Exodus 2:11 Study Bible: It happened in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and looked at their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers.

◄ Exodus 2:11 ►

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.

Study Bible

One day
This phrase marks a significant turning point in Moses' life. It suggests a moment of divine timing and intervention. In the Hebrew context, "one day" can imply a day of destiny, a day when God's plan begins to unfold in a new way. It is a reminder that God often chooses specific moments to initiate His purposes.

after Moses had grown up
This indicates that Moses had reached maturity, both physically and spiritually. In the Hebrew tradition, maturity is not just about age but about readiness to fulfill God's calling. Moses' upbringing in Pharaoh's palace provided him with education and skills, but his spiritual maturity was essential for his future role as a leader.

he went out to his own people
This phrase highlights Moses' identification with the Hebrews, despite his Egyptian upbringing. The Hebrew word for "went out" can also mean "to go forth with purpose." Moses' decision to visit his people shows his growing awareness of his identity and his concern for their plight.

and observed their hard labor
The word "observed" implies more than just seeing; it suggests a deep, empathetic understanding. Moses was moved by the suffering of his people. The Hebrew word for "hard labor" conveys the idea of severe oppression and toil, reflecting the harsh conditions the Israelites endured under Egyptian rule.

He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew
This phrase sets the stage for Moses' first act of deliverance. The word "beating" in Hebrew can mean to strike repeatedly, indicating the brutality of the act. Moses' reaction to this injustice reveals his innate sense of justice and foreshadows his future role as a deliverer.

one of his own people
This repetition emphasizes Moses' connection to the Hebrews. It underscores the theme of identity and belonging. Despite his royal upbringing, Moses' heart was with his people, and this identification would drive his actions and decisions throughout his life.

Persons / Places / Events

1. Moses
Raised in Pharaoh's palace, Moses is a Hebrew by birth. At this point in the account, he is an adult who becomes aware of his people's suffering.

2. Hebrews
The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who are living in Egypt under harsh slavery.

3. Egyptian
Represents the oppressive regime of Egypt, which is subjugating the Hebrews.

4. Egypt
The land where the Israelites are enslaved, a place of both refuge and oppression for the Hebrews.

5. Event
Moses witnesses an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, which stirs his sense of justice and identity with his people.

Teaching Points

Identity and Calling
Moses' actions reflect a growing awareness of his identity and calling. As Christians, we are called to recognize our identity in Christ and respond to His calling in our lives.

Justice and Compassion
Moses' reaction to the injustice he witnessed challenges us to respond to the suffering and oppression around us with compassion and a desire for justice.

Courage to Act
Moses' decision to intervene, despite the risks, encourages believers to act courageously in the face of injustice, trusting in God's guidance.

God's Preparation
This event marks the beginning of Moses' journey as a leader. God often uses our experiences to prepare us for future roles in His plan.

Understanding God's Timing
Moses' initial attempt to deliver his people was premature. It reminds us to seek God's timing and wisdom in our actions.

Bible Study Questions

1. How does Moses' upbringing in Pharaoh's palace influence his actions in Exodus 2:11, and what does this teach us about God's sovereignty in our backgrounds?

2. In what ways can we identify with Moses' sense of justice and compassion, and how can we apply this in our communities today?

3. Reflect on a time when you felt called to act against injustice. How did you discern God's timing and guidance in that situation?

4. How does Moses' choice to identify with the Hebrews rather than the Egyptians challenge us in our daily decisions and identity as Christians?

5. What can we learn from Moses' initial failure to deliver his people about the importance of waiting on God's timing and preparation?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Acts 7:23-25
Stephen recounts Moses' actions, highlighting his sense of justice and his initial attempt to deliver his people.

Hebrews 11:24-25
Moses is commended for choosing to identify with the people of God rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin in Pharaoh's court.

Exodus 1:11-14
Provides context for the harsh conditions the Hebrews faced, which Moses observed.

Sermons

A Child of Providence	J. Orr	Exodus 2:1-11
Moses and Christ	J. Orr	Exodus 2:1-25
Blood Thicker than Water	H. O. Mackey.	Exodus 2:11-12
Brotherly Sympathy	John Lobb.	Exodus 2:11-12
Hidden Sin	J. S. Exell, M. A.	Exodus 2:11-12
Lessons	G. Hughes, B. D.	Exodus 2:11-12
Moses' Rash Haste	W. M. Taylor, D. D.	Exodus 2:11-12
Moses' Sympathy with His Brethren	A. Nevin, D. D.	Exodus 2:11-12
Moses, the Ardent But Mistaken Patriot	D. Young	Exodus 2:11-12
Retributive Justice	Homilist	Exodus 2:11-12
Some People Will Never Look on the Burdens of Their Brethren	J. S. Exell, M. A.	Exodus 2:11-12
Strife, Intervention, and Flight of Moses	J. C. Gray.	Exodus 2:11-12
Sympathy with Burden Bearers	Good Words.	Exodus 2:11-12
The Chivalry of Moses	J. Parker, D. D.	Exodus 2:11-12
The Choice of Moses	J. Orr	Exodus 2:11, 12
The Inquiring Look of Conscience	J. S. Exell, M. A.	Exodus 2:11-12
The Inquiring Look of Conscience	J. S. Exell, M. A.	Exodus 2:11-12
The Oppressor Slain; or a Wrong Way of Reproving Injury	J. S. Exell, M. A.	Exodus 2:11-12
The Prince and the Serfs		Exodus 2:11-12
The Upward Look Best	C. H. Mackintosh.	Exodus 2:11-12
Mistake in Life's Morning	H.T. Robjohns	Exodus 2:11-15
Moses was Grown	G.A. Goodhart	Exodus 2:11-15
Unfruitful Effort	J. Urquhart	Exodus 2:11-15
Unpurified Zeal	J. Orr	Exodus 2:11-15

People

Gershom, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Levi, Moses, Pharaoh, Reuel, Zipporah

Places

Egypt, Midian, Nile River

Topics

Beating, Blows, Brethren, Brothers, Burdens, Egyptian, Giving, Grown, Hebrew, Labor, Labors, Pass, Smiting, Spied, Striking, Watched

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Exodus 2:11

5104 Moses, foreshadower of Christ
5976 visiting

Exodus 2:10-15

5102 Moses, life of

Exodus 2:11-12

5925 rashness

Exodus 2:11-13

5040 murder

Exodus 2:11-14

5822 criticism, against believers

Library

The Ark among the Flags
'And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. 2. And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. 3. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. 4. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. 5. And the daughter of Pharaoh came …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Home as a Stewardship.
"Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages."--EXODUS II., 9. "For look, how many souls in thy house be, With just as many souls God trusteth thee!" The Christian home is a stewardship. The parents are stewards of God. A steward is a servant of a particular kind, to whom the master commits a certain portion of his interest to be prosecuted in his name and by his authority, and according to his laws and regulations. The steward must act according to the will of his …
Samuel Philips—The Christian Home

The Upbringing of Jewish Children
The tenderness of the bond which united Jewish parents to their children appears even in the multiplicity and pictorialness of the expressions by which the various stages of child-life are designated in the Hebrew. Besides such general words as "ben" and "bath"--"son" and "daughter"--we find no fewer than nine different terms, each depicting a fresh stage of life. The first of these simply designates the babe as the newly--"born"--the "jeled," or, in the feminine, "jaldah"--as in Exodus 2:3, 6, 8. …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

The Secret of Its Greatness
[Illustration: (drop cap G) The Great Pyramid] God always chooses the right kind of people to do His work. Not only so, He always gives to those whom He chooses just the sort of life which will best prepare them for the work He will one day call them to do. That is why God put it into the heart of Pharaoh's daughter to bring up Moses as her own son in the Egyptian palace. The most important part of Moses' training was that his heart should be right with God, and therefore he was allowed to remain …
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

Motives to Holy Mourning
Let me exhort Christians to holy mourning. I now persuade to such a mourning as will prepare the soul for blessedness. Oh that our hearts were spiritual limbecs, distilling the water of holy tears! Christ's doves weep. They that escape shall be like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity' (Ezekiel 7:16). There are several divine motives to holy mourning: 1 Tears cannot be put to a better use. If you weep for outward losses, you lose your tears. It is like a shower …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

The Faith of Moses.
"By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw he was a goodly child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to be evil entreated with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he looked unto the recompense of reward. By faith he forsook …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

Jesus Sets Out from Judæa for Galilee.
Subdivision B. At Jacob's Well, and at Sychar. ^D John IV. 5-42. ^d 5 So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 and Jacob's well was there. [Commentators long made the mistake of supposing that Shechem, now called Nablous, was the town here called Sychar. Sheckem lies a mile and a half west of Jacob's well, while the real Sychar, now called 'Askar, lies scarcely half a mile north of the well. It was a small town, loosely called …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Consolations against Impatience in Sickness.
If in thy sickness by extremity of pain thou be driven to impatience, meditate-- 1. That thy sins have deserved the pains of hell; therefore thou mayest with greater patience endure these fatherly corrections. 2. That these are the scourges of thy heavenly Father, and the rod is in his hand. If thou didst suffer with reverence, being a child, the corrections of thy earthly parents, how much rather shouldst thou now subject thyself, being the child of God, to the chastisement of thy heavenly Father, …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Man's Misery by the Fall
Q-19: WHAT IS THE MISERY OF THAT ESTATE WHEREINTO MAN FELL? A: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever. 'And were by nature children of wrath.' Eph 2:2. Adam left an unhappy portion to his posterity, Sin and Misery. Having considered the first of these, original sin, we shall now advert to the misery of that state. In the first, we have seen mankind offending; …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Genealogy According to Luke.
^C Luke III. 23-38. ^c 23 And Jesus himself [Luke has been speaking about John the Baptist, he now turns to speak of Jesus himself], when he began to teach, was about thirty years of age [the age when a Levite entered upon God's service--Num. iv. 46, 47], being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son [this may mean that Jesus was grandson of Heli, or that Joseph was counted as a son of Heli because he was his son-in-law] of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Adoption
'As many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.' John 1:12. Having spoken of the great points of faith and justification, we come next to adoption. The qualification of the persons is, As many as received him.' Receiving is put for believing, as is clear by the last words, to them that believe in his name.' The specification of the privilege is, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.' The Greek word for power, exousia, signifies …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Appendix xii. The Baptism of Proselytes
ONLY those who have made study of it can have any idea how large, and sometimes bewildering, is the literature on the subject of Jewish Proselytes and their Baptism. Our present remarks will be confined to the Baptism of Proselytes. 1. Generally, as regards proselytes (Gerim) we have to distinguish between the Ger ha-Shaar (proselyte of the gate) and Ger Toshabh (sojourner,' settled among Israel), and again the Ger hatstsedeq (proselyte of righteousness) and Ger habberith (proselyte of the covenant). …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Appendix ii. Philo of Alexandria and Rabbinic Theology.
(Ad. vol. i. p. 42, note 4.) In comparing the allegorical Canons of Philo with those of Jewish traditionalism, we think first of all of the seven exegetical canons which are ascribed to Hillel. These bear chiefly the character of logical deductions, and as such were largely applied in the Halakhah. These seven canons were next expanded by R. Ishmael (in the first century) into thirteen, by the analysis of one of them (the 5th) into six, and the addition of this sound exegetical rule, that where two …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

John the Baptist's Person and Preaching.
(in the Wilderness of Judæa, and on the Banks of the Jordan, Occupying Several Months, Probably a.d. 25 or 26.) ^A Matt. III. 1-12; ^B Mark I. 1-8; ^C Luke III. 1-18. ^b 1 The beginning of the gospel [John begins his Gospel from eternity, where the Word is found coexistent with God. Matthew begins with Jesus, the humanly generated son of Abraham and David, born in the days of Herod the king. Luke begins with the birth of John the Baptist, the Messiah's herald; and Mark begins with the ministry …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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