Exodus 2:11-25 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Exodus 2:11-25. Let’s go!
Exodus 2:11-14 (NIV)
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 Glancing 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.”
On verses 11-14: There is so much packed into these verses that if you fail to read between the lines there is so much you could miss.
First of all, this passage jumps from Moses as an infant in verse 10 to Moses as an adult in verse 11. We’ve just fast forwarded past the rest of Moses’ childhood, adolescence and early adulthood. According to Acts 7:23-24, Moses was 40 years old by this time.
Second, this passage shows Moses’ transition from identifying himself as an Egyptian to identifying as a Hebrew. Keep in mind that Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s royal palace and called Pharaoh’s daughter “mom”. Growing up in the Egyptian royal family as a “prince of Egypt”, Moses was given the best that Egypt had to offer in terms of education, societal status and material benefits. It’s not clear how or when Moses realized that he was actually an Israelite by birth. Various movies about the book of Exodus have interesting takes on how and when this realization happens. In any event, by verse 11, Moses now sees himself more as an Israelite than an Egyptian, as suggested by the repeated phrase “his own people” (v11) when referring to the Israelites.
Here not only do we see Moses identifying himself as an Israelite. Even more, we see Moses having a heart to rescue his people, the Israelites, from oppression. In verse 11b-12, Moses sees an Egyptian beating an Israelite, and so Moses kills the Egyptian and buries him in the sand, a crime he would ostracize him from both the Egyptians and the Israelites very soon. In verses 13-14, Moses tries to mediate between two quarreling Israelites, but they reject Moses’ attempt to lead them and harp on the fact that he killed someone. What can we learn from this? Even before Moses knew the Lord, Moses already had a heart to rescue his own people. But Moses had to learn to rescue them God’s way instead of doing things in his own strength and wisdom. Likewise, God plants dreams in our hearts, but the realization of those dreams must be done God’s way with God’s wisdom and timing, not our way with our wisdom and timing.
Exodus 2:15-22 (NIV)
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?” he 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 an alien in a foreign land.”
On verses 15-22: Hearing that Moses murdered an Egyptian, Pharaoh tries to kill Moses (v15). You might wonder, “But didn’t Moses grow up in Pharaoh’s home?” Even so, Pharaoh by this point likely saw Moses as a traitor and a threat to his own power, having now learned that Moses killed an Egyptian to protect an Israelite. Realizing it was no longer safe for him to stay in Egypt, Moses flees to Midian, which was a region occupied by descendants of Abraham’s second wife Keturah (see Genesis 25:2). There, a stranger in Midian, Moses rescues a group of shepherd girls from some male bullies. The shepherd girls take him to their father Reuel (also called Jethro), who is a priest in Midian. Making a long story short, verses 21-22 describe how Moses becomes a friend to Reuel’s family and marries his daughter Zipporah. As a testament to his life as a foreigner in a strange land, Moses calls his firstborn son Gershom, which sounds like “alien there”.
What can we learn from this? In this period of his life Moses probably felt quite lost about his future. But God was using this season in Midian as important preparation for what God would later call Moses to do. Before Moses could be sent back to Egypt to rescue the Israelites, God would first need to take Moses out of his comfort zone, teach him His ways and train him to rely on God. Likewise, to prepare you for a greater calling, God will take you out of your comfort zone to train you. Consider this:
– To save Israel from famine, Joseph was a Hebrew who had to become an Egyptian.
– To save Israel from Egypt, Moses was in his education and thinking an Egyptian who had to become Hebrew again.
– To save Israel and the world from sin, Jesus was God who became man and who “learned obedience from what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).
God takes us out of our comfort zone not to be cruel to us but to train us for a greater calling.
Exodus 2:23-25 (NIV)
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.
On verses 23-25: Here we learn of God’s heart for the suffering Israelites. He hears their cries for help (v23), He remembers the covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to make them into a great nation (v24), and with concern for the Israelites, in chapter 3 we will see God rolling out His plan to rescue them from slavery (v25).
What can we learn from this? God is full of compassion. He hears you when you call. He never forgets His promises. He may not do things in your way and your time, but it’s because He has a greater plan He is working out and a greater story He is writing with your life.
Heavenly Father, thank You that You know the plans You have for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us. Thank You that every time You take me out of my comfort zone, it is because You are training me in accordance with Your plan so that I will be equipped for the greater calling You have for my life. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
