GOD CALLS MOSES (2), Dr. Samuel Lee
MOSES BECOMES A FOREIGNER IN MIDIAN
Passage: Exodus 2:11~25  
Key verse: 22
Moses Flees to Midian
11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people(A) were and watched them at their hard labor.(B) He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”(C)
14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?(D) Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”
15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill(E) Moses, but Moses fled(F) from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian,(G) where he sat down by a well. 16 Now a priest of Midian(H) had seven daughters, and they came to draw water(I) and fill the troughs(J) to water their father’s flock. 17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue(K) and watered their flock.(L)
18 When the girls returned to Reuel(M) their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”
19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
20 “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”(N)
21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah(O) to Moses in marriage. 22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom,[a](P) saying, “I have become a foreigner(Q) in a foreign land.”
23 During that long period,(R) the king of Egypt died.(S) The Israelites groaned in their slavery(T) and cried out, and their cry(U) for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he remembered(V) his covenant(W) with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned(X) about them.
Footnotes
- Exodus 2:22 Gershom sounds like the Hebrew for a foreigner there.
Cross references
- Exodus 2:11 : Ac 7:23; Heb 11:24-26
- Exodus 2:11 : S Ex 1:11
- Exodus 2:13 : Ac 7:26
- Exodus 2:14 : S Ge 13:8; Ac 7:27*
- Exodus 2:15 : Ex 4:19
- Exodus 2:15 : S Ge 31:21
- Exodus 2:15 : Heb 11:27
- Exodus 2:16 : Ex 3:1; 18:1
- Exodus 2:16 : S Ge 24:11
- Exodus 2:16 : S Ge 30:38
- Exodus 2:17 : 1Sa 30:8; Ps 31:2
- Exodus 2:17 : S Ge 29:10
- Exodus 2:18 : Ex 3:1; 4:18; 18:1, 5, 12; Nu 10:29
- Exodus 2:20 : Ge 18:2-5
- Exodus 2:21 : Ex 4:25; 18:2; Nu 12:1
- Exodus 2:22 : Jdg 18:30
- Exodus 2:22 : S Ge 23:4; Heb 11:13
- Exodus 2:23 : Ac 7:30
- Exodus 2:23 : Ex 4:19
- Exodus 2:23 : S Ex 1:14
- Exodus 2:23 : ver 24; Ex 3:7, 9; 6:5; Nu 20:15-16; Dt 26:7; Jdg 2:18; 1Sa 12:8; Ps 5:2; 18:6; 39:12; 81:7; 102:1; Jas 5:4
- Exodus 2:24 : S Ge 8:1
- Exodus 2:24 : S Ge 9:15; 15:15; 17:4; 22:16-18; 26:3; 28:13-15; Ex 32:13; 2Ki 13:23; Ps 105:10, 42; Jer 14:21
- Exodus 2:25 : Ex 3:7; 4:31; Lk 1:25
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Source:  BibleGateway
Moses grew up very capable: educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, powerful in speech and action (Ac 7:22). Instead of becoming a great Egyptian, he tried to help his suffering people, even murdering an Egyptian. He thought the Hebrews would see him as God's superhero, but to them he was only another bully. They rejected him, and his actions resulted in him becoming a fugitive from Egypt.
2. Moses: husband and father in exile (16-25).
In Midian, Moses found refuge in Reuel's house, whose daughters he had helped. Midian was the child of Keturah and Abraham (Ge 25:1,2), and Reuel means 'friend of God,'or El, the God of the Patriarchs. Moses had a family, and a new life. But in naming Gershom he reveals his despair: he ended up a foreigner. During that long period, Moses thought the story was over, but God was just beginning. The king of Egypt died, and God heard the cry of his people. God remembered his covenant and looked with concern on Israel. He would take action in his time and in his way.
Prayer: Father, often I think I'm the main actor in the story, but you alone are the initiator of history. Help me learn to wait on your time.
One Word: Wait on God's time