Moses is on the run from Pharoah and heads into desert for what will be 40 years but first he will go to a well. The Midianites are not Israelites, but they are strangers. However, they are the right distance so he can unite himself with Midian without losing himself and becoming a slave to them.

1. Moses stands up to bullies (2:16-19)

These men bullies were shepherds who chase the women shepherds away from feeding their flocks at the well. The women had no brothers to support them. Moses stood up to these men shepherds despite being outnumbered.

The women report back to their father (Reuel or Jethro) that an Egyptian had delivered them out of the hand of the men bullies. In this case these men shepherds are the tyrants and Moses delivers these Hebrew women whom it turns out he is related to unknown to him.

Despite being a stranger in a foreign land Moses so impresses Jethro that he gives Moses his daughter Zipporah. It makes sense to have a strong man in the family as Jethro had no sons. We know later that Jethro is a very wise man when he suggests to Moses splitting the load of managing the people.

Issac and Jacob find their wives a little further out from themselves in Lebanon and them find them at the well. The water is from below and its potential is from below, so this is the place where you find your wife. In this case Moses comes to the well and chases away these people that are hostile towards the daughters of the priest of Midian and then he draws water from the well to water their flocks.

2. Moses is accepted into the family of the priest of Midian (2:20-22)

This is where Moses finds the right foreigner to marry. It is a title version of Israel going out into the wilderness as Moses leaves Egypt and finds himself in this wilderness where he has to fight off the strangers like what Israel will go through to get to the Mountain of God. Moses finds water which also means finding a wife. Israel will fight and try to find water until they reach the Mountain of God.

Many years later, Jesus will also meet a woman at a well. See John 4:1-42.

3. Things are still bad in Egypt (2:23-25)

There is grieving under the control of the tyranny of Pharaoh. It is wrong for the Egyptians to enslave the Israelites. It is right for the Israelites to grieve because they are NOT free. It is a moral high good to be free from slavery. Later in the desert, some will pine to return to slavery. They prefer tyranny to being in the desert. Some people prefer the certainty of brick walls rather than freedom into the openness of the desert and the unknown.

God will respond to the cries of those who are slaves. Why does He remember His covenant. He is God. Why does He need to remember? Did He forget? He knows, He hears, He remembers. It is the first time in Exodus that we see God enter as an agent to change things. He does care about keeping His promises to Abraham.

The time in Egypt seems to have caused the Israelites to have largely forgotten the Lord. This seems to be inferred when Moses later asks God in whose name shall he say is calling them to leave Egypt! They have largely left their tradition. They get to the end of themselves and cry out.

God will take the Israelites out of Egypt quickly, but it will take longer to get Egypt out of the Israelites! God wants us to live ethically despite death and misery around us. Those outliers who do good can make an impact. If there had been 10 good people, then that might have saved or delayed the destruction of Sodom. It was Nathan who boldly spoke up against the sin and hypocrisy of David.

Israel became a nation again after the murder of 6 million Jews (1 million babies) by the Nazis during World War 2. Was it justified by God if he allowed evil? Does God allow evil to do a greater good? It is better to say that God has no part in evil as he is only good. He can transform evil into good.

Categories: Exodus

Tags: bible, Exodus, faith, god, moses