The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States "Moses: Anger in Egypt, a refuge in Midian" for Saturday, 20 2016
Exodus 2:(iii) 11 One day, when Moshe was a grown man, he went out to visit his kinsmen; and he watched them struggling at forced labor. He saw an Egyptian strike a Hebrew, one of his kinsmen. 12 He looked this way and that; and when he saw that no one was around, he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. 13 The next day, he went out and saw two Hebrew men fighting with each other. To the one in the wrong he said, “Why are you hitting your companion?” 14 He retorted, “Who appointed you ruler and judge over us? Do you intend to kill me the way you killed the Egyptian?” Moshe became frightened. “Clearly,” he thought, “the matter has become known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he tried to have Moshe put to death. But Moshe fled from Pharaoh to live in the land of Midyan.
One day, as he was sitting by a well, 16 the seven daughters of the priest of Midyan came to draw water. They had filled the troughs to water their father’s sheep, 17 when the shepherds came and tried to drive them away. But Moshe got up and defended them; then he watered their sheep. 18 When they came to Re‘u’el their father, he said, “How come you’re back so soon today?” 19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds; more than that, he drew water for us and watered the sheep.” 20 He asked his daughters, “Where is he? Why did you leave the man there? Invite him to have something to eat.”
21 Moshe was glad to stay on with the man, and he gave Moshe his daughter Tzipporah in marriage. 22 She gave birth to a son, and he named him Gershom [foreigner there], for he said, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land.”
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Exodus did not specify the age at which Pharaoh’s daughter adopted Moses—it just said it happened after he “had grown up.” In this reading, he “had become an adult,” strong enough to kill a cruel Egyptian slave driver. His compassion for another Hebrew was admirable. His action, on the other hand, drew negative reactions from other Hebrews as well as from the Egyptians. He fled to Midian, which lay outside Egyptian territory, east of what we today call the Gulf of Aqaba. He showed his compassion again in protecting the women shepherds, and as a result found a home and a family.
• What do you believe motivated Moses to kill the Egyptian? What did the story of Moses'
care for Reuel’s daughters reveal about Moses? What positive sides of his character did both stories highlight? What made his choices in the story about Reuel’s daughters wiser and more productive than his killing of the Egyptian slave master? When have you seen an unjust act or situation that made you angry? What, if anything, did you do about it? What can this part of Moses’ story teach you about how to deal with those situations?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, as the song by Hillsong asks, “Break my heart for what breaks yours.”
Grow in me a keen sensitivity to evil and injustice, and an equally keen sense of what I can do about it that will actually help. Amen.
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Family Activity: Research the women in Bible, particularly those connected with the story of Moses found in the book of Exodus. With younger children, use a Bible storybook and discover how many stories of women are told. With older kids, use a concordance or the Internet to explore the stories of women. You may also want to discover how many names of women are mentioned whose stories are not told. Read a few of the stories and describe the qualities of the women mentioned. Discuss what their stories teach us about God. Think of the women in your life today and compare Biblical women with them. Write a note to a woman who displays God-like qualities. Thank her for sharing her faith. As a family, commit to praying for the special women in your life.
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Insights from Carol Cartmill
One day, as he was sitting by a well, 16 the seven daughters of the priest of Midyan came to draw water. They had filled the troughs to water their father’s sheep, 17 when the shepherds came and tried to drive them away. But Moshe got up and defended them; then he watered their sheep. 18 When they came to Re‘u’el their father, he said, “How come you’re back so soon today?” 19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds; more than that, he drew water for us and watered the sheep.” 20 He asked his daughters, “Where is he? Why did you leave the man there? Invite him to have something to eat.”
21 Moshe was glad to stay on with the man, and he gave Moshe his daughter Tzipporah in marriage. 22 She gave birth to a son, and he named him Gershom [foreigner there], for he said, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land.”
-------
Exodus did not specify the age at which Pharaoh’s daughter adopted Moses—it just said it happened after he “had grown up.” In this reading, he “had become an adult,” strong enough to kill a cruel Egyptian slave driver. His compassion for another Hebrew was admirable. His action, on the other hand, drew negative reactions from other Hebrews as well as from the Egyptians. He fled to Midian, which lay outside Egyptian territory, east of what we today call the Gulf of Aqaba. He showed his compassion again in protecting the women shepherds, and as a result found a home and a family.
• What do you believe motivated Moses to kill the Egyptian? What did the story of Moses'
care for Reuel’s daughters reveal about Moses? What positive sides of his character did both stories highlight? What made his choices in the story about Reuel’s daughters wiser and more productive than his killing of the Egyptian slave master? When have you seen an unjust act or situation that made you angry? What, if anything, did you do about it? What can this part of Moses’ story teach you about how to deal with those situations?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, as the song by Hillsong asks, “Break my heart for what breaks yours.”
Grow in me a keen sensitivity to evil and injustice, and an equally keen sense of what I can do about it that will actually help. Amen.
-------
Family Activity: Research the women in Bible, particularly those connected with the story of Moses found in the book of Exodus. With younger children, use a Bible storybook and discover how many stories of women are told. With older kids, use a concordance or the Internet to explore the stories of women. You may also want to discover how many names of women are mentioned whose stories are not told. Read a few of the stories and describe the qualities of the women mentioned. Discuss what their stories teach us about God. Think of the women in your life today and compare Biblical women with them. Write a note to a woman who displays God-like qualities. Thank her for sharing her faith. As a family, commit to praying for the special women in your life.
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Insights from Carol Cartmill
Carol Cartmill serves as Executive Director of Mission and Outreach at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.As I read the first part of this story about Moses, I tried to imagine what was going on in Moses’ heart and mind when he killed the Egyptian. It would be easy to take the account at face value and assume he was solely motivated by the injustice of the Egyptian taskmaster’s abuse of the Hebrew slaves. I’m wondering if that’s the whole story.
We know Moses was a Hebrew raised in an Egyptian household, but the biblical narrative leaves out the details of his experiences growing up. How much did Moses relate to each culture—his native Hebrew versus his environmental Egyptian—and how did each influence him? We hear so much about nurture versus nature in the shaping of children. What shaped Moses to become a champion of justice, even if the manifestation of this characteristic was perhaps a little impulsive at times?
The sister of a fellow staff member acted on her impulse to help another this week. She was out walking with her young son when before them a large dog suddenly attacked a 3-year-old girl. This woman acted on instinct, and threw herself between the attacking dog and the little girl. Her impulsiveness landed her in the hospital, but likely saved a small child from a much worse fate. How many stories have we heard where people take such heroic action in the moment? Most of us wonder if we would act similarly if given the opportunity.
The injustices we see in the world should impact us. Some should move us to act impulsively. Others require more thought. Either way, I think we are meant to act. What is God calling us to do about people suffering in Louisiana, or Syria, or right here in our own city? What is shaping us to become people who either ignore, or engage in, the injustices of our time? May we all be a little impulsive for Christ.
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