 |  |
heaven and present period of waiting. Stephen, too, does not say that Moses forsook or
left Egypt the second time, but that "he brought them out". Let us look at Exod. 2: 11-14
again. Verse 11 opens with the words "When Moses was grown", which is translated in
the LXX by words identical with Heb. 11: 34. Exod. 2: 12 gives a statement not
repeated by Stephen:--
"He looked this way, and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew
the Egyptians, and hid him in the sand."
It is easy to say, Moses evidently looked this way and that, to make sure that "no man"
should witness the deed, but is that the truth? Stephen tells us that he assumed that Israel
would understand his motive, and Isaiah seems to use the expression in such a way as to
compel us to believe that Moses was conscious of the Messianic foreshadowing of his
act:--
"He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore
his arm brought salvation unto him" (Isa. 59: 16).
"And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to
uphold, therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me" (Isa. 63: 5).
While Exod. 2: 14 says "and Moses feared", it does not say he "feared the wrath
of the king"; but it appears that he feared something less personal and more vital.
Spurrell translates the passage: "Then Moses was afraid, for he said, Surely this
transaction is known", which endeavours to draw attention to what was passing in Moses'
mind. We know from Stephen that Moses expected Israel to see in this act his credentials
as a God-sent deliverer, and that when he was sent later he said: "They will not believe
me . . . . . they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee" (Exod. 4: 1), and that the
signs of the serpent and the leprosy were given to him.
Let no one judge Moses for the slaying of the Egyptian. Under God he was the
instrument of slaying thousands of Egypt's first-born, and of overcoming the flower of
their army at the Red Sea. We understand Exod. 2: 14 to mean that at the reply of the
quarrelling Israelites Moses was seized with some apprehension that his mission would
miscarry, saying: "Surely the intention of my act is evident to them", much in the same
way the Lord said to His disciples after He had washed their feet: "What I do, thou
knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter", which refers to something more than
the external act of washing the feet. The only possibility therefore was, that Moses
should forsake Egypt. Pharaoh sought to slay him, and his flight out of Egypt was no
more an act of unbelief than was the flight for much the same reason of Joseph and Mary,
as recorded in Matt. 2:
These points we submit to the reader for careful consideration, believing that many an
action may be really "by faith" which, casually judged, may seem the product of some
baser motive. We will reserve Moses' last act of faith, "the passover", together with
Israel's faith in passing through the Red Sea, with which it is so clearly connected, to a
further article.