Read Exodus 2:11-25

“Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.” (Exodus 2:11)

Moses, no doubt, grew up as a peculiar child in a peculiar situation. Like Joseph before him, the son of Jacob, Moses was yet another Hebrew walking freely within the emerald and topaz courts of Egypt. To what kind of authority Moses had, if he had any, is unknown, but what is certain is that he was exempt from the grueling bondage of his people Israel and could freely pass by any Egyptian taskmaster without dread.

But there was another taskmaster that vexed Moses’ being which was far more fierce and tormenting. It was the taskmaster of guilt and shame, and it scourged his soul like the cat of nine tales scourged a criminal’s back. And this led Moses to act in unpredictable ways that, perhaps, even surprised him. For when he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, he at once chose his Hebrew identity over his Egyptian one, and his heart exploded with rage.

“So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.” (Exodus 2:12)

Was Moses’ bold performance heroic or hypocritical? Undoubtedly, Moses thought it to be heroic, but his Jewish brethren saw nothing but a hypocrite. He was just a Jewish rogue parading around in royal Egyptian garments without any accountability toward God or Pharaoh. And so Moses quickly found himself rejected by both Egypt and Israel (see verses 13-15).

“And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.” (Acts 7:24–25)

This is what happens when we, as the children of God, parade around in the royal robes of the world; when our hands are soft from only knowing the delicacies of the flesh, rather than the suffering of being persecuted for Christ. Our actions cannot be heroic, but only hypocritical. In the end, we will be seen as neither friendly toward Christ nor convenient to the world. We are just a walking anomaly unsteady in all our ways. No wonder this is one in whom Christ vomits out of His mouth! (see Revelation 3:16).

Let us not be as Lot, the nephew of Abraham, who having the faith of Abraham, chose not to walk in God’s ways but instead pitched his tent toward wicked Sodom. He further compromised and dwelt among them as a dignitary (see Genesis 13:12-13; 19:9). The Apostle Peter tells us the verdict of Lot’s soul:

“…Righteous Lot… was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—” (2 Peter 2:7–8)

Christian, have you pitched your tent toward Sodom? Have you buried an Egyptian while wearing Egyptian clothes? Have you forgotten the warning of the Apostle James, who says —

“Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4)

And the Apostle John who preached —

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15)

Is your soul not vexed and your spirit not provoked to take off those worldly clothes of hypocrisy, and show forth your true identity by putting on the Lord Jesus Christ? Let us examine our hearts today, and ask the Lord to show us if there be any hypocrisy within us, and may we choose to walk worthy of the calling by which we have been called!

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:22–23)