The next day Moses went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, "Why are you attacking your companion?" The next dayThis phrase indicates the passage of time and continuity in the narrative. It suggests that Moses is actively engaging with his people, the Hebrews, on consecutive days. Historically, this reflects Moses' growing awareness and concern for the plight of his people, which is a significant turning point in his life. It marks the beginning of his journey from being a prince of Egypt to becoming the deliverer of Israel. he went out
The act of going out signifies Moses' intentional decision to leave the comfort and safety of the Egyptian palace. This action is symbolic of his identification with the Hebrews, his true kin. In a broader theological context, it foreshadows the greater exodus that Moses will later lead, as he steps out in faith and obedience to God's calling. and saw
The verb "saw" implies more than just physical sight; it suggests perception and understanding. Moses is not merely observing the situation; he is discerning the injustice occurring among his people. This insight is crucial as it demonstrates Moses' growing empathy and sense of justice, qualities that God will later use to lead His people. two Hebrews fighting
This phrase highlights the internal strife among the Hebrews. It is a reminder that even among God's chosen people, there can be discord and conflict. Historically, this reflects the oppression and stress the Hebrews were under, which often leads to internal disputes. Spiritually, it serves as a call for unity and reconciliation within the community of believers. and he asked the one in the wrong
Moses' direct approach to addressing the wrongdoer shows his courage and sense of justice. The phrase "the one in the wrong" indicates that Moses is not afraid to confront sin and wrongdoing, even among his own people. This reflects a key aspect of leadership: the willingness to stand up for what is right, even when it is uncomfortable. 'Why are you striking your fellow Hebrew?'
This question is both a challenge and an invitation for self-reflection. Moses is calling the aggressor to consider his actions and the implications of harming a fellow Hebrew. The use of "fellow Hebrew" emphasizes the shared identity and community among the Israelites. It is a call to remember their common heritage and to act in love and unity. This question also foreshadows Moses' future role as a mediator and leader who seeks to guide his people towards righteousness and harmony. Persons / Places / Events 1. MosesRaised in Pharaoh's palace, Moses is a Hebrew by birth. At this point in the account, he is beginning to identify with his Hebrew heritage and is moved to act when he sees injustice among his people. 2. HebrewsThe descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who are living in Egypt under harsh slavery. The two Hebrews in this verse are in conflict with each other, highlighting internal strife among the oppressed. 3. EgyptThe land where the Israelites are enslaved. It serves as the backdrop for Moses' early life and the setting for the events leading to the Exodus. 4. ConflictThe event of two Hebrews fighting represents not only personal conflict but also the broader theme of division and strife within the community of God's people. Teaching Points The Call to Justice and PeaceMoses' intervention highlights the importance of standing against injustice and seeking peace among God's people. Believers are called to be peacemakers in their communities. Identity and ResponsibilityMoses' actions reflect his growing awareness of his identity as a Hebrew and his responsibility toward his people. Christians are encouraged to embrace their identity in Christ and act accordingly. Internal Strife Among BelieversThe conflict between the Hebrews serves as a reminder of the potential for division within the body of Christ. Unity and reconciliation should be pursued actively. Courage to Confront WrongdoingMoses' question to the aggressor demonstrates the courage needed to confront wrongdoing, even among one's own people. Believers are called to address sin and promote righteousness. Bible Study Questions 1. How does Moses' intervention in the conflict between the two Hebrews reflect his understanding of justice and leadership? How can we apply this understanding in our own lives? 2. In what ways does internal conflict among believers hinder the mission of the church? How can we work towards unity and reconciliation? 3. How does Moses' growing identification with his Hebrew heritage challenge us to consider our own identity in Christ and our responsibilities to our faith community? 4. What practical steps can we take to be peacemakers in our families, churches, and communities, following the example of Moses and the teachings of Jesus? 5. How can we develop the courage to confront wrongdoing in a loving and constructive manner, as Moses did, and what biblical principles should guide us in these situations? Connections to Other Scriptures Acts 7:26-27Stephen recounts this event, emphasizing Moses' role as a peacemaker and his initial rejection by his own people, which foreshadows his later leadership and the Israelites' resistance to divine deliverance. Matthew 5:9Jesus' teaching on peacemakers can be connected to Moses' attempt to intervene and bring peace between the two Hebrews, illustrating the timeless call for God's people to seek reconciliation. James 4:1-2This passage discusses the root of conflicts and quarrels, which can be related to the strife between the Hebrews and the broader human tendency toward discord. People Gershom, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Levi, Moses, Pharaoh, Reuel, ZipporahPlaces Egypt, Midian, Nile RiverTopics Behold, Brother, Companion, Fellow, Fighting, Hebrew, Hebrews, Hitting, Neighbour, Offender, Quarrelling, Smite, Smitest, Smiting, Strike, Striking, Striving, Strove, Struggling, Wherefore, Wrong, Wrong-doerDictionary of Bible Themes Exodus 2:10-15 5102 Moses, life of Exodus 2:11-13 5040 murder Exodus 2:11-14 5822 criticism, against believers Library The Ark among the Flags
'And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. 2. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. 3. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. 4. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. 5. And the daughter of Pharaoh came …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureHome as a Stewardship.
"Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages."--EXODUS II., 9. "For look, how many souls in thy house be, With just as many souls God trusteth thee!" The Christian home is a stewardship. The parents are stewards of God. A steward is a servant of a particular kind, to whom the master commits a certain portion of his interest to be prosecuted in his name and by his authority, and according to his laws and regulations. The steward must act according to the will of his …
Samuel Philips—The Christian Home The Upbringing of Jewish Children
The tenderness of the bond which united Jewish parents to their children appears even in the multiplicity and pictorialness of the expressions by which the various stages of child-life are designated in the Hebrew. Besides such general words as "ben" and "bath"--"son" and "daughter"--we find no fewer than nine different terms, each depicting a fresh stage of life. The first of these simply designates the babe as the newly--"born"--the "jeled," or, in the feminine, "jaldah"--as in Exodus 2:3, 6, 8. …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life The Secret of Its Greatness
[Illustration: (drop cap G) The Great Pyramid] God always chooses the right kind of people to do His work. Not only so, He always gives to those whom He chooses just the sort of life which will best prepare them for the work He will one day call them to do. That is why God put it into the heart of Pharaoh's daughter to bring up Moses as her own son in the Egyptian palace. The most important part of Moses' training was that his heart should be right with God, and therefore he was allowed to remain …
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making Motives to Holy Mourning
Let me exhort Christians to holy mourning. I now persuade to such a mourning as will prepare the soul for blessedness. Oh that our hearts were spiritual limbecs, distilling the water of holy tears! Christ's doves weep. They that escape shall be like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity' (Ezekiel 7:16). There are several divine motives to holy mourning: 1 Tears cannot be put to a better use. If you weep for outward losses, you lose your tears. It is like a shower …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12 The Faith of Moses.
"By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw he was a goodly child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to be evil entreated with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he looked unto the recompense of reward. By faith he forsook …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews Jesus Sets Out from Judæa for Galilee.
Subdivision B. At Jacob's Well, and at Sychar. ^D John IV. 5-42. ^d 5 So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 and Jacob's well was there. [Commentators long made the mistake of supposing that Shechem, now called Nablous, was the town here called Sychar. Sheckem lies a mile and a half west of Jacob's well, while the real Sychar, now called 'Askar, lies scarcely half a mile north of the well. It was a small town, loosely called …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Consolations against Impatience in Sickness.
If in thy sickness by extremity of pain thou be driven to impatience, meditate-- 1. That thy sins have deserved the pains of hell; therefore thou mayest with greater patience endure these fatherly corrections. 2. That these are the scourges of thy heavenly Father, and the rod is in his hand. If thou didst suffer with reverence, being a child, the corrections of thy earthly parents, how much rather shouldst thou now subject thyself, being the child of God, to the chastisement of thy heavenly Father, …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety Man's Misery by the Fall
Q-19: WHAT IS THE MISERY OF THAT ESTATE WHEREINTO MAN FELL? A: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever. 'And were by nature children of wrath.' Eph 2:2. Adam left an unhappy portion to his posterity, Sin and Misery. Having considered the first of these, original sin, we shall now advert to the misery of that state. In the first, we have seen mankind offending; …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity Genealogy According to Luke.
^C Luke III. 23-38. ^c 23 And Jesus himself [Luke has been speaking about John the Baptist, he now turns to speak of Jesus himself], when he began to teach, was about thirty years of age [the age when a Levite entered upon God's service--Num. iv. 46, 47], being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son [this may mean that Jesus was grandson of Heli, or that Joseph was counted as a son of Heli because he was his son-in-law] of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Adoption
'As many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.' John 1:12. Having spoken of the great points of faith and justification, we come next to adoption. The qualification of the persons is, As many as received him.' Receiving is put for believing, as is clear by the last words, to them that believe in his name.' The specification of the privilege is, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.' The Greek word for power, exousia, signifies …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity Appendix xii. The Baptism of Proselytes
ONLY those who have made study of it can have any idea how large, and sometimes bewildering, is the literature on the subject of Jewish Proselytes and their Baptism. Our present remarks will be confined to the Baptism of Proselytes. 1. Generally, as regards proselytes (Gerim) we have to distinguish between the Ger ha-Shaar (proselyte of the gate) and Ger Toshabh (sojourner,' settled among Israel), and again the Ger hatstsedeq (proselyte of righteousness) and Ger habberith (proselyte of the covenant). …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Appendix ii. Philo of Alexandria and Rabbinic Theology.
(Ad. vol. i. p. 42, note 4.) In comparing the allegorical Canons of Philo with those of Jewish traditionalism, we think first of all of the seven exegetical canons which are ascribed to Hillel. These bear chiefly the character of logical deductions, and as such were largely applied in the Halakhah. These seven canons were next expanded by R. Ishmael (in the first century) into thirteen, by the analysis of one of them (the 5th) into six, and the addition of this sound exegetical rule, that where two …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah John the Baptist's Person and Preaching.
(in the Wilderness of Judæa, and on the Banks of the Jordan, Occupying Several Months, Probably a.d. 25 or 26.) ^A Matt. III. 1-12; ^B Mark I. 1-8; ^C Luke III. 1-18. ^b 1 The beginning of the gospel [John begins his Gospel from eternity, where the Word is found coexistent with God. Matthew begins with Jesus, the humanly generated son of Abraham and David, born in the days of Herod the king. Luke begins with the birth of John the Baptist, the Messiah's herald; and Mark begins with the ministry …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Exodus 2:13 NIVExodus 2:13 NLTExodus 2:13 ESVExodus 2:13 NASBExodus 2:13 KJV
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