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Exodus 2:13–15
“When Pharaoh heard of [the killing], he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well” (v. 15).
Justice occupied the thoughts of Moses well before he became Israel’s lawgiver. We see as much in his defense of one of his fellow Hebrews, a slave, against an Egyptian when the Egyptian was beating him. Rightly recognizing the slave’s treatment as unjust, Moses intervened, though he ended up killing the Egyptian and hiding his body (Ex. 2:11–12).
We can also see in today’s passage that Moses had a concern for justice before becoming leader of Israel. He cared not only about how the Egyptians treated the Israelites but also about how the Israelites treated each other. Thus, the day after killing an Egyptian, Moses intervened to break up a fight between two Hebrew men, rebuking “the man in the wrong” in the altercation (v. 13).
Because Moses had rescued another Israelite slave from harm, he likely expected his intervention to be warmly received. However, the man in the wrong objected to Moses’ assuming for himself the right to adjudicate the disagreement. In fact, he went further and asked Moses if he planned to kill him as he had killed the Egyptian (v. 14). This may have been a subtle way for the man in the wrong to warn Moses that if he did not mind his own business, he would inform the Egyptians of his crime. Moreover, the encounter also is our first hint that the Israelites will not always receive Moses’ leadership favorably (see ch. 5). In any case, Moses reasoned that if the Hebrew knew that he had killed an Egyptian, then the king of Egypt would soon know as well (2:14). Moses was right, of course, so he fled the pharaoh’s rage and left Egypt, traveling to Midian (v. 15).
Moses had his heart in the right place in attempting to help his fellow Israelites, but he was not yet called by God, so his actions at this point reveal one who was all too willing to take matters into his own hands. He had a lot to learn about depending on the Lord before he could be used to save Israel. Nevertheless, God superintended all these things so that when the time came to confront the pharaoh, Moses would be ready. Matthew Henry comments: “God ordered it for wise and holy ends. Things were not yet ripe for Israel’s deliverance: the measure of Egypt’s iniquity was not yet full; the Hebrews were not sufficiently humbled, nor were they yet increased to such a multitude as God designed; Moses is to be further fitted for the service, and therefore is directed to withdraw for the present, till the time to favor Israel, even the set time, should come.”
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
When we take matters into our own hands and do not lean on the wisdom of God, all sorts of troubles ensue. Moses learned this the hard way when he acted rashly and ended up living in exile. Of course, God can and does providentially use even our mistakes for our good and His glory, but there are real negative consequences to resting in our own wisdom.
For Further Study
- Psalm 37:5
- Proverbs 3:7–8
- Isaiah 31:1
- James 1:19–21