Exodus 2:13

13 And he went out on the second day, and there were two Hebrew men fighting, and he said to the guilty [one], "Why do you strike your neighbor?"

Exodus 2:13 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 2:13

And when he went out the second day
The day following:

behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together;
which the Jewish writers ^F8 take to be Dathan and Abiram:

and he said to him that did the wrong;
who was the aggressor, and acted the wicked part in abusing his brother:

wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?
friend and companion; signifying, that it was very unbecoming, unkind, and unnatural, and that brethren and friends ought to live together in love, and not strive with, and smite one another, and especially at such a time as this, when they were so oppressed by, and suffered so much from their enemies; (See Gill on Acts 7:26).

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Targum Jon. & Jarchi in loc. Shemoth Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 91. 4. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 2. Pirke Eliezer, c. 48.

Exodus 2:13 In-Context

11 {And then} in those days when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers, and he saw their {forced labor}, and he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man, [one of] his brothers.

12 And he turned here and there, and he saw no one, and he struck the Egyptian, and he hid him in the sand.

13 And he went out on the second day, and there were two Hebrew men fighting, and he said to the guilty [one], "Why do you strike your neighbor?"

14 And he said, "Who {appointed you as a commander} and a judge over us? [Are] you intending to kill me like you killed the Egyptian?" And Moses was afraid, and he said, "Surely the matter has become known."

15 And Pharaoh heard this matter, and he sought to kill Moses, and Moses fled from Pharaoh, and he lived in the land of Midian, and he lived at {a certain well}.