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.
But he said, Man, who made me a judge or a maker of decisions for you?
And they said, Give way there. This one man, they said, came here from a strange country, and will he now be our judge? now we will do worse to you than to them; and pushing violently against Lot, they came near to get the door broken in.
Then Abram said to Lot, Let there be no argument between me and you, and between my herdmen and your herdmen, for we are brothers.
And his brothers said to him, Are you to be our king? will you have authority over us? And because of his dream and his words, their hate for him became greater than ever. Then he had another dream, and gave his brothers an account of it, saying, I have had another dream: the sun and the moon and eleven stars gave honour to me. And he gave word of it to his father and his brothers; but his father protesting said, What sort of a dream is this? am I and your mother and your brothers to go down on our faces to the earth before you? And his brothers were full of envy; but his father kept his words in mind.
They came together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, You take overmuch on yourselves, seeing that all the people are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them; why then have you put yourselves in authority over the people of the Lord?
Is it not enough that you have taken us from a land flowing with milk and honey, to put us to death in the waste land, but now you are desiring to make yourself a chief over us?
The kings of the earth have taken their place, and the rulers are fixed in their purpose, against the Lord, and against the king of his selection, saying, Let their chains be broken, and their cords taken from off us. Then he whose seat is in the heavens will be laughing: the Lord will make sport of them. Then will his angry words come to their ears, and by his wrath they will be troubled: But I have put my king on my holy hill of Zion.
The king's wrath is like the loud cry of a lion, but his approval is like dew on the grass.
But his people had no love for him, and sent representatives after him, saying, We will not have this man for our ruler.
And the day after, he came to them, while they were having a fight, and would have made peace between them, saying, Sirs, you are brothers; why do you do wrong to one another? But the man who was doing wrong to his neighbour, pushing him away, said, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Will you put me to death as you did the Egyptian yesterday?
This Moses, whom they would not have, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge? him God sent to be a ruler and a saviour, by the hand of the angel whom he saw in the thorn-tree.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Exodus 2
Commentary on Exodus 2 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 2
This chapter begins the story of Moses, that man of renown, famed for his intimate acquaintance with Heaven and his eminent usefulness on earth, and the most remarkable type of Christ, as a prophet, saviour, lawgiver, and mediator, in all the Old Testament. The Jews have a book among them of the life of Moses, which tells a great many stories concerning him, which we have reason to think are mere fictions; what he has recorded concerning himself is what we may rely upon, for we know that his record is true; and it is what we may be satisfied with, for it is what Infinite Wisdom thought fit to preserve and transmit to us. In this chapter we have,
Exd 2:1-4
Moses was a Levite, both by father and mother. Jacob left Levi under marks of disgrace (Gen. 49:5); and yet, soon after, Moses appears a descendant from him, that he might typify Christ, who came in the likeness of sinful flesh and was made a curse for us. This tribe began to be distinguished from the rest by the birth of Moses, as afterwards it became remarkable in many other instances. Observe, concerning this newborn infant,
Exd 2:5-10
Here is,
Exd 2:11-15
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,
Exd 2:16-22
Moses here gains a settlement in Midian, just as his father Jacob had gained one in Syria, Gen. 29:2, etc. And both these instances should encourage us to trust Providence, and to follow it. Events that seem inconsiderable, and purely accidental, afterwards appear to have been designed by the wisdom of God for very good purposes, and of great consequence to his people. A casual transient occurrence has sometimes occasioned the greatest and happiest turns of a man's life. Observe,
Exd 2:23-25
Here is,