פרשת שמות תש"ד - הולדת משה ובגרותו

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 therein, and laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.

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

כי טוב הוא THAT HE WAS GOODLY — When he was born the whole house became filled with light (Sotah 12a).

And [when] she saw him that he was good, she hid him for three months. All women love their children, whether they are beautiful or not; and certainly, all the Jewish mothers in Egypt hid their children as long as they could. Consequently, why does the verse need to emphasize that she saw he was good? The explanation is that she saw an unusual goodness about him and the thought entered her mind that a miracle would occur whereby he would be saved. Therefore, she took it to heart and began to think of ways to save him. When she saw she could not hide him any longer, she thought of a new strategy and made him a wicker basket. His sister stationed herself at a distance, so she would not be discovered, to know what would be done with him. All this supports the view of our Sages who said that the entire house became filled with light upon his birth (Shmos Rabbah 1:20, Sotah 12a). It also lends support to their statement (Ibid.) that Miriam had prophesized that her mother would give birth to the savior of the people of Israel.

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.”

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.

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 therein, and laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.

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.’

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).

וירא בסבלתם AND HE SAW THEIR BURDENS — he set his eyes and mind to share in their distress. (Exodus Rabbah 1:27)

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).

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).

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.

He turned this way and that. Moshe thought that one of his Hebrew brothers in the area would rise up against the Egyptian and save his fellow Jew.

And saw that there was no man. He saw that there was no man of courage; not one of them took his brother’s travail to heart to try and save him.