And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.
In those days, when Moses was grown - not in age and stature only, but in power, as well as in renown for accomplishments and military prowess (Acts 7:23; also Josephus' 'Antiquities,' b. 2:, ch. 10:: cf. the testimonies of ancient writers collected by Champollion-Figeac-`Egypte' ('l'Univers Pittoresque,' pp. 11, 122). There is a gap here in the sacred history which, however, is supplied by the inspired commentary of Paul, who has fully detailed the reasons as well as extent of the change that took place in the condition of Moses; and whether, as some say, his royal mother had proposed to make him co-regent and successor to the crown, or some other circumstances led to a declaration of his mind, he determined to renounce the palace, and identify himself with the suffering people of God (Hebrews 11:24-26.) The descent of some great sovereigns, like Diocletian and Charles V, from a throne into private life, is nothing to the sacrifice which Moses made through the power of faith.
Went out unto his brethren. Possessed, doubtless, of some official character, he purposed to make a full and systematic inspection of their condition in the various parts of the country where they were dispersed (Acts 7:23), and he adopted this proceeding in pursuance of the patriotic purpose that the faith which is of the operation of God was even then forming in his heart.
Spied an Egyptian - one of the taskmasters scourging a Hebrew slave without any just cause (Acts 7:24), and in so cruel a manner that he seems to have died under the barbarous treatment-for the conditions of the sacred story imply such a fatal issue. The sight was new and strange to him; and though pre-eminent for meekness (Numbers 12:3), he was fired with indignation.
Slew the Egyptian. This act of Moses may seem, and indeed by some has been condemned, as rash and unjustifiable-in plain terms, as 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. Most probably the outrage he avenged was an act of individual oppression, done by one who was 'armed with a little brief authority,' and who had been guilty of needless excesses of cruelty. The person slain, however, being a government officer, Moses had rendered himself amenable to the laws of Egypt (Diodorus Siculus, 1:, sec.
27), and therefore he endeavoured to screen himself from the consequences by concealment of the corpse.
Hid him in the sand. The sand of the Arabian desert is close on the edge of the cultivated land in Egypt; or, if this happened near Memphis, as is generally supposed, there is a tongue of the sandy desert which comes up to the very borders of Old Cairo, as Laborde describes ('Comment. Geographique'); and thus an objection that was long made to the statement in this verse, that there were no sands in which Moses could bury the man whom he had slaughtered, is shown to be groundless.