Divine providence often works in the most unexpected ways, revealing its full power exactly where destruction was intended. The daughter of Pharaoh, the very king who decreed the death of the Israelite boys, becomes the agent who rescues the future savior of the Israelites, bringing him directly into the royal palace [נתינה לגר, אלשיך].
Her involvement begins with a journey to the river to wash. The primary approach among commentators is that the princess actually bathed in the river itself [רש״י, חזקוני], perhaps using special stairs that led down to the water [רמב״ן] or finding a clean, secluded section of the riverbank [רש״ר הירש]. Others, however, suggest that royal dignity would not permit a princess to bathe openly. Instead, they propose she washed in a private palace room that overlooked the water [ספורנו, הכתב והקבלה]. A deeper, spiritual perspective views this washing as an act of purification. By stepping into the water, she was cleansing herself from the idolatry of her father's house and actively rejecting the Egyptian belief that worshipped the Nile as a god [תורה תמימה, שפתי כהן, חתם סופר, קיצור בעל הטורים].
While she washed, her royal companions walked along the riverbank to protect her privacy [הכתב והקבלה, ביאור יש״ר]. Their physical distance from the princess at that exact moment was orchestrated by God. Had these honorable attendants been close enough to see the Hebrew infant, they likely would have pressured her to obey the king's decree and drown the child [ספורנו, מלבי״ם, העמק דבר]. Drawing on an older tradition, some commentators explain that their walk actually hinted at a march toward death. When these companions protested her decision to save the boy, the angel Gabriel struck them down [רש״י, תורה תמימה, חזקוני].
Upon spotting the basket, the princess took immediate action. The primary approach among commentators is that she sent a simple maidservant to retrieve it [אבן עזרא, רשב״ם, שד״ל, מנחת שי]. Unlike the noble companions who had kept their distance, this lowly personal servant stayed close and would not dare defy the princess's orders [מלבי״ם, אור החיים]. Following the tradition that the other companions were killed, this maidservant was the only attendant the angel spared, ensuring the princess would not be left completely alone [שפתי חכמים, דעת זקנים]. Another well-known tradition suggests a miraculous event, interpreting her action not as sending a servant, but as stretching out her own arm, which miraculously lengthened so she could pull the basket from the water herself [רש״י, רבנו בחיי]. A combined approach proposes that she first sent her maidservant away to maintain absolute secrecy, and then personally reached out her hand to rescue the child [העמק דבר, אור החיים].