice of his daughter. (He had divorced his wife so as not to condemn any new born children to death. Thereupon his daughter accused him of being worse than Pharaoh who only murdered the male babies. Thereupon, Amram reconsidered and remarried his wife). Ibn Ezra comments that the Israelites at that time lived in many different cities of Egypt, and that the wife Amram married lived in another city, so that he had to go there to ask her to marry him. Nachmanides writes that the reason why the Torah tells us of the apparently trivial fact that Amram went to get a wife, is only to show us that Amram publicly demonstrated that he was unconcerned about Pharaoh’s decree, and that he married precisely in order to sire children. The word וילך is used by the Torah again and again when it introduces any act performed by someone which demonstrates special initiative by that person. Examples are found in Genesis 30,14 and 35,22 where the Torah describes initiative displayed by Reuven. Similar use of the word וילך occurs in Genesis 22,13, Samuel II 21,12, Kings II 5,5, and Hoseah The Torah did not bother to mention Amram’s name at this point, nor that of Yocheved, as the important thing was only to report whose offspring they were. The Torah was anxious at this stage to reveal the birth of the Israelites’ saviour. ויקח את בת לוי, “he married Levi’s daughter.” According to our sages this was a second marriage for both, but to the same spouses. According to the plain text we speak about the first marriage of this couple. However, seeing that the Torah has never felt constricted to report events in their historical sequence, we are in order to understand this wedding as having occurred prior to Pharaoh’s decrees. During those years Yocheved bore Moses and Miriam for Amram. Their births were not reported as this was nothing out of the ordinary. Rashi claims that Yocheved had miraculously regained her youth at the time, basing himself on the fact that the Torah did not write that Amram married “Yocheved, a daughter of Levi.” [which would not necessarily have meant that Yocheved was a real daughter, but a descendant, Ed.] Instead, the Torah wrote that he married a daughter of Levi, which means that the woman in question was 130 years old at least when she gave birth to Moses.
Rashbam
וילך איש מבית לוי, a reference to Amram. ויקח את יוכבד בת לוי, She had been born for Levi in Egypt (Numbers 26,59). He married her many years before Moses was born, for Aaron was 83 years old when he appeared before Pharaoh with Moses who was 80 years old at the time.
And the woman conceived, and bore a son; and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
verse value 4027
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 45 letters. Verse gematria: 4027 is prime. The shortest word is "son" (בֵּ֑ן, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·she·hid·him" (וַֽתִּצְפְּנֵ֖הוּ, 7 letters). 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "and·conceived" (וַתַּ֥הַר), "that·good" (כִּי־ט֣וֹב), "and·she·hid·him" (וַֽתִּצְפְּנֵ֖הוּ). 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "son" (root בן, 189x in Exodus); "and·saw" (root ראה, 89x in Exodus); "he" (root הוא, 62x in Exodus). First appearance of the root טוב ("that·good") in Exodus. First appearance of the root צפן ("and·she·hid·him") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'son', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 7 words. Full calculation: וַתַּ֥הַר [and·conceived] (611) + הָאִשָּׁ֖ה [the·woman] (311) + וַתֵּ֣לֶד [and·she·bore] (440) + בֵּ֑ן [son] (52) + וַתֵּ֤רֶא [and·saw] (607) + אֹתוֹ֙ [him] (407) + כִּי־ט֣וֹב [that·good] (47) + ה֔וּא [he] (12) + וַֽתִּצְפְּנֵ֖הוּ [and·she·hid·him] (637) + שְׁלֹשָׁ֥ה [three] (635) + יְרָחִֽים [months] (268) = 4027.
Onkelos
The woman conceived and bore a son. She saw that he was good, and she hid him for three months.
Rashi
כי טוב הוא THAT HE WAS GOODLY — When he was born the whole house became filled with light (Sotah 12a).
Ramban
AND WHEN SHE SAW HIM THAT HE WAS GOODLY SHE HID HIM. It is a known fact that all mothers love their children, goodly or ungoodly, and all of them would hide them [from harm] with all their might. There is thus no need for Scripture to explain that he was goodly. But the meaning of this goodliness is that she saw in him some unique quality which, in her opinion, foreshadowed that a miracle would happen to him and he would be saved. Therefore she applied herself and thought of ways to save him. When she saw that she could hide him no longer, she thought of saving him by another device. She made him an ark of bulrushes [and put him among the reeds at the side of the river], and his sister placed herself at a distance — so that the Egyptians would not recognize her — to know what would be done to him. All this is support for the words of our Rabbis who expounded, “That he was goodly, namely, that the whole house became filled with light,” and for what the Rabbis have said, i.e., that Miriam prophesied, “Mother is destined to bear a son who will deliver Israel.”
Ibn Ezra
"And she conceived" — there is no doubt, as we have mentioned, that Aaron was older than Moses in years. So too our ancestors received in tradition, that Puah was Miriam, and it is written: "And his sister stood from afar" (below, v. 4). We thus know that the beginning of the four-hundred-year count ran from the day Isaac was born, for he alone is called "seed." Isaac was sixty years old when he fathered Jacob (Gen. 25:26), and Jacob fathered Reuben at eighty-five, and he was one hundred and thirty years old when he descended to Egypt (Gen. 47:9). Adding those sixty years of Isaac, we get one hundred and ninety, leaving two hundred and ten. Subtract from those seventy years that Joseph lived afterward, leaving one hundred and forty. The years of Levi when he descended to Egypt were forty-three, and he lived twenty-two years after Joseph, leaving one hundred and eighteen — for it is written: "And Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old" (Gen. 50:26). But when did the new king reign, and how many years did they build the store-cities? It was close to the birth of Moses that the decree against the males was issued. The son of Zuta [Ben Zuta] said: one who relates an event need not show deference to an honored person by mentioning him first. And it is written: "And she bore to Amram: Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister" (Num. 26:59) — she is [mentioned] last [thus youngest]. This one who is stricken with blindness has forgotten the names Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and it is written: "And Noah fathered" (Gen. 5:32), yet Japheth is the elder. Furthermore: "There were buried Abraham and Sarah his wife" (Gen. 49:31), yet she was buried in the cave thirty-eight years before Abraham. Know that the nun is sometimes missing, or absorbed through doubling, at the beginning of a verbal root — like the nun of "Gash further" (Gen. 19:9), "And he drew near to him" (Gen. 44:18) — and in the middle, as in "even anger rose against Israel" (Ps. 78:21) or "and anger blazed" (Ps. 106:40); the nun is absorbed in the middle, which is why the pe is doubled in "his anger burned" (Gen. 39:19), "your anger turns" (Isa. 12:1). Likewise the nun of נָתַן [give], in the word תִּתִּי (Gen. 29:19), which is like תַּנְתִּי, for the final tav is not part of the root but is like שַׁבְתִּי (Ps. 139:2), לֶכְתִּי (1 Kgs. 2:5), לִדְתִּי. Also at the end: "to put your fear" (Deut. 2:25), "it is better that I give her to you" (Gen. 29:19). Likewise in nouns: for בַּת [daughter] should properly be feminine as derived from בֵּן [son], as בָּנָה [he built]; it mingles with "who built a house" (Deut. 25), and so the he was exchanged for tav — as גְּבִירָה / גְּבֶרֶת, עֲטָרָה / עֲטֶרֶת — sometimes in construct and sometimes not, as "a crown of glory" (Prov. 4:9). The nun was dropped to ease pronunciation and they said בַּת; and the word רָחֵל בִּתּוֹ (Gen. 29:6) is like אֱמֶת חַסְדּוֹ / אֲמִתּוֹ — the tav marks the feminine, and the nun is absorbed; in the plural [the form is] אֱמוּנוֹת and not אֲמָתוֹת or אֲמִיתִיּוֹת, like בָּנוֹת, not בַּתּוֹת or בָּתִּים. "And she conceived" — Scripture did not mention the birth of Miriam or Aaron, for nothing novel happened at their births. As for the word "good" (טוֹב): when found applied to a person of full understanding, it may refer to the soul, as in "good with Hashem" or "good with people," or "good of eye" (Prov. 22:9); or to the body; or to appearance: "of good form" or "of good appearance." Since we find it applied to a child — "for he was good" — it can only be interpreted as referring to his form, that he was better-looking than all other newborns. "Three months" — some say he was born in the seventh month of pregnancy; this is also expounded [homiletically], that the Egyptians could not know when the woman had conceived. In my opinion, Scripture is telling the months during which she was able to hide him, for there is no human means of knowing when a woman will give birth. It is unlikely that he was born in the seventh month from conception, since those born thus are small of stature; more vital and distinguished are those born in the eleventh month. Most births occur near nine months; one who knows the moment of conception can know the moment of birth, and one who knows the moment of birth can determine the moment of conception — this is an empirically established fact among the ancients, and I myself tested it five times. For the zodiac position of the moon and its degree at the moment of conception is the degree of the rising sign at the moment of birth, and the rising degree at the moment of conception is where the moon will be at the moment of birth. The minimum [term] is two hundred and fifty-nine and a third days, the average is two hundred and seventy-three, and the longest is two hundred and eighty-seven; the astrologers agree on this. There is no objection from the tribes [listed in order], for such ordering is not evidence [of birth sequence], since many such instances exist in the Torah. Hence it is possible that Rachel gave her maidservant to Jacob [already] at the birth of Simeon; also that Issachar was born before Asher; and that Dinah was born in the same womb as Zebulun — thus "and afterward she bore a daughter" (Gen. 30:21) means "afterward," like "and afterward his brother came out" (Gen. 25:26), not implying that conception was mentioned for each one individually. Also, "at the time of the year" (1 Sam. 1:20) — the three [months] were [then complete].
Sforno
כי טוב הוא, The word טוב may be understood as meaning the same as “handsome, beautiful,” the same meaning as in Genesis 6,2 כי טובות הנה, “that they were beautiful.” The word describes something unusually handsome, beautiful. Yocheved thought that this was an omen, a sign from the Creator, telling her that a beautiful exterior encloses an equally beautiful personality.
Or HaChaim
So she hid him. What precisely was the "goodness" that Yocheved observed when Moses was born? Our sages (Sotah 12) say that Moses was born without a foreskin and that the house was filled with light when he was born. Surely this is homiletics. Besides, what does Yocheved's hiding Moses have to do with her observing that he was "good?" Assuming Moses had not been "good," would she not have had motherly feelings of pity for his future? We can determine the meaning of the verse from the comment of our sages in Sotah 12 that the Egyptians calculated the length of her pregnancy from the day Yocheved remarried Amram. She gave birth to Moses six months and a day after he was conceived. Normally, babies born after only six months of pregnancy do not have much of a chance to survive, whereas babies born after seven months have an excellent chance to develop normally. The average mother is unable to determine to the day how long her pregnancy has been in progress. When she gives birth to a baby after six months pregnancy the baby is considered as aborted. The Torah told us that when Yocheved looked at the fetus she realised that contrary to her expectations he was healthy and well. This was the "good" that she saw. This is also why she took extraordinary care to nurse this child through the difficult period until it would be out of danger. She endangered herself by hiding Moses seeing that the Egyptians used to carry out house to house searches for Jewish babies. Our sages base their exegesis on the Torah choosing the word טוב rather than any other word describing Moses' state of health. They concluded that he must have been born without a foreskin. According to our tradition Adam was created without a foreskin. As a result of his sin his glans became covered with additional tissue, something that required removal if man wanted to regain a status the Torah describes as "perfect" when G'd instructed Abraham to circumcise himself. We can determine the meaning of the verse from the comment of our sages in Sotah 12 that the Egyptians calculated the length of her pregnancy from the day Yocheved remarried Amram. She gave birth to Moses six months and a day after he was conceived. Normally, babies born after only six months of pregnancy do not have much of a chance to survive, whereas babies born after seven months have an excellent chance to develop normally. The average mother is unable to determine to the day how long her pregnancy has been in progress. When she gives birth to a baby after six months pregnancy the baby is considered as aborted. The Torah told us that when Yocheved looked at the fetus she realised that contrary to her expectations he was healthy and well. This was the "good" that she saw. This is also why she took extraordinary care to nurse this child through the difficult period until it would be out of danger. She endangered herself by hiding Moses seeing that the Egyptians used to carry out house to house searches for Jewish babies. Our s...
Chizkuni
ותרא אותו כי טוב, “and when she saw (realised) that he was good (healthy) etc.” seeing that Moses was born to his mother after a pregnancy that had lasted only six months, she noted when examining the baby in detail, that all of Moses’ fingernails and toe nails were fully developed just like those of a baby after a nine month pregnancy, she realised that he was healthy and would survive the critical months ahead of him. She had no problem hiding him for three months as she had not been due to give birth during that period. When she was asked about the baby she had born by her neighbours, she would say that she had already complied with the kings’ decree and had thrown him into the Nile. A different interpretation views the word טוב as a hint that Moses had been born without a foreskin. The custom of reciting the line: הודו לה' כי טוב, “praise the Lord for He is good,” is recited during the circumcision ceremony, as a reminder that Moses did not need to be circumcised. ותצפנהו שלשה ירחים, “she hid him for a period of three months.” Precisely during which three months did she hide him? Moses was born on the seventh day in the month of Adar, so that his mother hid him for twentythree days during that month; she hid him during both the month of Nissan and lyar, so that the last day of the three months was the sixth day of Sivan, the date on which in due course, the Torah would be revealed to lsrael. The reason why the Torah makes an issue of the mother of Moses hiding him for three months is that the Egyptians had decreed that the last of those days would be the day on which the Jewish saviour would be born. By rights, they should have cancelled the decree to drown Jewish boy babies, but seeing that they did not do so, shows that hatred of the Jews, more than fear of a Jewish saviour was their principal concern.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ותרא אותו כי טוב הוא, “she saw that he was good.” According to the plain meaning of the text the words “that he was good” mean that he was a handsome baby. Even if he had been ugly, in the eyes of his mother he would have appeared beautiful and she would have protected him against all dangers and have hidden him. Seeing this is a psychological fact of life, there was no need for the Torah to tell us that in the eyes of his mother the baby looked “good.” It follows that the Torah wished to inform us of something else. According to Shemot Rabbah 1,20 the word טוב means that Moses was born without a foreskin. The sages add that seeing the whole house was filled with light after Moses was born his parents considered this a good omen, i.e. he was “good.” The first time the adjective good was used as a noun was in Genesis 1,4 when G’d had created light and had satisfied Himself that it was something “good.” Our sages also comment that Adam who had been constructed by G’d Himself, (not a mother of flesh an blood) had also not had a foreskin. “Good” then is a description of something that does not need improvement (Avotde Rabbi Nathan chapter 2). A kabbalistic approach concentrates on the extra word הוא. According to the Midrashim it would have sufficed for the Torah to write ותרא אותו כי טוב; why did the Torah bother with the additional word הוא? The word הוא was added as one of the names of G’d such as we find in Psalms 100,3 הוא עשנו ולו אנחנו “He (G’d) has made us and we are His.” Or, Isaiah 42,8 -אני ה׳ הוא שמי, “I am the Lord, הוא is My name.” When our sages (Menachot 29) stated that G’d created the world with the letter ה, they meant with the letters הו of His name He created the world. The letter ו symbolises the number 6, the six directions which receive radiations (divine input) from the benevolent Presence of G’d, שכינה. G’d’s Presence protects the world from harm; this is why David in Psalm 121 where he commences with the words “I raise my eyes to the mountains, from where will my help come?,” uses the word שומר, guardian, 6 times in the course of this psalm. This was David’s way of alluding to the שכינה. Seeing that the letter א and what it stands for is so crucial to continued existence, it was added to the two letters הו, forming the word הוא. In this way Moses’ relationship to G’d Who represents the ultimate significance of א was shown already the moment he was bom. In other words: the two words כי טוב tell us that the house was filled with light at Moses’ birth, whereas the additional word הוא tells us that this was divine light, light from a celestial source. Yocheved experienced the presence of the שכינה when she saw this light. The word הוא in our verse is also what prompted our sages to explain the word ותראהו, “she saw him,” in verse 6 as a reference to the שכינה. The Torah only needed to write ותפתח ותרא, “she opened and she saw;” instead the Torah wrote ותפחת ותראהו, “she opened and she saw Him,” i.e. the שכינה. G’d’s benevolent Presence had accompanied Moses to the reeds. Clearly, this is another proof that the kabbalists arrived at this interpretation by the letters הו which the Torah appended to the word ותרא. If Batya, Pharaoh’s daughter was granted a vision of the שכינה, it is quite natural that Yocheved the righteous mother of Moses should be granted no less. ותצפנהו שלשה ירחים, “she kept him hidden for three months.” Moses was born on the seventh of Adar; the Egyptians had waited for Yocheved to give birth at the end of nine months as was customary. These nine months would have expired on the sixth of Sivan. The Torah does not use the word חדשים to describe “months” but ירחים, as normally you would have two months with 30 days each and one month of 29 days in between. In this instance the three months were reversed i.e. two months of 29 days and one month of 30 days giving us a total of 58 days for the period the Torah describes. The end of this period occurred on the sixth day of Sivan (the day the Torah would be given 81 years later). Moses was exposed to the waters of the Nile on that very date. The Torah hints that on the date that Moses was exposed to the cruel fate of death in the river he was compensated many years later for ascending to heaven via Mount Sinai in order to receive the Tablets. This may be what David had in mind when he said (Psalms, 138,3) “on the day I called, You answered me, You inspired me with courage.”
Kli Yakar
“And she saw that he was good.” The entire house was filled with light, as it is said: And God saw the light, that it was good (Genesis 1:4). For this reason, she hid him, because she feared that the Egyptians might see that light, and through the light they would also see the child. Therefore she hid him more than all the other children. Additionally, she feared they might notice the extraordinary light, for he was the redeemer who would bring them from darkness to light and from servitude to redemption. Perhaps she thought that this is why the light was created with him — to teach her to hide him, just as the original light was hidden away for the righteous in the world to come. “For three months.” This hints that the light of the Torah was hidden until the third month, which is Sivan, as they derived from the verse He stores up sound wisdom for the upright (Proverbs 2:7); therefore “she could no longer hide him.” See further ahead in the verse Remove your sandals from your feet, that Moses was completely detached from materiality and was illuminated from both his parts, and his human abode was full of light, and this miracle testifies to his future essence. And it appears that regarding the existence of this light that was born with him, it is written: And she opened it and saw him, the child. What does “and she saw him” mean? Our Sages said (Sotah 12b) that she saw the Divine Presence with him. But where was the Divine Presence previously mentioned? Rather, and she saw him/it refers to finding the light which was mentioned earlier in saying “that he was good,” and she saw that light with the child, since “et” [generally understood to simply introduce “the child” as a direct object] serves in place of “with.” And in this way, he appeared like a grown youth because the child and the light joined together; therefore it says: and she saw it, meaning the light with the child.
Tur HaArokh
ותרא אותו כי טוב הוא, “she realized that he was ‘good.’” Rashi says that although this baby was born several months prematurely, after a pregnancy of 6 months and a day, all his limbs were perfectly formed already at birth. Hence she saw that he was “good.” Some commentators hold that the word טוב here means something similar to Jeremiah 44,17 ונשבע לחם ונהיה טובים, “when we will at our fill of bread we will be טובים, “good.” [in good shape. Ed.]
Rashbam
ותהר האשה, during the period that Pharaoh’s decree that every male baby had to be thrown into the Nile to be drowned. ותלד בן. ותרא אותו כי טוב הוא ותצפנהו, anyone who translates this as “she (only) hid him because he was good, is lying.” Mothers display mercy for all their children. If this is so, we need to explain the reason why the Torah added the words כי טוב הוא. At the end of the story of creation in Genesis 1,31 the Torah wrote וירא אלוקים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד. G’d, at the end of six days of creation surveyed all He had done to find out if any of it needed improving. He was pleased to find that all had turned out as He had wished it to be.” Here too, seeing that Moses had been born 3 months premature, just as we encounter such a phenomenon in Samuel 1,20, when the prophet Samuel was born prematurely, the prophet writing לתקופת הימים, there was good reason to examine such a premature baby as to its viability. The word תקופה, a season, is a period of 91 days. Seeing that Samuel was born after 2 such תקופות he was born after 182 days of pregnancy. [perhaps the fact that the Torah did not mention that the time for Moses to be born had arrived, as happens very often, is another support for the assumption that he was 3 months premature. Ed.] At any rate, she had nothing to fear during the three months she hid Moses at home as the Egyptians had not expected Yocheved to give birth until the end of that period of time. When Yocheved had noted that in spite of being born so much prematurely, Moses was fully formed in every way, she decided it was worthwhile to hide him and to hope that somehow he would be spared from the decree. When an inspector would show up, she would tell the inspector that he had been premature and incapable of living so that she had had to bury him or that the Egyptians had drowned him anyway.
Daat Zkenim
ותרא אותו כי טוב, although he had been born prematurely after a pregnancy of only six months, the infant looked as if fully developed. Even his fingernails had developed completely. Having taken note of this, his mother decided to risk hiding him, i.e. to endanger her own life in addition to that of her infant. A different interpretation of our verse, The words: כי טוב, refer to Moses’ appearance being that of a beautiful baby. Compare the use of this word in the same sense in Jeremiah 44,17: ונשבע לחם ונהיה טובים, “for then we had plenty to eat and we looked well.”
And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch; and she put the child in it, and laid it in the flags by the river's brink.
verse value 6416
Insights
Verse structure: 16 words, 72 letters. The shortest word is "in·it" (בָּהּ֙, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·she·could·not" (וְלֹא־יָכְלָ֣ה, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 746: and·she·placed, and·placed. 8 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "and·she·could·not" (וְלֹא־יָכְלָ֣ה), "to·hide·him" (הַצְּפִינוֹ֒), "and·she·took·for·him" (וַתִּֽקַּֽח־לוֹ֙). The root חמר appears 2 times in this verse. 14 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·she·took·for·him" (root לקח, 80x in Exodus); "the·child" (root ילד, 28x in Exodus); "the·Nile" (root יאר, 24x in Exodus). First appearance of the root יכל ("and·she·could·not") in Exodus. First appearance of the root עוד ("any·longer") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·with·pitch', dividing the verse into phrases of 9 and 7 words.
Onkelos
When she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of reeds and coated it with bitumen and pitch, placed the child in it, and set it among the reeds at the bank of the river.
Rashi
ולא יכלה עוד הצפינו AND SHE COULD NO LONGER CONCEAL HIM, because the Egyptians calculated the period from when he (Amram) took her back. She, however, bore him after a term of six months and one day — for a woman who gives birth to a child in the seventh month may do so in incomplete months (i. e. the seventh month of pregnancy may not be completed) (Niddah 38b) — and they (the Egyptians) made enquiry regarding her at the end of nine months (the normal term of pregnancy, but in this case three months after the child’s birth; therefore “she could no longer conceal him”). גמא PAPER-REED — In the language of the Mishna it is called גמי (Shabbat 78a), and in old French junc. It is a flexible substance that offers resistance to the pressure of both soft and hard things (Sotah 12a). בחמר ובזפת — with pitch (זפת) outside, but with slime (חמר) inside, in order that that righteous child might not smell the disagreeable odour of the pitch (Sotah 12a). ותשם בסוף AND SHE PUT IT IN THE FLAGS — It (סוף) has the same meaning as אגם. old French rosel. Another example of the word is (Isaiah 19:6) “And reeds and flags (סוף) shall wither”.
Ibn Ezra
The tzadi of הַצְּפִינוֹ ["to hide him"] is doubled, like the doubling of the kuf in אִם יִקְּרֵךְ עָוֹן (1 Sam. 28:10), for the sake of elegance in speech. Since the tzadi is under a sheva na' [mobile sheva], the pe — which should normally be doubled — is instead soft. It is the infinitive form of the hifil binyan. There is no need to ask why she could not hide him any longer: perhaps the Egyptian neighbors heard his voice, for they did not dwell alone in the land of Rameses. And it is written: "and a woman shall ask from her neighbor" (below, 3:22). The phrase "a basket of papyrus" (תֵּבַת גֹּמֶא) has its accent on the first syllable [mil'el] because the tonal accent falls at the beginning of the word גֹּמֶא. "And she smeared it" (וַתַּחְמְרָה) — the he is quiescent, like the he in "and he called it Nobah after his own name" (Num. 32:42). This word derives from חֵמָר, which is a reddish, adhesive clay found in the land of Israel; compare "pits upon pits of clay" (Gen. 14:10), and in Arabic it is called al-ḥamar. Jochebed did this because she said: I cannot bear to watch the child die. Perhaps his sister had prophetically sensed to do this. The designs of God are deep; who can penetrate His counsel? To Him alone all deeds are reckoned. Perhaps God arranged this so that Moses would be raised in the royal palace, so that his soul would be on the highest level through instruction and habituation, and would not be lowly and accustomed to a slave's household. Do you not see that he killed the Egyptian because he had done violence, and that he rescued the daughters of Midian from the shepherds because they were doing violence by drawing the water [yet being prevented from] watering their flock? There is yet another reason: had he grown up among his brothers, who knew him from youth, they would not have feared him, for they would have considered him one of themselves. "Among the reeds" (בַּסּוּף) — as in "reed and rush shall wither" (Isa. 19:6); it is a plant that grows from the Nile.
Sforno
ותשם בסוף, a place where the people passing would not see her deposit the basket; in spite of this, the reason why she chose the reeds was that she thought the decree of babies having to be thrown into the river had been fulfilled by placing him within the river’s domain.
Chizkuni
ולא יכלה עוד הצפינו, “and she could not hide him any longer;” according to Rashi, she had given birth to him one day into the seventh month of her pregnancy. The Egyptians had demanded to examine her on the day following. If you were to ask that according to the Talmud in Sotah 12 Yocheved was already 3 months pregnant when her husband remarried her, how could Moses have been born after a six month pregnancy? We must therefore say that the Egyptians examined her already after six months after she had remarried. This would be nine months after she had become pregnant from her husband. The Egyptians knew that sometimes babies are born and survive after being born during the seventh month of pregnancy. Moses, on the other hand, was born three months after Yocheved had been remarried. This is why she could not hide him for longer than an additional three months. תיבת גומא, a basket made from the kind of reeds that grew along the banks of the river Nile and served as camouflage. ותחמרה, “she made it waterproof from the inside;” the letter ה at the end does not have a dagesh. ובזפת, “and she tarred it from the outside;” if the bitumen had been on the outside, the waters would dissolve it gradually. She had intended to recover Moses from there as soon as she had been examined and not been found pregnant anymore. על שפת היאור, “by the banks of the river.” She had been unable to step into the Nile waters to completely cover that basket and hide him from all directions. She could only hide him so that he could not be seen by river traffic passing by. This is why the daughter of Pharaoh did not discover him until she had descended to actually bathe in the river. Her servant maids walking alongside the river bank did not see the basket. (Rash’bam.)
Tur HaArokh
ולא יכלה עוד הצפינו, “and she could no longer hide him.” According to Rashi, the Egyptians who had been aware of Yocheved’s pregnancy had miscalculated, expecting her to give birth after 9 months. This is based on Sotah which claims that she had been pregnant with him already for 3 months before Amram remarried her. The Egyptians assumed that her pregnancy did not predate her remarriage, so that she could not have been due to give birth to a live baby at the time she did. There is therefore no need to postulate that Moses was born after a mere six months’ pregnancy. Had he been born after a six month pregnancy, under these circumstances, Yocheved should have been able to hide him for 6 months, not merely three, unless we assume that the Egyptians were keeping a close check after Yocheved had been remarried for six months. Under such circumstances, according to the view that Moses was indeed born 3 months premature, this occurred three months after her remarriage.
Rashbam
בחמר, on the inside, ובזפת, on the outside, so that the water would not get inside the basket. ותשם בסוף; which was על שפת היאור, near the embankment of the river. People walking along the river would not automatically be able to spot the basket from the outside, but people bathing in the river would be able to see it. Yocheved had not entered the water to hide the basket from all directions. This is why the daughter of Pharaoh saw the basket while she was bathing in the river. Her maidservants, who were only walking along the embankment, had not noticed the basket and who was inside it.
Daat Zkenim
ולא יכלה עוד הצפינו, “she could not (successfully) hide him any longer; Rashi comments here that the Egyptians had kept track of when Yocheved had finished serving as the King’s midwife, and calculated the earliest date that she could give birth to a child from her husband. At the end of nine months they checked her out. They had allowed for the fact that she might have been three months pregnant when appointed as midwife. This explains why she felt safe hiding her baby during the first three months. תיבת גומא, “an ark of bulrushes;” seeing that the basket resembles in texture and colour the bulrushes along the river Nile, it was suitably camouflaged. The Talmud tractate Sotah, folio 12, uses this example as proof that the righteous consider their belongings as even more important than their bodies. [She used inexpensive material, as the chances that both Moses and the basket would be lost to her were overwhelming. Ed.] This is not a reflection on the righteous being tightfisted with their money, but a result of their being careful not to acquire any possessions illegally. ותחמרה בחמר, “she daubed it with slime (and pitch)”. She put the former on the outside and the latter on the inside; in order that it would not attract attention of passers by. Even though the pitch was evil smelling, if she had put it on the outside, being black it would have attracted too much attention. However, Rashi¸ makes the opposite point; he says that the זפת she applied on the outside so that Moses would not have to inhale its unpleasant odour, whereas the slime was on the inside. Ibn Ezra considers the word חמר as referring to a type of bulrushes.
And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.
verse value 2236 — לֽוֹ = 36 (double-Chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 25 letters. Notable word values: "to·him" (לֽוֹ) = 36, double chai. Verse gematria: 2236 = 26 × 86; 26 is the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "to·him" (לֽוֹ, 2 letters) and the longest is "what·would·be·done" (מַה־יֵּעָשֶׂ֖ה, 6 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "and·stationed·herself" (וַתֵּתַצַּ֥ב), "to·learn" (לְדֵעָ֕ה), "what·would·be·done" (מַה־יֵּעָשֶׂ֖ה). 6 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "what·would·be·done" (root עשה, 322x in Exodus); "to·learn" (root ידע, 45x in Exodus). First appearance of the root יצב ("and·stationed·herself") in Exodus. First appearance of the root אחות ("sister") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'from·afar', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 3 words. Full calculation: וַתֵּתַצַּ֥ב [and·stationed·herself] (898) + אֲחֹת֖וֹ [sister] (415) + מֵרָחֹ֑ק [from·afar] (348) + לְדֵעָ֕ה [to·learn] (109) + מַה־יֵּעָשֶׂ֖ה [what·would·be·done] (430) + לֽוֹ [to·him] (36) = 2236.
Onkelos
His sister stationed herself at a distance to learn what would be done to him.
Ibn Ezra
"And she stationed herself" (וַתֵּתַצַּב) — a peculiar word, for the root's nun is hidden and lost between the two tavs, in place of the yod. Rabbi Moses ha-Kohen said that the tav [in infinitives such as] "to descend" and "to approach" is prefixed on account of the absence of the pe of the root; likewise "to know" (לָדַעַת), for on account of the guttural letter the vowel becomes patah. Now in the form לָדְעָה they have replaced the tav with a he, as in "that You would place Your glory" (Ps. 5).
Sforno
לדעת מה יעשה לו. She thought that some Egyptian would pick up the baby as a foundling. There were no doubt many such illegitimate babies in Egypt who had been abandoned by their unwed mothers. The prophet Ezekiel 23,20 speaks about the sexual licentiousness in Egypt that would make such incidents nothing out of the ordinary.
And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the river; and her maidens walked along by the river-side; and she saw the ark among the flags, and sent her handmaid to fetch it.
verse value 7646
Insights
Verse structure: 15 words, 73 letters. Verse gematria: 7646 = 2 × 3823. The shortest word is "and·she·came·down" (וַתֵּ֤רֶד, 4 letters) and the longest is "and·her·maidens" (וְנַעֲרֹתֶ֥יהָ, 7 letters). 11 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "and·she·came·down" (וַתֵּ֤רֶד), "to·bathe" (לִרְחֹ֣ץ), "at·the·Nile" (עַל־הַיְאֹ֔ר). The root יאר appears 2 times in this verse. 14 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "daughter·of·Pharaoh" (root פרעה, 115x in Exodus); "along" (root יד, 100x in Exodus); "and·saw" (root ראה, 89x in Exodus). First appearance of the root ירד ("and·she·came·down") in Exodus. First appearance of the root רחץ ("to·bathe") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Nile', dividing the verse into phrases of 8 and 7 words.
Onkelos
Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens were walking along the bank of the river. She saw the ark among the reeds and sent her handmaid and took it.
Rashi
לרחץ על היאר — Invert the order of the words in this verse and then explain it: “The daughter of Pharaoh went down על היאר, by the river, לרחץ to bathe in it”. על יד היאר means BESIDE THE RIVER. Similar is (II Samuel 14:30) “See, the field of Joab is beside mine (על ידי)”. It really denotes even in this sense the actual hand, for a person’s hand is beside him (i. e. beside his body). Our Rabbis explained that the word הלכת “they were going” denotes dying, similar to (Genesis 25:32) “Behold I am going (הולך) to die” — they were going to their death because they attempted to prevent her from saving the child. Scripture, too, supports them in this explanation, for if this is not the meaning, why do we need that it should write “and her damsels were going”? (Scripture reports nothing as having happened because they were walking there. Why then stress this detail if it merely signifies that they were walking along the bank?). את אמתה means her handmaid. Our Rabbis, however, explained it in the sense of hand (cf. Sotah 12b) — but according to the grammar of the Holy Language it should then have been written אַמָּתָה , dageshed in the מ. — And the reason why they explained את אמתה to mean את ידה “she stretched forth her hand” is because they hold that Scripture intentionally uses this term to indicate that her hand increased in length several cubits (אמה, a cubit) in order that she might more easily reach the cradle.
Ramban
TO BATHE ‘AL’ (BY) THE RIVER. “Transpose [the order of the words in] the verse and then explain it: the daughter of Pharaoh went down by the river to bathe in it.” Thus the language of Rabbeinu Shlomo [Rashi]. If so, al haye’or (by or upon the river) is like el haye’or (to the river). Similarly, And Elkanah went to Ramah ‘al beitho’ (upon his house) [is like el beitho (to his house)]; Thus shall ye say every one ‘al rei’eihu’ (upon his neighbor) and every one to his brother [is like el rei’eihu (to his neighbor)].It is possible that there were steps upon the bank of the river and that she went down from the royal palace to bathe upon the first step by the river, but did not enter into the river’s stream. [In this case, the expression al haye’or would be completely understandable, as it would mean that she came down to bathe “upon the step near the river”], and then she saw the ark among the reeds far from her and she sent her handmaid to fetch it. It may be that to bathe ‘al haye’or’ is like “to bathe baye’or (in the river).” Similarly, And thou shalt put them ‘al’ one basket [is like b’sal echad (‘into’ one basket)].
Ibn Ezra
"And she came down" — from her palace. "To bathe" — this was the custom of Egyptian women. Scripture mentions the detail of her maidens walking along the bank of the Nile, as in "And you shall have a place" (Deut. 23:13) — because she sent her maidservant, that is, one of the maidens, to take the basket; for the king's daughter would not enter the reedy area herself. The basket had been placed at some distance from the bank so that no passerby could reach it. Furthermore, grammatically [the word] cannot mean her arm, for the mem is soft [ungeminated], whereas the mem in "a cubit its length" (below, 30:2) is doubled; furthermore, "a cubit its length" is a measure, not a limb.
Sforno
לרחוץ על היאור. She had a view of the river, her room in the palace bordering on the embankment. No doubt, royal etiquette would not permit an Egyptian princess to actually bathe in the river. [the author was alerted by the preposition על instead of ב, “in,” in front of the word יאור. Ed.] ונערותיה הולכות, this is the reason why she did not command one of them to bring the basket to her as they were not with her at that time. ותשלח את אמתה, the servant who was attending her at the time when she bathed herself. All of this happened at the instigation of G’d so that she would not dispatch one of her regular attendants as she might mistakenly place her trust in them and such an attendant would throw the baby in the river.
Or HaChaim
ונערותיה הולכות, walking with her ladies-in-waiting, etc. Why is that detail pertinent to the story of Moses' rescue? Perhaps the Torah felt that inasmuch as Batya (Pharaoh's daughter) had performed such a great deed in rescuing the life of a Jewish baby, she deserved that all the details be revealed for all to know. It is a well known fact that a Royal princess does not go down to the river to bathe without her attendants. Moreover, it is customary that amongst her attendants there should be one who is senior, in charge of all the other junior attendants. The Torah speaks about "her attendants who were walking, etc." Presumably, the Torah means that at the time when the princess was actually bathing in the water all the other attendants were walking some distance away, affording the princess a degree of privacy while she bathed. Only the senior attendant stayed close to the princess. The Torah referred to this senior attendant when it writes: "she sent out her maidservant who picked up the basket." It is possible that the princess sent her maidservant to save the baby whereas the maidservant merely picked up the basket without the baby. In either event, the princess deserves praise for displaying noble human feelings. Her soul was pure, indicating that sometimes something pure emerges from something impure (Job, 14,4). One of two things may have happened. 1) Although the princess was attended by only a single servant at the time, she sent even that servant away and she herself picked up the baby remaining alone and vulnerable at the time. 2) Although the princess had only one attendant close by at the time, having sent her other maids some distance away, she even took a chance by sending the one remaining servant to pick up the basket with the baby.
Chizkuni
לרחוץ על היאור, “to bathe in the waters of the river; other examples of the word על meaning “in,” instead of “on, or above,” are found in: Genesis 27,40 על חרבך תחיה, “you will live with the use of your sword.” Also Exodus 12,7: על הבתים אשר יאכלו אותו בהם, “in the houses that they will eat it in. ונערותיה, “and her servantmaids;” this is mentioned here as the Torah shortly will refer to a specific servant maid who went to take the basket in which Moses was lying. הולכות ,ונערותיה, “and her servantmaids “walking,” Rashi, while interpreting the word as meaning “walking towards her death,” quotes a traditional explanation in the Talmud Sotah 12 according to which it is short for “being on a path which leads to death,” as in Genesis 25,32, where Esau is quoted as saying: הנה אנכי הולך למות, “here I am pursuing a path that will result in my death;” The scholar in the Talmud has the servant maids warning the daughter of Pharaoh who was actually going to use the waters of the Nile as a mikveh, ritual bath, in order to cleanse herself from the desecrations that were a daily occurrence in her father’s palace, by warning her that even when other people might disregard the king’s command surely his own daughter would not dare do so? They warned that by doing so she would condemn herself to death by execution. When hearing what her maidservants had said to Pharaoh’s daughter, the angel Gavriel struck them so that they fell to the ground. At this point there surfaces a divergence of opinion between two scholars, one saying that the word אמתה, as distinct from the word נערות for the servant maids used by the Torah previously, refers to the servant maid who had been spared by the angel, as it is not fitting for a princess to remain without at least one of her attendants. The other scholar does not understand the word אמתה as “her servant maid,” but as “her arm,” i.e. the arm of the princess which had been miraculously lengthened to the extent of about 2,5 meters for this purpose. Rashi, for reasons of a grammatical nature, rejects the second opinion offered in the Talmud, saying that if correct the letter מ in that word would have to have a dot, dagesh in it. He adds that further proof is the fact that the letter א in the word is vocalised with an abbreviated vowel chataf patach.
Tur HaArokh
ותרד בת פרעה לרחוץ על היאור, ”Pharaoh’s daughter descended to the banks of the river to bathe.” Rashi claims that our verse is truncated and that its correct meaning is as if the Torah had written: “ותרד בת פרעה על היאור לרחוץ בו.” [as written it could be understood as “Pharaoh’s daughter descended to bathe above the river.” Ed.] Nachmanides writes that it is possible to understand the verse to mean that there were steps leading down to the banks of the river and that these steps led directly to the river from the palace of the king, the lowest step being covered by the water in the river. When reaching that lowest step, Pharaoh’s daughter saw the basket in which Moses had been placed from a distance and she ordered one of her attendants to bring it to her. Alternately, the words לרחוץ על היאור is another way of writing לרחוץ ביאור, “to bathe in the river.”
Rashbam
אמתה, not “her nursemaid,” but “her maidservant.”
Daat Zkenim
ותשלח את אמתה, “she sent her handmaid (to fetch it).” In the Talmud, tractate Sotah folio 12, two sages disagree concerning the meaning of the word אמתה here, one claiming that it refers to her forearm, (The princess’;) According to one sage this was a bodily owned slave, שפחה, whereas the other sage the princess went down to bathe on her own. [The author speculates how to reconcile the opinion of the sage who claimed that she sent forth a slave with the aggadic statement that an angel struck down all but one of her slaves at the time. [This editor does not follow the need for these far fetched interpretations, and I have not pursued them further. Ed.]
Cross-references: Exodus 16:16; Exodus 16:36; I Chronicles 4:18
And she opened it, and saw it, even the child; and behold a boy that wept. And she had compassion on him, and said: "This is one of the Hebrews' children."
verse value 4055
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 54 letters. Verse gematria: 4055 = 5 × 811. The shortest word is "this" (זֶֽה, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·behold·a·boy" (וְהִנֵּה־נַ֖עַר, 7 letters). 6 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "and·opened" (וַתִּפְתַּח֙), "and·saw·him" (וַתִּרְאֵ֣הוּ), "and·behold·a·boy" (וְהִנֵּה־נַ֖עַר). The root ילד appears 2 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·she·said" (root אמר, 297x in Exodus); "upon·him" (root על, 114x in Exodus); "and·saw·him" (root ראה, 89x in Exodus). First appearance of the root פתח ("and·opened") in Exodus. First appearance of the root הנה ("and·behold·a·boy") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'crying', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 6 words. Full calculation: וַתִּפְתַּח֙ [and·opened] (894) + וַתִּרְאֵ֣הוּ [and·saw·him] (618) + אֶת־הַיֶּ֔לֶד [the·boy] (450) + וְהִנֵּה־נַ֖עַר [and·behold·a·boy] (386) + בֹּכֶ֑ה [crying] (27) + וַתַּחְמֹ֣ל [and·took·pity] (484) + עָלָ֔יו [upon·him] (116) + וַתֹּ֕אמֶר [and·she·said] (647) + מִיַּלְדֵ֥י [of·the·children·of] (94) + הָֽעִבְרִ֖ים [the·Hebrews] (327) + זֶֽה [this] (12) = 4055.
Onkelos
She opened it and saw the child — and behold, the lad was weeping. She had compassion on him and said, "This is one of the children of the Judeans."
Rashi
ותפתח ותראהו lit., AND SHE OPENED IT AND SHE SAW HIM — whom did she see? את הילד THE CHILD. This is the literal sense of the suffix in ותראהו. A Midrashic explanation is (taking את in the sense of “with”— she saw Him with the child): she saw the Shechina with him (cf. Sotah 12b). והנה נער בכה lit., AND BEHOLD A BOY WEEPING — Although he was a ילד, “a child”, his voice was like that of a נער, a grown up boy (cf. Sotah 12b).
Ramban
AND BEHOLD IT WAS A WEEPING LAD. “His voice sounded like that of a grown lad.” Thus the language of Rabbeinu Shlomo. Now the Rabbis have already rejected this opinion, saying, “If so, you have made Moses our teacher appear as having a blemish [and being unfit for Levitical service in the Tabernacle].” Besides, what reason is there for Scripture to mention his unnatural voice?And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that his limbs were developed as that of a young lad. Perhaps Scripture mentioned this in order to denote the child’s beauty. It was due to his exquisite beautiful appearance that she [the princess] had compassion for him since she recognized that he had been recently born and yet his limbs were well-developed like those of a lad. A more correct interpretation is that his was a strong and unrelenting cry like that of a lad, and therefore she had compassion for him. A homiletic exposition has it: “A weeping lad. He was a child whose behavior was that of a lad [who is not prone to crying]. At that moment, the angel Gabriel came and struck him so that he would cry and she would be compassionate towards him.”In my opinion there is no need for all this. From the day of his birth, a child is called na’ar (lad) [in Scripture], as it is said, What shall we do ‘lana’ar’ (to the lad) that shall be born? Similarly, And David besought G-d for ‘hana’ar’ (the lad). Conversely, Scripture calls a grown lad yeled (child), as it is said in the case of Ishmael. Similarly, ‘v’hana’ar na’ar’ (and the lad was young), meaning that he [Samuel] was a young child of twenty-four months. As soon as she [his mother, Hannah] had weaned him, she brought him up to Shiloh, as it is written, And she gave her son suck until she weaned him. And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her. AND SHE SAID, THIS IS ONE OF THE HEBREWS’ CHILDREN. [She came to this conclusion because] contemplating what happened, she said [that his mother had done it] in order to save him or that she had placed him there so that she might not look upon the death of her child, and why should an Egyptian do that? Some Rabbis say that [she knew he was a Hebrew because] she saw that he was circumcised. If so, [we must assume that] she removed his clothes and examined him. But there is no need for this.
Ibn Ezra
"And she opened it and saw him" — after saying "and she saw him," Scripture goes on to explain further, as in: "the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of Hashem" (Zech. 12:8). "And behold, a youth weeping" — his limbs were large, as though he were already a youth. She saw that he was circumcised, and on account of his beauty she took pity on him; this is the meaning of "for he was good."
Sforno
ותפתח, she then saw that this was an exceptionally beautiful baby. את הילד, בוכה, she noticed that though his size was that of an infant, when he cried he sounded like a far older child, a lad. Actually, from birth until maturity a child is still called ילד. The best proof of this is found in Kings I 12,10 where the advisors of Rechavam, the son of king Solomon who ascended the throne after him, is described as listening to his youthful advisors who are called הילדים אשר גדלו עמו “the children who had grown up with him.” [Rechavam was 41 years of age at the time. Ed.] Also in Daniel 1,4 youngsters at least in their teens are referred to as ילדים. The term נער is applied to someone who no longer enjoys the perfection of early youth. According to our author perfect co-ordination of one’s limbs results in one’s making wrong moves on occasion. The reason why servants are referred to as נער is that they frequently are inept in their movements to the annoyance of their masters. The daughter of Pharaoh recognised in this baby that though this child had only recently been born it already showed signs of physical maturity as she could hear by the manner in which it cried. נער בוכה, awakening, shaking himself like a child of this age. ותחמול עליו, seeing that he was such a beautiful baby, far too perfect a creature to simply throw into the river. ותאמר מילדי העברים זה, this is not an illegitimate baby, abandoned by its mother. Such a baby, when it grew up was likely to become a criminal, as we know from Isaiah 57,4 ילדי פשע זרע שקר, “children born in sin, offspring of treachery.”
Or HaChaim
ותראהו את הילד והנה נער בכה, When she saw the child it turned out to be a crying boy. Why did the Torah write ותראהו, "she saw him," instead of simply "she saw, etc.?" Presumably she assumed that the basket would contain an abandoned baby and she planned to rescue the baby. The Torah therefore refers to the princess "seeing what she expected to see, i.e. an abandoned child." Had the Torah written ותרא את הילד, the Torah would have created the impression that the princess saw something she had not expected. Our sages in Sotah 12 explain the pronoun הו at the end of ותרא as a reference to Batya seeing the שכינה together with the child. This is homiletics. We would have to assume that Batya had experience with the way the שכינה looked from her father and grandfather, something quite unlikely! Our sages may simply have meant that Batya saw that the baby was surrounded by a great halo; G'd arranged for this in order to impress Batya that this baby was someone special. The Zohar section 2, page 12 writes something similar concerning the words "the boy was crying," namely that the cries were on behalf of the Jewish people's suffering in exile." G'd opened her eyes in order for her to be able to "see" the great light surrounding Moses. Alternatively, Batya's experience with the שכינה may be explained in terms of Shemot Rabbah 1,23 according to which Batya suffered from Tzoraat, the dreaded skin disease. As soon as she touched the basket she felt that she had been healed. This was her encounter with the שכינה. The word נער may then have a double meaning. When the Syrian general Naamon was healed of his Tzoraat, the prophet described his flesh as again becoming like that of a teen-aged boy, נער, (Kings II 5,14). ותחמול עליו. She pitied him. Seeing that she had already set out determined to save the child, the pity mentioned here may refer to her determination to nurse the child. This is why Moses' sister immediately volunteered to call a Jewish wet nurse to nurse Moses. According to Sotah 12 all this occurred after Moses refused to accept milk from the breasts of non Jewish wet nurses. ותאמר מילדי העברים זה. She said: "this one is one of the Jewish babies." This was quite obvious as the Jews would abandon their children near the river on account of Pharaoh's decree. On the other hand, if all this occurred on the one day when Pharaoh had ordered the Egyptians to throw also their new-born boy babies into the Nile, how did Batya know that Moses was a Jewish baby? This may have forced our sages in Sotah to say that Moses refused to drink the milk of non Jewish wet nurses. [I do not see this as a compelling explanation. The fact that the child had no foreskin clearly marked him as Jewish unless the Jews had abandoned the practice of circumcision already at that time as is evident eighty years later at the time of the Exodus. Ed.] Accordingly, the Torah does tell us something that was not so obvious after all. Let us examine if the reason Batya saved the baby...
Chizkuni
ותפתח ותראהו “she opened (the basket) and she saw him;” who is the subject of the suffix הו in this line? Seeing that at that point Pharaoh’s daughter did not yet know if the infant was an abandoned girl or an abandoned baby boy, the word ילד, is used which is neutral. After she opened the basket, she realised that it was a crying baby boy. Another exegesis: she suddenly noticed an older boy crying, i.e. Aaron, seeing that he was the brother of the baby in the basket. Noticing Aaron, she immediately came to the conclusion that the baby boy in the basket must be one of the Hebrews. Our sages, commenting on the fact that the baby Moses is once called ילד, and once נער in the same verse, teaches that his mother had made a wedding canopy inside that basket. (Sotah 12) She did so as she worried she might not merit seeing him get married.
Kli Yakar
And behold, a youth was crying. He appeared as a grown youth, and this crying is in reference to I am with him in distress (Psalms 91:15), as it is written: For I know his pains (Exodus 3:7). That is to say, I feel his pains, as it were, and this is the repetition of I will be what I will be (Exodus 3:14), for in their distress, He too is distressed. And some say that this is why his voice was heard as that of a youth, so that Pharaoh’s daughter would think he was born a long time ago. For if not, she would not have saved him out of doubt, because perhaps he was the redeemer and was born on the same day that the astrologers had mentioned.
Tur HaArokh
והנה נער בוכה. “and here there was a crying lad.” Rashi understands the phrase as meaning that the voice of this baby was as strong as that of a lad, i.e. a growing youngster.” According to Nachmanides, Rashi’s explanation has already been discounted, for if it were correct we would have to view Moses as being halachically blemished, something that according to our tradition disqualifies a person from becoming a prophet, or performing priestly duties. Ibn Ezra writes that Moses’ limbs were exceptionally large for a baby of his age, as large as those of a growing lad. This would not be a blemish, but, on the contrary, would be a compliment to Moses and might account for the fact that Pharaoh’s daughter took pity on that child. I believe that the correct interpretation of our phrase is that the manner in which Moses cried was that of an older child, something not as irritating as a baby’s howls, and that this was what prompted Pharaoh’s daughter to have pity on him. According to the Midrash Moses did not display symptoms of being much older, but the angel Gavriel struck him so that he broke out weeping on account of his pain, which in turn attracted the attention of the daughter of Pharaoh and aroused feelings of pity within her. I do not believe that there is any need for such esoteric explanations. Children are described as נער already at birth, compare Judges 13,8 מה נעשה לנער אשר יולד, “what are we supposed to do to the child that is going to be born?” on the other hand, growing lads are referred to by the Torah as ילד, such as when Avraham placed the 17 year old Ishmael on Hagar’s shoulder in Genesis 21,14, so that there is nothing strange in the Torah again applying this adjective in our verse. ותאמר מילדי העברים זה, “She said: “this is one of the Hebrew boy babies.” According to the plain text she had every reason for this assumption, for why would an Egyptian place her baby in such a place at such a time? Our sages, however, say that she arrived at that conclusion when observing that Moses had been circumcised.
Rashbam
ותפתח ותראהו את הילד, anyone explaining that the meaning of the line is that “she saw the infant,” is in error. Who does not know that when someone would open the basket that he or she would see the infant? Surely, the Torah did not have to tell us something so elementary! Therefore, the meaning of the line is this: when she opened the basket and saw the infant and wanted to know if it was male or female, she found that the baby was a נער, that it was male and not female. When she also observed that his member had been circumcised, she realised that this baby had not been abandoned but had been hidden in the reeds. If she would have found that the baby was a girl, she would have assumed that it had been abandoned (as an illegitimate birth) There is nothing unusual about an infant being called נער, as we find Manoach asking the angel who had predicted the birth of Simshon מה נעשה לנער אשר יולד,”what shall we do for the boy once he will be born?” (Judges 13,8). והנה נער בוכה, ותחמול עליו, because he was crying she took pity on him. Furthermore, because she saw that he was a circumcised boy, she added: מילדי העברים זה, that it was one of the Hebrew children. We find something parallel in Samuel I 1,5 where we are told ולחנה יתן מנה אחת אפים, that Elkanah would give his wife Chanah a double portion, the reason being explained later with the words: כי את חנה אהב “for he deeply loved Chanah.” This is all very fine, but why does the prophet stress the word אחת in the description מנה אחת אפים, “one portion twice,” instead of writing שתי מנות, “two portions?” The reason is that although she was childless her husband gave her a double portion (only), whereas Peninah, having numerous children received far more than 2 portions. Elkanah compensated Chanah for her childlessness. Here the daughter of Pharaoh reacted to the miserable condition Moses found himself in.
Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter: "Shall I go and call you a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?"
verse value 5422
Insights
Verse structure: 13 words, 58 letters. Verse gematria: 5422 = 2 × 2711. The shortest word is "to·you" (לָךְ֙, 2 letters) and the longest is "to·the·daughter·of·Pharaoh" (אֶל־בַּת־פַּרְעֹה֒, 8 letters). Words sharing gematria 50: to·you, to·you. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "to·the·daughter·of·Pharaoh" (אֶל־בַּת־פַּרְעֹה֒), "shall·I·go" (הַאֵלֵ֗ךְ), "nurse" (מֵינֶ֔קֶת). The root לך appears 2 times in this verse. 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·she·said" (root אמר, 297x in Exodus); "to·the·daughter·of·Pharaoh" (root פרעה, 115x in Exodus); "shall·I·go" (root הלך, 71x in Exodus). First appearance of the root לך ("to·you") in Exodus. First appearance of the root ינק ("nurse") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Hebrew·women', dividing the verse into phrases of 10 and 3 words. Full calculation: וַתֹּ֣אמֶר [and·she·said] (647) + אֲחֹתוֹ֮ [sister] (415) + אֶל־בַּת־פַּרְעֹה֒ [to·the·daughter·of·Pharaoh] (788) + הַאֵלֵ֗ךְ [shall·I·go] (56) + וְקָרָ֤אתִי [and·I·shall·call] (717) + לָךְ֙ [to·you] (50) + אִשָּׁ֣ה [woman] (306) + מֵינֶ֔קֶת [nurse] (600) + מִ֖ן [from] (90) + הָעִבְרִיֹּ֑ת [the·Hebrew·women] (687) + וְתֵינִ֥ק [that·she·may·nurse] (566) + לָ֖ךְ [to·you] (50) + אֶת־הַיָּֽלֶד [the·boy] (450) = 5422.
Onkelos
His sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call for you a nursing woman from the Judean women, that she may nurse the child for you?"
Rashi
מן העבריות OF THE HEBREWS — She expressly said, “shall I call a nurse of the Hebrews?” because she (Pharaoh’s daughter) had handed him to many Egyptian women to suckle him and he had refused to take suck — this was because he was destined to hold converse with the Shechina (Exodus Rabbah 1:21 and Sotah 12b).
Ibn Ezra
"And she said" … "and she shall nurse" — among verbs whose yod is original in the first position, sometimes the yod alternates [with vav], as from יָדַע [to know] comes תּוֹדִיעַ [she will inform]; and sometimes the root's quiescent yod, hidden between the service-letter and the ayin of the root, is written out and sometimes not. So too: וְתֵנִיק לְךָ אֶת הַיֶּלֶד [and she shall nurse for you the child].
Sforno
מינקת מן העבריות, whose milk would be more compatible to its constitution. ותיניק לך, so he will be capable to stand in your presence (not to make you ashamed of him) seeing that his beauty is such that he can take his place with royalty.
Chizkuni
מן העבריות, “from amongst the Hebrew wet nurses. Egyptian wet nurses would refuse to nurse Hebrew children. (Avodah Zarah 26).
Kli Yakar
His sister said, etc., “Shall I go and call a wet nurse for you, etc.” From here is proof that Miriam was a prophetess, for if not, how did she know that Pharaoh’s daughter would take pity on him? For the statement and she took pity on him is a statement of the [biblical] verse, but how did she [Miriam] know [this would happen]?
Rashbam
ותיניק לך את הילד, A transitive construction, meaning the Hebrew nursing woman would perform on her behalf as if it were her own child.
And Pharaoh's daughter said to her: "Go." And the maiden went and called the child's mother.
verse value 3303
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 38 letters. The shortest word is "go" (לֵ֑כִי, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·said·to·her" (וַתֹּֽאמֶר־לָ֥הּ, 7 letters). 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "and·said·to·her" (וַתֹּֽאמֶר־לָ֥הּ), "go" (לֵ֑כִי), "and·went" (וַתֵּ֙לֶךְ֙). The root הלך appears 2 times in this verse. 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said·to·her" (root אמר, 297x in Exodus); "daughter·of·Pharaoh" (root פרעה, 115x in Exodus); "go" (root הלך, 71x in Exodus). First appearance of the root אם ("the·mother·of") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'go', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 5 words. Full calculation: וַתֹּֽאמֶר־לָ֥הּ [and·said·to·her] (682) + בַּת־פַּרְעֹ֖ה [daughter·of·Pharaoh] (757) + לֵ֑כִי [go] (60) + וַתֵּ֙לֶךְ֙ [and·went] (456) + הָֽעַלְמָ֔ה [the·young·woman] (150) + וַתִּקְרָ֖א [and·called] (707) + אֶת־אֵ֥ם [the·mother·of] (442) + הַיָּֽלֶד [the·child] (49) = 3303.
Onkelos
Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." The young woman went and called the child's mother.
Rashi
ותלך העלמה AND THE YOUNG WOMAN WENT — she went eagerly and with vigour (עלמות) like a young man (עלם) (cf. Sotah 12b).
Ibn Ezra
"And she said: 'לֵכִי'" — like שֵׁבִי [sit, feminine imperative]; compare וַיֵּלֶךְ [and he went] and וַיֵּשֶׁב [and he sat].
Chizkuni
ותלך העלמה, “the young lady went, etc.” The reason why the Torah calls her by the description עלמה, is because she concealed the fact that she was the baby’s sister.
And Pharaoh's daughter said to her: "Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." And the woman took the child, and nursed him.
verse value 5123
Insights
Verse structure: 15 words, 69 letters. Verse gematria: 5123 = 47 × 109. The shortest word is "to·her" (לָ֣הּ, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·nurse·him" (וְהֵינִקִ֣הוּ, 7 letters). 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "take" (הֵילִ֜יכִי), "and·nurse·him" (וְהֵינִקִ֣הוּ), "your·wages" (אֶת־שְׂכָרֵ֑ךְ). The root ילד appears 2 times in this verse. 13 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·she·said" (root אמר, 297x in Exodus); "daughter·of·Pharaoh" (root פרעה, 115x in Exodus); "I·will·give" (root נתן, 115x in Exodus). First appearance of the root לה ("to·her") in Exodus. First appearance of the root לי ("to·me") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'your·wages', dividing the verse into phrases of 11 and 4 words.
Onkelos
Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." The woman took the child and nursed him.
Rashi
היליכי (the word may be explained as a compound of two Aramaic words, הי, here is, and ליכי, that which belongs to thee — thine own) — she prophesied without knowing what she was prophesying (unconsciously she stated the actual fact) — here is thine own (Exodus Rabbah 1:21 and Sotah 12b).
Ibn Ezra
"הֵילִיכִי" — like הֵינִיקִי [give suck], for they are two separate roots: יָלַךְ and הָלַךְ, yet with the same meaning; for the he is not one of the letters of prolongation, so another he [is prefixed] to it in the same way. Furthermore, the alef, yod, and vav are sometimes written within a word, sometimes present in pronunciation but absent in writing, and sometimes entirely absent; while the he, when it appears in the middle of a word, is always visible. The word בְּלַטֵּיהֶם (below, 7:22) is not the same as בְּלַהֲטֵיהֶם (7:11), as I will explain. "And she said" — the Gaon said that הֵילִיכִי is two words; but he has not spoken correctly. It is one word, on the pattern of וְהֵינִיקֵהוּ לִי ["and nurse him for me"], as I explained: it is in the hifil binyan. He also said it is like "here for you" (הָא לָךְ), citing הָא as in "and I, I too have given" (Ezek. 16:43); but we have not found anywhere in Scripture the feminine imperative לִיכִי — only לְכִי. It is therefore one single word. "And she nursed him" (וַתְּנִיקֵהוּ) — [this is] from the verbs whose ayin is hidden, among the biliteral-appearing roots. Thus in one verse there are two roots with the same meaning. Compare: "play well on the strings" (Isa. 23:16) — הֵיטִיבִי נַגֵּן — an imperative like הֵילִיכִי; but "all that they said was good" (Deut. 5:24) — הֵיטִיבוּ — like "and they brought to him" (Exod. 36:3), from the hidden-ayin [root].
Chizkuni
היליכי, some commentators claim that this word is from the root הלך as in הולכה, the letter י taking the place of the letter ו. Similar examples occur with the mode: ,היטיבי .היניקי והניקהו לי, “and nurse him for me.” The letter ק has the vowel chirik under it.
Rashbam
ותניקהו, There is no need to assume that we are dealing with a two-letter mode of the verb as in שב, בא, or קם, and that the letter י of the root ינק is missing here as is usual in the transitive form, הפעיל of the roots קום or שוב, so that we have the construction ותקימהו “she made him stand up,” or ותשיבהו, “she brought him back.” The root we are dealing with here is the verb ינק, and in order to shorten the word somewhat the Torah writes instead of ותיניקהו simply ותניקהו.
And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and said: "Because I drew him out of the water."
verse value 4478
Insights
Verse structure: 13 words, 61 letters. Verse gematria: 4478 = 2 × 2239. The shortest word is "because" (כִּ֥י, 2 letters) and the longest is "to·the·daughter·of·Pharaoh" (לְבַת־פַּרְעֹ֔ה, 7 letters). 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "and·she·brought·him" (וַתְּבִאֵ֙הוּ֙), "to·the·daughter·of·Pharaoh" (לְבַת־פַּרְעֹ֔ה), "and·he·became·to·her" (וַֽיְהִי־לָ֖הּ). The root משה appears 2 times in this verse. 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·she·said" (root אמר, 297x in Exodus); "Moses" (root משה, 277x in Exodus); "and·he·became·to·her" (root היה, 235x in Exodus). First appearance of the root לבן ("as·a·son") in Exodus. First appearance of the root משה ("Moses") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'as·a·son', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 7 words. Full calculation: וַיִּגְדַּ֣ל [and·he·grew·up] (53) + הַיֶּ֗לֶד [the·boy] (49) + וַתְּבִאֵ֙הוּ֙ [and·she·brought·him] (420) + לְבַת־פַּרְעֹ֔ה [to·the·daughter·of·Pharaoh] (787) + וַֽיְהִי־לָ֖הּ [and·he·became·to·her] (66) + לְבֵ֑ן [as·a·son] (82) + וַתִּקְרָ֤א [and·called] (707) + שְׁמוֹ֙ [his·name] (346) + מֹשֶׁ֔ה [Moses] (345) + וַתֹּ֕אמֶר [and·she·said] (647) + כִּ֥י [because] (30) + מִן־הַמַּ֖יִם [from·the·water] (185) + מְשִׁיתִֽהוּ [I·drew·him·out] (761) = 4478.
Onkelos
The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became a son to her. She called his name Moses, and said, "For I drew him out of the water."
Rashi
משיתיהו The Targum renders this by שחלתיה which in the Aramaic language means drawing out. The word occurs in the Talmud, (Berakhot 8a) “as one draws out (משחל) a hair from milk”, and in the Hebrew language משיתיהו might be taken to mean “I have removed him”, just as, (Joshua 1:8) “it shall not depart (ימוש)”; (Numbers 14:44) “they did not depart (משו)”. Thus indeed did Menachem b. Seruk classify it (i. e. he put משיתיהו under the same root as מש and משו in the verses quoted; according to him a biliteral root מש, our ע"ו root מוש). I, however, say, that it should not be classified together with מש and וימוש but that it is to be derived from משה, and that it means taking out, similar to (II Samuel 22:17) “He draws me out (ימשני) from many waters”. For if it were of the same class as מש, it would not be correct to say משיתיהו (in the Kal), but הֲמישׁוֹתִיהוּ a Hiphil form, (since this root in the Kal means “to depart” or “go away” and not “to make a thing go away”), just as from קם one says הֲקִימוֹתִי and from שב — הֲשִׁיבוֹתִי and from הֲבִיאוֹתִי — בא; or one must say מַשְתִּיהוּ (which is also a form from מוש used in a causative sense), just as, (Zechariah 3:9) “And I will remove (וּמַשְׁתִּי) the iniquity of that land”. But מָשִׁיתִי can only be derived from a word whose verbal form has a ה as a root letter at the end of the word, as e. g., משה and בנה and עשה and צוה and פנה. When it wishes to say in regard to these verbs, “I have done so-and-so” (a Kal), a י takes the place of the ה, as in בָּנִיתִי and עָשִׂיתִי and צִוִּיתִי.
Ibn Ezra
"And he became a son to her" — as in "these are the sons of Michal" [yet in fact] Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel (Ezra 3:2; Hag. 1:1), who was actually the son of Pedaiah, Shealtiel's brother — because he raised him, he was called his son. The name Moses is translated from the Egyptian language into the holy tongue; his name in Egyptian was Munius, and so it is written in the Book on the Cultivation of the Earth (Sēfer Avodath ha-Adamah), translated from Egyptian into the language of the Qedarites [Arabs], and likewise in the books of the Greek sages. Perhaps Pharaoh's daughter had learned our language, or inquired of others. Do not be surprised that [the name as rendered] is not in the expected verbal form, for names are not preserved [morphologically] the way verb forms are.
Sforno
ותקרא שמו משה, someone who will save others by pulling them out of their calamity. ותאמר כי מן המים משיתהו, the reason why I called him thus is so that he in turn would rescue others from their problems, just as I have pulled him out of the water (in which he would have drowned.) She considered the find as decreed by a higher power (compare Daniel, 4,14) Moses was saved only so that in his life he would become the instrument of saving others.
Or HaChaim
"And she called his name, etc. and she said, etc." Here we find a difference from the way Yitzchak and Yaakov and the tribes were named. For all of them, the meaning came before the name itself. For Yitzchak, (Breisheet 21:6), [Sarah said] "anyone who hears will laugh (Yitzchak) etc." and that is when she named him Yitzchak. For Yaakov, (Breisheet 25:26), 'his hand was holding the heel (Ekev) [of Esav] and he called him Yaakov.' With the tribes, [Leah said], 'For Hashem saw ... and she called him Reuven." (Breisheet 29:32), "For Hashem heard ... and she called him Shimon." (Breisheet 29:33) and so on in this manner. Perhaps all the matriarchs possessed a measure of the Holy Spirit which enabled them to appreciate the deeper meaning of these names. Batya did not possess Holy Spirit so that her naming Moses did not reflect special insights on her part as to the deeper significance of that name. The Torah alludes to this by reversing the sequence in which it reports Moses being named. It is very interesting to read what the Zohar section 3, page 276 in the Tikkunim 69 writes about the allusions contained in the name. G'd inspired Batya to name Moses as she did; she herself was totally unaware of the additional implications of the name Moses. All she was aware of was that inasmuch as she had drawn him from the water that event should be reflected in his name. It is also possible that Batya was very careful not to publicise the name Moses and what had inspired it seeing she had flouted both her father's and her people's wishes that the Jewish boy babies be killed. She did call the child Moses. The words: "for I have drawn him from the water," were revealed only by the Torah, not by her.
Chizkuni
ותקרא שמו משה, “she named him: Moses.” According to our sages this proves that she converted (by immersing herself in the Nile) to Judaism and learned the Hebrew tongue.) She commemorated the miracles of his& having been saved from the waters of the Nile by expressing this in her choice of name. An alternate explanation: the daughter of Pharaoh did not know any Hebrew, but the plain meaning of the text is that his mother Yocheved called him Moses. When the daughter of Pharaoh wanted to know the meaning of this name, she explained to her that in Hebrew the word משה derived from המשכה, means drawing something, pulling it. When hearing this, the daughter of Pharaoh agreed wholeheartedly with the name given to this infant, for in her own words: “I have pulled him out of the water.” She added that in the future she hoped that what she had done for that infant he would do for others when he would grow up, that is, that he would pull the Jewish people out of Egypt. (Midrash hagadol)
Rabbeinu Bahya
She called his name Moshe. Basyah, the daughter of Pharaoh, merited that the name she chose for him became his permanent name, in commemoration of the miracle of his being drawn from the water and saved from death.
Tur HaArokh
ותקרא שמו משה, “she named him Moses.” Rabbi Joseph Kimchi writes that according to the rules of grammar she should have called him משוי, if she wanted to name him in commemoration of his having been pulled from the water. Similar constructions such as קנוי from the root קנה, “to acquire,” describe something that has been acquired. However, Pharaoh’s daughter was not sufficiently familiar with the finer points of grammar in the (Hebrew?) language and did not know how to distinguish between a verb in the active mode and the same word when used as a past participle. The name she gave Moses was inspired by Divine input as is appropriate seeing that in due course this child would pull the Children of Israel out of their exile, i.e. מושה.
Rashbam
משיתיהו. As if to say: משכתיהו, “I pulled him forth.” We know that the word used here is also used elsewhere in connection with pulling something out of the water, as in Psalms 18,17 ימשני ממים רבים, “He drew me out of the mighty waters.” The construction follows the same pattern as with the root קנה the intransitive form of which parallel to ours would be קניתיהו, “I have acquired him, whereas the transitive mode, הפעיל would be יקנני, yakneyni in the future tense, “he will acquire me.”
Daat Zkenim
ותקרא שמו משה, “she named him: ‘Moses.’” If you were to ask how she, the Egyptian gave him a Hebrew name? We have to answer that in fact she gave him an Egyptian name which was the equivalent of the word משה in Hebrew. The Torah contented itself with giving us his Hebrew name. An alternate interpretation: Pharaoh’s daughter had learned Hebrew after the Hebrews had come to Egypt and had made up a large percentage of the population. [Since Moses was born 130 years after Yaakov had come to Egypt, she had never known an Egypt without Hebrews. Ed.] Pharaoh had even given Joseph a Hebrew name as we know from Genesis 41,45.
And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brothers.
verse value 3086
Insights
Verse structure: 15 words, 66 letters. Verse gematria: 3086 = 2 × 1543. The shortest word is "those" (הָהֵ֗ם, 3 letters) and the longest is "a·Hebrew·man" (אִישׁ־עִבְרִ֖י, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 217: and·saw, and·saw. 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "a·Hebrew·man" (אִישׁ־עִבְרִ֖י), "from·his·kinsmen" (מֵאֶחָֽיו). The root אח appears 2 times in this verse. 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Moses" (root משה, 277x in Exodus); "and·it·was" (root היה, 235x in Exodus); "Egyptian" (root מצרי, 145x in Exodus). First appearance of the root יום ("in·the·days") in Exodus. First appearance of the root אח ("to·his·kinsfolk") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'at·their·labors', dividing the verse into phrases of 9 and 6 words.
Onkelos
In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his kinsmen and saw their labors. He saw an Egyptian man striking a Judean man, one of his kinsmen.
Rashi
ויגדל משה AND MOSES WAS GROWN — But has it not already been written, (Exodus 2:10) “And the child grew”? Rabbi Judah the son of Eloai said: the first time it refers to growth in stature, the second time to greatness, — that Pharaoh appointed him to have charge over his palace (Tanchuma Yashan 2.2:17; cf. also Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 166:11). וירא בסבלתם AND HE SAW THEIR BURDENS — he set his eyes and mind to share in their distress. (Exodus Rabbah 1:27) איש מצרי AN EGYPTIAN MAN — This was one of the taskmasters appointed over the Israelite officers and he used to rouse them from their beds at cock-crow that they might proceed to their work (Exodus Rabbah 1:28 and Leviticus Rabbah 32:4). מכה איש עברי SMITING A HEBREW MAN — beating and flogging him. The latter was the husband of Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri (see Leviticus 24:11), and the Egyptian taskmaster had set his fancy upon her. During the night he compelled him (her husband) to rise and made him leave the house. He, however, returned, entered the house and forced his attentions upon the woman, she believing it was her husband. The man returned and became aware of what had happened, and when the Egyptian perceived that he was aware of it he beat him and flogged him the whole day long (Exodus Rabbah 1:28).
Ramban
AND WHEN MOSES WAS GROWN UP HE WENT OUT UNTO HIS BRETHREN. This is to be understood that he grew to manhood. It has already been said, And the child grew, which means that it was no longer necessary to wean him, and then the mother brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son, for he was to stand in the presence of kings. After that, he grew to manhood in maturity of mind. AND HE WENT OUT UNTO HIS BRETHREN. This indicates that they told him he was a Jew, and he desired to see them because they were his brethren. Now he looked on their burdens and toils and could not bear [the sight of his people enslaved]. This was why he killed the Egyptian who was smiting the oppressed Hebrew.
Ibn Ezra
"And he went out to his brothers" — the Egyptians, for he had been in the royal palace. The sense of "from his brothers" [later in the verse] — after mentioning a Hebrew, [Scripture also calls him] of his kin, as in "men who are brothers" (Gen. 13).
Sforno
וירא בסבלותם. He made it his concern to take a benevolent interest in the afflictions suffered by his brethren. וירא איש מצרי מכה איש עברי מאחיו. He was aroused to avenge his death because of this feeling of brotherliness to the victim.
Or HaChaim
2,11 איש עברי מאח ;יו, a Hebrew man, one of his brethren. The Torah makes a point of adding "one of his brethren." This is the Torah's way of hinting that Moses recognised that the individual in question was one of the righteous Israelites. There were at that time both righteous and wicked Israelites. It is worthwhile reading how the Mechilta 12,26 interprets the meaning of Exodus 13,18 that the Israelites marched out of Egypt חמושים, reduced to one fifth of their original number. According to the Mechilta only one in every five Israelites took part in the Exodus. The other 80% of the Israelites (the wicked ones) died during the plague of darkness so as not to publicise that fact and allow the Egyptians to gloat. The two Jews who are described as Jews fighting amongst themselves in verse thirteen were not described as "Moses' brethren;" this proves that they were wicked Jews; according to Shemot Rabbah 1,29 they were Datan and Aviram of whom we hear more in פרשת קרח.
Tur HaArokh
ויגדל משה ויצא אל אחיו, “when Moses grew up he went out to his brethren, etc.” In verse 10 when the wet nurse brought Moses back to his foster mother the daughter of Pharaoh, he is described as ויגדל הילד, the child grew up. Now, in the verse following, the adjective “the child,” has been omitted. He was now an adult and had been told that he was actually Jewish. מכה איש עברי מאחיו, “striking down a Hebrew man, one of his brethren.” Ibn Ezra queries the need for the additional word מאחיו in our verse, something we knew seeing that the man had been described as being a Hebrew. He therefore concludes that this word means that the individual in question belonged to the family of Moses. [seeing that his family members were all Levites and exempt from the forced labour, this appears tenuous. Ed.]
Rashbam
מכה, perhaps he only struck him and did not kill him.
And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he smote the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.
verse value 1775 — וַיַּךְ֙ = 36 (double-Chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 42 letters. Notable word values: "and·struck" (וַיַּךְ֙) = 36, double chai. The shortest word is "thus" (כֹּה֙, 2 letters) and the longest is "the·Egyptian" (אֶת־הַמִּצְרִ֔י, 7 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "and·that·way" (וָכֹ֔ה), "and·hid·him" (וַֽיִּטְמְנֵ֖הוּ), "in·the·sand" (בַּחֽוֹל). The root כה appears 2 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·Egyptian" (root מצרי, 145x in Exodus); "that" (root כי, 118x in Exodus); "man" (root איש, 90x in Exodus). First appearance of the root פנה ("and·turned") in Exodus. First appearance of the root כה ("thus") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'man', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 4 words. Full calculation: וַיִּ֤פֶן [and·turned] (146) + כֹּה֙ [thus] (25) + וָכֹ֔ה [and·that·way] (31) + וַיַּ֖רְא [and·saw] (217) + כִּ֣י [that] (30) + אֵ֣ין [there·is·not] (61) + אִ֑ישׁ [man] (311) + וַיַּךְ֙ [and·struck] (36) + אֶת־הַמִּצְרִ֔י [the·Egyptian] (746) + וַֽיִּטְמְנֵ֖הוּ [and·hid·him] (126) + בַּחֽוֹל [in·the·sand] (46) = 1775.
Onkelos
He turned this way and that way, and he saw that there was no man; he struck the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.
Rashi
ויפן כה וכה AND HE TURNED THIS WAY AND THAT WAY — he saw what he had done to him in the house and what he had done to him in the field (outside the house. viz., the beating to which he had subjected him) (Exodus Rabbah 1.28). But according to the literal meaning it must be explained in its ordinary sense: he turned this way and that way. וירא כי אין איש AND HE SAW THAT THERE WAS NO MAN destined to issue from him, who would become an adherent of Israel’s religion (Exodus Rabbah 1:29; cf. Targum Jonathan on Exodus 2:12) .
Chizkuni
וין את המצרי, “he struck the Egyptian (dead).” He found that he had committed a capital offence according to the seven laws that all of mankind must obey. His offence was that he had raped someone else’s wife, and the Torah had forbidden this when writing in Genesis 2,24: ודבק באשתו, “he is to cleave to his wife,” and not to the wife of another man. (According to Tossaphot, Kidushin 21.) There was no need to warn that Egyptian beforehand in order to make him culpable for the death penalty as we derive from Genesis 20,3: “you are going to die on account of the woman (Sarah whom you have taken captive)”, and Avimelech had not first received warning. ויטמנהו בחול, “he buried him in the sand.” Apparently there was sand at hand which was meant to be used in construction of houses.
Targum Yonatan
and Mosheh turned, and considered in the wisdom of his mind, and understood that in no generation would there arise a proselyte from that Mizraite man, and that none of his children's children would ever be converted; and he smote the Mizraite, and buried him in the sand.
And he went out the second day, and, behold, two men of the Hebrews were striving together; and he said to him that did the wrong: "Why do you strike your fellow?"
verse value 3516
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 51 letters. The shortest word is "why" (לָ֥מָּה, 3 letters) and the longest is "two·men" (שְׁנֵֽי־אֲנָשִׁ֥ים, 8 letters). 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "two·men" (שְׁנֵֽי־אֲנָשִׁ֥ים), "Hebrews" (עִבְרִ֖ים), "fighting" (נִצִּ֑ים). 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 297x in Exodus); "on·the·day" (root יום, 113x in Exodus); "and·went·out" (root יצא, 93x in Exodus). First appearance of the root שנה ("two·men") in Exodus. First appearance of the root רשע ("to·the·offender") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'fighting', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 5 words. Full calculation: וַיֵּצֵא֙ [and·went·out] (107) + בַּיּ֣וֹם [on·the·day] (58) + הַשֵּׁנִ֔י [second] (365) + וְהִנֵּ֛ה [and·behold] (66) + שְׁנֵֽי־אֲנָשִׁ֥ים [two·men] (761) + עִבְרִ֖ים [Hebrews] (322) + נִצִּ֑ים [fighting] (190) + וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ [and·said] (257) + לָֽרָשָׁ֔ע [to·the·offender] (600) + לָ֥מָּה [why] (75) + תַכֶּ֖ה [you·strike] (425) + רֵעֶֽךָ [your·fellow] (290) = 3516.
Onkelos
He went out on the second day, and behold, two Judean men were quarreling. He said to the guilty one, "Why are you striking your fellow?"
Rashi
שני אנשים עברים TWO MEN OF THE HEBREWS — viz., Dathan and Abiram (Nedarim 64b); it was they, too, who left over some of the manna (Exodus Rabbah 1:29). נצים means quarelling. למה תכה lit., WHEREFORE WILT THOU SMITE — Although he had not yet smitten him he is termed here רשע wicked, because he had merely raised his hand against him (Sanhedrin 58b). רעך THY FELLOW (the word denotes one who is the equal of another) — who is as wicked as yourself (Exodus Rabbah 1:29).
Ibn Ezra
"Quarreling" (נִצִּים) — an adjectival participle from the nif'al binyan; the full form would be נִנְצִים, like נִרְאִים [appearing]. "To the wicked one" — the one who was committing violence.
Sforno
ויאמר לרשע, seeing that each one of them was one of his brethren he did not act as avenger but intervened with words rebuking the aggressor.
Or HaChaim
?ויאמר לרשע למה חכה רעך He said to the wicked one: "why are you about to strike your companion?" Moses addressed the one of the two who was clearly wicked. He referred to the victim as "your companion," because if the victim were as wicked as the attacker why would the attacker want to strike him, seeing they were birds of a feather. Alternatively, Moses recognised that he dealt with one righteous and one wicked Israelite. This is why he challenged the attacker saying: "why are you about to strike a righteous person, someone who has not done you any harm?" He called the righteous person רעך, i.e. he relates to you like a friend. Although the Torah described the two as apparently on the same moral level when it says שני אנשים נצים, "two quarrelling people," it will be found that one of them started the fight because he was wicked, whereas the other continued the quarrel without compelling cause.
Kli Yakar
And he said to the wicked one, “Why do you strike your fellow?” Rashi explained that even though he did not strike him by raising his hand, he is called wicked; “your fellow” — a wicked one like yourself. But this is difficult: Who told Moses that this one was wicked like the other? Furthermore, where is it written that he sought to strike him, as it does not say “and he raised his hand to strike him”? It seems to me that the language of striking [hakkah] also applies to speech, as it is written: There is one who speaks rashly like the piercings of a sword (Proverbs 12:18). And it is written: Cursed be he who strikes his fellow in secret (Deuteronomy 27:24). For one who casts a blemish upon his fellow, there is no greater strike than this. And our Sages of blessed memory said (Kiddushin 70a), “Whoever invalidates others, does so with his own blemish.”Moses saw two Hebrews fighting with insults and blasphemies, and therefore both of them were wicked, for it is the trait of the righteous to be among those who are insulted but do not insult, who hear the voice of those who revile them but do not respond. He called him “your fellow, a wicked one exactly like yourself,” because with the same blemish that you invalidate him and strike him with the whip of your tongue, surely that same blemish is found in you as well, for whoever invalidates others does so with his own blemish. Therefore he said: Why do you strike your fellow?, because he is your fellow in this blemish. And the proof of this, that there was no physical striking but rather verbal, is from what he said: Do you speak to kill me, as if to say, “Do you speak to kill me with your verbal pronouncement, to repay me measure for measure? But I have not yet actually killed him, that you should think to kill me. For this is your way, to add to the punishment beyond the sin, as the Egyptian was also [only] striking a Hebrew man, but you killed him; so you think to do to me as well.”
And he said: "Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you think to kill me, as you did kill the Egyptian?" And Moses feared, and said: "Surely the thing is known."
verse value 6135
Insights
Verse structure: 19 words, 77 letters. The shortest word is "who?" (מִ֣י, 2 letters) and the longest is "to·kill·me" (הַלְהׇרְגֵ֙נִי֙, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 257: and·said, and·said. 8 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "made·you" (שָֽׂמְךָ֞), "to·a·man" (לְאִ֨ישׁ), "chief" (שַׂ֤ר). The root אמר appears 3 times in this verse. 16 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 297x in Exodus); "Moses" (root משה, 277x in Exodus); "as" (root אשר, 245x in Exodus). First appearance of the root מי ("who?") in Exodus. First appearance of the root שר ("chief") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Egyptian', dividing the verse into phrases of 13 and 6 words.
Onkelos
He said, "Who appointed you as a ruler and judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" Moses was afraid and said, "Truly, the matter has become known."
Rashi
מי שמך לאיש WHO MADE THEE A PERSONAGE (lit., a man), and you are yet only a boy (Midrash Tanchuma, Shemot 10). הלהרגני אתה אמר lit. WILT THOU SPEAK IN ORDER TO SLAY ME — From this we may learn that he had killed him by the mere utterance of the “Shem Hamephorash” (Midrash Tanchuma, Shemot 10; Exodus Rabbah 1:30). ויירא משה AND MOSES FEARED — Explain it in its literal sense: he was afraid of Pharaoh. A Midrashic explanation is: he felt distressed because he saw that there were wicked men among the Israelites — common informers. He said: Since this is so (מעתה), perhaps they are not worthy to be delivered from bondage (Midrash Tanchuma, Shemot 10). אכן נדע הדבר SURELY THE THING IS KNOWN — Explain it in its literal sense: the fact that I have killed the Egyptian is known. A Midrashic explanation is: now there is known to me that matter about which I have been puzzled — how has Israel sinned more than all the seventy nations, that they should be oppressed by this crushing servitude? But now I see that they deserve this (Exodus Rabbah 1:30).
Ramban
WILT THOU SPEAK TO KILL ME? “From here we learn that Moses had killed the Egyptian by merely pronouncing the Tetragrammaton.” Thus the language of Rashi, and it is also a Midrash of our Rabbis. But I wonder. If so, who told the wicked one that Moses killed him? Perhaps Moses placed his hands upon the Egyptian and cursed him in the Name of G-d, [and the Hebrew who was now quarrelling with Moses saw him doing that]. This would explain the term vayach (‘and he smote’ the Egyptian). It may be that because the Egyptian had fallen dead before him [after he had pronounced the Tetragrammaton over him], Moses feared that they may report him and so he buried the Egyptian in the sand. The Hebrew who saw him doing that reckoned that Moses had caused [the Egyptian’s death somehow, even though he did not know that he had killed him by pronouncing the Tetragrammaton]. Perhaps he thought Moses had killed him by the sword, as he saw only the burial. In line with the plain meaning of Scripture, scholars say that the expression, wilt thou ‘omer’ (speak), means “think,” since we find amirah (speaking) referring to the thought of the heart. I said in my heart; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he. But here there is no need for this, for [the intent of the Hebrew’s words to Moses] is as follows: “Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Is it because thou dost desire to kill me as thou didst kill the Egyptian that thou reprovest me and sayest, ‘Why smitest thou thy fellow?’”.
Ibn Ezra
"Are you saying to kill me?" — in your heart. "Indeed" (אָכֵן) — like "if so" (אִם כֵּן).
Sforno
הלהרגני אתה אומר? Are you stirring up a quarrel to get me killed? ויירא משה, as a result Moses became careful and fled. ויאמר אכן נודע הדבר, when the snitch said these words to him, in the presence of others, he did not kill him seeing there would be no point in doing this, seeing he had already reported what Moses had done to the authorities.
Chizkuni
מי שמך לאיש שר ושופט, “who has appointed you as lord or judge?” The word איש here was a reference to Moses’ youth, to the fact that he was below the minimum age for having risen to such a position.
Kli Yakar
And Moses feared and said, “Indeed, the matter is known.” The sin of speech is why Israel dwells in distress more than all other nations, for the sin of lashon hara is among the greatest of sins, comparable to idolatry, forbidden sexual relations, and bloodshed. But the truth is not so, because on the contrary, Israel was redeemed by virtue of there not being lashon hara among them, and only these two individuals were guilty of lashon hara, and the Scripture publicized them, similar to Shelomit bat Divri whom the Scripture publicized.
Tur HaArokh
מי שמך לאיש, “who has appointed you as a dignitary?” He implied that Moses was far too young to have been given any position authorizing him to act on his own. He added the word ושר, in order to say that even assuming that you were old enough and mature enough, no one has appointed you as an authority, שר, over us to unilaterally execute anyone. He added the word שופט, judge, to emphasise that even if you had the legal status of being a judge, you would not have authority over us. (Israelites) הלהרגני אתה אומר?, “are you going to say something which will kill me?” From this phrase we learn that Moses had killed the Egyptian by cursing him in the name of the ineffable G’d. This does not contradict what the Torah wrote, i.e. ויך את המצרי, “he struck (dead) the Egyptian,” (verse 12) The Bible uses the verb הכה to describe words, such as in Isaiah 11,4 והכה ארץ בשבט פיו, “and he will smite a land with the rod of his mouth.” (the Messiah when he comes.) Although, according to Sanhedrin 105, what Solomon means in Proverbs 17,26 when he says גם ענוש לצדיק לא טוב, is that the righteous should never place themselves in a position of causing or administering punishment, even when the victim would be a confirmed heretic, this situation did not meet the criteria discussed in the Talmud. The victim of Moses was guilty of raping a married woman, and clearly deserving the death penalty, as our sages derive from the words ויפן כה וכה, that Moses saw not only what this Egyptian had done in the field, but what he had done prior to this in the house of the Jew whom he had killed. Nachmanides questions this whole line of exegesis, writing that if Moses had used the holy name of G’d to kill the Egyptian, who had told the quarrelling Jew about this? He reasons that possibly Moses had placed his hand on the Egyptian prior to cursing him, so that the words ויך את המצרי, “he struck the Egyptians,” may be understood literally without contradicting the opinion that his death was caused by G’d honouring Moses’ curse. When the Egyptian suddenly fell dead as his feet, Moses became afraid and covered him with sand, The wicked Jew who had observed all this realized that either G’d had caused the death of the Egyptian, or if he had not observed the actual death, assumed that Moses had killed him with the sword, and that therefore he had buried him to obliterate the fact that the man had been killed violently, seeing he only had seen Moses burying the corpse. If we follow the plain meaning of the text, the words אתה אומר, need not refer to words spoken by mouth at all, but may describe someone’s intention, as in Kohelet where Solomon repeatedly introduces a thought with the words אמרתי אני בלבי, “I used to say in my heart.” אכן נודע הדבר, “indeed the matter has become known.” Ibn Ezra equates the word אכן with the expression אם כן, “if so, etc.” Rash’bam changes the meaning to אכן אם כן, “if indeed it is different from what I thought, and the matter has become common knowledge.
Rashbam
הלהרגני אתה אומר?, because I am striking my fellow? כאשר הרגת את המצרי,.on account of an Egyptian hitting an Israelite. אכן, Moses had come to the realisation that he had been wrong when he buried the Egyptian thinking that no one had observed his death and burial. It turned out that the matter had been witnessed.
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.
verse value 5259
Insights
Verse structure: 15 words, 70 letters. Verse gematria: 5259 = 3 × 1753. The shortest word is "this" (הַזֶּ֔ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "in·the·land·of·Midian" (בְּאֶֽרֶץ־מִדְיָ֖ן, 8 letters). Words sharing gematria 355: Pharaoh, Pharaoh. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "and·fled" (וַיִּבְרַ֤ח), "in·the·land·of·Midian" (בְּאֶֽרֶץ־מִדְיָ֖ן), "by·the·well" (עַֽל־הַבְּאֵֽר). The root פרעה appears 2 times in this verse. 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Moses" (root משה, 277x in Exodus); "the·matter" (root דבר, 158x in Exodus); "from·before" (root פנים, 116x in Exodus). First appearance of the root שמע ("and·heard") in Exodus. First appearance of the root בקש ("and·sought") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Moses', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 8 words.
Onkelos
Pharaoh heard this matter and sought to kill Moses. Moses fled from before Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he sat by the well.
Rashi
וישמע פרעה AND PHARAOH HEARD IT — they (Dathan and Abiram) slandered (denounced) him (Exodus Rabbah 1:31). ויבקש להרג את משה AND HE SOUGHT TO SLAY MOSES — He handed him over to the executioner to slay him, but the sword proved powerless against him. It is to this that Moses referred when he said, (18:4) “And He delivered me from Pharaoh’s sword” (see Mechilta יתרו and Exodus Rabbah 1:31). [וישב בארץ מדין AND HE ABODE IN THE LAND OF MIDIAN — the word וישב means he stayed there, as (Genesis 37:1) “And Jacob abode (וישב)”.] וישב על הבאר — Here the word וישב has the meaning of sitting down. He learnt to sit at the well from Jacob whose marriage had been brought about by means of a well (Exodus Rabbah 1:32).
Ibn Ezra
"And he heard" — the land of Midian was subject to Pharaoh's authority, which is why [Moses] was compelled to become a shepherd of flocks so as not to dwell in settled areas lest he be recognized. When Hashem told him that Pharaoh and those servants who had sought his life were dead — and his younger son had been born to him in those very days — he then said: "And He saved me from the sword of Pharaoh" (below, 18:4), for all his days he had lived in fear of him. After mentioning "and he settled in the land of Midian," Scripture goes back to explain why he settled there: at first he settled before the well that was well-known, in the manner of "And Jacob went out… and went" (Gen. 28:10), which then returns to say "and he came upon the place" (Gen. 28:11).
Sforno
. וישב בארץ מדין. He had decided to remain for a while in that country. וישב על הבאר. While Moses was traveling through the land of Midian it happened once that he settled near a certain (well known) well. The construction here is similar to Genesis 28,11) which describes Yaakov as encountering a certain place, also described with the preposition ה i.e. המקום instead of simply מקום, to show that the site had been known already.
Or HaChaim
את הדבר הזה, this matter, etc. Moses used the word הזה, to indicate that it was only after this aggressive Jew had said to Moses: "are you going to kill me also, etc." that he realised with certainty that he had observed him killing the Egyptian. ויבקש להרוג אותו. He tried to kill him. This means that Pharaoh tried to establish proof that Moses had killed the Egyptian as a result of which he would be brought to trial and be executed. This is why Moses fled from Pharaoh in case Pharaoh would obtain enough proof to make him stand trial. On the other hand, the words מפני פרעה may refer to Pharaoh's face. When Moses looked at Pharaoh's angry face he realised that he was in danger and fled even though he did not know what Pharaoh knew and what he did not.
Tur HaArokh
ולכהן מדין שבע בנות, “and the priest of Midian had seven daughters.” Their father was not mentioned by name as his reputation was based on his official status, i.e. that he was the High Priest of the Midianites. In fact, he was identical with the well known Yitro about whom we will hear more. We know that it was he, as the Torah narrates: וישב אל יתר חותנו, he (Moses) dwelled with his father-in-law Yeter, which is short for Yitro. We find similar interchangeable names elsewhere, such as Elijah sometimes being spelled אליה and other times אליהו. After Yitro converted to Judaism he was renamed חובב, as we know from Judges 4,11 מבני חבב חתן משה, “and from amongst the descendants of Chovav, Moses’ father-in-law, etc.” It is customary to give new names to people who convert to Judaism. Chovav was actually a son of Re-uel, as is written in Numbers 10,29 ויאמר משה לחבב בן רעואל, “Moses said to Chovav son of Reu-el.” As to Exodus 2,18 ותבאנה אל רעואל אביהם, “when they came to Re-uel, their father,” which on the face of it seems to contradict what we have said, it is not unusual for the paternal grandfather to be described as “father.” Yaakov himself described Avraham, his grandfather, as “my father,” when he spoke about “the G’d of my father Avraham” in Genesis 31 as well as in Genesis The reason why the daughters of Yitro are reported as returning to the house of Re-uel is that their father was not at home but occupied with his tasks as the High Priest of the country. ותבאנה ותדלנה, “they came and drew water, etc.” According to Nachmanides these words describe their normal habits, i.e. that on every day the male shepherds would water their flocks first, before the arrival of the daughters of Yitro with their flocks. On that particular day, the daughters of Yitro arrived at the watering troughs ahead of the male shepherds, assuming that they could proceed and water their flocks first, without interfering with the flocks of the male shepherds who were due to arrive at that spot later. They had already filled the troughs with water from the well used. As luck would have it, they had miscalculated, and the male shepherds arrived prematurely, and when they saw what had happened they simply drove off Yitro’s daughters, intending to water their flocks first as was their custom. The violent means used by the male shepherds enraged Moses so that he intervened on behalf of the female shepherds, helping them to water their flocks first as they had intended. He also helped with the actual drawing of the water, as the troughs did not hold enough water to still the thirst of the whole flock in one filling. Upon their return home, their grandfather was surprised to see them return so early. This is why he questioned them, and they answered that a distinguished Egyptian had helped them.
Rashbam
וישב בארץ מדין. A general description of the locality, followed by more details of why he settled there, i.e. his experience at the well. He had originally only stopped there for refreshment as do most travelers. The Torah follows this with the story of Yitro and his daughters.
Daat Zkenim
ויבקש להרגו, “he tried to have him executed.” He handed him over to his executioner. However the executioner’s sword did not carry out its function. His neck had turned into stone. (Jerusalem Talmud tractate B’rachot 9,1) As a result, Moses was able to flee to Midian. The numerical value in the words: וישב משה, “Moses settled down,” are equivalent to אבן שיש, “stone of marble.” A Midrash quoted on the same folio of the Jerusalem Talmud just related also says that the Archangel Gavriel descended to earth, grabbed the executioner’s sword and made his face look like that of Moses, and proceeded to execute him. [It would have taken a while to realise that the dead body was not that of Moses, giving him a head start when he fled. Ed.]
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.
verse value 4256
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 57 letters. The shortest word is "seven" (שֶׁ֣בַע, 3 letters) and the longest is "the·troughs" (אֶת־הָ֣רְהָטִ֔ים, 8 letters). 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "and·the·priest·of" (וּלְכֹהֵ֥ן), "and·drew" (וַתִּדְלֶ֗נָה), "and·they·filled" (וַתְּמַלֶּ֙אנָה֙). 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·came" (root בוא, 124x in Exodus); "seven" (root שבע, 41x in Exodus); "and·they·filled" (root מלא, 35x in Exodus). First appearance of the root כהן ("and·the·priest·of") in Exodus. First appearance of the root דלה ("and·drew") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'daughters', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 7 words. Full calculation: וּלְכֹהֵ֥ן [and·the·priest·of] (111) + מִדְיָ֖ן [Midian] (104) + שֶׁ֣בַע [seven] (372) + בָּנ֑וֹת [daughters] (458) + וַתָּבֹ֣אנָה [and·came] (464) + וַתִּדְלֶ֗נָה [and·drew] (495) + וַתְּמַלֶּ֙אנָה֙ [and·they·filled] (532) + אֶת־הָ֣רְהָטִ֔ים [the·troughs] (670) + לְהַשְׁק֖וֹת [to·water] (841) + צֹ֥אן [flock] (141) + אֲבִיהֶֽן [their·father] (68) = 4256.
Onkelos
The chieftain of Midian had seven daughters, and they came, drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.
Rashi
ולכהן מדין THE PRIEST OF MIDIAN — כהן signifies the chief amongst them (see Targ. Onkelos and Mekhilta יתרו); he had abandoned the idol-worship to which they were addicted and they banished him, driving him away from them (Exodus Rabbah 1:32). את הרהטים THE GUTTERS — the troughs for the currents of water which are excavated in the ground.
Ramban
NOW THE PRIEST OF MIDIAN HAD SEVEN DAUGHTERS. Scripture does not mention him by name for he is not known [to the reader], but rather epithetically mentions that he was the honored one in his priesthood. This was Jethro, for after he became related to Moses it is written, And Moses went and returned to Jether his father-in-law, and there it is written, And Jethro said to Moses: Go in peace. [This proves that Jether and Jethro are the same person], just as Eliyah and Eliyahu, Yirmiyah and Yirmiyahu. After he became a proselyte to Judaism, he was called Hobab, as it is written, from the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, for it is the way of all who become converts to Judaism that they be called another name in Israel. And he [Jethro or Hobab] was the son of Reuel, for it is written, And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite. The verse here stating, And they came to Reuel their father, means “their father’s father,” just as [Jacob had said], O G-d of my father Abraham, [and Abraham was his father’s father], and [when speaking of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Scripture says], Nebuchadnezzar his father, [while he was his father’s father]. Similarly: Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And Mephibosheth the son of Saul. There are many other such verses.[Jethro’s daughters came and told Reuel their grandfather of how Moses came to their aid — as is related in Verses 18-19 — and did not tell Jethro] because the priest was not found in the house since he was preoccupied with the ministry in his temple, and so they came to the grandfather. It is possible that the verse, And Moses was content to dwell with the man, refers to the priest mentioned above [in Verse 16 — namely, Jethro] — for it was he who gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. AND THEY CAME AND DREW WATER. Every day, the practice was that the shepherds drew water, filled the troughs and watered their flocks first, and then these women watered their flocks. It happened that on this day, the women preceded the men and they came and drew water, thinking to water their flocks before the shepherds came. But then came the shepherds and drove them away from the troughs, insisting on watering their own flocks first as they had always done. Moses’ anger was aroused because of this injustice, and he saved them, for since they had filled the troughs, the water belonged to them. Moreover, he drew water for them as the troughs did not suffice for all their flocks. This is the purport of the question, How is it that ye are come so soon today? [which Reuel their grandfather asked them]. And they answered, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, meaning that “they had always driven us away when we came to the troughs first.”.
Ibn Ezra
"And to the priest" — this is Jethro, not Reuel. Every כֹּהֵן [priest] in Scripture is a minister to Hashem or to an idol; the proof is: "and they shall minister to Me" (below, 28:41) and "the priests of Hashem" (Isa. 61:6). Jethro was a priest to Hashem, as I will explain further.
Chizkuni
ולכהן מדין שבע בנות, “and the priest of Midian was father of seven daughters;” Yitro was the High Priest in Midian, and the Torah had to explain that the reason none of his sons was tending his livestock was the fact that he only had daughters. Another explanation: Yitro had dissociated himself from paganism, and after that no one was willing to tend his flocks after he had been officially ostracized by his townsfolk.
Rashbam
THE PRIEST OF MIDIAN... TO R'U'EL, the father of THEIR FATHER (v. 18). If so, their father's name is Yitro, and Hovav, the son of R'u'el, who is mentioned below in Parashat B'ha'alot'cha (Num. 10:29) -- "Moses said to Hovav son of R'u'el" -- Hovav and Yitro are the same. And if R'u'el is Yitro, then he [Hovav] was Yitro's son. But what is written in the Prophets (Jud. 4:11) -- "descendants of Hovav, father-in-law of Moshe" -- proves that Hovav is Yitro, since all other mentions of "Moshe's father-in-law" mention Yitro.
And the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
verse value 2856
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 40 letters. The shortest word is "Moses" (מֹשֶׁה֙, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·drove·them·off" (וַיְגָרְשׁ֑וּם, 7 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "and·drove·them·off" (וַיְגָרְשׁ֑וּם), "and·saved·them" (וַיּ֣וֹשִׁעָ֔ן), "their·flock" (אֶת־צֹאנָֽם). 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Moses" (root משה, 277x in Exodus); "and·they·came" (root בוא, 124x in Exodus); "and·arose" (root קום, 20x in Exodus). First appearance of the root רעה ("the·shepherds") in Exodus. First appearance of the root גרש ("and·drove·them·off") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·drove·them·off', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 5 words. 5 of the verse's 8 words begin with the letter ו. Full calculation: וַיָּבֹ֥אוּ [and·they·came] (25) + הָרֹעִ֖ים [the·shepherds] (325) + וַיְגָרְשׁ֑וּם [and·drove·them·off] (565) + וַיָּ֤קׇם [and·arose] (156) + מֹשֶׁה֙ [Moses] (345) + וַיּ֣וֹשִׁעָ֔ן [and·saved·them] (442) + וַיַּ֖שְׁקְ [and·watered] (416) + אֶת־צֹאנָֽם [their·flock] (582) = 2856.
Onkelos
The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses arose and rescued them and watered their flock.
Rashi
ויגרשם AND THEY DROVE THEM AWAY, because of the banishment into which their father and his family had been driven (Midrash Tanchuma, Shemot 11).
Ibn Ezra
"And they came" — the mem [final letter] of וַיְגָרְשׁוּם ["and they drove them away"] is like the nun [in another form], lest the word be confused with the added nun of the future tense. Likewise, צֹאנָם ["their flock"] ends in mem rather than connecting to a second nun [which would arise if the possessive suffix were nun].
Sforno
ויקם משה ויושיען, seeing that both parties to this argument were non-Jewish, Moses did not intervene by avenging the wronged party but only made sure that he would redress the injustice done to the innocent party.
Daat Zkenim
ויקם משה ויושיען, “Moses arose and saved them.” From the use of the word: “he arose,” it is clear that that the male shepherds had thrown Yitro’s daughters into the troughs, as a punishment for their father who had become an outcast for his religious beliefs, and who had rejected idolatry as a result. (Sh’mot Rabbah 1,32.) The expression ויושע makes it clear that the persons helped had been in mortal danger as we know from Psalms 69,2: הושיעני אלוקים כי באו מים עד נפש, “deliver me, O G–d, for the waters have reached my (soul) neck.”
Targum Yonatan
But the shepherds came and drave them away. And Mosheh arose in the power of his might, and rescued them, and gave the flocks drink.
And when they came to Reuel their father, he said: "How is it that you have come so soon today?"
verse value 2006
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 38 letters. The shortest word is "come" (בֹּ֖א, 2 letters) and the longest is "to·Reuel" (אֶל־רְעוּאֵ֖ל, 7 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "to·Reuel" (אֶל־רְעוּאֵ֖ל), "you·hastened" (מִהַרְתֶּ֥ן). The root בוא appears 2 times in this verse. 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 297x in Exodus); "and·came" (root בוא, 124x in Exodus); "the·day" (root יום, 113x in Exodus). First appearance of the root מהר ("you·hastened") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'their·father', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 5 words. Full calculation: וַתָּבֹ֕אנָה [and·came] (464) + אֶל־רְעוּאֵ֖ל [to·Reuel] (338) + אֲבִיהֶ֑ן [their·father] (68) + וַיֹּ֕אמֶר [and·said] (257) + מַדּ֛וּעַ [why?] (120) + מִהַרְתֶּ֥ן [you·hastened] (695) + בֹּ֖א [come] (3) + הַיּֽוֹם [the·day] (61) = 2006.
Onkelos
They came to their father Reuel, and he said, "Why have you come back so quickly today?"
Ibn Ezra
"And they came to Reuel" — he was their father's father, for Jethro was their father [i.e., their actual father], and he is Hobab. And it is written: "from the sons of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses" (Judg. 4:11), and it is written: "to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite" (Num. 10:29).
And they said: "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock."
verse value 3094 — לָ֔נוּ = 86 (Elohim)
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 49 letters. Notable word values: "to·us" (לָ֔נוּ) = 86, equal to Elohim. Verse gematria: 3094 = 26 × 119; 26 is the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "man" (אִ֣ישׁ, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·they·said" (וַתֹּאמַ֕רְןָ, 6 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "rescued·us" (הִצִּילָ֖נוּ), "and·even·drew" (וְגַם־דָּלֹ֤ה), "he·drew" (דָלָה֙). The root דלה appears 2 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·they·said" (root אמר, 297x in Exodus); "Egyptian" (root מצרי, 145x in Exodus); "from·the·hand·of" (root יד, 100x in Exodus). First appearance of the root נצל ("rescued·us") in Exodus. First appearance of the root לנו ("to·us") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·shepherds', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 5 words. Full calculation: וַתֹּאמַ֕רְןָ [and·they·said] (697) + אִ֣ישׁ [man] (311) + מִצְרִ֔י [Egyptian] (340) + הִצִּילָ֖נוּ [rescued·us] (191) + מִיַּ֣ד [from·the·hand·of] (54) + הָרֹעִ֑ים [the·shepherds] (325) + וְגַם־דָּלֹ֤ה [and·even·drew] (88) + דָלָה֙ [he·drew] (39) + לָ֔נוּ [to·us] (86) + וַיַּ֖שְׁקְ [and·watered] (416) + אֶת־הַצֹּֽאן [the·flock] (547) = 3094.
Onkelos
They said, "An Egyptian man saved us from the hand of the shepherds, and he also drew water for us and watered the flock."
Ibn Ezra
"And they said" — either they embellished [their report], or indeed the water they had drawn was not sufficient for the flock.
Tur HaArokh
איש מצרי, “a distinguished Egyptian.” Moses had deliberately dressed as an Egyptian, seeing that he was a fugitive and had to mislead his pursuers. There is a comment in a Midrash that Moses, who had allowed others to think of him as an Egyptian, did not merit to be buried in the Holy Land, whereas Joseph who had proclaimed the fact that he was a Hebrew even when it could have hurt him socially and career wise, did merit to be buried in the Holy Land. The other Midrashim, including Shemot Rabbah 1,32, understand this differently, Moses declining to accept the thanks of the shepherdesses by saying that it was actually due to the Egyptian man whom he had killed that they had been helped, as if he were not trying to escape Pharaoh’s police he would not at that time have been near these troughs. [in other words, Moses, far from using his disguise to merit the gratitude of the Yitro’s daughters, attributed their good fortune as due to his victim the Egyptian whom he had slain. It would appear most unwise for Moses to have revealed at this stage why he had come to Midian just then. On the other hand, if the Midrash Shemot Rabbah is correct, it makes the fact that the daughters of Yitro did not immediately invite him to their house much more understandable. They were scared to harbour a fugitive from Egyptian justice. Ed.] וישק את הצאן. “he watered the flock.” The reason why they did not say: “he watered our flock,” was that they had witnessed that due to Moses’ intervention the waters came forth on their own until there was enough to also water the flocks of the male shepherds.
And he said to his daughters: "And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread."
verse value 2644 — ל֖וֹ = 36 (double-Chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 46 letters. Notable word values: "to·him" (ל֖וֹ) = 36, double chai. The shortest word is "this" (זֶּה֙, 2 letters) and the longest is "to·his·daughters" (אֶל־בְּנֹתָ֖יו, 7 letters). 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "to·his·daughters" (אֶל־בְּנֹתָ֖יו), "and·where·is·he" (וְאַיּ֑וֹ), "did·you·leave" (עֲזַבְתֶּ֣ן). 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·said" (root אמר, 297x in Exodus); "the·man" (root איש, 90x in Exodus); "this" (root זה, 65x in Exodus). First appearance of the root עזב ("did·you·leave") in Exodus. First appearance of the root אכל ("and·let·him·eat") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·where·is·he', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 8 words. Full calculation: וַיֹּ֥אמֶר [and·said] (257) + אֶל־בְּנֹתָ֖יו [to·his·daughters] (499) + וְאַיּ֑וֹ [and·where·is·he] (23) + לָ֤מָּה [why] (75) + זֶּה֙ [this] (12) + עֲזַבְתֶּ֣ן [did·you·leave] (529) + אֶת־הָאִ֔ישׁ [the·man] (717) + קִרְאֶ֥ן [call·him] (351) + ל֖וֹ [to·him] (36) + וְיֹ֥אכַל [and·let·him·eat] (67) + לָֽחֶם [bread] (78) = 2644.
Onkelos
He said to his daughters, "And where is he? Why is it that you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread."
Rashi
למה זה עזבתן — WHEREFORE HAVE YE LEFT [THE MAN]? — He recognised that he was of the offspring of Jacob because for him (Moses), as for Jacob, the water had risen in the well at his approach (Midrash Tanchuma, Shemot 11) ויאכל לחם THAT HE MAY EAT BREAD — perhaps he will marry one of you — just as you say, (Genesis 39:6) “except the bread which he did eat” (cf. Rashi on this verse, where the word “bread” is explained as a euphemism) (Midrash Tanchuma, Shemot 11).
Ibn Ezra
"And he said to his daughters" — a father's father is called "father," as in "the God of my father Abraham" (Gen. 32:10), and likewise "Nebuchadnezzar your father" (Dan. 5:18); and a son's son is called "son," as in: "the daughters are my daughters and the sons are my sons" (Gen. 31:43), and "you yourself, Belshazzar, are his son" (Dan. 5:22). "And he said" — Scripture takes the shorter path here and does not mention "and they called to him," for it is self-evident from the logic of the narrative. "קִרֶאן לוֹ" ["Call him"] — an unusual form, for there is nothing else in its morphological pattern.
Sforno
למה זה עזבתן?, since he is a guest, and a person who has demonstrated kindness you should at least have reciprocated by showing him a measure of hospitality.
Or HaChaim
למה זה עזבתם את האיש, "Why did you leave the man?" Yitro meant "why did you abandon a man who had done you a favour?" Alternatively, he meant: "how long can you let a man who has done you such a favour wait outside? Bring him inside, etc.!" Still another meaning of Re-uel's (Yitro's) words may be that though ordinarily Yitro would not want his daughters to strike up an acquaintanceship with men to whom they had not been introduced, this situation was different. He stressed that this man had already proved himself by his deeds. The word זה indicates that Yitro meant that this situation was different. This was especially so in view of the opinion expressed in Shemot Rabbah 1,32 that the waters in the well rose of their own accord towards Moses.
Chizkuni
למה עזבתן, “Why did you abandon him?” According to Rashi, when Yitro heard that the waters from the well had risen at the approach of Moses, he realised that this man was someone special. The expression דלה דלה לנו, implies that the waters rose towards them as a result of Moses’ assistance.
Tur HaArokh
ויאמר....למה עזבתם את האיש, “He said: ’why did you abandon the man?” According to Ibn Ezra the Torah searched for a brief method of describing what happened. It omitted reporting that the daughters complied with Reu-el’s instructions, as it is clear from what follows that they had done so.
Moses consented to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
verse value 3872
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 35 letters. The shortest word is "Moses" (מֹשֶׁ֖ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "the·man" (אֶת־הָאִ֑ישׁ, 6 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "and·consented" (וַיּ֥וֹאֶל), "to·stay" (לָשֶׁ֣בֶת), "his·daughter" (בִתּ֖וֹ). The root משה appears 2 times in this verse. 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Moses" (root משה, 277x in Exodus); "and·gave" (root נתן, 115x in Exodus); "the·man" (root איש, 90x in Exodus). First appearance of the root צפרה ("Zipporah") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·man', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 4 words. Full calculation: וַיּ֥וֹאֶל [and·consented] (53) + מֹשֶׁ֖ה [Moses] (345) + לָשֶׁ֣בֶת [to·stay] (732) + אֶת־הָאִ֑ישׁ [the·man] (717) + וַיִּתֵּ֛ן [and·gave] (466) + אֶת־צִפֹּרָ֥ה [Zipporah] (776) + בִתּ֖וֹ [his·daughter] (408) + לְמֹשֶֽׁה [to·Moses] (375) = 3872.
Onkelos
Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses.
Rashi
ויואל — Translate this as the Targum does: AND HE WAS WILLING. Similar are: (Judges 19:6) “Be content (הואל), I pray thee, and tarry all night”; (Joshua 7:7) “would that we had been content (הואלנו)”; (Genesis 18:31) “I am content (הואלתי) to speak”. A Midrashic explanation is that it has the sense of taking an oath (אלה), so that it should be rendered, “And Moses pledged himself by an oath to remain with the man” — he swore to him that he would not stir from Midian save by his permission (cf. Exodus 4:18) (Nedarim 65a).
Ibn Ezra
"And he agreed" (וַיּוֹאֶל) — perhaps Jethro son of Reuel was not there at the time, which is why Scripture does not mention him [explicitly here].
Sforno
לשבת את האיש, to tend his flocks, a similar construction to Lavan inviting Yaakov to stay with him in Genesis 29,19.
Or HaChaim
ויתן את צפורה בתו למשה. He gave his daughter Tziporah to Moses. The reason the Torah repeats Moses' name in this verse, when it could have simply written: "he gave her to him," is that Tziporah was the divinely appointed wife for Moses, his בת זוג.
Chizkuni
ויתן את צפורה בתו למשה, “He gave his daughter Tzipporah to Moses (as a wife.)” What is the significance of the name “Tzipporah?” She had run towards Moses like a bird (צפור) An alternate interpretation: she was beautiful as the morning at the time of sunrise. She lit up the atmosphere in the morning. The Aramaic word צפרא means: “morning;” it is used to describe how welcome the morning is. Our author quotes Ezekiel 7,7 “the day is near,” as well as Judges 7,3: as a bird flies from Mount Gilad,” to support his point.
And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershom; for he said: "I have been a stranger in a strange land."
verse value 3586
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 41 letters. The shortest word is "son" (בֵּ֔ן, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·called" (וַיִּקְרָ֥א, 5 letters). 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "said" (root אמר, 297x in Exodus); "I·have·been" (root היה, 235x in Exodus); "son" (root בן, 189x in Exodus). First appearance of the root גר ("sojourner") in Exodus. First appearance of the root נכרי ("foreign") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Gershom', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 6 words. Full calculation: וַתֵּ֣לֶד [and·she·bore] (440) + בֵּ֔ן [son] (52) + וַיִּקְרָ֥א [and·called] (317) + אֶת־שְׁמ֖וֹ [his·name] (747) + גֵּרְשֹׁ֑ם [Gershom] (543) + כִּ֣י [because] (30) + אָמַ֔ר [said] (241) + גֵּ֣ר [sojourner] (203) + הָיִ֔יתִי [I·have·been] (435) + בְּאֶ֖רֶץ [in·the·land] (293) + נׇכְרִיָּֽה [foreign] (285) = 3586.
Onkelos
She bore a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land."
Ibn Ezra
"And she bore" — for [Moses] said ["I have been a stranger in a foreign land"], and this Zipporah is the Cushite woman, as he said. As for what is written in the Chronicles of Moses — do not believe it. And I state as a general principle: any book not written by prophets or by sages drawing upon received tradition is not to be relied upon — certainly not if it contains things that contradict sound reason. So too the Book of Zerubbabel, and also the Book of Eldad ha-Dani and those resembling them.
Sforno
גר הייתי בארץ נכריה. A stranger in a land which is not my birthplace.
Or HaChaim
גר הייתי, "I was (used to be) a stranger, etc." The Torah deliberately phrases this in the past tense because the Torah reports events as of the time the Torah was written (at that time Moses could speak of his being a stranger in the past tense, whereas at the time the baby was born he was still a stranger in Midian). Alternatively, the words may be understood along the lines of Psalms 119,19: גר אנכי בארץ, "I am only a stranger on earth." Righteous people in this world are merely strangers, they have no permanent abode. Moses meant that ever since he was born he had merely been a stranger in a foreign land, seeing he had not been raised in his parents' home or shared his youth with his siblings.
Chizkuni
ותלד בן, “she gave birth to a son;” there is no mention of her having been pregnant first; this is to tell us that she remained looking like an unmarried virgin, slim throughout her pregnancy. (Pessikta Zutrata) ויקרא את שמו גרשום, “he called his name Gershom.” If we were to be judgmental, Moses should have given his son a name that reflected his miraculous escape from Pharaoh and his police. Moses did not mention this until his second son was born whom he called appropriately “Eliezer,” i.e. “My G-d Who is my helper.” We may explain this as Moses feeling that as long as Pharaoh was still on the throne he was still in danger regardless of where he had found temporary refuge. We see proof of this when G-d told him in Exodus 4,19 that all the people who had sought his death had died in the meantime. This meant that the Pharaoh whom he had known had died also. Immediately Moses heard this he responded when his second son was born. Compare 4,24 where Moses is punished while at the inn for having delayed circumcision of his second son, seeing that he was no longer in danger as G-d had told him. [This suggests that Eliezer may have been as much as 50 years younger than his older brother. Ed.] A different interpretation: when Gershom had been born Moses was still a newcomer in Midian, and he felt like an alien there. If he had called the first son Eliezer, he would have endangered himself by hinting that he had needed to escape from Egypt as a common criminal and had only been saved by Divine intervention. By the time Eliezer was born, he felt at home in Midian, hence the time had come to thank the Lord for his deliverance from danger.
Rashbam
בארץ נכריה. The meaning of the name Gershom, i.e. a stranger in a distant land.
Cross-references: Genesis 41:50-52; Exodus 18:3; Judges 18:30; I Kings 11:20
And it came to pass in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died; and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God by reason of the bondage.
verse value 4045
Insights
Verse structure: 15 words, 80 letters. Verse gematria: 4045 = 5 × 809. The shortest word is "those" (הָהֵ֗ם, 3 letters) and the longest is "Israelites" (בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל, 8 letters). Words sharing gematria 176: from·the·bondage, from·the·bondage. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "the·many" (הָֽרַבִּ֜ים), "and·groaned" (וַיֵּאָנְח֧וּ), "and·cried·out" (וַיִּזְעָ֑קוּ). The root עבדה appears 2 times in this verse. 14 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·it·was" (root היה, 235x in Exodus); "Israelites" (root בן, 189x in Exodus); "Egypt" (root מצרי, 145x in Exodus). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·cried·out', dividing the verse into phrases of 11 and 4 words.
Onkelos
In the course of those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel groaned from the bondage and cried out, and their outcry rose up before Hashem from the labor.
Rashi
[ויהי בימים הרבים ההם AND IT CAME TO PASS DURING THOSE MANY DAYS during which Moses was sojourning in Midian, וימת מלך מצרים THAT THE KING OF EGYPT DIED, and the Israelites felt the need of help; and therefore ומשה היה רעה “And Moses fed the flock” and help came through him. For this reason these chapters are placed in juxtaposition]. וימת מלך מצרים THE KING OF EGYPT DIED — he became stricken with leprosy (and therefore may be spoken of as dead; cf. Numbers 12:12), and he used to slaughter Israelitish children and bathe in their blood as a cure for his disease (cf. Targum Jonathan and Exodus Rabbah 1:34).
Ramban
AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THE COURSE OF THOSE MANY DAYS. Scripture uses the expression “in those days” or “on that day” only when alluding to a brief current event, but of a past event it says, and it came to pass afterward. In that case then, it should have said here, “and it came to pass afterward that the king of Egypt died.” It is for this reason that our Rabbis have said that because they were days of suffering [for Israel], Scripture calls them “many” although alluding to a brief current event. So also have the Rabbis said in connection with the above-mentioned verse, And it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown up, that his growth was unnatural, meaning, sudden and fast. Under all circumstances, the period [covered in the verses], and the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel cried out and their cry came up unto G-d, was [altogether] a brief period of time. However, we might also explain that in the course of those many days refers to the days of suffering and hard labor which were exceedingly many, as the exile became very prolonged. It was this [long period of suffering and hard labor] which caused them to cry out, and their cry came up unto G-d. Similarly, the verse, And it came to pass after many days, the word of the Eternal came to Elijah, in the third year, means that there were many days [of famine] and afterwards this event, [related there in the Book of Kings], occurred. In my opinion, the purport of this verse, [And it came to pass in the course of those many days], is to allude to those days when Moses was a fugitive from Pharaoh. Indeed he was but a youth when he fled, as the verse said, And when Moses was grown up he went out unto his brethren, suggesting that immediately when he grew up and became self-conscious and they told him that he was a Jew, he longed to see the burdens, toils and oppressions of his brethren. On that [first] day on which he went out, he smote the Egyptian, and on the second day, they denounced him [to the authorities] and he fled. He was thus at that time approximately twelve years of age, as our Sages have mentioned, and at any rate not twenty, and when he stood before Pharaoh he was eighty years old. In that case, he was a fugitive from Pharaoh for about sixty years, [and it is with reference to those sixty years that Scripture speaks of those ‘many’ days].It is likely that at the end of that period, Moses came to Midian and married Zipporah, since when this word [of G-d that he return to Egypt] came to him, he had begotten of her only his firstborn son Gershom [while Eliezer, his second son, was born during his journey to Egypt].Scripture however mentions nothing of [the entire period of] his flight excepting, And he dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well, since nothing happened to him in those other days which Scripture found necessary to relate. And it is logical. He who flees from the reach of a government does not tarry in a settled place or its environs. Inst...
Ibn Ezra
"And the king of Egypt died" — now Moses was able to return to Egypt. The Israelites had done repentance, for Ezekiel mentions that Israel had been worshipping the idols of Egypt; therefore Hashem afflicted them, and instead of serving Him, they served cruel masters.
Sforno
בימים הרבים ההם, from the day Moses had fled from Egypt in his youth until Gershom had been born when he was close to 80 years of age. We are assuming that Eliezer was not much younger, and we know that he was only born when Moses was already on his way back to Egypt. We know that that Moses was 80 years of age t that time. וימת מלך מצרים, the same Pharaoh who had been pursuing Moses wanting to execute him. This is why he called his second son Eliezer, as then he realised that he had finally been saved by G’d from the sword of Pharaoh. ויזעקו, they cried out of frustration about their miserable fate and their enslavement. A similar expression for venting such feelings of frustration occurs in Isaiah 14,31הלילי שער זעקי העיר, “Howl, o gate! Cry out, o city!” ותעל שועתם אל האלוקים מן העובדה. G’d’s response was not due to their repenting and praying, but He simply was angry over the excessive cruelty with which the Egyptians treated the Jewish people This is why He added (when He spoke to Moses in 3,9) וגם ראיתי את הלחץ אשר מצרים לוחצים אותם, “and I have also seen the pressure that the Egyptians keep imposing on them. [perhaps the reason why our author does not consider the Jews’ repentance and prayer being a factor is the fact that the attribute with which G’d responded was still the attribute of Justice, אלוקים and not the attribute Hashem as he explained to Moses in 3,9 Ed.]
Or HaChaim
מן העבודה, on account of the bondage. They did not appeal to G'd to save them from their situation; they merely groaned, something which people who feel that their burdens are too great are wont to do out of a sense of helplessness. The Torah informs us that although this outcry was not a direct appeal to G'd for help, it did reach the ears of G'd because their situation was indeed intolerable; this is why the Torah adds that the reason G'd responded was מן העבודה, their bondage was too intolerable. However, G'd did not respond to a prayer but to a general groaning, i.e. נעקתם (verse 24). The Torah may also teach us something that David referred to in Psalms 118,5, where he speaks about מן המצר קראתי קה, "I have called upon the Lord out of distress, etc." One of the prayers to which G'd responds is the one that is prompted by the distress a person finds himself in. We find that Jonah prayed from similar motivations (Jonah 2,3) when he said: "I called out because I am in distress." The Torah testifies that G'd responded to the distress the people found themselves in. According to our analysis the word שעוה means prayer, as well as an outcry prompted by pain; this is hinted at by the Torah's use of the words מן העבודה ויזעקו; the Torah is quite correct therefore when it introduces G'd's response as being in response to שועתם instead of זעקתם. The Torah wanted to point out that the outcry of the children of Israel consisted of two elements, i.e. both זעקה and שעוה. The stress on the words מן העבודה may indicate that the prayer/outcry rose up to G'd without the help of any intermediary [such as the accompanying prayer of the patriarchs Ed.] because it was due to the intolerable burden of their workload and working conditions.
Chizkuni
ויהי בימים הרבים ההם, “It was during these many years, etc;” the reference is to the 400 years that G-d had told Avraham that it would take before His promise to him that his descendants would be redeemed from the land in which they would be slaves would be fulfilled. The Jewish people in Egypt now felt that the time for them to be redeemed had arrived. הרבים ההם, “these many.” When times are bad (for the people under discussion) then the expression for “many” used in the Torah is רבים. When times are good, even for a long period, they are referred to as מעטים, “few.” The reason is that as soon as the good times are over, the people who have enjoyed them consider them as having been too short. וימת מלך מצרים, “the King of Egypt died.” G-d advanced the time of his death. As soon as that king had died, G-d appeared to Moses at the thorn bush and told Moses to go back to Egypt. Seeing that all the people who had been interested in killing him or seeing him killed had died already, (4,19) G-d did not want Moses to be in a position of refusing the leadership of the Jewish people due to fears for his personal safety. He had already found sufficient arguments to decline G-d’s request as we will read shortly, without raising the subject of his personal fear. He went as far as telling G-d to look for someone else. (4,13) ויאנחו בני ישראל, “the Children of Israel were groaning;” they were well aware that their G-d had decreed a period of 400 years of mixed bondage and being treated as aliens at the time He concluded the covenant of the pieces with Avraham in Genesis chapter 15. They had mistakenly thought that the period of 400 years commenced from the day that covenant had come into force. They did not know that if they had paid close attention to the wording of that covenant, they would have realised that the countdown could not have started until the day Yitzchok was born, as the promise was not to him (Avraham) but to Avraham’s descendants (Compare Genesis 15,4). A different interpretation of the reason why the Israelites are described as groaning at this point: As long as the old king had been alive, they had hoped that with his death the harsh decrees against them would “die” also because the custom was that a new king would free all prisoners. But now the decree of their enslavement was not cancelled. When they found out that they had hoped in vain, they groaned and prayed to G-d, as they were on the verge of giving up hope. [This was the first time in 86 years that they prayed to G-d. Ed.]
Rabbeinu Bahya
“And their outcry due to the labor went up to the Lord.” They were not worthy of redemption even though the end [of the exile] had already come. But because their labor caused them to cry out to God, He accepted their prayers. The verse mentions twice “due to the labor”: “And the Israelites groaned and cried out due to the labor, and their outcry due to the labor went up to God.” This shows that the prayer a person recites when in trouble and under duress is more wholesome and acceptable and goes straight up to God! Similarly, you will find that the Prophet Jonah inferred this when he said (Jonah 2:8): “When my soul grew faint upon me, I remembered the Lord and my prayer came to You, to Your Holy Temple.” The prophet said clearly that a prayer which is recited when one is suffering and faint, is a prayer that will come before God in His Holy Temple. It is possible that this Torah section is hinting to our future redemption which depends on our repentance and prayers. In the Egyptian redemption, they repented and prayed to God who answers at a time of suffering, and their prayer was accepted and the redeemer came immediately. That’s why these verses follow it: “And Moshe was a shepherd with Jethro’s sheep… and he saw and behold the bush was on fire… and now go and I will send you to Pharaoh and take my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.” This hints that the coming of the redeemer depends on repentance and prayer.
Kli Yakar
And the children of Israel sighed because of the work, and they cried out. It is somewhat difficult to understand why the verse did not mix and teach these terms, simply stating “The children of Israel sighed and cried out because of the work.” It appears that sighing is an internal, heartfelt response that was indeed due to the hard labor. However, Israel did not attribute their outcry to the work, as they believed they deserved redemption based on their own merits, even if they had not been subjected to such harsh labor. Nevertheless, in God’s eyes, they were evil and sinful, and unworthy of redemption except for the sake of the oppressive work they endured, as it is written: And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little angry, but they helped for evil (Zechariah 1:15). Therefore, it says: Their cry rose up to God because of the work, because the Egyptians had “helped for evil” as mentioned. One can also interpret that there were two groups among Israel. The good ones among them cried out and prayed to God to save them from the burden of the labor, but the lesser ones among them did not pray to God, rather they cried out as if protesting against God. Regarding them, it says: they cried out [vayizaku], and therefore they were not included together. For what is stated: and the children of Israel sighed from the labor refers to the good ones who prayed to God, as prayer is primarily in the heart. And they cried out [vayizaku] refers to the lesser ones who cried out as if protesting. Therefore it says: and their plea ascended to God — from those groups who pleaded to God because of the labor, their plea ascended, but not from the group of those who cried out without prayer. And there are those who say, that this crying out was openly expressed in front of the Egyptians as if it were about the death of the king, as if they were mourning for him, but the sighing in their hearts was because of the labor, for out of fear they were not permitted to say in front of the Egyptians that they were crying out because of the labor, and therefore these two [expressions of distress] were not mixed together.
Tur HaArokh
ויהי בימים הרבים ההם, “it happened during these many years, etc.” Our sages explain that the reason these years are described as “many,” is the fact that all these years were filled with pain for the Israelites. They therefore appeared as lasting far longer than if they had been years filled with happy events. Nachmanides writes that it is not customary to refer to years as ימים ההם, “those years,” or יום ההוא, “that day,” unless one wants to pinpoint a certain time during which an event not yet discussed took place. When the event in question is already history, the Torah customarily introduces such a narrative with the words ויהי אחרי וגו', “it was after a certain event, etc.” Accordingly, we would have expected the Torah, at this juncture, to write: ויהי אחרי הימים הרבים ההם וימת מלך מצרים, “it happened after those many years that the King of Egypt died, etc.” By writing בימים ההם, “during those years,” the Torah alluded to the nature of these years, i.e. that they represented a most painful period to the Israelites, and that when the king died, they used the opportunity to cry out to G’d on account of their sorry condition, and that G’d immediately responded to their outcry. The period described was not really so long in astronomical terms. We can therefore explain, in conjunction with the description of Moses’ growing up in the palace Pharaoh, until he went out and for the first time met his brethren, as a result of which he smote an Egyptian, that he was possibly 12 years of age but certainly not over twenty, so that he spent 60 years or more in exile, seeing that the Torah describes him as being 80 years of age when he first approached Pharaoh. (Exodus 7,7) We may assume that he came to Midian only toward the end of those 60 years. We know that when G’d first appeared to him he had only fathered Gershom, as when the angel tried to kill him for failing to have circumcised his son Eliezer, the latter could only just have been born. Seeing that according to the narrative, the reader may form the impression that Moses’ slaying the Egyptian, finding refuge in Midian, marrying Tzipporah, and encountering the burning bush, and his subsequent return to Egypt, that all these events occurred with practically no interval between them. The Torah therefore mentions that many years had passed between different events reported here as if they occurred successively within a short time capsule. The “long” period of which the Torah speaks here referred to time already elapsed. From the time the King of Egypt died, matters moved at a much faster pace. וימת מלך מצרים, “the King of Egypt died.” According to our sages the King did not actually die, but was smitten with a form of leprosy. Jewish children were slaughtered as their blood was supposedly capable of alleviating his condition. According to the plain meaning of the text, normally, when a king who ruled harshly dies, the survivors hope that the new king would treat his subjects more kindly. In this instance, the Israelites found out that the new king was even worse than the old one so that they turned to G’d in prayer, begging for Divine intervention on their behalf. Some commentators say that what happened is that contrary to accepted norms, when the king dies the prisoners are given an amnesty, in this case the Egyptian prisoners did indeed get a pardon, but no Jewish slaves were allowed to return to their homes. This finally triggered the Jewish people turning to G’d in prayer.
Rashbam
ויהי בימים הרבים ההם, after Moses had slain the Egyptian and Pharaoh had tried to execute him for murder, and Moses had fled from his presence and remained in hiding until he was 80 years of age when G’d decided to speak with him, the King of Egypt who had tried to kill him died (only now). The Children of Israel had merely groaned under his persecution all this time. G’d now saw their suffering, while Moses during all that time had been a shepherd of his father-in-law’s flocks. At that time G’d appeared to Moses and commanded him to return to Egypt (3,1). Moses was unwilling to return to Egypt as he was still afraid of criminal proceedings against him, until G’d told him (4,19) that there was no cause for this, as all the people who wanted him dead had already died themselves. This is why the Torah reports here וימת מלך מצרים, so that we would understand what 4,19 is all about. The entire literary construction is similar to Genesis 9,18 וחם הוא אבי כנען. [verses 19-21 after that are in parenthesis before the Torah continues about Cham. Ed]
Daat Zkenim
וימת מלך מצרים, the King of Egypt died;” as long as that king had been alive, the Hebrews had been hoping and praying all the time that he would die soon. They hoped against hope that his anti-Hebrew decrees would die with him. When none of his decrees was annulled even after his death, they sighed; they realised that there was no relief in sight and for the first time in 86 years they turned to their G–d in prayer. An alternate interpretation: they felt that their potential leader Moses would now be able to return to Egypt without having to fear an indictment. G–d also used this opportunity of their prayer to reveal Himself to Moses at the bottom of Mount Sinai, at the burning bush, setting in motion the process of their redemption.
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
verse value 4699 — אֱלֹהִ֖ים = 86 (Elohim)
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 54 letters. Notable word values: "God" (אֱלֹהִ֖ים) = 86, equal to Elohim. Verse gematria: 4699 = 37 × 127. The shortest word is "and·heard" (וַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע, 5 letters) and the longest is "their·groaning" (אֶת־נַאֲקָתָ֑ם, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 86: God, God. 6 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "their·groaning" (אֶת־נַאֲקָתָ֑ם), "and·remembered" (וַיִּזְכֹּ֤ר), "His·covenant" (אֶת־בְּרִית֔וֹ). The root אלהים appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "God" (root אלהים, 133x in Exodus); "and·heard" (root שמע, 50x in Exodus). First appearance of the root זכר ("and·remembered") in Exodus. First appearance of the root ברית ("His·covenant") in Exodus. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'their·groaning', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 6 words. 6 of the verse's 9 words begin with the letter א. Full calculation: וַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע [and·heard] (426) + אֱלֹהִ֖ים [God] (86) + אֶת־נַאֲקָתָ֑ם [their·groaning] (992) + וַיִּזְכֹּ֤ר [and·remembered] (243) + אֱלֹהִים֙ [God] (86) + אֶת־בְּרִית֔וֹ [His·covenant] (1019) + אֶת־אַבְרָהָ֖ם [Abraham] (649) + אֶת־יִצְחָ֥ק [Isaac] (609) + וְאֶֽת־יַעֲקֹֽב [and·Jacob] (589) = 4699.
Onkelos
Their outcry was heard before Hashem, and Hashem remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
Rashi
נאקתם means THEIR CRY. Similar is, (Job 24:12) “from out of the populous city men groan (ינאקו)”. את בריתו את אברהם — The words את אברהם, are the same as עם אברהם, with Abraham (i. e. the word את means “with”, whilst in the preceding phrase, את בריתו, it is the sign of the accusative).
Ibn Ezra
"And He heard" — the meaning of "and He remembered" is that the appointed time had arrived.
Sforno
וישמע אלוקים את נאקתם, a reference to the prayer of a few of them, [as Moses recalls in Numbers 20,16 ונצעק אל ה', i.e. the prayer by the righteous few. Seeing that Moses speaks in the plural and he had not been in Egypt at the time, he must have paraphrased why the few righteous people of the time had done at the time before G’d’s response came. Ed.] ויזכר אלוקים את בריתו, for He had said: in Genesis 17,7: “I will maintain My covenant between Me and you and between your descendants after you to be (remain) your G’d also for your descendants after you.” This promise remains valid whatever may happen to us, as pointed out in Exodus 6,5 וגם אני שמעתי את נאקת בני ישראל ..ואזכור את בריתי, “and I have also heard the groanings of the Children of Israel…. And I remembered My covenant.”
Chizkuni
את נאקתם, “their moaning;” they complained about the physical abuse they had to endure from the Egyptian taskmasters. Compare 3,7: ואת צעקתם שמעתי מפני נוגשיו, “and I have heeded their outcry because of their taskmasters.” ויזכור א־לוהים את בריתו, “G-d remembered His covenant;” part of the covenant had been the promise that the people maltreating the Israelites would be punished by Him. (Genesis 15,14) The period of 400 years slavery which is reckoned from the birth of Yitzchok had now come to an end.
Rashbam
ויזכר אלוקים, which He had sworn to all three patriarchs, and the end of the period of the 400 years G’d had spoken of to Avraham in Genesis chapter 15 promising to give his descendants the land of Canaan was fast approaching.
And God saw the children of Israel, and God took cognizance of them.
verse value 1483 — אֱלֹהִ֖ים = 86 (Elohim)
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 28 letters. Notable word values: "God" (אֱלֹהִ֖ים) = 86, equal to Elohim. Verse gematria: 1483 is prime. The shortest word is "and·looked" (וַיַּ֥רְא, 4 letters) and the longest is "God" (אֱלֹהִ֖ים, 5 letters). Words sharing gematria 86: God, God. 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Exodus. Unique to this verse in Exodus (hapax): "and·knew" (וַיֵּ֖דַע). The root אלהים appears 2 times in this verse. 4 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "children·of" (root בן, 189x in Exodus); "God" (root אלהים, 133x in Exodus); "and·looked" (root ראה, 89x in Exodus). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Israel', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 2 words. Full calculation: וַיַּ֥רְא [and·looked] (217) + אֱלֹהִ֖ים [God] (86) + אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י [children·of] (463) + יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל [Israel] (541) + וַיֵּ֖דַע [and·knew] (90) + אֱלֹהִֽים [God] (86) = 1483.
Onkelos
The bondage of the children of Israel was revealed before Hashem, and Hashem declared by His Word to redeem them.
Rashi
וידע אלהים AND GOD KNEW — He directed His heart to them and did not hide His eyes from them.
Ramban
AND G-D SAW THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained this as meaning that G-d saw the violence which the Egyptians overtly did to them, and G-d knew what was done to them secretly. And Rashi explained: “And G-d knew. He directed His heart to them and did not hide His eye from them.” This is correct in line with the plain meaning of Scripture. At first He hid His face from them and they were devoured, but now G-d heard their groaning and He saw them, meaning that He no longer hid His face from them; He knew their pains and all that was done to them, as well as all that they required. Now Scripture gives a lengthy account of the many reasons for their redemption: And G-d heard their groaning, and G-d remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob; And G-d saw the children of Israel, and G-d knew; For I know their pains. This is because even though the time [of bondage] decreed upon them was completed, they were not worthy of redemption, as was explained by the prophet Ezekiel; it was only on account of the cry that He in His mercies accepted their prayer. By way of the Truth, [the mystic lore of the Cabala], there is in this verse one of the great mysteries of the Torah, suggesting that their afflictions came up to the light of His countenance, which brought them [their afflictions] near the Knowledge [of G-d], just as is implied in the verse, In midst of the ‘shanim’ (years) make it known; in wrath remember compassion. It is for this reason that Scripture gives this lengthy account — [And G-d saw the children of Israel, and G-d knew] — after already having mentioned, And G-d heard… and G-d remembered. This verse, [And G-d saw…,] has been explained in the Midrash of Rabbi Nechunya ben Hakanah. From there you will understand the verse.
Ibn Ezra
"And He saw" — the violence the Egyptians were perpetrating openly. "And He knew" — what was being done in secret.
Sforno
וירא אלוקים את בני ישראל, He now took a personal interest in their fate and no longer hid His countenance from them. This is perceived as similar to Samuel I 9,16: כי ראיתי את עמי, כי באה צעקתו אלי, “for I have seen My people, for its outcry has come to Me.” G’d Himself said this later in 3,7 ראה ראיתי את עני אשר במצרים, “for I have seen My people, the suffering they are in Egypt.” וידע אלוקים, and that the prayer and outcry were totally genuine. This is why He Himself speaks later of כי ידעתיו את מכאוביו “for I am aware of its pains.” This was in contrast with Psalms 78,36-37 where the Jewish people were described as paying only lip-service to their G’d and continued to be disloyal to heir covenant with G’d.
Or HaChaim
וירא אלוקים…וידע אלוקים. G'd saw,….and G'd knew. After the children of Israel had raised their voices in groanings and prayers and G'd had heard those, He remembered His covenant with the patriarchs. This was the reason He turned His attention to the people. Whenever G'd is described as viewing someone's pain this is sufficient to result in the removal of such pain from the person so afflicted, for His mercy extends to all His creatures. It follows that when G'd is angry He must hide His face from the people otherwise He would have to act in accordance with the principle we have just described. This is why G'd said in Deut. 31,18: "As far as I am concerned, I will surely have to hide My face, etc." The word וידע may refer also to information that had thus far been hidden even from the Israelites concerning evil the Egyptians had perpetrated against that people.
Chizkuni
וירא אלהים את בני ישראל, “G-d saw the Children of Israel;” the words “He saw,” mean that “He paid attention to what He saw.” He paid attention to their suffering. Other examples of similar constructions in the Torah are: Exodus33,12, ראה, אתה אומר אלי, “See, You say to me;” or Exodus 12,13: וראיתי את הדם, “when I see the blood, etc.” וידע א־להים, “G-d knew.” A construction similar to Proverbs 27,23: ידוע תדע פני צאנך, “make sure that you know the looks of your flocks;” G-d summoned His mercy in order to react to their problems. Another exegesis of the repeated name of G-d here: the expression וירא אלהים, refers to G-d seeing what the Egyptians were doing to the people publicly; the expression וידע אלהים, refers to G-d seeing what they were doing to the Israelites where no one saw it. This is also how our sages in the Haggadah shel Pessach understand this verse, i.e. the first expression refers to the Egyptians making it almost impossible for the Israelites to maintain marital relations. The second expression tells the reader that although due to the intimate and private nature of having marital relations there were no witnesses to these sufferings, G-d goes on record that He is a living witness. Nothing can be concealed from Him.
Tur HaArokh
וירא אלוקים...וידע אלוקים, “G’d saw and took notice of the condition of the Israelites.” Rashi explains these various verbs as meaning that G’d responded to their prayers by paying heed with His heart and by not ignoring their plight. Anyone who does not recognize the person who walks in front of him is considered as not seeing him, even if he knows that person well. If he recognizes him but does not love him, he is also considered as behaving as if he did not know him at all, did not “see” him. The Torah therefore describes G’d’s reaction as one of seeing the plight of His people, i.e. “loving” them, as in וידע אדם את חוה אשתו, “Adam had intimate relations with his wife.” G’d’s love manifested itself in His taking note of the Israelites’ plight. Ibn Ezra explains the words וירא אלוקים as G’d taking note of the violence committed against the Israelites in public, and the expression וידע אלוקים as referring to the violence committed against His people under cover of darkness. Nachmanides writes that the various statements of G’d’s reaction which appear in our verse mean that although the time intended for the enslavement of the Jewish people had expired, the people had not yet become worthy of being redeemed. However, G’d decided to intercede at this time already in light of their complaints, i.e. in response to their נאקתם, their moaning. He remembered His covenant, i.e. as promised in Ezekiel who describes G’d remembering the people and redeeming them in spite of their not being worthy of this.
Onkelos
Rashi
Ramban
Ibn Ezra
Chizkuni
Kli Yakar
Tur HaArokh
Rashbam