Introduction: Read Exodus2v11to25.

In this dramatic and revealing passage Moses features as: the murderous avenger, the thwarted peacemaker and the chivalrous deliverer.

(1) The murderous avenger.

Moses is 40 and in his prime. Sadly we know very little about how Moses spent his first 40 years. He was a prince of Egypt. In his defence before the Sanhedrin Stephen said: "Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action." Acts7v22. Josephus the Jewish historian of the first century after Christ suggested Moses was a commander in the Egyptian Army and led a successful campaign in Ethiopia. Pharaoh may well have considered this an appropriate career for his Jewish grandson by adoption. It kept Moses busy and out of the country for long periods. It also explains why it took Moses so long to take an active interest in his own people.

Eventually Moses did go out to inspect a building site at which his people provided forced labour. He saw a Hebrew being thrashed by an Egyptian task master, made sure there were no witnesses and killed the Egyptian.

This poses certain questions! Moses was a prince of Egypt - possibly a successful general. He probably arrived at the building site in his chariot fully armed. Surely he could have stopped the Egyptian savagely beating the Hebrew without killing him. Moses was a man of authority - mighty in word and deed.

It would be wrong to think that Moses completely lost it, that he experienced a red mist moment, and struck out uncontrollably. The Bible tells us Moses paused, looked all around, and then in all probability used his sword or lance to kill the Egyptian.

I think it likely that Moses had from time to time through the years intervened on behalf of his people. He might well have tried to improve their lot. Perhaps he had some success being mighty in word and deed. But I expect it was limited success and his interventions were not popular with Pharaoh.

If this was the case then I can imagine Moses getting increasingly frustrated and angry. So when he witnesses at first hand the brutality of the Egyptian taskmaster Moses takes out his anger and frustration on him.

LESSONS:

(a) Often when we act in haste we repent at leisure. I read an amusing anecdote on SermonCentral which illustrates this: A man once bought a horse from a missionary. The missionary told the buyer, "There is a special thing about this horse. You have to say ’Thank God’ to make it go and ’Amen’ to make it stop. "Not paying much attention, the man replied, "Sure, OK." So he got on the horse and said, "Thank God" and the horse started walking. Then he said, "Thank God, thank God, " and the horse started trotting. Feeling really brave, the man said, "Thank God, thank God, thank God, thank God, thank God" and the horse just took off. Pretty soon he saw a cliff coming up and he did everything he could to make the horse stop. "Whoa, stop, hold on!!!!" Finally he remembered, "Amen!" The horse stopped four inches from the cliff. The man leaned back in the saddle and said, "Thank God!"

Joseph's brothers were so jealous of him and angry with him that first they threw him in a cistern and then sold him as a slave to a bunch of Ishmaelite merchants on their way to trade in Egypt. They acted in haste without considering the consequences.

The apostle Peter was quick, too quick to deny any association with Jesus. He was probably bitterly disappointed in Jesus who succumbed so tamely to the arresting authorities. How Peter later repented of his heated words.

During my career as a teacher I was guilty on more than one occasion of angry words in staff meetings that antagonised some of my colleagues. I would have been much more successful if I had waited until I had cooled down before speaking. I have a brother who when he is upset writes very intemperate letters. If only he waited until he calmed down he would never send his damaging diatribes. My brother and I are much alike in this respect!

(b) Self-control is something that can be acquired. It seems likely that Moses was by nature both quick tempered and hot tempered. In later life we see glimpses of this temper. When he came down from Sinai and saw the Israelites worshipping the golden calf he hurled down the tablets of stone on which the commandments were written and broke them to pieces. See Ex32v19. However in Numbers12v3 we read: Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. AV. This is a reminder that we do not have to stop the way we are. Sometimes our weaknesses are corrected in the hard school of experience. The apostle Peter was by nature self-confident and self-assertive but after his denial of Jesus and his forgiveness by Jesus he became much humbler. He wrote in his first epistle: Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 1Pet5v6.

(c) The sort of deliberate and calculated anger displayed by Moses is often the result of prolonged provocation. It is highly likely that Moses had intervened to improve the lot of his people through the years without a great deal of success. He may well have felt thwarted, frustrated and angry at his repeated failures to better the lot of his fellow Hebrews. The savage beating of one of his people was the final straw that broke the camel's back.

This is the sort of thing that happens to a teacher. I can remember losing my temper with a boy or girl over something relatively trivial. My anger may have seemed disproportionate but it was the result of long list of offences. I found from experience that this is rarely taken into account by those who judge you!

(d) Moses had the good sense to look one way then the other before committing murder but failed to look UP. King David made a good job of hiding his sin of adultery with Bathsheba but he could not hide it from God. Aachan hid loot from the city of Jericho in his tent - but he could not hide it from God. Adam and Eve hid from God in the Garden but they could not remain hidden long! However well we conceal our weaknesses, failures and flaws from our fellows there is no hiding them from our Father in heaven. Jesus said: "There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. Lk12v2.

(2) The thwarted peacemaker.

The very next day Moses is out and about in his chariot - keeping an eye on the work the Hebrews were doing - or visiting a slave quarter in the town. He comes across a fight between two Hebrews. Now, he could hardly ask the one in the wrong, "Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?" without first breaking up the fight and enquiring as to its cause. Perhaps, he questioned the onlookers about who started the brawl. The guilty party did not welcome Moses' intervention nor his implied criticism. Moses does not seem to have much support from the bystanders.

The bullying Hebrew launches a two pronged attack upon Moses:

(a) First of all he asks who gave him authority over the Hebrews? He had not been given such authority by Pharaoh and neither was he recognised as a leader by the Jews themselves. There is a good deal of resentment in the accusation of the aggressive Hebrew.

• People who are fighting mad rarely welcome the intervention of outsiders. When my youngest brother was a policeman he rarely enjoyed being called out to domestic disputes. He found it best to adopt a non-confrontational approach because otherwise both parties were likely to turn on him.

  It is not unknown when there is trouble in the church for a peacemaker to end up hated by both sides! Perhaps this is why Paul pleads with Euodia and Syntyche to sort themselves out and to agree with each other in the Lord. Phil4v2.

• It is highly likely that Moses was very unpopular with many Hebrews for his close identification with the Egyptians. He was privileged, wealthy and honoured. They didn't want him swanning around their quarter in his harry spankers chariot. Who was he to stick his oar in.

  It is a pity to reject interventionists out of suspicion and envy. "Who are you to tell me what to do?" is a familiar refrain in all walks of life including church life.

• Resentment blinded the Hebrews to Moses' abilities. They rejected him as their leader and had to spend another 40 years in slavery! I am afraid people in all walks of life are rejected because of prejudice, bias, ignorance and self-love. Good men and women are kept down in the church and given no opportunity to use their abilities to the glory of God. It was the Bible believing religious leaders of Christ's day who fatally failed to appreciate all he had to offer. Jesus was an uneducated, unorthodox, scandalous Galilean of working class origins and as such was well and truly rejected by those who should have welcomed him as God's Messiah.

  I know what it is like to be rejected as a teacher and preacher!

• It is unlikely the Hebrews were pleased about the murder of the Egyptian taskmaster. The death would be noticed and investigated. In all probability the Hebrews would be blamed with ensuing reprisals.

• Moses becomes aware that the Hebrews would implicate him rather than take the blame for the taskmaster's death. They would grass Moses up to the Egyptian investigators to save their own skins. A report would be sent to Pharaoh. Moses realised that on this occasion he had gone too far and Pharaoh would punish him. Possibly by this time his adoptive mother was dead and he did not have her to stand by him.

LESSONS:

(a) Moses lost moral authority because of his unlawful act of violence. He may have hidden the body but he couldn't cover up the crime. When he tried to stop a brawl his own wicked deed was thrown in his face.

There is no doubt we lose respect when we are found out in some blatant sin. Old Eli lost the respect of his sons because of his gluttony. David lost control of his family after his adultery with Bathsheba. He failed to discipline his son Amnon for raping his sister. Towards the end of my career I was taken less and less seriously by my teaching colleagues because of the intemperate way I made my views known.

(b) The Hebrews found it difficult to identify with Moses because he was too Egyptian. He spoke their language, wore their clothes and jewellery, drove a swanky chariot and inhabited a different world.

I love the story in Dicken's, 'Little Dorrit' of the heroine of the novel coming to Mr Clennam in the debtor's prison. Mr Clennam had been good to Little Dorrit when she was in the Marshalsea with her family. But their fortunes changed. The Dorrit family came into money and Mr Clennam fell into debt. When Little Dorrit discovers Mr Clennam's plight she comes to him in her old, worn dress. It was her debtor's dress. She said to Mr Clennam: "I hope you would like me better in this dress than any other. I have always kept it by me, to remind me." Little Dorrit knew what it was like to be a debtor.

God the Son wore the debtor's clothes, bore the sinner's debt and paid the price to set us free. Nor has he forgotten what it is to be human!

The apostle Paul knew how important it was to identify with people. He said he was prepared to be all things to all men that he might win some for Christ. Hudson Taylor the great missionary to the Chinese was known for his sensitivity to Chinese culture and zeal for evangelism. He adopted wearing native Chinese clothing even though this was rare among missionaries of that time.

(3) The chivalrous deliverer.

Fearful of reprisals from Pharaoh, Moses fled to Midian, a semi-desert area east of the Gulf of Aqaba. (Although this cannot be certain!) It is possible, based on the testimony of Reuel's daughters, that Moses travelled by chariot, armed and dressed as an Egyptian general. He was certainly capable of intimidating the discourteous shepherds who regularly interrupted Reuel's daughters as they watered their father's flock. As Moses sat by the well he probably enjoyed watching the seven girls busy at their work. He was seriously offended by the boorish behaviour of a gang of macho shepherds and chased them off. Moses was not so conscious of his dignity as a prince of Egypt that he couldn't lend Reuel's daughters a hand as they recommenced watering their flock.

It is possible that Reuel's daughters were a bit over-awed by Moses because they did not invite him home. The priest of Midian soon put this right. He, too, was a descendant of Abraham by the patriarch's second wife, Keturah. It must have been a relief to Reuel to discover that Moses was in fact a Hebrew. They were in all likelihood worshippers of the one true God - the God of Abraham.

So Moses stays with the priest of Midian, marries one of his daughters, Zipporah, becomes a father and for 40 years tends sheep in the wilderness. Moses dumbs down!

LESSONS:

(a) On this occasion Moses righted an injustice by an appropriate and proportionate use of force. The shepherds would not have given way at Moses suggestion. I don't think he would have had much success sweet talking the shepherds into acting like gentlemen - they were not gentlemen! It was only when Moses brandished his weapons that they backed off.

Sometimes force is necessary to ensure that justice is done. On the 20th March 2014 I read the obituary of Ahmad Tejan Kabba in the Daily Telegraph. Kabba was the president of Sierra Leone who invited British troops into his country to deal with the Revolutionary United Front. This vicious organisation intimidated many parts of Sierra Leone hacking the arms and legs off its helpless victims. Britain sent 800 troops to Sierra Leone under the command of Brigadier David Richards. They made short work of the Revolutionary United Front and changed the course of history in a country of six million without a single loss.

There are many parts of the world where people long for justice. Do we care about their plight? Moses cared about fair play and was prepared to intervene to deliver it. On this occasion he gets it right and sends seven young women home happy that a group of bullying shepherds had been taught a lesson they would not forget in a hurry.

(b) Moses needed 40 years in the desert to prepare him or his role as a wilderness leader. There were several lessons Moses needed to learn:

• How to look after sheep and goats. When the Israelites left Egypt they took their flocks with them.

• How to survive in the desert - how to find water and pasture.

• To lose all fear of the wilderness - to acquire the confidence to survive harsh and testing conditions.

We may need a desert experience to prepare us for future service. We read in John's gospel that Jesus did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man. Jn2v25. There can be no question but Jesus learned a huge amount about human nature working for perhaps 18 years as a carpenter.

The apostle Paul needed to spend many years in his home town of Tarsus before he was ready to commence his great missionary work. It may have seemed to him as if he had been shunted into a siding by the church at Jerusalem. See exposition on Acts9v19to31.

(c) Moses needed to acquire certain virtues before he was qualified to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. He developed these virtues looking after his father-in-law's sheep in Midian. They were:

• Humility - he had to put the welfare of the sheep and goats before his own.

• Patience - sheep and goats are not invariably co-operative.

• Self-reliance - shepherding was lonely work. Moses was on his own in the desert. He learned to take responsibility for his own decisions.

Moses was a man of considerable natural talent. He was exceedingly well educated and accomplished, but this was not enough. Only a man of sterling character could lead the Israelites for 40 years in the wilderness.

There is an important lesson here. Men and women are appointed to leadership roles within the church on the basis of their natural gifts, education and accomplishments. Not enough consideration is paid to character. Many ministries come to grief for lack of it! What was it God said to Samuel: "Man looks at the outward appearance but the LORD looks at the heart." 1Sam16v7.