Exodus 2:13
And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?
On the second day Moses came upon two Hebrews striving together and asked the one evidently at fault why he was striking his fellow, only to have his right to intervene rejected and his killing of the Egyptian thrown back at him as proof it was already known. This was his premature, self-reliant attempt to deliver Israel by his own strength and force of arms, taking into his own hands the work God had promised to do. He supposed his training in Egyptian wisdom and as a general of armies fully qualified him to lead Israel out of bondage, which revealed the foolishness of man's wisdom and the weakness of human strength. That violent act showed the spirit of murder and proved he was not yet fit to represent the God of mercy and love, for it was not God's will to deliver His people in that way but by His own mighty power that the glory might be His alone. The failure ended in defeat and flight to Arabia, where God sent him for forty years in the humble work of a shepherd until pride and self-sufficiency were swept away and he learned dependence, patience, humility, and meekness to become a tender and faithful shepherd of Israel.
The Quarrel and Reproof
On the second day Moses went out and came upon two men of the Hebrews striving together. He reproved the one who was evidently at fault, the one clearly in the wrong, asking why he was striking his fellow. His stepping between them revealed his concern for his people and his readiness to defend the oppressed.
The wrongdoer rejected Moses' right to intervene and challenged his authority, asking who had made him ruler and judge over them. That defiant answer showed that the Hebrews did not accept him and did not recognize him as their deliverer. The offender answered further by accusing Moses of the murder of the Egyptian, exposing the earlier killing and making clear that it was already known.
Premature Deliverance and Preparation
Moses' dealing with the two striving Hebrews belonged to his premature, self-reliant attempt to deliver Israel in his own strength, taking into his own hands the work God had promised to do. He hoped to deliver Israel by force of arms and warfare, acting in haste and human invention rather than by God's plan. It was not God's will to deliver His people in that way, but by His own mighty power, so that the glory might be ascribed to Him alone.
He supposed that his thorough education in Egyptian wisdom, his endowments, and his training and advantages as a general of armies fully qualified him to lead Israel from bondage and to carry through God's work. Acting in the very height of his human glory on his own human invention, he revealed the foolishness of man's wisdom and the weakness of human strength. He set about gaining his people's favor by redressing their wrongs, interfering between the striving Hebrews and killing an Egyptian who was imposing upon a Hebrew and smiting an Israelite. That violent, rash act manifested the spirit of him who was a murderer from the beginning and proved he was not yet prepared or fit to represent the God of mercy, love, and tenderness.
The effort was a miserable failure ending in defeat and disappointment. It proved he had yet to learn the lesson of dependence upon divine power rather than human strength for the fulfillment of God's promises. He still needed to learn patience, to temper his passions, to obey before he could govern wisely, to have his heart in harmony with God before he could teach Israel, and to gain experience in fatherly care over those needing help. After the failure he immediately lost confidence in God, turned his back on his appointed work, and fled from the wrath of Pharaoh to Arabia as a fugitive and exile in a strange land. He concluded that his mistake and great sin in taking life barred him from any part in freeing Israel from cruel bondage.
The Lord permitted and overruled even this failure to accomplish His purposes. It was permitted to lead Moses to understand his utter helplessness and inefficiency without being upheld by the Lord Jesus, and to teach him the gentleness, goodness, and long-suffering every successful laborer for the Master must possess. God saw he was not ready for the work and sent him away for forty years into the desert, mountains, rocks, and Arabia in the humble work of a shepherd and keeper of sheep, patiently hunting and seeking stray sheep. There his pride and self-sufficiency were swept away, and through time, change of surroundings, communion with God, and struggle as for life in which God helped him when the conflict was too severe for human strength, the deep impressions of Egypt upon his habits and character were unlearned.
There he developed care-taking, self-forgetfulness, tender solicitude, compassion, patience, reverence, humility, and meekness to become a tender, patient, loving, faithful, compassionate, long-suffering shepherd of Israel. He learned the lesson so perfectly that though God revealed Himself to him and spoke to him face to face as man speaketh to a friend, he did not become lifted up to think he could teach the Lord how to work for His people. Only after that education did God reveal Himself in the bush as the I AM and command him to go and deliver the children of Israel. Moses had to lose his self-confidence, realize his own helplessness, put his trust in God, and become willing to obey all the Lord commanded whether it seemed proper to his human reason or not, for faith moves in the strength and wisdom of God and not in the ways of men. Only by such simple, constant, implicit faith in the power and loving intentions of the Deliverer could he press through difficulties, overcome obstacles that seemed almost insurmountable, and become a representative man and channel through whom God could manifest His great power and deliver Israel from difficulties they never could have escaped if left to themselves.
Men gain nothing by rushing on before the Lord in self-sufficiency, but must follow where Jesus leads and not run ahead of Him to meet Satan's armies alone. The lesson is to learn humility and meekness, to walk humbly before God without self-sufficiency, to help one another all that is possible, and when a soul is in peril to speak and act as God's little children so as not to drive him further from Christ, not as men who would kill.