Meaning a sojourner there.

Moses remained in Midian for forty years (Acts 7:30). God used the first forty years of Moses’ life to build up a man who was strong in the natural life (Acts 7:22; vv. 11-13). Then, in order to strip Moses of his natural ability, God arranged to have him work as a shepherd in the land of Midian for another forty years (Exo. 3:1). God’s work to perfect Moses made him a useful vessel for God’s purpose.

According to Exodus, being useful to God is related to building up His dwelling place and to fighting for His interests on earth. Chapters 1 and 2 show that the life useful to God in these matters is the life signified by the female life. In the Bible a male signifies an independent life, whereas a female signifies a life that depends on God (cf. Luke 1:26-38). The unique male is God in Christ; only He has an independent life. In their relationship to God all God’s people, both men and women, are “females,” components of His wife (Isa. 54:5; John 3:29). As such, they must live a life that depends on Him for everything and is under His headship (John 15:5; 1 Cor. 11:3). At the age of forty Moses lived an independent life, taking the position of a “male” before God by exercising his natural strength to strike an Egyptian (vv. 11-12). In the second forty years of his life Moses was trained by God not to rely on his natural life, and in his third forty years he lived the life of a “female,” a life dependent on God. This is the life God can use for the fulfillment of His purpose.

This word apparently contradicts Heb. 11:27. Outwardly, Moses was afraid and sought to escape; inwardly, he considered the cost and voluntarily chose to identify himself with the people of God (Heb. 11:24-26).

Meaning drawn out.

In ch. 1 God used the female life to preserve His people (see note Exo. 1:17¹ there), and in this chapter He used the female life to prepare a savior for His people, whom He had preserved for His purpose. In preparing Moses as a savior for Israel, God used three women — Moses’ mother, Moses’ sister, and Pharaoh’s daughter — to give him birth, to nurse him, to rescue him, to raise him, and to train him for His purpose (vv. 2-10; Acts 7:20-22). God’s use of these women reveals that during critical times the only life that can be used by God is the female life, signifying the life that stands with God and is dependent on Him. See note Exo. 2:21¹, par. 2.