Exodus 2:15
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.
When Pharaoh heard that Moses had killed an Egyptian, with the report swollen into a charge that he meant to make war on Egypt and take rule himself, he sought to kill him, so Moses at forty years old secretly left Egypt and the Lord directed his course to Midian. There he found a home with Jethro the priest and prince of Midian who worshiped God, married one of his daughters, and remained forty years as a shepherd and keeper of his father-in-law's flocks. He was not yet prepared for his life-work but mistook God's purpose and took the work into his own hands, supposing his training in Egyptian wisdom and as a mighty general qualified him to deliver Israel by warfare, and in killing the oppressor and hiding the body he acted in presumption, self-sufficiency, and human planning and showed himself unfit to represent the God of mercy, love, and tenderness. God permitted and overruled even that rash act to accomplish His own purpose of delivering by His mighty power alone, allowing the failure and flight to teach Moses his utter helplessness without divine upholding, to lose self-confidence, to trust wholly in God, and to learn the gentleness, patience, and long-suffering every laborer must possess. Cut off from his mission, he spent forty years in humble shepherd work in the solitude and hardship of Midian, where through care for the flock, communion with God, and unlearning Egypt's molding influences his pride and self-sufficiency were swept away until he became very meek above all men, and those habits prepared him to become the compassionate, long-suffering shepherd of Israel as no human training could.
Flight to Midian
When Pharaoh heard that Moses had killed an Egyptian, he sought to slay Moses. The report was exaggerated into the claim that Moses intended to make war upon Egypt, overthrow it, and rule as king. It was that inflamed charge that stirred Pharaoh's anger against him.
Moses was forty years old when the news reached Pharaoh, after his clash in reproving a Hebrew who was striking another Hebrew. Knowing that Pharaoh planned to kill him, he secretly left Egypt and fled. He escaped toward Arabia to Midian, with the Lord directing his course.
In Midian he found a home with Jethro, the priest and prince of Midian who worshiped God. After a time he married one of Jethro's daughters. He became a shepherd and keeper of his father-in-law's flocks, and remained there forty years.
Failure and Preparation for Leadership
Moses was not yet prepared for his life-work when Pharaoh sought his life, for he had mistaken God's purpose and taken into his own hands the work God had promised to do. Supposing his thorough education in Egyptian wisdom and his training as a mighty general fully qualified him to lead Israel from bondage, he acted in presumption, self-sufficiency, hurry, and human planning. He set about redressing his people's wrongs and gaining their favor by killing an Egyptian who was oppressing an Israelite and hiding the body, expecting Israel's deliverance to come through warfare with himself leading against the Egyptian army. His flight to Midian as a fugitive and exile in defeat and disappointment was the consequence of that rash attempt.
In that killing he manifested the spirit of him who was a murderer from the beginning, and by an act prompted by a presumptuous spirit he proved himself unfit to represent the God of mercy, love, and tenderness. The act revealed the foolishness of man's wisdom and the weakness of human strength even at the height of human glory. After his first attempt to deliver Israel ended in miserable failure and defeat, he immediately lost confidence in God and turned his back upon his appointed work. He concluded that because of his mistake and great sin in taking life God would not permit him to have any part in delivering His people from cruel bondage.
God permitted and overruled even that rash, premature act to accomplish His purposes, for He willed to deliver by His own mighty power so that the glory would be ascribed to Him alone. He allowed the failure and flight to teach Moses his utter helplessness and inefficiency without divine upholding, the lesson of dependence upon divine power taught to Abraham and Jacob, not to rely upon human strength or wisdom but upon the power of God for the fulfillment of His promises. Faith moves in the strength and wisdom of God and not in the ways of men, so Moses had to lose self-confidence, realize his own helplessness, put his trust in God, and become willing to obey God's commands whether they seemed proper to human reason or not. By such simple faith he was enabled to press through difficulties and overcome obstacles that seemed almost insurmountable. The Lord permitted these things that He might teach him the gentleness, goodness, patience, and long-suffering that every laborer for the Master must possess and that constitute the successful workman in the Lord's cause.
The flight cut him off apparently forever from his life's mission and began forty years in the humble work of a shepherd and keeper of flocks in the wilds, desert, and mountains of Midian, in solitude, self-denial, and hardship. In that school of nature with Christ as teacher, through care-taking, hunting for stray sheep, self-forgetfulness, and tender solicitude for the flock, he learned humility, meekness, simple unwavering faith, trust, and patience. Solitude, self-denial, and hardship taught him patience, tempering of passions, obedience before he could govern wisely, harmony of heart with God before he could teach Israel the knowledge of His will, and fatherly care for all who needed help through his own experience. The habits thus developed prepared him to become the compassionate, long-suffering shepherd of Israel, for which no human training or culture could substitute.
He had much to unlearn from the molding influences surrounding him in Egypt, and time, change of surroundings, and communion with God removed those impressions through a struggle as for life on his own part to renounce error and accept truth, with God as his helper when the conflict was too severe for human strength. There his pride and self-sufficiency were swept away until he became patient, reverent, humble, and very meek above all men. He learned the lesson of humility so perfectly that even afterward when God revealed Himself and spoke to him face to face as a man speaks to a friend, he was not lifted up to think he could teach God how to work for His people. The retired life amid nature exerted a refining, subduing influence that fitted him for his calling.
That fitting illustrates that the locality for training workers and youth should be chosen where contact with nature can shape character away from corrupting surroundings. The flight and shepherd years teach laying aside self-sufficiency to walk humbly before God, helping rather than driving further one whose soul is in peril, and speaking and acting as God's little children.