Do Not Get Angry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=harMWNdudXs
Ex 2:11 Now when Moses had become a man, one day he went out to his people and saw how hard their work was; and he saw an Egyptian giving blows to a Hebrew, one of his people.
12 And turning this way and that, and seeing no one, he put the Egyptian to death, covering his body with sand.
13 And he went out the day after and saw two of the Hebrews fighting: and he said to him who was in the wrong, Why are you fighting your brother?
14 And he said, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? are you going to put me to death as you did the Egyptian? And Moses was in fear, and said, It is clear that the thing has come to light.
15 Now when Pharaoh had news of this, he would have put Moses to death. But Moses went in flight from Pharaoh into the land of Midian: and he took his seat by a water-spring.
16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came to get water for their father's flock.
17 And the keepers of the sheep came up and were driving them away; but Moses got up and came to their help, watering their flock for them.
18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that you have come back so quickly today?
19 And they said, An Egyptian came to our help against the keepers of sheep and got water for us and gave it to the flock.
20 And he said to his daughters, Where is he? why have you let the man go? make him come in and give him a meal.
21 And Moses was happy to go on living with the man; and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses.
22 And she gave birth to a son, to whom he gave the name Gershom: for he said, I have been living in a strange land.
23 Now after a long time the king of Egypt came to his end: and the children of Israel were crying in their grief under the weight of their work, and their cry for help came to the ears of God.
24 And at the sound of their weeping the agreement which God had made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob came to his mind.
25 And God's eyes were turned to the children of Israel and he gave them the knowledge of himself.
(BBE)
Chuck Swindoll suggests that the next section of Moses' life was him trying to fulfill the idea of delivering his people but by his own hand. One oppressor at a time. I can see that idea, but I have a hard time with it.
First, Matt Henry and his focus:
Ver. 11.
Moses had now passed the first forty years of his life in the court of Pharaoh, preparing himself for business; and now it was time for him to enter upon action, and,
I. He boldly owns and espouses the cause of God's people: When Moses was grown he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens, Ex 2:11. The best exposition of these words we have from an inspired pen, Heb 11:24-26, where we are told that by this he expressed,
1. His holy contempt of the honours and pleasures of the Egyptian court; he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, for he went out. The temptation was indeed very strong. He had a fair opportunity (as we say) to make his fortune, and to have been serviceable to Israel too, with his interest at court. He was obliged, in gratitude as well as interest, to Pharaoh's daughter, and yet he obtained a glorious victory by faith over his temptation. He reckoned it much more his honour and advantage to be a son of Abraham than to be the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
2. His tender concern for his poor brethren in bondage, with whom (though he might easily have avoided it) he chose to suffer affliction; he looked on their burdens as one that not only pitied them, but was resolved to venture with them, and, if occasion were, to venture for them.
II. He gives a specimen of the great things he was afterwards to do for God and his Israel in two little instances, related particularly by Stephen (Ac 7:23) &c. with design to show how their fathers had always resisted the Holy Ghost (Ex 2:25), even in Moses himself, when he first appeared as their deliverer, wilfully shutting their eyes against this day-break of their enlargement. He found himself, no doubt, under a divine direction and impulse in what he did, and that he was in an extraordinary manner called of God to do it. Now observe,
1. Moses was afterwards to be employed in plaguing the Egyptians for the wrongs they had done to God's Israel; and, as a specimen of that, he killed the Egyptian who smote the Hebrew (Ex 2:11-12); probably it was one of the Egyptian taskmasters, whom he found abusing his Hebrew slave, a relation (as some think) of Moses, a man of the same tribe. It was by special warrant from Heaven (which makes not a precedent in ordinary cases) that Moses slew the Egyptian, and rescued his oppressed brother. The Jew's tradition is that he did not slay him with any weapon, but, as Peter slew Ananias and Sapphira, with the word of his mouth. His hiding him in the sand signified that hereafter Pharaoh and all his Egyptians should, under the control of the rod of Moses, be buried in the sand of the Red Sea. His taking care to execute this justice privately, when no man saw, was a piece of needful prudence and caution, it being but an assay; and perhaps his faith was as yet weak, and what he did was with some hesitation. Those who come to be of great faith, yet began with a little, and at first spoke tremblingly.
2. Moses was afterwards to be employed in governing Israel, and, as a specimen of this, we have him here trying to end a controversy between two Hebrews, in which he is forced (as he did afterwards for forty years) to suffer their manners. Observe here,
(1.) The unhappy quarrel which Moses observed between two Hebrews, Ex 2:13. It does not appear what was the occasion; but, whatever it was, it was certainly very unseasonable for Hebrews to strive with one another when they were all oppressed and ruled with rigour by the Egyptians. Had they not beating enough from the Egyptians, but they must beat one another? Note,
[1.] Even sufferings in common do not always unite God's professing people to one another, so much as one might reasonably expect.
[2.] When God raises up instruments of salvation for the church they will find enough to do, not only with oppressing Egyptians, to restrain them, but with quarrelsome Israelites, to reconcile them.
(2.) The way he took of dealing with them; he marked him that caused the division, that did the wrong, and mildly reasoned with him: Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? The injurious Egyptian was killed, the injurious Hebrew was only reprimanded; for what the former did was from a rooted malice, what the latter did we may suppose was only upon a sudden provocation. The wise God makes, and, according to his example, all wise governors make, a difference between one offender and another, according to the several qualities of the same offence. Moses endeavoured to make them friends, a good office; thus we find Christ often reproving his disciples' strifes (Lu 9:46; 22:24), for he was a prophet like unto Moses, a healing prophet, a peacemaker, who visited his brethren with a design to slay all enmities. The reproof Moses gave on this occasion may still be of use, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? Note, Smiting our fellows is bad in any, especially in Hebrews, smiting with tongue or hand, either in a way of persecution or in a way of strife and contention. Consider the person thou smitest; it is thy fellow, thy fellow-creature, thy fellow-christian, it is thy fellow-servant, thy fellow-sufferer. Consider the cause, Wherefore smitest? Perhaps it is for no cause at all, or no just cause, or none worth speaking of.
(3.) The ill success of his attempt (Ex 2:14): He said, Who made thee a prince? He that did the wrong thus quarrelled with Moses; the injured party, it should seem, was inclinable enough to peace, but the wrong-doer was thus touchy. Note, It is a sign of guilt to be impatient of reproof; and it is often easier to persuade the injured to bear the trouble of taking wrong than the injurious to bear the conviction of having done wrong. 1Co 6:7-8. It was a very wise and mild reproof which Moses gave to this quarrelsome Hebrew, but he could not bear it, he kicked against the pricks (Ac 9:5), and crossed questions with his reprover.
[1.] He challenges his authority: Who made thee a prince? A man needs no great authority for the giving of a friendly reproof, it is an act of kindness; yet this man needs will interpret it an act of dominion, and represents his reprover as imperious and assuming. Thus when people dislike good discourse, or a seasonable admonition, they will call it preaching, as if a man could not speak a work for God and against sin but he took too much upon him. Yet Moses was indeed a prince and a judge, and knew it, and thought the Hebrews would have understood it, and struck in with him; but they stood in their own light, and thrust him away, Ac 7:25,27.
[2.] He upbraids him with what he had done in killing the Egyptian: Intendest thou to kill me? See what base constructions malice puts upon the best words and actions. Moses, for reproving him is immediately charged with a design to kill him. An attempt upon his sin was interpreted an attempt upon his life; and his having killed the Egyptian was thought sufficient to justify the suspicion; as if Moses made no difference between an Egyptian and a Hebrew. If Moses, to right an injured Hebrew, had put his life in his hand, and slain an Egyptian, he ought therefore to have submitted to him, not only as a friend to the Hebrews, but as a friend that had more than ordinary power and zeal. But he throws that in his teeth as a crime which was bravely done, and was intended as a specimen of the promised deliverance; if the Hebrews had taken the hint, and come in to Moses as their head and captain, it is probable that they would have been delivered now; but, despising their deliverer, their deliverance was justly deferred, and their bondage prolonged forty years, as afterwards their despising Canaan kept them out of it forty years more. I would, and you would not. Note, Men know not what they do, nor what enemies they are to their own interest, when they resist and despise faithful reproofs and reprovers. When the Hebrews strove with Moses, God sent him away into Midian, and they never heard of him for forty years; thus the things that belonged to their peace were hidden from their eyes, because they knew not the day of their visitation. As to Moses, we may look on it as a great damp and discouragement to him. He was now choosing to suffer affliction with the people of God, and embracing the reproach of Christ; and now, at his first setting out, to meet with this affliction and reproach from them was a very sore trial of his resolution. He might have said,
"If this be the spirit of the Hebrews, I will go to court again, and be the son of Pharaoh's daughter."
Note, First, We must take heed of being prejudiced against the ways and people of God by the follies and peevishness of some particular persons that profess religion. Secondly, It is no new thing for the church's best friends to meet with a great deal of opposition and discouragement in their healing, saving attempts, even from their own mother's children; Christ himself was set at nought by the builders, and is still rejected by those he would save.
(4.) The flight of Moses to Midian, in consequence. The affront given him thus far proved a kindness to him; it gave him to understand that his killing the Egyptian was discovered, and so he had time to make his escape, otherwise the wrath of Pharaoh might have surprised him and taken him off. Note, God can overrule even the strife of tongues, so as, one way or other, to bring good to his people out of it. Information was brought to Pharaoh (and it is well if it was not brought by the Hebrew himself whom Moses reproved) of his killing the Egyptian; warrants are presently out for the apprehending of Moses, which obliged him to shift for his own safety, by flying into the land of Midian, Ex 2:15.
[1.] Moses did this out of a prudent care of his own life. If this be his forsaking of Egypt which the apostle refers to as done by faith (Heb 11:27), it teaches us that when we are at any time in trouble and danger for doing our duty the grace of faith will be of good use to us in taking proper methods for our own preservation. Yet there it is said, He feared not the wrath of the king; here it is said he feared, Ex 2:14. He did not fear with a fear of diffidence and amazement, which weakens and has torment, but with a fear of diligence, which quickened him to take that way which Providence opened to him for his own preservation.
[2.] God ordered it for wise and holy ends. Things were not yet ripe for Israel's deliverance: the measure of Egypt's iniquity was not yet full; the Hebrews were not sufficiently humbled, nor were they yet increased to such a multitude as God designed; Moses is to be further fitted for the service, and therefore is directed to withdraw for the present, till the time to favour Israel, even the set time, should come. God guided Moses to Midian because the Midianites were of the seed of Abraham, and retained the worship of the true God among them, so that he might have not only a safe but a comfortable settlement among them. And through this country he was afterwards to lead Israel, with which (that he might do it the better) he now had opportunity of making himself acquainted. Hither he came, and sat down by a well, tired and thoughtful, at a loss, and waiting to see which way Providence would direct him. It was a great change with him, since he was but the other day at ease in Pharaoh's court: thus God tried his faith, and it was found to praise and honour.
Jamieson and the law firm:
12. he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand--This act of Moses may seem and indeed by some has been condemned as rash and unjustifiable--in plain terms, a deed of assassination. But we must not judge of his action in such a country and age by the standard of law and the notions of right which prevail in our Christian land; and, besides, not only is it not spoken of as a crime in Scripture or as distressing the perpetrator with remorse, but according to existing customs among nomadic tribes, he was bound to avenge the blood of a brother. The person he slew, however, being a government officer, he had rendered himself amenable to the laws of Egypt, and therefore he endeavored to screen himself from the consequences by concealment of the corpse.
Patrick/Lowth/Whitby/Lowman the OTHER lawfurm
Exodus 2:12
He looked this way and that way, Round about him; that he might not run into danger himself, by delivering his brother from it.
He slew the Egyptian, Being stirred up to it by a Divine motion; otherways he could not have justified this fact to God and his own conscience. And therefore St. Stephen plainly makes this an indication to the children of Israel, that God intended to deliver them by this means; and say, Moses thought they would have so understood (Ac 7:25). Nay, Maimonides himself gives this account of it (par. 2, cap. 45, More Nevochim), where making this the first degree of prophecy, when a man is moved and animated by God to some great and heroic enterprise (either for the preservation of the whole church, or the deliverance of eminent men from oppression), he reckons Moses, among others, as an instance of it, in these words: “Moses was endued with this power, when he grew up to be a man; by the impulse of which he slew the Egyptian, and checked him who unjustly strove with one of his brethren,” &c. The Hebrews generally say that Moses did not kill this man with a sword, or any other weapon, but merely by the word of his mouth, pronouncing him dead in the name of God. Which tradition is so old, that it is mentioned by Clemens Alexandrinus, (lib. 1. Strom.) “they that pretend to secrets, say, that he killed the Egyptian with his word alone,” as Peter afterwards, in the Acts, killed Ananias and Sapphira.
And hid him in the sand. An inaccessible desert lay on the west of Egypt, as Diodorus Siculus observes; and there was another also on the east of it: so that if this happened upon the borders, there was sand enough wherein to bury him.
Exodus 2:13 Ex 2:13
When he went out the second day. Having begun to act by the Divine commission, he seems to have resolved every day to give proofs of his authority; and awaken the people to expect deliverance by his means. And therefore went out, among them this day, as he had done the day before.
Behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: He was surprised to find two of his brethren contending one with another; when they were so grievously oppressed by the Egyptians.
Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? He had no less authority to admonish and reprove his brethren, than to chastise their oppressors.
Exodus 2:14
Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? It is plain by this that he acted as one that had authority; but this man questioned from whence he had it.
Intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? It is not likely the man thought he had any such intention, but meant only to frighten Moses from meddling in his matters, by letting him know, that what he had done already was not such a secret as he thought it.
Moses feared, He had not yet received a commission from God to act publicly as their governor, and therefore durst not stay to answer a charge against him (which he thought might be possibly brought), for what he had done privately. Some have troubled themselves to reconcile this with what the apostle saith, Heb 11:27.that “he feared not the wrath of the king;” which doth not seem to agree with what is said here, that Moses feared. But there he may very well be thought to speak, not of his flight out of Egypt, but of his last departure with the whole body of the Israelites. Though if we should allow Moses, and the apostle, to speak of the same thing, there would be no contradiction between them. For he might so fear, as to make him cautious, and consult for his safety; rather than basely either deny or excuse what he had done, or ask pardon for it; unto which no fear of the wrath of the king could have moved him.
I understand there is an awe of Moses. I get it. I feel the awe as much as the other commentators. But there is something else here. Something from our Fallen Flesh. A message to us all about even the greatest of men. In literature there is a character contrivance: the tragic flaw. Every hero has a fatal flaw. Myths give them to gods and goddesses and especially to their heroes. Icarus flies too close to the sun. Theseus looks back to see his love as they are just getting away from Hades and she is lost to him again. Achilles has his heel.
In the Bible. we are given examples of every faith hero and every one has a flaw that portrays them as hopelessly human, Fallen Flesh every one. Men and women of God, but still fallen. And Moses is no different.
Moses had a temper.
Recall his youth. Raised by Hebrews. Given over to Pharaoh's daughter and raised in riches for the rest of his life to this time. He has seen his people from the side of slavery and the has seen them being punished often, seen them being subjected to all manner of horrors. They have been used for the household, for the building projects that make Pharaoh look like the king, look like the great man he is presumed to be because he was born to riches. the beginning of the notions of divine right. The Pharaoh is placed by the gods, the Pharaoh becomes a god on Earth.
Comprehend the pressure this put on him over the years. I am certain he had the urge to lash out before this moment. He may have had bouts of temper or he may have sought out his parents at one time or another for counsel. He has remained quiet. he's the representative of his race. He's the Willie Mays of his slave race, repping them with honor and forthright behavior in the big leagues.
He may have thought God put him in this place to change everyone's perceptions, to open eyes and lead to his people to a place of honor in Egypt, a place Joseph had them in. He may have hoped to build the full reputation of the Hebrews.
Whatever his hopes, Moses had been at it for forty years, Forty years. Lifespans around him were running 60, 70 at best. He looked at it as if he had spent 2/3 of his life laboring to bring enlightenment to the Egyptians, to give his people a good name. Some would term it a midlife crisis.
Whatever his hopes, he blew them all up by losing his temper.
I do not think that Moses had a plan or an ideal or a hope when he killed the Egyptian. I do not think he was trying to start the revolution or take his place as a leader.
I do think that he lost his temper after years of seeing the abuses, that this particular abuse finally got to him. We know that everyone under slavery is mistreated in one way or another and this particular Egyptian's abuse was such that it sent Moses into a rage and he acted. The pent up frustration, the suppression of his feelings to look passable in court, the desire to do something, anything, explodes!!!!! Moses lost his control and killed the abuser. I can't help but wonder if the slave killed was a woman about the age of Moses' mother. That would seem the logical spark, but it could have been any slave.
About anger:
It is vitally important to see all the listings on this and a web page has them: http://www.biblicalresearchreports.com/Anger.php
I'll include only Jesus' direct comments but there are dozens on that link.
Mt 5:22 but I say unto you, that every one who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire.
23 If therefore thou art offering thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee,
24 leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art with him in the way; lest haply the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
26 Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou have paid the last farthing.
27 Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
(ASV)
Mt 5:38 Ye have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
39 but I say unto you, resist not him that is evil: but whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 And if any man would go to law with thee, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go one mile, go with him two.
42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
43 Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy:
44 but I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you;
45 that ye may be sons of your Father who is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.
(ASV)
One cogent point: if you have read my blog on John's gospel or read the Gospel itself, you are aware of Jesus becoming angry with the moneylenders twice and throwing them from the Temple. You are also aware from the commentaries here that Moses is given a lot of slack by my fellow analysts.
There is such a thing as righteous anger that the Lord showed toward those who should know how they are to behave and do not respond accordingly. Jesus was angry with the Pharisees more then once simply because they knew the Law and the proper behavior toward the weak and poor and they did nothing to help them while encouraging the rich to give to the temple and let that count as the fulfillment of their obligation to care for their parents and because that type of corruption turned the common people away from God. The landowners were to leave wide patches on the corners of their fields for the poor to glean from and, during Jesus' first Earthly time, the rich had taken to leaving a good deal less on the corners.
God had taken action against them before for their actions in their fields. The law specifically ordered them to let their field lay fallow (unworked) every seventh year.
http://torah.org/torah-portion/drasha-5760-bechukosai/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=harMWNdudXs
Ex 2:11 Now when Moses had become a man, one day he went out to his people and saw how hard their work was; and he saw an Egyptian giving blows to a Hebrew, one of his people.
12 And turning this way and that, and seeing no one, he put the Egyptian to death, covering his body with sand.
13 And he went out the day after and saw two of the Hebrews fighting: and he said to him who was in the wrong, Why are you fighting your brother?
14 And he said, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? are you going to put me to death as you did the Egyptian? And Moses was in fear, and said, It is clear that the thing has come to light.
15 Now when Pharaoh had news of this, he would have put Moses to death. But Moses went in flight from Pharaoh into the land of Midian: and he took his seat by a water-spring.
16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came to get water for their father's flock.
17 And the keepers of the sheep came up and were driving them away; but Moses got up and came to their help, watering their flock for them.
18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that you have come back so quickly today?
19 And they said, An Egyptian came to our help against the keepers of sheep and got water for us and gave it to the flock.
20 And he said to his daughters, Where is he? why have you let the man go? make him come in and give him a meal.
21 And Moses was happy to go on living with the man; and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses.
22 And she gave birth to a son, to whom he gave the name Gershom: for he said, I have been living in a strange land.
23 Now after a long time the king of Egypt came to his end: and the children of Israel were crying in their grief under the weight of their work, and their cry for help came to the ears of God.
24 And at the sound of their weeping the agreement which God had made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob came to his mind.
25 And God's eyes were turned to the children of Israel and he gave them the knowledge of himself.
(BBE)
Chuck Swindoll suggests that the next section of Moses' life was him trying to fulfill the idea of delivering his people but by his own hand. One oppressor at a time. I can see that idea, but I have a hard time with it.
First, Matt Henry and his focus:
Ver. 11.
Moses had now passed the first forty years of his life in the court of Pharaoh, preparing himself for business; and now it was time for him to enter upon action, and,
I. He boldly owns and espouses the cause of God's people: When Moses was grown he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens, Ex 2:11. The best exposition of these words we have from an inspired pen, Heb 11:24-26, where we are told that by this he expressed,
1. His holy contempt of the honours and pleasures of the Egyptian court; he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, for he went out. The temptation was indeed very strong. He had a fair opportunity (as we say) to make his fortune, and to have been serviceable to Israel too, with his interest at court. He was obliged, in gratitude as well as interest, to Pharaoh's daughter, and yet he obtained a glorious victory by faith over his temptation. He reckoned it much more his honour and advantage to be a son of Abraham than to be the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
2. His tender concern for his poor brethren in bondage, with whom (though he might easily have avoided it) he chose to suffer affliction; he looked on their burdens as one that not only pitied them, but was resolved to venture with them, and, if occasion were, to venture for them.
II. He gives a specimen of the great things he was afterwards to do for God and his Israel in two little instances, related particularly by Stephen (Ac 7:23) &c. with design to show how their fathers had always resisted the Holy Ghost (Ex 2:25), even in Moses himself, when he first appeared as their deliverer, wilfully shutting their eyes against this day-break of their enlargement. He found himself, no doubt, under a divine direction and impulse in what he did, and that he was in an extraordinary manner called of God to do it. Now observe,
1. Moses was afterwards to be employed in plaguing the Egyptians for the wrongs they had done to God's Israel; and, as a specimen of that, he killed the Egyptian who smote the Hebrew (Ex 2:11-12); probably it was one of the Egyptian taskmasters, whom he found abusing his Hebrew slave, a relation (as some think) of Moses, a man of the same tribe. It was by special warrant from Heaven (which makes not a precedent in ordinary cases) that Moses slew the Egyptian, and rescued his oppressed brother. The Jew's tradition is that he did not slay him with any weapon, but, as Peter slew Ananias and Sapphira, with the word of his mouth. His hiding him in the sand signified that hereafter Pharaoh and all his Egyptians should, under the control of the rod of Moses, be buried in the sand of the Red Sea. His taking care to execute this justice privately, when no man saw, was a piece of needful prudence and caution, it being but an assay; and perhaps his faith was as yet weak, and what he did was with some hesitation. Those who come to be of great faith, yet began with a little, and at first spoke tremblingly.
2. Moses was afterwards to be employed in governing Israel, and, as a specimen of this, we have him here trying to end a controversy between two Hebrews, in which he is forced (as he did afterwards for forty years) to suffer their manners. Observe here,
(1.) The unhappy quarrel which Moses observed between two Hebrews, Ex 2:13. It does not appear what was the occasion; but, whatever it was, it was certainly very unseasonable for Hebrews to strive with one another when they were all oppressed and ruled with rigour by the Egyptians. Had they not beating enough from the Egyptians, but they must beat one another? Note,
[1.] Even sufferings in common do not always unite God's professing people to one another, so much as one might reasonably expect.
[2.] When God raises up instruments of salvation for the church they will find enough to do, not only with oppressing Egyptians, to restrain them, but with quarrelsome Israelites, to reconcile them.
(2.) The way he took of dealing with them; he marked him that caused the division, that did the wrong, and mildly reasoned with him: Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? The injurious Egyptian was killed, the injurious Hebrew was only reprimanded; for what the former did was from a rooted malice, what the latter did we may suppose was only upon a sudden provocation. The wise God makes, and, according to his example, all wise governors make, a difference between one offender and another, according to the several qualities of the same offence. Moses endeavoured to make them friends, a good office; thus we find Christ often reproving his disciples' strifes (Lu 9:46; 22:24), for he was a prophet like unto Moses, a healing prophet, a peacemaker, who visited his brethren with a design to slay all enmities. The reproof Moses gave on this occasion may still be of use, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? Note, Smiting our fellows is bad in any, especially in Hebrews, smiting with tongue or hand, either in a way of persecution or in a way of strife and contention. Consider the person thou smitest; it is thy fellow, thy fellow-creature, thy fellow-christian, it is thy fellow-servant, thy fellow-sufferer. Consider the cause, Wherefore smitest? Perhaps it is for no cause at all, or no just cause, or none worth speaking of.
(3.) The ill success of his attempt (Ex 2:14): He said, Who made thee a prince? He that did the wrong thus quarrelled with Moses; the injured party, it should seem, was inclinable enough to peace, but the wrong-doer was thus touchy. Note, It is a sign of guilt to be impatient of reproof; and it is often easier to persuade the injured to bear the trouble of taking wrong than the injurious to bear the conviction of having done wrong. 1Co 6:7-8. It was a very wise and mild reproof which Moses gave to this quarrelsome Hebrew, but he could not bear it, he kicked against the pricks (Ac 9:5), and crossed questions with his reprover.
[1.] He challenges his authority: Who made thee a prince? A man needs no great authority for the giving of a friendly reproof, it is an act of kindness; yet this man needs will interpret it an act of dominion, and represents his reprover as imperious and assuming. Thus when people dislike good discourse, or a seasonable admonition, they will call it preaching, as if a man could not speak a work for God and against sin but he took too much upon him. Yet Moses was indeed a prince and a judge, and knew it, and thought the Hebrews would have understood it, and struck in with him; but they stood in their own light, and thrust him away, Ac 7:25,27.
[2.] He upbraids him with what he had done in killing the Egyptian: Intendest thou to kill me? See what base constructions malice puts upon the best words and actions. Moses, for reproving him is immediately charged with a design to kill him. An attempt upon his sin was interpreted an attempt upon his life; and his having killed the Egyptian was thought sufficient to justify the suspicion; as if Moses made no difference between an Egyptian and a Hebrew. If Moses, to right an injured Hebrew, had put his life in his hand, and slain an Egyptian, he ought therefore to have submitted to him, not only as a friend to the Hebrews, but as a friend that had more than ordinary power and zeal. But he throws that in his teeth as a crime which was bravely done, and was intended as a specimen of the promised deliverance; if the Hebrews had taken the hint, and come in to Moses as their head and captain, it is probable that they would have been delivered now; but, despising their deliverer, their deliverance was justly deferred, and their bondage prolonged forty years, as afterwards their despising Canaan kept them out of it forty years more. I would, and you would not. Note, Men know not what they do, nor what enemies they are to their own interest, when they resist and despise faithful reproofs and reprovers. When the Hebrews strove with Moses, God sent him away into Midian, and they never heard of him for forty years; thus the things that belonged to their peace were hidden from their eyes, because they knew not the day of their visitation. As to Moses, we may look on it as a great damp and discouragement to him. He was now choosing to suffer affliction with the people of God, and embracing the reproach of Christ; and now, at his first setting out, to meet with this affliction and reproach from them was a very sore trial of his resolution. He might have said,
"If this be the spirit of the Hebrews, I will go to court again, and be the son of Pharaoh's daughter."
Note, First, We must take heed of being prejudiced against the ways and people of God by the follies and peevishness of some particular persons that profess religion. Secondly, It is no new thing for the church's best friends to meet with a great deal of opposition and discouragement in their healing, saving attempts, even from their own mother's children; Christ himself was set at nought by the builders, and is still rejected by those he would save.
(4.) The flight of Moses to Midian, in consequence. The affront given him thus far proved a kindness to him; it gave him to understand that his killing the Egyptian was discovered, and so he had time to make his escape, otherwise the wrath of Pharaoh might have surprised him and taken him off. Note, God can overrule even the strife of tongues, so as, one way or other, to bring good to his people out of it. Information was brought to Pharaoh (and it is well if it was not brought by the Hebrew himself whom Moses reproved) of his killing the Egyptian; warrants are presently out for the apprehending of Moses, which obliged him to shift for his own safety, by flying into the land of Midian, Ex 2:15.
[1.] Moses did this out of a prudent care of his own life. If this be his forsaking of Egypt which the apostle refers to as done by faith (Heb 11:27), it teaches us that when we are at any time in trouble and danger for doing our duty the grace of faith will be of good use to us in taking proper methods for our own preservation. Yet there it is said, He feared not the wrath of the king; here it is said he feared, Ex 2:14. He did not fear with a fear of diffidence and amazement, which weakens and has torment, but with a fear of diligence, which quickened him to take that way which Providence opened to him for his own preservation.
[2.] God ordered it for wise and holy ends. Things were not yet ripe for Israel's deliverance: the measure of Egypt's iniquity was not yet full; the Hebrews were not sufficiently humbled, nor were they yet increased to such a multitude as God designed; Moses is to be further fitted for the service, and therefore is directed to withdraw for the present, till the time to favour Israel, even the set time, should come. God guided Moses to Midian because the Midianites were of the seed of Abraham, and retained the worship of the true God among them, so that he might have not only a safe but a comfortable settlement among them. And through this country he was afterwards to lead Israel, with which (that he might do it the better) he now had opportunity of making himself acquainted. Hither he came, and sat down by a well, tired and thoughtful, at a loss, and waiting to see which way Providence would direct him. It was a great change with him, since he was but the other day at ease in Pharaoh's court: thus God tried his faith, and it was found to praise and honour.
Jamieson and the law firm:
12. he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand--This act of Moses may seem and indeed by some has been condemned as rash and unjustifiable--in plain terms, a deed of assassination. But we must not judge of his action in such a country and age by the standard of law and the notions of right which prevail in our Christian land; and, besides, not only is it not spoken of as a crime in Scripture or as distressing the perpetrator with remorse, but according to existing customs among nomadic tribes, he was bound to avenge the blood of a brother. The person he slew, however, being a government officer, he had rendered himself amenable to the laws of Egypt, and therefore he endeavored to screen himself from the consequences by concealment of the corpse.
Patrick/Lowth/Whitby/Lowman the OTHER lawfurm
Exodus 2:12
He looked this way and that way, Round about him; that he might not run into danger himself, by delivering his brother from it.
He slew the Egyptian, Being stirred up to it by a Divine motion; otherways he could not have justified this fact to God and his own conscience. And therefore St. Stephen plainly makes this an indication to the children of Israel, that God intended to deliver them by this means; and say, Moses thought they would have so understood (Ac 7:25). Nay, Maimonides himself gives this account of it (par. 2, cap. 45, More Nevochim), where making this the first degree of prophecy, when a man is moved and animated by God to some great and heroic enterprise (either for the preservation of the whole church, or the deliverance of eminent men from oppression), he reckons Moses, among others, as an instance of it, in these words: “Moses was endued with this power, when he grew up to be a man; by the impulse of which he slew the Egyptian, and checked him who unjustly strove with one of his brethren,” &c. The Hebrews generally say that Moses did not kill this man with a sword, or any other weapon, but merely by the word of his mouth, pronouncing him dead in the name of God. Which tradition is so old, that it is mentioned by Clemens Alexandrinus, (lib. 1. Strom.) “they that pretend to secrets, say, that he killed the Egyptian with his word alone,” as Peter afterwards, in the Acts, killed Ananias and Sapphira.
And hid him in the sand. An inaccessible desert lay on the west of Egypt, as Diodorus Siculus observes; and there was another also on the east of it: so that if this happened upon the borders, there was sand enough wherein to bury him.
Exodus 2:13 Ex 2:13
When he went out the second day. Having begun to act by the Divine commission, he seems to have resolved every day to give proofs of his authority; and awaken the people to expect deliverance by his means. And therefore went out, among them this day, as he had done the day before.
Behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: He was surprised to find two of his brethren contending one with another; when they were so grievously oppressed by the Egyptians.
Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? He had no less authority to admonish and reprove his brethren, than to chastise their oppressors.
Exodus 2:14
Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? It is plain by this that he acted as one that had authority; but this man questioned from whence he had it.
Intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? It is not likely the man thought he had any such intention, but meant only to frighten Moses from meddling in his matters, by letting him know, that what he had done already was not such a secret as he thought it.
Moses feared, He had not yet received a commission from God to act publicly as their governor, and therefore durst not stay to answer a charge against him (which he thought might be possibly brought), for what he had done privately. Some have troubled themselves to reconcile this with what the apostle saith, Heb 11:27.that “he feared not the wrath of the king;” which doth not seem to agree with what is said here, that Moses feared. But there he may very well be thought to speak, not of his flight out of Egypt, but of his last departure with the whole body of the Israelites. Though if we should allow Moses, and the apostle, to speak of the same thing, there would be no contradiction between them. For he might so fear, as to make him cautious, and consult for his safety; rather than basely either deny or excuse what he had done, or ask pardon for it; unto which no fear of the wrath of the king could have moved him.
I understand there is an awe of Moses. I get it. I feel the awe as much as the other commentators. But there is something else here. Something from our Fallen Flesh. A message to us all about even the greatest of men. In literature there is a character contrivance: the tragic flaw. Every hero has a fatal flaw. Myths give them to gods and goddesses and especially to their heroes. Icarus flies too close to the sun. Theseus looks back to see his love as they are just getting away from Hades and she is lost to him again. Achilles has his heel.
In the Bible. we are given examples of every faith hero and every one has a flaw that portrays them as hopelessly human, Fallen Flesh every one. Men and women of God, but still fallen. And Moses is no different.
Moses had a temper.
Recall his youth. Raised by Hebrews. Given over to Pharaoh's daughter and raised in riches for the rest of his life to this time. He has seen his people from the side of slavery and the has seen them being punished often, seen them being subjected to all manner of horrors. They have been used for the household, for the building projects that make Pharaoh look like the king, look like the great man he is presumed to be because he was born to riches. the beginning of the notions of divine right. The Pharaoh is placed by the gods, the Pharaoh becomes a god on Earth.
Comprehend the pressure this put on him over the years. I am certain he had the urge to lash out before this moment. He may have had bouts of temper or he may have sought out his parents at one time or another for counsel. He has remained quiet. he's the representative of his race. He's the Willie Mays of his slave race, repping them with honor and forthright behavior in the big leagues.
He may have thought God put him in this place to change everyone's perceptions, to open eyes and lead to his people to a place of honor in Egypt, a place Joseph had them in. He may have hoped to build the full reputation of the Hebrews.
Whatever his hopes, Moses had been at it for forty years, Forty years. Lifespans around him were running 60, 70 at best. He looked at it as if he had spent 2/3 of his life laboring to bring enlightenment to the Egyptians, to give his people a good name. Some would term it a midlife crisis.
Whatever his hopes, he blew them all up by losing his temper.
I do not think that Moses had a plan or an ideal or a hope when he killed the Egyptian. I do not think he was trying to start the revolution or take his place as a leader.
I do think that he lost his temper after years of seeing the abuses, that this particular abuse finally got to him. We know that everyone under slavery is mistreated in one way or another and this particular Egyptian's abuse was such that it sent Moses into a rage and he acted. The pent up frustration, the suppression of his feelings to look passable in court, the desire to do something, anything, explodes!!!!! Moses lost his control and killed the abuser. I can't help but wonder if the slave killed was a woman about the age of Moses' mother. That would seem the logical spark, but it could have been any slave.
About anger:
It is vitally important to see all the listings on this and a web page has them: http://www.biblicalresearchreports.com/Anger.php
I'll include only Jesus' direct comments but there are dozens on that link.
Mt 5:22 but I say unto you, that every one who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire.
23 If therefore thou art offering thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee,
24 leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art with him in the way; lest haply the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
26 Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou have paid the last farthing.
27 Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
(ASV)
Mt 5:38 Ye have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
39 but I say unto you, resist not him that is evil: but whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 And if any man would go to law with thee, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go one mile, go with him two.
42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
43 Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy:
44 but I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you;
45 that ye may be sons of your Father who is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.
(ASV)
One cogent point: if you have read my blog on John's gospel or read the Gospel itself, you are aware of Jesus becoming angry with the moneylenders twice and throwing them from the Temple. You are also aware from the commentaries here that Moses is given a lot of slack by my fellow analysts.
There is such a thing as righteous anger that the Lord showed toward those who should know how they are to behave and do not respond accordingly. Jesus was angry with the Pharisees more then once simply because they knew the Law and the proper behavior toward the weak and poor and they did nothing to help them while encouraging the rich to give to the temple and let that count as the fulfillment of their obligation to care for their parents and because that type of corruption turned the common people away from God. The landowners were to leave wide patches on the corners of their fields for the poor to glean from and, during Jesus' first Earthly time, the rich had taken to leaving a good deal less on the corners.
God had taken action against them before for their actions in their fields. The law specifically ordered them to let their field lay fallow (unworked) every seventh year.
http://torah.org/torah-portion/drasha-5760-bechukosai/
This week we read the tochacha, the admonitions and prescient warnings of disasters that will befall our people almost as a natural reaction to our misdeeds. The frequent use of the words tachas, meaning instead of, remind us of the quid pro quo that was meant to help us understand the meaning of Heavenly retribution. Had we heeded the lessons and understood the message of Heavenly admonition, then perhaps the Jewish nation would have been exiled only once.
G-d does not exact retribution. He teaches. He gives us difficult tests for us to endure and hopefully grow from. Each punishment is a calculated lesson, something we can learn from.
It was not always to be the case. A seventy year-exile in Babylonia made us no wiser, and ultimately we were back, if not by our own choice, then by our misdoings, to an enduring exile less than half a millennium later.
And despite brief respites, physical and spiritual, we still are scattered in the Diaspora. Perhaps it is worth looking at one tit-for tat reprisal, mentioned this week, that ought serve as a lesson for us all.
In the portion of Behar, read last week, the Jewish people were commanded to let the land lie fallow every seventh year. They didn’t. As a result they were exiled, and then the Torah tells us: “I will scatter you among the nations; I will unsheathe the sword after you; your land will be desolate, and your cities will be a ruin. Then the land will be appeased for its sabbaticals during all the years of its desolation, while you are in the land of your foes; then the land will rest, and it will appease for its sabbaticals. All the years of its desolation it will rest, whatever it did not rest during your sabbaticals when you dwelled upon her.” (Leviticus 26:33-35)
(More verses to give you a little deeper perspective:
Le 26:2 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am Jehovah.
3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;
4 then I will give your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time; and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
6 And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.
7 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
8 And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
9 And I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and will establish my covenant with you.
10 And ye shall eat old store long kept, and ye shall bring forth the old because of the new.
11 And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.
12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
13 I am Jehovah your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bars of your yoke, and made you go upright.
14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;
15 and if ye shall reject my statutes, and if your soul abhor mine ordinances, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant;
16 I also will do this unto you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away; and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be smitten before your enemies: they that hate you shall rule over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.
18 And if ye will not yet for these things hearken unto me, then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins.
19 And I will break the pride of your power: and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass;
20 and your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.
21 And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.
22 And I will send the beast of the field among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your ways shall become desolate.
23 And if by these things ye will not be reformed unto me, but will walk contrary unto me;
24 then will I also walk contrary unto you; and I will smite you, even I, seven times for your sins.
25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute the vengeance of the covenant; and ye shall be gathered together within your cities: and I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
26 When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.
27 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;
28 then I will walk contrary unto you in wrath; and I also will chastise you seven times for your sins.
29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your sun-images, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul shall abhor you.
31 And I will make your cities a waste, and will bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors.
32 And I will bring the land into desolation; and your enemies that dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
33 And you will I scatter among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you: and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
34 Then shall the land enjoy its sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye are in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy its sabbaths.
35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall have rest, even the rest which it had not in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.
The Talmud in Shabbos (33a) tells us that Hashem’s goal — that the land shall rest — will ultimately be accomplished. . If the people do not let the land rest while they inhabit it, then it will rest in their absence. The calculation is frighteningly precise. There were seventy Sabbaticals that Israel had dishonored before and during the period of the First Temple. As the Babylonian exile lasted for seventy years, the land was compensated for the “rest” of which had never been observed.
Notice God's design. As the source above suggests, there is always a lesson. There is also always a warning.
Think back to all the Scriptures we studied and see that, while God did not write law down, He gave constant examples of the right way to live in Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham. He gave constant examples of the life to be punished, Cain, the idol worshiping antediluvian civilization, Babel, Sodom. We think of those last examples as people who paid for their sins. But they were also message from God to those who would listen, a message that a certain lifestyle gets you killed. Actions have consequences.
God sometimes postpones or forgives. He lets the message sink in. Jonah in our Blog http://truejonah.blogspot.com/ on him preached to Nineveh and postponed it's judgement for more than a century and allowed God to use it to help punish Israel for its Sabbath sins.
And we need to notice two things here in light of the events and that realization:
1) Moses lost his temper and knew it was wrong and that he was enough of an outsider that his place in the royal family that wold normally have left him immune for his actions would not save him here. As the comments support, he found out he was in trouble when he tried to intervene and stop his brethren from losing their tempers.
2) God deals with Moses' temper throughout Exodus.
Here, He allows the consequences. Moses flees into the desert. he lived forty years in the care, indirect and direct, of the royal family. Next he spent forty years in Midian caring for his father-in-law's flocks and learning humility.
Later, God takes Moses onto the mountain, God cuts the tablets and the Law carved by God's own finger. Then Moses goes down the mount and sees the Israelites worshiping the golden calf and, in a rage, smashes the tablets.
Ex 32:17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome; but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
(ASV)
Later, after Moses pleads for mercy and God punishes and offers a chance to be forgiven he tells Moses this:
Ex 34:1 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon the tables the words that were on the first tables, which thou brakest.
"You broke'em, YOU fix 'em."
Replying in kind.
But Moses' temper really does him in toward the end.
The People have been whining and complaining and crabbing and kvetching and the Promised Land was too dangerous and they had to wander for another 40 years and the manna wasn't tasty enough and quail on special occasions like when they complained hotly and they wanted water and...
The first time:
Ex 17:3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore hast thou brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
4 And Moses cried unto Jehovah, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They are almost ready to stone me.:
5 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Pass on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and they rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thy hand, and go.
6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tempted Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah among us, or not?
(ASV)
But the second time :
Nu 20:6 And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tent of meeting, and fell upon their faces: and the glory of Jehovah appeared unto them.
7 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
8 Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water; and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock; so thou shalt give the congregation and their cattle drink.
9 And Moses took the rod from before Jehovah, as he commanded him.
10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; shall we bring you forth water out of this rock?
11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and smote the rock with his rod twice: and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their cattle.
12 And Jehovah said unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed not in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.
13 These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with Jehovah and he was sanctified in them.
(ASV)
"You didn't do what I told you to do and so you won't go to the Promised Land."
We ALL have Fallen Flesh and even when God is right there, right there, a pillar before us, a tower of flame, having conversations with us, selecting us as His people, as the ones to carry His message, we have the power of that Fallen Flesh to lure us, destroy us, ruin the full promise coming to us as we walk in the world, carry out our days, collect our pay or our day's wages, or build our own version of the Promised Land. Rise up and take away all we have built, ruin our testimony, ruin our hope.
A brief time with God's other statement to humanity and we'll discuss post law Flesh.
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