Exodus 2:11
And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.
When Moses was grown, at forty years old, he went out to his Hebrew brethren, looked on their burdens and suffering in bondage, and saw an Egyptian striking one of them. He claimed the oppressed Hebrews as his own people and believed God had raised him up to deliver them, yet he expected that deliverance to come by warfare with himself leading their forces by force of arms. He took the case into his own hand and killed the Egyptian, hid the body in the sand, and fled when Pharaoh sought his life, and that killing was sin and murder that proved him unfit to represent the God of mercy. He acted too hastily and prematurely in presumption and self-sufficiency, relying on his education in Egypt and his training as a general instead of on God, when God willed to deliver his people by his own mighty power alone that the glory might be his alone. Men gain nothing by rushing on before the Lord, for all learning cannot make a man a channel for God until he loses self-confidence and learns dependence on divine power, humility, patience and meekness, as Moses did through forty years as a keeper of sheep in Midian before he was commissioned to deliver Israel.
Moses Sees His Brethren
When Moses was grown, being forty years old, he went out to his Hebrew brethren, looked upon their burdens and suffering in bondage, and saw an Egyptian striking one of them. He identified himself with the oppressed Hebrews as his own people, deeply sympathized with them in their oppression, and recognized the man being struck as one of his brethren. He kept in mind that God would deliver the children of Israel by his hand and believed God had raised him up to deliver them.
He expected that deliverance to come through warfare, with himself leading the Hebrew forces against Egypt by force of arms and by the sword. His commitment to God's work led him to guard his affections, lest attachment to his adopted mother or to Pharaoh keep him from doing God's will. He acted from resentment at injustice, hoping by defending his people to help them regain freedom.
Mistaken Attempt to Deliver
Seeing the Egyptian smiting and imposing upon the Hebrew, Moses took the case into his own hand, killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand. When the deed became known he fled Egypt because Pharaoh sought his life, and because his people were not yet ready and did not understand that he was their deliverer. He supposed that his thorough education in the wisdom of Egypt and his training and success as a general of armies in the best schools had fully qualified him to lead Israel from bondage. He therefore set about the work by trying to gain the favor of his own people through redressing their wrongs.
Though he was a child of God chosen for a special work, his action revealed the mold he had received in Pharaoh's service. He acted on the impression gained in that training that Israel was to be delivered by human force and by the sword rather than by the mighty arm of God, and this reliance on human force was a weakness that disqualified him for the wonderful work before him. He acted too hastily, rashly and prematurely, before he and the people were ready, hurrying to begin the work in his own way and time. In the very height of his human glory it was presumption and self-confidence and self-sufficiency, not faith, relying on human strength and wisdom instead of God and following human inventions and not God's plan.
That killing was sin and murder, a great sin in taking life. In it he manifested the spirit of him who was a murderer from the beginning and proved himself unfit to represent the God of mercy, love, and tenderness. God did not will to deliver His people by warfare through Moses, but by His own mighty power alone, so that the glory might be ascribed to Him alone. God overruled Moses' rash act to accomplish His purposes and serve His purpose, though Moses was not yet prepared for his great work.
Discipline and Lessons for Workers
His first attempt ended in miserable failure, risking all and collapsing in defeat and disappointment. He at once lost confidence in God, turned his back on his appointed work, and fled as a fugitive and exile to the mountains and the desert to escape the wrath of Pharaoh. He concluded that because of his great sin in taking life God would not permit him to have any part in delivering His people from cruel bondage.
He still needed years in Midian, forty years in humble work as a keeper of sheep among the rocks and mountains and desert, patiently seeking stray sheep in self-denial and hardship, until he was ready. Only then did the I AM reveal Himself to him at the bush and commission him to go and deliver the children of Israel.
There he learned to depend on divine power rather than on human strength or wisdom, learning humility, self-control, patience, meekness, reverence, tenderness, love, faithfulness, and long-suffering. He learned to temper his passions, to obey before governing wisely, to bring his heart into full harmony with God, and to distrust himself and follow God so perfectly that afterward he would not presume to teach the Lord how to work. By experience he gained habits of care-taking, self-forgetfulness, tender solicitude, and fatherly care that fitted him to become the compassionate, long-suffering shepherd of Israel. Time, change of surroundings, and communion with God removed the deep impressions of Egypt upon his mind, habits, and character, and swept away his pride and self-sufficiency until he became patient, reverent, humble, and very meek.
The Lord permitted these things so He could teach him the gentleness, goodness, and long-suffering necessary for every laborer for the Master, for these constitute the successful workman in the Lord's cause. The verse means men gain nothing by rushing on before the Lord, exposing helplessness and the foolishness of man's wisdom and the weakness of human strength. All learning and endowments cannot make a man a channel through which the Lord can labor until he loses self-confidence, realizes his utter helplessness and inefficiency without being upheld by the Lord, puts his trust in God, and obeys God's commands whether human reason calls them proper or not, for faith moves in the strength and wisdom of God and not in the ways of men. It teaches not to cherish self-sufficiency and not to deal with souls in peril by force that would kill or drive them further from Christ, but to walk humbly before God, to learn humility and meekness, to help one another, and to speak and act as God's little children.