Exodus 2:13

13 The next day Moses went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your companion?”

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 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.

12 After looking this way and that and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.

13 The next day Moses went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your companion?”

14 But the man replied, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? ” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “This thing I have done has surely become known.”

15 When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, where he sat down beside a well.