Bible Synapse
Was Moses afraid of Pharaoh?
Hard question · The law of Moses · raised by 3 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
When he learns that his killing of the Egyptian is known, “Moses feared”; Pharaoh seeks to kill him, and he flees to Midian.
And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. 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.
By faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and “forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king”.
By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
When Pharaoh threatens him with death, Moses answers that he will see his face no more.
And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die. And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more.
The objection
Exodus says that when his killing of the Egyptian became known, “Moses feared” and fled from Pharaoh (Exodus 2:14–15), and he did not go back until God told him that “all the men are dead which sought thy life” (Exodus 4:19). Hebrews says that by faith “he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king” (Hebrews 11:27).
The answer
Christians read Hebrews 11:27 in two ways, and on either reading the two passages agree. Many take it of Moses’ flight to Midian, since Hebrews mentions it before the Passover (verse 28). Exodus tells us what Moses felt when he learned the killing was known: he was afraid, and with reason. Hebrews tells us why he left Egypt and never went back to his place as a prince at Pharaoh’s court: he had chosen “to suffer affliction with the people of God” rather than be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter (verses 24–26). A prince of Egypt might have made his peace with the king, but Moses gave up Egypt for forty years in Midian, and when God sent him back he went to stand before the new king (Exodus 4:19–21). Fear did not rule those choices, faith did: to flee danger is not to fear a man more than God.
Others take verse 27 of the Exodus itself, forty years later, when Moses faced Pharaoh again and again; when Pharaoh threatened him with death he answered, “Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more”, and left him “in a great anger” (Exodus 10:28–29; 11:8). On that reading the fear of Exodus 2 and the courage of Hebrews 11 belong to two different moments of his life.
Still open
Commentators are divided over which departure Hebrews 11:27 means. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown argued for the flight to Midian, Calvin inclined to the Exodus, and Gill allowed both.
From the classic commentators
He did not fear the king so as to neglect his duty and not return when God called him.Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary, on Hebrews 11:27
when I consider all the circumstances, I am inclined to regard this as his second departure; for it was then that he bravely disregarded the fierce wrath of the kingJohn Calvin, Commentary on Hebrews, on 11:27
Sources
- Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary: Hebrews 11, at Bible Hub
- John Calvin, Commentary on Hebrews 11, at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Hebrews 11, at Bible Hub