Who did Moses kill?
The man Moses killed was an Egyptian — a taskmaster he caught beating one of his fellow Hebrews while they were slaves in Egypt. Moses was forty years old, raised in Pharaoh's palace, and the writers give a good deal of attention to the question that follows the killing: was this the act of a hero, a criminal, or a believer who moved too soon?
The Scene
One writer sets the killing where it happened — at the edge of the desert, away from the palace, with no one watching but the two men involved.
H Forbes WitherbyThere he saw two men — an Egyptian taskmaster and a Hebrew slave — and, no uncommon sight, the taskmaster was beating the slave. In a moment Moses' hand was loose, and the Egyptian lay dead at his feet. But Moses was not easy; he looked this way and that way, and then buried the man in the sand.
Love That Was Right, an Act That Was Not
The feeling behind the blow and the blow itself are judged separately. Moses loved his people; but he took justice into his own hands, and the very care he took to check for witnesses exposes what was wrong in it.
William KellyThe love to his brothers was a right and holy feeling; but his inflicting death on the Egyptian was unjustifiable, and led to his long exile to escape the king's resentment. He acted on the impulse of his heart, and in no way as consulting God or obeying Him. Had he looked to Him, he would not have "looked this way or that way."
What is striking is the silence of the record. The Bible neither defends the deed nor lectures the reader about it.
William KellyIt was impossible for the Spirit, on the one hand, to blame the love that prompted the hand of Moses; it was impossible, on the other, to vindicate the act. God has just left it, as He always knows how to do — left what was of Himself to tell its own tale, while that which was not of Himself is before the spiritual judgment of those who have confidence in Him.
What Was in His Mind
Exodus reports only the facts. Stephen's speech in Acts 7 tells us what Moses was thinking, and the two accounts are read together.
F. B. HoleIn Exodus we are given a brief account of the facts on the surface of the episode. In Acts 7 we are told what was in his mind, leading him to act as he did… He "looked this way and that way," and as there were no witnesses, he identified himself with the Hebrew and killed the Egyptian. But what was in his heart was the conviction that God by his hand was going to deliver the children of Israel, and "he supposed his brothers would have understood" that this was so.
Failure — but the Failure of a Believer
Since Hebrews 11 lists Moses among people of faith, commentators refuse to write the episode off as mere violence, while still calling it failure.
Edward DennettNo doubt Moses acted in the energy of the flesh; but though he had not yet learned his own nothingness and incompetence, he still desired to act for God… That there was failure is clear; but it was the failure of a man of faith, whose actions were precious in the sight of God, because he was enabled, by faith, to refuse all that might have tempted the natural man, and to identify himself with the interests of God's people.
Right Cause, Wrong Hour
The problem was timing. God did intend to use Moses to free Israel; He had not yet said go.
C. H. MackintoshThis was zeal for his brothers; but it was "not according to knowledge." God's time had not yet come for judging Egypt and delivering Israel; and the intelligent servant will always wait for God's time… he clearly ran ahead of the time, and when someone does this, failure must be the result.
Human strength was the very thing that would fail him at the decisive moment.
J. N. DarbyHe gives up Pharaoh's household; but what is he going to do? He takes an Egyptian and kills him. This is human strength, and Pharaoh is far stronger than Moses on that point.
The Forty Years That Followed
A second Hebrew threw the killing back in his face the next day, Pharaoh heard, and Moses fled to Midian. The exile was training.
William KellyThe period, however long, of learning the wisdom of the Egyptians did not accomplish it; and an equal length in the desert for unlearning had to run out, as it were, before God gave him the effective call.
The change in the man is measurable. He is later described as the meekest man on earth — which he plainly was not at forty.
F. B. HoleWhen he was forty years old he was not very meek, as Exodus 2:12 shows. Now, after the forty years of discipline from God in Midian, he is "very meek" though he had become "very great" in the eyes of the world.
Summary
- Who — Moses killed an Egyptian taskmaster who was beating a Hebrew slave, then hid the body in the sand.
- Motive — the love for his suffering people was genuine; the killing itself cannot be defended, and Scripture quietly leaves both facts standing side by side.
- Faith — Acts 7 and Hebrews 11 show a believer convinced God would free Israel by his hand; this was the failure of a man of faith, not a random act of violence.
- Timing — right cause, wrong hour: he ran ahead of God's time, and used human strength against a power far stronger than himself.
- Result — forty years of exile to unlearn Egypt, until the man who once killed to deliver became the meekest man on earth, fit for God to use.