That Time Moses Killed a Guy and Hid the Body

Reflecting on the Actions of Moses Exodus 2:11–12

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The book of Exodus doesn’t begin with Moses, but it gets to him soon enough. In Exodus 1, a pharaoh arises who believes that the multiplying Israelites are a potential threat, so he gives orders to have the male Hebrew babies killed (Exod. 1:16, 22).

In Exodus 2, a male Hebrew baby is born who is not killed. His mother preserves his life, puts him in a basket made of bulrushes, and sets the basket among the reeds of the Nile riverbank (Exod. 2:1–3). In God’s providence, the baby is found by pharaoh’s daughter, the daughter needs someone who can nurse the baby, and the baby ends up being with his very own mother until he is weaned (2:5–9). The child joins the household of pharaoh, and pharaoh’s daughter calls him “Moses,” for she says, “I drew him out of the water” (2:10).

The reader doesn’t get a story from Moses’s childhood. Instead, he is approximately forty years old when we read the following account: “One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand” (Exod. 2:11–12; see Acts 7:23).

Was Moses right or wrong to do what he did? Commentators are divided on the question. I lean toward the view that Moses was right. Let me explain by making nine observations about the passage.

First, the text emphasizes some degree of solidarity between Moses and the Israelites. He went out “to his people” (2:11). He “looked on their burdens” (2:11). And he saw “a Hebrew” being beaten, “one of his people” (2:11).

Second, this Egyptian may have been one of the taskmasters who had been set over the Israelites (1:11). These taskmasters were ruthless and made the lives of the Israelites bitter with hard service (1:13–14). And in the context of Moses’s action, he has gone out and “looked on” the “burdens” of the Israelites. This is when he sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. We should imagine that an Egyptian taskmaster is beating a Hebrew slave.

Third, the verbs “beating” (v. 11) and “struck down” (v. 12) are the same. This point is important so that we can see the intent behind the Egyptian’s actions. The Egyptian was beating the Hebrew to death. This was a murder in progress, not a minor scuffle. The Hebrew’s life was in danger.

Fourth, Moses “struck down” the Egyptian as a proportional response. He intervened when the Egyptian was beating the Hebrew to death, and this intervention was a lawful taking of life. There is a difference in the Bible between killing and murder. The Egyptian was trying to murder the Hebrew, so Moses intervened and ending up killing the perpetrator. It’s reasonable to assume that Moses’s intervention led to an intense struggle of a kill-or-be-killed situation.

Fifth, Moses “looked this way and that” (2:12) and afterward hid the body in the sand (2:12). Some interpreters have concluded that Moses’s actions in 2:12 indicate that Moses knew he was doing something wrong. But that’s not the only explanation for his actions to consider. After all, Moses was a member of pharaoh’s household and wanted to stop an Egyptian from murdering a Hebrew. Looking around was a reasonable thing to do. Moses hid the body in the sand in order to not draw attention to a dead Egyptian (taskmaster). He knew, as would happen later, that when pharaoh heard what took place, he would want Moses dead.

Sixth, Moses’s life foreshadows things that God would do for the Israelites. Moses was delivered from the Nile River, and the Israelites would later be delivered through the Red Sea (2:1–10; 14:21–22). Moses encountered God at Mount Horeb/Sinai (3:1–6), and later the Israelites encountered the Lord at Mount Horeb/Sinai (19:16–21). In Exodus 2, Moses delivered a Hebrew from an Egyptian by striking down the Egyptian, and in Exodus 7–12, God would deliver the Israelites from the Egyptians by striking down the Egyptians. The event in Exodus 2:11–12 was followed by a period of forty years outside Egypt, and the events in Exodus 12–14 were followed by a period of forty years outside Egypt.

Seventh, Acts 7:23–24 seems to positively recall what Moses did: “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.” These are Stephen’s words about what happened in Exodus 2:11–12.

Eighth, the larger context of Exodus 2:11–22 portrays Moses as a deliverer, so the episode in 2:11–12 seems to serve that positive purpose. In 2:11–12, Moses intervenes. In 2:13–14, Moses intervenes. And in 2:16–17, Moses intervenes. Moses’s action in 2:11–12, then, is a microcosm of the larger delivering role he would play for the oppressed nation.

Ninth, God will later strike down and bury the bodies of the Egyptians. In 12:12, God promises to “strike” the firstborn of Egypt in the tenth plague, and it’s the same verb in 2:11–12. Moses delivered an oppressed Hebrew, and God would deliver the oppressed Hebrews. Moses buried the Egyptian in the sand, and God would bury the Egyptians in the sea.

Besides these nine observations, other points may further bolster the notion that Moses’s actions in Exodus 2:11–12 were right. The biblical author never critiques Moses’s decisions as sinful or misguided.

A quick historical point: I was delighted to find writers and theologians throughout church history who have viewed the actions of Moses in 2:11-12 positively: early church fathers like Tertullian, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Ambrose; medieval interpreters like Aquinas, reformers like Luther and Calvin, and interpreters like Matthew Henry (from the 1600s) and Thomas Scott (from the 1700s).

In Exodus 2:1–10, God preserves the life of the young child who will become a deliverer for the Israelites. And in 2:11–12, he rescues a Hebrew from an Egyptian, foreshadowing what was to come.

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