Exodus 2:11 - Meaning and Application

Moses had now spent the first forty years of his life in Pharaoh’s court, where he had been trained for public work. Now it was time for him to begin acting. He boldly took God’s people as his own cause. “When Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers and looked on their burdens” (Exodus 2:11).

The clearest explanation of these words comes later in Hebrews 11:24-26. There we learn that Moses showed holy contempt for the honors and pleasures of the Egyptian court. He refused to be known as Pharaoh’s daughter’s son, because he went out to his own people. The temptation was very strong. He had a good chance to make a great name for himself, and he could have used his court influence to help Israel too. He owed much to Pharaoh’s daughter, both in gratitude and in practical terms, yet by faith he won a great victory over temptation. He counted it a far greater honor and gain to be a son of Abraham than a son of Pharaoh’s daughter.

Moses also showed a tender concern for his poor brothers in slavery. Though he could have stayed away, he chose to suffer with them. He looked on their burdens as one who not only felt pity, but was ready to risk himself for them, if needed. In this way he gave a small picture of the great things he would later do for God and for Israel.

Stephen later mentions these events in Acts 7:23 and following, to show how Israel’s fathers had always resisted the Holy Spirit, even in Moses. When Moses first appeared as their deliverer, they still shut their eyes against the first light of their rescue. No doubt Moses was then under God’s direction and inner impulse. He was being called in an unusual way to do what he did.

Moses was later to bring plagues on the Egyptians for the wrongs they had done to God’s people. As a small preview of that work, he killed the Egyptian who was beating the Hebrew (Exodus 2:11, 12). It was likely one of the Egyptian overseers, abusing his Hebrew slave, perhaps a man of Moses’ own tribe. This act was done by special warrant from heaven, so it is not an example for ordinary cases. Jewish tradition says he did not kill him with a weapon, but with the word of his mouth, as Peter later struck down Ananias and Sapphira through God’s judgment.

His hiding the body in the sand hinted that Pharaoh and all his Egyptians would later be buried in the sand of the Red Sea under Moses’ rod. His careful secrecy was wise and necessary, since this was only a first attempt. His faith may still have been weak, and he may have acted with some hesitation. Even those who later become strong in faith usually begin with little faith, and at first they often speak and act with trembling.

Moses was also later to govern Israel, and here we see a small example of that work. He tried to settle a dispute between two Hebrews, and for forty years after that he had to bear with their stubborn ways. He noticed an unhappy quarrel between them (Exodus 2:13). We are not told what started it, but whatever it was, it was very out of place. The Hebrews were already suffering under the Egyptians. Had they not been beaten enough, they must also beat one another?

This teaches us that shared suffering does not always unite God’s people as much as we would expect. It also shows that when God raises up helpers for his church, they will have enough to do, not only restraining oppressing Egyptians, but also reconciling quarrelsome Israelites. Moses handled the matter by singling out the one who had done the wrong and speaking gently to him: “Why are you striking your fellow?” The Egyptian who had acted cruelly was killed, but the Hebrew who had acted wrongly was only rebuked. The one had shown rooted malice, while the other may have acted under sudden provocation.

Wise rulers should make such distinctions, following God’s example, and treating offenders according to the nature of their sin. Moses was trying to make peace, which was a good work. In this, we see something of Christ, who often corrected his disciples when they argued (Luke 9:46 and following; Luke 22:24 and following). Christ was a prophet like Moses, a healing prophet and a peacemaker, who came among his brothers to destroy hatred.

Moses’ rebuke is still useful: “Why are you striking your fellow?” Striking our fellow people is wrong in any form, especially among believers, whether with the tongue or the hand, whether by persecution or by quarrels and bitterness. Think about the person you are hurting. He is your fellow human being, your fellow Christian, your fellow servant, your fellow sufferer. Think also about the cause. Why are you striking him? Perhaps there is no cause at all, or no good cause, or none worth mentioning.

Moses’ effort ended badly. The man who had done the wrong answered, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us?” The one who had been wronged, it seems, was more willing to make peace. The guilty man was the one who was offended. It is often a sign of guilt to hate correction. It is often easier to get the injured person to bear the wrong than to get the wrongdoer to bear the shame of being shown his fault (1 Corinthians 6:7, 8).

Moses had spoken wisely and gently, but this quarrelsome Hebrew would not accept it. He kicked against the goads (Acts 9:5) and turned back on the man who reproved him. He challenged Moses’ right to speak: “Who made you a ruler and judge over us?” A person does not need great authority to give a kind rebuke, since it is an act of love. Yet this man twisted it into a claim of power, as though Moses were acting proudly and overbearing.

People often do the same when they dislike good teaching or timely warning. They call it preaching, as if a person could not speak for God and against sin without thinking too highly of himself. Yet Moses really was a prince and a judge, though the Hebrews did not understand it. He thought they would welcome him and follow him, but they only pushed him away (Acts 7:25, 27).

The man also mocked Moses by bringing up the killing of the Egyptian: “Do you mean to kill me?” See how evil hearts twist the best words and actions into ugly meanings. Moses had only rebuked him, but he was accused at once of planning murder. An attack on his sin was taken as an attack on his life. And because Moses had killed the Egyptian, the man thought that made the suspicion reasonable, as if Moses made no distinction between an Egyptian and a Hebrew.

If Moses risked his life to defend an injured Hebrew and killed an Egyptian, the Hebrew should have accepted him, not only as a friend of Israel, but as a man with unusual courage and zeal. Instead, the Hebrew treated that brave act as a crime. Moses had meant it as a sign of the rescue God had promised. If the Hebrews had taken the hint and followed Moses as their leader, it is likely they would have been delivered then. But because they despised their deliverer, their rescue was rightly delayed, and their slavery was extended for forty years, just as later their rejection of Canaan kept them out of it for forty years more. “I wanted this, and you would not.” People do not know what they are doing, or how much they harm their own good, when they reject faithful warning and correction.

When the Hebrews opposed Moses, God sent him away into Midian, and they did not hear from him for forty years. In this way, the things that would have brought them peace were hidden from their eyes, because they did not recognize the time of their visitation. For Moses, this must have felt like a heavy discouragement. He had chosen to suffer with God’s people and to bear the reproach of Christ, that is, the shame that comes from belonging to God’s chosen Savior. Now, at the very start, to meet rejection and hardship from the very people he wanted to help was a severe test of his resolve.

He might have said, “If this is how the Hebrews act, I will return to Pharaoh’s court and remain the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” We should be careful not to turn against God’s ways and God’s people because of the foolish or irritable behavior of a few who claim to be religious. It is nothing new for the church’s best friends to meet strong resistance and discouragement in their work of helping and saving others, even from those who should have welcomed them. Christ himself was rejected by the builders, and he is still refused by many he came to save.

The flight of Moses to Midian followed from this. The insult he received turned out to be a kindness, because it showed him that his killing of the Egyptian had become known. That gave him time to escape. Otherwise, Pharaoh’s anger might have caught him and destroyed him at once. God can turn even angry words into good for his people, in one way or another.

Word was brought to Pharaoh, and it would have been especially troubling if a Hebrew man whom Moses had rebuked was the one who reported it. Warrants were soon issued for Moses’ arrest, and that forced him to flee for his life into the land of Midian (Exodus 2:15). Moses did this with wise concern for his own safety. If this is the same leaving of Egypt that the apostle speaks of as being done by faith (Hebrews 11:27), then it teaches us that when duty brings us into trouble or danger, faith helps us take proper steps to protect ourselves.

Yet the apostle says there that Moses did not fear the king’s anger, while here it says he feared (Exodus 2:14). The meaning is not that Moses was crushed by panic or unbelief. He did not have the fear that destroys courage and brings torment. Rather, he had the kind of careful fear that moves a person to use the means God puts before him for safety.

God also ordered this for wise and holy reasons. The time was not yet right for Israel’s deliverance. Egypt’s guilt was not yet full, the Hebrews were not yet humbled enough, and they had not yet grown into the large nation God intended. Moses also still needed more training for his future work, so he was sent away for a time until the set time came when God would favor Israel.

God led Moses to Midian because the Midianites came from Abraham’s family and still kept the worship of the true God among them. So Moses could find a place that was not only safe, but also comforting. He was later to lead Israel through that same country, so this stay also gave him a chance to become familiar with it. There he sat down by a well, tired, thoughtful, and uncertain, waiting to see how Providence would guide him. It was a great change from the comfort of Pharaoh’s court just a short time before. In this way God tested his faith, and it proved worthy of praise and honor.