Why did the original Pharaoh (not the Pharaoh with the ten plagues) want to kill Moses?

When did the Lord God first communicate with Moses?

Did you answer

Pharaoh wanted to kill Moses because Moses killed an Egyptian?

Did you also answer the first time the Lord God communicated with Moses was at Mount Horeb during the burning bush?

It may surprise you that these answers are incorrect.

Read on to get the correct answers from your Bible.

Back in the time of Moses there was no one higher in Egypt than Pharaoh. Pharaoh could do anything he wanted. It stands to reason that these same privileges would extend to Pharaoh’s family.

Moses was pleasing to God when he was born.

Act 7:20  At this time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months.

Moses was now part of Pharaoh’s Royal family.

Exo 2:10  And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

We know Moses was accepted into Pharaoh’s royal family as he was well educated in Egypt.

Act 7:22  And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.

Moses knew he was an Israelite. Notice his brethren is mentioned twice in verse 11.

Exo 2:11  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.

Moses also refused to be called or named as part of the royal family.

Heb 11:24  By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,

God communicated with Moses by putting it in his heart to see the oppressed Israelites.

Act 7:23  “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.

Moses killed the Egyptian and hid his body.

Exo 2:12  So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

Now this Egyptian who died was not an elite citizen in Egypt. His job was to watch slaves. He would not have been from a high-ranking family. He would have been just a commoner. Unlike Moses who was (an adopted) grandchild of Pharaoh.

Moses killed the Egyptian in front of the Hebrew, so it is not a surprise to Moses that the Israelites learned about this. See Exo 2:14 (below).

After this incident Moses went home, but he returned the next day.

Exo 2:13  And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?”

Act 7:26  And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, “Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?”

Moses learnt that apart from his royal status, he was virtually unknown to the Israelites. To them he was just another Egyptian.

Act 7:27  But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, “WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND A JUDGE OVER US?

Act 7:28  DO YOU WANT TO KILL ME AS YOU DID THE EGYPTIAN YESTERDAY?”

Exo 2:14  Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!”

Moses was not worried about these two Hebrew men knowing that he killed an Egyptian. Moses is shocked to find out that the Israelites do not know that God was going to use Moses to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt.

Act 7:24  And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian.

Act 7:25  For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.

Moses could only have known that he was going to lead the Israelites out of Egypt if the Lord God (or a messenger sent by the Lord God) had communicated with him previously.

Now Pharaoh learnt that Moses wanted to free the Israelites. He may have learnt that Moses was going to do this through the Lord God. But Pharaoh did not know or believe that Moses’ and the Israelites God was the One True God.

In verse 15 below, this is “the thing” that Pharaoh hears. This is why Pharaoh sought to kill Moses.

Verse 15 is translated wrong in the NKJV. In the original KJV, the word “matter” is translated “thing”.

It should be - When Pharaoh heard of this thing,

Exo 2:15  When Pharaoh heard of this matter (thing), he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.

Why would Pharaoh even care about the death of one common Egyptian? Life was cheap in those times. He would have a lot more important things to concern himself with.

What did get Pharaoh’s attention was “the thing”.

Exo 2:15  When Pharaoh heard of this matter (thing),…

In summary, the Lord God had to have communicated with Moses (either directly or through an angel etc.) before Moses went to see the oppression of his brethren, (Exodus 2:11) which was before he fled Egypt.

Pharaoh did not want to kill Moses because he killed an Egyptian. Pharaoh wanted to kill Moses because he learned that Moses wanted to free the Israelites.