C. F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch on Exodus 2:6-8

Exo 2:6-8

The exposure of the child at once led the king’s daughter to conclude that it was one of the Hebrews’ children. The fact that she took compassion on the weeping child, and notwithstanding the king’s command (Exo 1:22) took it up and had it brought up (of course, without the knowledge of the king), may be accounted for from the love to children which is innate in the female sex, and the superior adroitness of a mother’s heart, which co-operated in this case, though without knowing or intending it, in the realization of the divine plan of salvation. Competens fuit divina vindicta, ut suis affectibus puniatur parricida et filiae provisione pereat qui genitrices interdixerat parturire (August. Sermo 89 de temp.).