Exodus 2:3 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

When she could not longer hide him— The king's decree, as we have observed, ch. Exodus 1:22 was, no doubt, peremptory and severe. Fearing therefore the extreme danger of a discovery, which would have proved fatal both to the child and themselves, the parents were forced, though with the utmost regret, to expose him like the rest. Resolving, however, to do the utmost in their power for his preservation, and so trust him to the care of Providence, they put him into a small ark, תבת tebat, (see Genesis 6:14.) in the form, perhaps, of one of those boats with which the river was always covered, and made, like them, of bulrushes or flags; that is, most probably, flags of the tree papyrus, of which the Egyptians made their paper, and which grew particularly on the banks of the Nile. The word is so rendered in some copies of the LXX; and Clemens Alexandrinus says expressly, that the vessel was made of papyrus, the product of the country. This papyrus was strong enough to keep out the water, and smooth enough to receive the slime (see Genesis 11:3.) and the pitch with which it was besmeared, and by its lightness fittest to swim with the child's weight. Not willing to trust this ark, with its little sacred charge, into the midst of the stream, the tender mother laid it in the flags or reeds, which grew in abundance by the side of the Nile; hoping, possibly, that they would detain it, so that she might come occasionally and suckle the child; or, if otherwise, that it would be borne safely down the stream, and would preserve the infant from drowning. Prophane writers assure us, that the Egyptians made boats of the papyrus. See Isaiah 18:2. Dr. Shaw confirms this account, and assures us, that the vessels of bulrushes, mentioned both in sacred and prophane history, were no other than larger fabrics made of the papyrus, in the same manner with this ark of Moses; but which are now laid aside, from the late introduction of plank and stronger materials. Travels, p. 437.