Exodus 2:7-12: a reflection

7Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?” 8Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” The young woman went and called the child’s mother. 9Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” The woman took the child, and nursed him. 10The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.” 11In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers and saw their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers. 12He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

Moses, though raised in Pharaoh's household, feels the burden of his enslaved people; and one day, seeing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, he acts. Looking this way and that to be sure no one is watching, he kills the Egyptian and hides the body in the sand. His concern for his oppressed people was right; but his response, taking violent justice into his own hands, in secret, was rash and wrong. He tried to be a deliverer by his own hand, ahead of God's time and outside God's way.

Notice the mixture in Moses' act: right concern, wrong response. His heart for his oppressed people was good; the injustice he saw was real. But he took matters violently into his own hands, killing in secret, appointing himself the deliverer by his own strength and his own way. It was premature and wrong; God would indeed make Moses a deliverer, but in God's time and God's way, not through this rash, self-appointed act of violence. Moses' zeal ran ahead of God, and into wrong.

That is a caution for us: that even a right concern can lead us into wrong when we take matters rashly into our own hands, ahead of God. We can feel rightly about an injustice, a wrong that needs righting; but the concern, however right, does not justify taking matters violently or wrongly into our own hands, ahead of God's time and outside his way. When you feel rightly about a wrong that needs righting, do not let that right concern lead you into a rash, self-appointed response that runs ahead of God. Moses' concern was right, but his violent, self-appointed act was wrong, and premature. Bring your right concerns to God, and act in his way and time, rather than taking matters rashly into your own hands. A right concern does not justify a wrong response; wait for God's way and time, rather than appointing yourself, as Moses did, a deliverer by your own rash hand.

Lord, Moses, feeling the burden of his oppressed people, saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and, looking to be sure no one watched, killed him and hid the body; his concern was right, but his response, taking violent justice into his own hands in secret, was rash and wrong, running ahead of your time and outside your way. Caution me by that: that even a right concern can lead me into wrong when I take matters rashly into my own hands, ahead of you. I can feel rightly about an injustice, a wrong that needs righting; but the concern, however right, does not justify taking matters violently or wrongly into my own hands, ahead of your time and outside your way. When I feel rightly about a wrong that needs righting, keep that right concern from leading me into a rash, self-appointed response that runs ahead of you. Moses' concern was right, but his violent, self-appointed act was wrong, and premature. Help me bring my right concerns to you, and act in your way and time, rather than taking matters rashly into my own hands. A right concern does not justify a wrong response; help me wait for your way and time, Lord, rather than appointing myself, as Moses did, a deliverer by my own rash hand.