1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
2 The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
3 And when she could hide him no longer she took for him a basket made of bulrushes, and daubed it with bitumen and pitch; and she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds at the river's brink.
4 And his sister stood at a distance, to know what would be done to him.
5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked beside the river; she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to fetch it.
6 When she opened it she saw the child; and lo, the babe was crying. She took pity on him and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."
7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?"
8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." So the girl went and called the child's mother.
9 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed him.
10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son; and she named him Moses, for she said, "Because I drew him out of the water."
11 One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.
12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
Though we begin our growth of consciousness in Egypt or the physical, our higher consciousness is loyal to spiritual values, symbolized here by the Hebrews. Eventually we must overpower the body and leave the materialistic level of consciousness to rise to a higher, spiritual one.
13 When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together; and he said to the man that did the wrong, "Why do you strike your fellow?"
14 He answered, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses was afraid, and thought, "Surely the thing is known."
15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh, and stayed in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.
Pharaoh represents the Ego, which seeks to kill the process of finding the spiritual life force within the inner consciousness, which Moses represents. So, as Moses grew, he left Egypt, or the material, carnal consciousness and went to Midian, which means government or striving. Moses is aspiring to higher things. The well represents and inward source of information. The Moses consciousness has turned from the carnal to an inward source.
16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.
The Priest, refers to a completed spiritual journey and the resultant benefits of the new level of consciousness. The watering of their flocks indicates that the ideas (flocks) are coming from this inner source (well).
17 The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
Water here also refers to the baptism by water. Moses has accomplished the first step of Illumination.
18 When they came to their father Reuel, he said, "How is it that you have come so soon today?"
Reuel means led of God or companion of God, and represents a higher level of consciousness…that which is above the material.
19 They said, "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and even drew water for us and watered the flock."
20 He said to his daughters, "And where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread."
When Reuel (spiritual consciousness) invited Moses (spiritualization of consciousness) to have bread with him, the bread fed to him was the Bread of Life. This is spiritual nourishment\pure spiritual energy from the higher consciousness.
21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah.
Moses' subsequent marriage to Zipporah, which translates as little bird, or twitterer is a union with the higher feminine and indicates that his level of consciousness is approaching one that results in free, winged thoughts that unite heaven and earth. It is still somewhat limited as indicated by the "little" or "twitterer" part.
22 She bore a son, and he called his name Gershom; for he said, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land."
The child of this union, Gershom which means exile, or a stranger there, indicates the sense of isolation which comes when we first set ourselves apart by starting on "the path". He has not yet found inner or outer harmony. He is as yet, a stranger in a strange land.
23 In the course of those many days the king of Egypt died. And the people of Israel groaned under their bondage, and cried out for help, and their cry under bondage came up to the gods.
24 And gods heard their groaning, and gods remembered their covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
25 And gods saw the people of Israel, and gods knew their condition.
The affliction of the Hebrews refers to the bondage of the lower nature which is still an issue that Moses needs to deal with.