"The Anti-Murder Axis — Part III"

Moshe and the Egyptian: When Stopping Violence Raises New Questions

Introduction — The First Blow of Redemption

Moshe’s first recorded act as a redeemer is not speech, prayer, or prophecy.

It is intervention.

“וַיַּרְא אִישׁ מִצְרִי מַכֶּה אִישׁ עִבְרִי”
“He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew man.” (Shemos 2:11)

Moshe looks.
Moshe understands.
Moshe acts.

And yet, unlike the midwives or Bat-Paroh, this act does not lead immediately toward redemption. Instead, it produces fear, flight, and exile.

The Torah insists that we do not read this moment simplistically. Stopping violence is necessary — but how it is done, under what conditions, and with what consequences matters deeply.

Ramban: Why the Torah Slows the Story

Ramban notices something unusual. The Torah lingers over details that seem unnecessary if Moshe’s act were unambiguous.

• “וַיִּפֶן כֹּה וָכֹה” — he looked this way and that
• “וַיַּרְא כִּי אֵין אִישׁ” — he saw there was no man
• Immediate fear of exposure afterward

Ramban asks:
If Moshe acted righteously, why the anxiety?
Why the need to check witnesses?
Why the danger of informers?

His answer is sobering. Moshe was morally justified — but the legal and social environment was broken. There was no court, no trust, no system capable of absorbing justice without collapse.

Moral urgency does not eliminate procedural risk.

Killing to Stop Killing

This is the Torah’s hardest tension.

Moshe kills in order to stop lethal violence.

The Torah neither condemns nor celebrates the act. Instead, it exposes its cost.

Even when murder must be stopped, violence creates ripple effects:

• Fear
• Instability
• Flight
• Delay of redemption

The Torah refuses the fantasy of clean heroism.

Stopping violence is sometimes necessary.
But it is never simple.

Informers and the Collapse of Trust

Moshe’s fear is not abstract.

“אָכֵן נוֹדַע הַדָּבָר”
“Surely the matter is known.”

Ramban emphasizes the role of informers. A society that tolerates violence also destroys trust. Once betrayal becomes normal, even righteous action becomes dangerous.

Moshe realizes that Israel is not yet ready for redemption — not because of powerlessness, but because internal fracture makes justice impossible.

This realization sends him into exile.

The Difference Between Urgency and Authority

The Torah draws a line.

• The midwives acted within quiet resistance
• Bat-Paroh acted within personal conscience
• Moshe acts as an individual confronting violence directly

But he does not yet possess communal authority.

The Torah teaches that stopping violence requires not only courage, but legitimacy. Without structures of law and accountability, even necessary acts fracture society further.

Redemption must therefore wait.

Application — When Action Is Necessary but Costly

This episode speaks with painful relevance.

There are moments when violence must be stopped immediately.
There are moments when delay is complicity.

And yet the Torah warns: urgency does not abolish consequence.

Moshe’s act teaches that even morally necessary intervention can carry:

• Personal cost
• Communal instability
• Long-term delay

Wisdom lies in recognizing both truths simultaneously.

"The Anti-Murder Axis"

Explained:

• Murder as policy collapses civilization
• Life is preserved through quiet chessed
• Violence may need stopping — but law, trust, and consequence still matter

The Torah refuses absolutism.
It demands moral courage and moral restraint.

Closing — Redemption Waits for Law

Moshe stops violence — and is forced to flee.

Not because he was wrong,
but because the world was not yet ready to absorb justice.

The Torah teaches that redemption requires more than bravery.
It requires a society capable of sustaining life without unraveling itself.

Until then, even necessary acts will hurt.

That is not a failure of Moshe.
It is the Torah’s insistence on truth.

📖 Sources

• Full sources available on the Mitzvah Minute Parshas Shemos page under insights and commentaries.