seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Exodus 2:11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”
14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”
15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. 16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.
18 When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”
19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
20 “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”
21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”
23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
Here's the link to the Bible Study I use.He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren: Because Moses had a heart filled with sympathy and brotherhood (his brethren) toward his people, he could not stand by while one of his fellow Israelites endured a beating.
He looked this way and that way: These are the actions of a man who knew he was about to do wrong. Moses had several reasons for doing what he did, but his concern to hide what he did shows a troubled conscience.
Why are you striking your companion: Moses had reason to believe that his education, royal background, success, and great sympathy for the people of Israel would give him credibility among them. He here tried to intervene in a violent dispute between two Hebrew men.
Who made you a prince and a judge over us: Moses seemed to act like a prince given his royal background. He acted like a judge in that he determined that one of these men did the wrong. He seemed to be the perfect prince and judge for Israel, but they did not want him.
A prince has the right to rule and expects your loyalty. A judge has the right to tell you what to do, and to punish you if you don’t do it. In rejecting Moses they said to him, “We don’t want you to rule over us or tell us what to do.” People reject Jesus on the same thinking, and just like Moses Jesus was rejected at His first coming.
Dwelt in the land of Midian: If Moses went into the area of Canaan and Syria, he would have found no refuge — there was a treaty between Rameses II and the Hittite king to the effect that fugitives along the northern route to Syria would be arrested and extradited. So, Moses went southeast instead, to Midian.
Check out verse 24. It's bugging me this morning. It says "God remembered". What? Is God senile? Would God forget his chosen people? God helped Joseph get his family together in Egypt. Jacob and all of his sons were all living and "slaving" in Egypt. It seems that God would have to "forgotten" about His people in order to have to "remember" where they were and what trouble they were in. I don't think for a moment think that God "forgot" his people for an instant. Can you imagine God saying "Oh yeah, the Israelites"? Can you imagine Jesus saying "they're in Egypt Father"? God is eternal. God is God. I don't think He forgot about the Israelites for a second. It just wasn't time to move Moses out of Egypt.
Check it out... Moses couldn't move to Canaan yet. He had to go through Midian, and pick up a wife and a father-in-law. His father-in-law will become pretty important in a chapter or three. See, God had Ramses II [Pharaoh] and the king of the Hittites sign a peace agreement, so Moses had to travel to Midian rather than Canaan. God didn't have to "remember" the plan. He and His Son, Jesus, were just working in the plan.
It was time... Remember, when Moses was a baby, Pharaoh wanted to kill all the Israelites because they "might" join the Hittites. Now the Pharaoh and the Hittites had a peace accord. There was no reason to be killing the Israelite babies. God didn't have to "remember" the Israelites. He was just working on the plan... like a good recipe for creating a great leader like Moses.
When cooking a meal, you have to "remember" the salt. If you put too much salt, you can ruin the dish. If you add too little salt, you can ruin the dish. If you put the salt in at the wrong time, you can ruin the dish. When cooking, you are following a recipe, a plan; and the Israelites, as the main ingredient, would have to marinate in Egypt for a while before they could be moved to Canaan.
Moses was a murderer. It was in his blood. He was one of the Levi Clan. His great, great, whatever grandfather was the one who worked with Simeon to kill all the men in Shechem after the rape of Dinah. Levi was one of the brothers who put Joseph in the pit. Levi was one of the brothers who decided to sell Joseph into slavery. Even after over 400 years, murder was in their blood. Moses was a murderer, for a worthy cause.
I'll give him a reprieve though. He was rescuing someone, not acting on his own vengeance. He was a charitable murderer... oh yeah. Moses was a good guy, very capable of doing whatever the rescue of God's People required.
So now, the adopted son of Pharaoh, is hiding in Midian with his new wife, her sisters, and his new father-in-law. Moses has moved from a prince to a shepherd.
Moses was a "good" murderer.
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