Tafsiran Keluaran 2:2: Rashi, Chizkuni, Da'at Zekenim & Ramban

כי טוב הוא THAT HE WAS GOODLY — When he was born the whole house became filled with light (Sotah 12a).

ותרא אותו כי טוב, “and when she saw (realised) that he was good (healthy) etc.” seeing that Moses was born to his mother after a pregnancy that had lasted only six months, she noted when examining the baby in detail, that all of Moses’ fingernails and toe nails were fully developed just like those of a baby after a nine month pregnancy, she realised that he was healthy and would survive the critical months ahead of him. She had no problem hiding him for three months as she had not been due to give birth during that period. When she was asked about the baby she had born by her neighbours, she would say that she had already complied with the kings’ decree and had thrown him into the Nile. A different interpretation views the word טוב as a hint that Moses had been born without a foreskin. The custom of reciting the line: הודו לה' כי טוב, “praise the Lord for He is good,” is recited during the circumcision ceremony, as a reminder that Moses did not need to be circumcised.

ותרא אותו כי טוב, although he had been born prematurely after a pregnancy of only six months, the infant looked as if fully developed. Even his fingernails had developed completely. Having taken note of this, his mother decided to risk hiding him, i.e. to endanger her own life in addition to that of her infant. A different interpretation of our verse, The words: כי טוב , refer to Moses’ appearance being that of a beautiful baby. Compare the use of this word in the same sense in Jeremiah 44,17: ונשבע לחם ונהיה טובים, “for then we had plenty to eat and we looked well.”