SUMMARY
MosesProphet who led Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land and received the law at Sinai. flees for his life after killing an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew. He settles in Midian, where he marries ZipporahWife of Moses. and they have a son, Gershom.
ANALYSIS
The early chapters of Exodus draw particular attention to Moses’ identity—especially the way he straddles Hebrew and Egyptian worlds. On the one hand, Moses is a Hebrew. The text has taken great care to point out that he is the child of two Levites (Exodus 2:1). His Hebrew mother placed him in a basket in the river to save him from Pharaoh’s murderous edict against Hebrew boys (2:2-4). At the same time, Moses grew up in an Egyptian household—and not just any Egyptian householdA household is a living unit comprised of all the persons who live in one house. A household would embrace all the members of a family, including servants and slaves. In the book of Acts, stories are told of various persons and their households, like..., but that of the Pharaoh, whose daughter scooped the infant Moses out of the river (2:5-10). Yet Pharaoh’s daughter also unwittingly hired Moses’ own mother to nurse him (2:9), so that the influence of his Hebrew family continued, even as Pharaoh’s daughter also became a mother to him (2:10).
Moses’ clash of identities comes to a head when he encounters an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. He kills the Egyptian, thus committing his loyalties to his fellow Hebrews. When he tries to intervene in a fight again, this time between two Hebrews, he discovers that word about his killing of the Egyptian has gotten out, and Pharaoh is trying to kill him. However, when he flees, the daughters of the priestA priest is a person who has the authority to perform religious rites. In New Testament times priests were responsible for daily offerings and sacrifices in the temple. of Midian say that “an Egyptian helped us against the shepherds”; presumably something in Moses’ dress signals to them that he is an Egyptian rather than a Hebrew (or a Midianite). It will only be when Moses returns under the call of God that he will stand squarely in his Hebrew identity.
