Exodus 2:16-22 Deliverer

After Moses fled from Egypt, he went to Midian, where he sat by a well.  I  think that this would be a place where he figured he could encounter some of the people and begin to establish himself.  Or, maybe he was just thirsty, and was waiting for someone to come along who could allow him to borrow their vessel so that he could get a drink.

At any rate, it was not long before someone came along.  Seven 'someones', to be exact, along with their father's flock of sheep:

"Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters,

and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father's flock.

Some shepherds came along and drove them away,

but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.

When the girls returned to Reuel their father,

he asked them, 'Why have you returned so early today?'

They answered, 'An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds.

He even drew water for us and watered the flock.'

'And where is he?' he asked his daughters.

'Why did you leave him?  Invite him to have something to eat.'

Moses agreed to stay with the man,

who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.

Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom,

saying, 'I have become an alien in a foreign land."

Exodus 2:16-22 (NIV)

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Moses rescues Reuel's daughters from the shepherds.  Apparently some other shepherds had become accustomed to waiting until the women had done all the hard work of filling the troughs for their flock, before moving in to take all of the water for themselves.  Reuel's surprise at his daughters' early arrival home that day shows us that this injustice probably took place fairly regularly.

Reuel may have been unable to put an end to this practice, but Moses was not going to put up with the bullying shepherds for one second.  He rescued the women from the shepherds and even watered the flock himself.

When the girls related the reason for their early arrival to their father, he insisted on having them ask Moses to join them in a meal.  Aside from it being the hospitable thing to do, Reuel had seven daughters.  It would be a wonderful thing to have a man of fine character such as Moses for a son-in-law.  Reuel could be sure that his daughter would be treated well, for Moses had even stepped in to rescue the women when they were strangers to each other.  It would also be good to have another man around to help look after his interests.

Of course, these verses condense all of the events which led to Moses marrying Zipporah.  Probably Moses served as a shepherd for Reuel's flock for a while before he was given Zipporah as a wife.  Also, the woman marries Moses in verse 21 and gives birth to his son Gershom in verse 22, so we realize that there are at least nine months or so between these two events.

All in all, we are left with the impression that Moses is facing a new life in Midian.  He has become a shepherd in a desert land, which must have been a rather shocking contrast to the life of royal privilege he had led for most of his life, surrounded by the beauty of the Nile region in Egypt. 

Gershom's name sound like the Hebrew for 'an alien there'.  Moses probably meant this to reflect the fact of his new life in Midian.  No longer was Moses even a possible candidate for future Pharaoh-hood.  Instead, he was a stranger in a strange land.  Perhaps Moses was also troubled by the knowledge that God had promised to eventually bring His people out of Egypt and back to the land of Canaan, the promised land.  Despite Moses having identified himself with the people of God, he probably felt somewhat out of the loop as the years rolled by and he remained in Midian.

However, as many writers have observed, being a shepherd was wonderful training for leading people.  Sheep are known for being wayward and obstinate and fearful and seemingly inclined to seek out their own destruction.  Sadly, people who are led by their own sinful natures are not much different.  Being a shepherd was the perfect training for leading the people of God.  In fact, I believe that in the future, Moses would lead the Israelites through some of the same areas where he once led Reuel's flock of sheep.

Of course, Moses had no idea of God's preparations at the time that he was going through them.

How wonderfully God was preparing Moses for His own use.  Dare we think the same when we find ourselves in a similarly 'desert' place in our lives, and there seems to be no reason behind our difficulties?  Is our concept of God big enough to really believe that He knows exactly what He is doing and that He will do what is best for our good and His glory?

Moses was about forty years old when he fled Egypt (Acts 7:23), and he remained in Midian for the next forty years.(Acts 7:30)  Think about all of the hard work involved in forty years of shepherding.  During that time, [as He had done throughout all of Moses' life] God was continuing to prepare Moses for the most important job of his life:  leading the people of God out of slavery in Egypt.

   

Exodus 2:11-15 Pharaoh to Fugitive: Moses Flees to Midian

"One day, after Moses had grown up,

he went out to where his own people were

and watched them at their hard labor.

He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.

Glancing this way and that and seeing no one,

he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting.

He asked the one in the wrong, 'Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?'

The man said, 'Who made you ruler and judge over us?

Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?'

Then Moses was afraid and thought,

'What I did must have become known.'

When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses,

but Moses fled from Pharaoh

and went to live in Midian,

where he sat down by a well."

Exodus 2:11-15 (NIV)

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After being discovered in his basket in the Nile by the daughter of the Pharaoh, Moses had been brought up by his real mother and father until he was weaned, and possibly somewhat longer.  When he grew older, he had been brought to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. (Exodus 2:10)  Needless to say, I am sure that this was a wrenching experience for his parents, who seemed to be losing their son all over again.  However, God was continuing to work out His plan for Moses and for the nation of Israel.

I will write more about the possible identities of the Pharaoh and his daughter during these events at a later time.  For now, let me say that Moses had become quite a part of Pharaoh's family.  Acts 7:22 (NIV) sums up these years in the following way:

                

     "Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action."

Other writers also attest to Moses deeds.  Philo of Alexandria (a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher) and Josephus (a Jewish historian with a priestly and royal background) both speak about Moses in their writings.  Their accounts of Moses' life and actions are quite interesting, and though they do not have the authority of Scripture, they may still provide some interesting insights and details.

Philo provides details about how Moses came to be accepted in Pharaoh's household.  [On the Life of Moses, Part 1, Sections IV and V]  He speaks of how Pharaoh's daughter pretended to be pregnant and managed to claim Moses as her own child.  At first I thought that it was unlikely that she would be able to pull off such a maneuver, but then I considered her position and the fact that as the Pharaoh's beloved daughter, she would not be too closely questioned.  It's just in the category of speculation at this point in my mind, but it would make more sense than that Pharaoh would allow her to adopt one of the very Hebrews he was trying to eliminate. Or, perhaps he just allowed his beloved daughter to adopt the child because she wanted it so much.  Philo also mentions that the reigning Pharaoh had no sons to continue his dynasty, and that Moses may eventually have been considered an acceptable alternative.  At any rate, God allowed Moses to grow up in the household of the Pharaoh and to be educated in all of the learning of the Egyptians. (Acts 7:22) 

Josephus goes into some detail about Moses' life as well.  In his account, Pharaoh's daughter, who is named as Thermuthis, admits to her father that she received the child from the river.  Shortly before that time, Egyptian scribes had warned the king that a child would arise from the Hebrew nation who would be famous and would lead to the downfall of the Egyptian nation, so they immediately urged that Moses should be destroyed.  However, Thermuthis would have none of that, and snatched him from their hands.  Largely because there were no other likely prospects for the throne, Moses is allowed to live, although he is viewed with suspicion by the Egyptians.  Years later, when Egypt runs into trouble with the Ethiopians, Pharaoh orders Moses to act as one of his generals (Pharaoh having assured his daughter that the Egyptians would not harm him).  Moses is successful in many engagements, so much so that when he is attacking Saba (a city protected on all sides by rivers and fortifications) an Ethiopian princess (Tharbis) arranges to deliver the city into Moses' hands if he will agree to take her as a wife.  Moses agrees and the city is overthrown.

Even at that point, the Egyptians remained suspicious about Moses' intentions, thinking that he will make use of his success to gain power for himself.  The Pharaoh himself is jealous of Moses' success and nervous about his own status.  [The Writings of Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 2, chapters 9-11]   So, at the time of the killing of the Egyptian overseer in the Biblical account above, it is not surprising that the Pharaoh or the Egyptian court would have been seeking any opportunity possible to discredit Moses.

However, even if the accounts of Philo or Josephus turn out to be inaccurate, one could imagine that the Pharaoh would still be seeking Moses' death for his action of killing an Egyptian.  Even if Moses had been in line for the throne, such an action against an Egyptian would have seemed to have been directly opposed to the interests of the Pharaoh's household.  I am sure that the Pharaoh would have expected that those he considered his own enemies (the Hebrews) should not be defended by his possible heir! 

Moses must have gotten word of the Pharaoh's intent, for he flees to Midian.  This makes sense, for Moses was from the line of Abraham.  Abraham had taken another wife after Sarah died, a woman named Keturah.  (Genesis 25:1-2)  Keturah had several sons, one of whom was named Midian.  Therefore, the city of Midian would be a good place to expect some help.

So, in one moment, because of a single incident, Moses goes from being a likely heir to the throne, a future Pharaoh, to a wanted fugitive.  However, it is not as though this was a snap decision on his part.  Hebrews 11:23-26 (NIV) indicates that this was a matter to which Moses had given previous thought:

"By faith Moses, when he had grown up,

refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God

rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.

He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ

as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt,

because he was looking ahead to his reward."

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Note that Moses fully knew that he stood in line for the throne (v.24) and the treasures of Egypt.  The NIV Study Bible notes on these verses indicate that "the priceless treasures of King Tutankhamun's tomb alone included several thousand pounds of pure gold."

Also, I wanted to note that although Moses' understanding of the Christ would necessarily have been limited, for Moses lived before Jesus Christ came to earth in bodily form, Moses was consciously aligning himself with the Israelites, his people, to whom had been promised an anointed one ("Christ"), a messiah, the 'seed' of Adam and Eve who was promised in Genesis 3:15 and who would crush Satan's head.

One more indication that Moses had made a conscious decision to align himself with his fellow Israelites is found in an account of this same incident in Acts 7:23-29.  Verse 25 (NIV) of this account says: 

"Moses thought that his own people would realize

that God was using him to rescue them,

but they did not." 

This tells us that even before Moses fled Egypt and had his encounter with God in the burning bush, in his mind he had aligned himself with the Israelites rather than the Egyptians and wanted to deliver them from their slavery in Egypt.