Exodus 2:9 shows Pharaoh’s daughter asking a Hebrew woman to nurse a baby she has just found in the river, and promising to pay her for the work. The verse matters because it is the moment God’s plan to save Israel’s sons begins to work, through the very household that had ordered those sons destroyed. Pharaoh’s daughter speaks these words to the mother of the child, who is unknown to her at this point.
Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” The woman took the child, and nursed it.
Exodus 2:9 (WEB)
What Exodus 2:9 Means
The sentence begins with a command: “Take this child away.” The princess is not asking for a favor. She is a woman of rank and she gives the instruction as someone used to being obeyed. Yet the request is also practical. A newborn needs feeding, and a princess living in a palace has no way of feeding an infant by herself, so she needs someone who can.
Then comes the phrase “nurse him for me.” The word “nurse” means to breastfeed, and in the ancient world wet-nursing was a common arrangement for wealthy households. The verse says the child should be nursed for her, which means the child will remain in the care of his own family while being counted as hers. The last part, “I will give you your wages,” shows that the mother will be paid for her work, so it is a real job and not charity.
The verse does not promise that the mother will keep her son forever, nor does it describe Pharaoh’s daughter’s inner thoughts. It records an arrangement and its outcome: “The woman took the child, and nursed it.” What it does show is that God can arrange even a royal order to give a Hebrew child back to his own mother for those early years.
The Context of Exodus 2:9
Exodus is traditionally attributed to Moses, and it tells the story of Israel’s departure from Egypt and the covenant God makes with them at Sinai. The book was written for the people of Israel, who had lived in slavery and needed to know how their history began and how God acted on their behalf. Chapter 2 opens with Moses’ birth in a time when Pharaoh had ordered the Hebrew baby boys thrown into the Nile.
Just before verse 9, Pharaoh’s daughter finds the basket in the reeds, sees the crying baby, and has compassion on him. Right after the verse, the child grows up, is named Moses by the princess, and later goes out to see the suffering of his own people. Reading verse 9 in that setting, you see that the nursing arrangement is the hinge of the story: a child meant for death is returned to his mother and raised with a Hebrew identity, which prepares him for the work God will give him later.
Key Phrases in Exodus 2:9
Genesis 50:20
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is today, to save many people alive.
(WEB)
Joseph tells his brothers that what they meant for harm, God meant for good. Like Exodus 2:9, this verse shows that human schemes against God’s people do not have the last word, because God can bring rescue and preservation out of what looked like disaster.
Romans 8:28
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
(WEB)
Paul writes that God works all things together for good for those who love Him. Exodus 2:9 gives a concrete picture of this truth, since a royal order becomes the means by which a Hebrew mother raises her own son during a dangerous time.
A Short Prayer From Exodus 2:9
Lord, you saw a basket among the reeds and a crying child that Pharaoh had wanted destroyed. You moved the heart of a princess and placed a mother’s hands on her son again. Help me to trust you when the people in power around me seem to hold all the cards. Show me the small, ordinary ways you are working toward good, and give me courage to act faithfully where you have placed me. Amen.
