| |
Teaching the Bible
MOSES:
KILLING THE SLAVE FOREMAN
Notes on the Text
Chapter 2
| 2:11 |
'When Moses had grown up...' Later tradition makes this 40 years (Acts 7:23; Hebrews 11:24-25). Numbers in the Bible are used symbolically and the number 40 often signifies a long period of time rather than a precise duration. Nothing is said in the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible about the years that pass between Exodus 2:10 and 2:11, though Acts 2:22 reflects the later Jewish tradition that Moses was 'trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians'.
|
| 2:14 |
The Hebrew man may not have not understood why Moses had killed the Egyptian slave foreman. He probably did not know of the incident where the Hebrew had been killed nor the true identity of Moses. The Hebrew who has done wrong fails to recognise any authority in Moses. He mentions 'ruler' and 'judge' which are exactly the roles which Moses came to play (see Acts 7:35). The man fears for his life. It was a similar attitude that Moses would experience later on cf. Exodus 16:2; Numbers 14:2. Moses now realises that his killing of the Egyptian is known. He flees to Midian and the reason for this becomes clear in v.15 with the Pharaoh's decree.
Josephus gives a different tradition about the reason for his flight: after he had led a campaign against the Ethiopians and married a daughter of their king, the Pharaoh became jealous of him.
|
| 2:15 |
'The land of Midian' is usually located to the south of Palestine, though scholars disagree as to the exact location. The Midianites are represented as a numerous nomadic people in the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible and they probably occupied different districts ranging over a wide territory. The Hebrews claimed some kinship with the Midianites. According to Genesis 25:2 Midian was a son of Keturah, wife of Abraham. Often the Midianites were represented as being at war with Israel (Numbers 25:2-7; 31:1-12; 22:4,7) so the tradition of Moses' peaceful association with them should be considered very ancient.
Moses escapes into the desert, as many fugitives from Egypt must have done (1 Samuel 21; 1 Kings 11:17f; 26; Jeremiah 26:20f) and settled in the nomadic community of sheep farmers.
|
|
|
|
|
