This command of Pharaoh is the darkest moment in his oppression of Israel. And yet it also sets the scene for the birth of Moses (Exodus 2:1–10), the man who will deliver God’s people from Egypt. Moreover, God will not allow Egypt to go free for their evil but will avenge his people for what they have suffered. He later turns the Nile, which brought death to Israelite boys (Exodus 7:20–21), to blood, and drowns the army of those who drowned infants (Exodus 14:28).
22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”