Maybe you have seen one of those feel-good quote graphics going around, about how God uses people in spite of their sins. It will say something like: Noah got drunk. Abraham lied. Moses was a murderer …

Now, one problem with this approach is that people will often use it to justify their misdeeds. How many times has a minister been caught up in sexual misconduct, and his defenders line up to argue: Well, David was an adulterer! As if that somehow means a sexually immoral preacher is still qualified for the ministry.

But I want to focus on just one of these, and that’s the assertion that Moses was a murderer.

Does the Bible actually teach that?

Let’s go to the source material and find out.

Exodus 2:11-14: Moses kills an Egyptian

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. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 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?” 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!”
‭‭NKJV

Here’s what we can learn from a surface-level read of the text.

1. Moses killed an Egyptian for beating a fellow Israelite.
2. The next day, he saw two Hebrews fighting, and tried to break it up.
3. The aggressor of that fight brought up Moses killing the Egyptian the day before.

First, I can’t find a single standard English translation that attaches the word murder to what Moses did. They all say killed. Even the Hebrew aggressor who was angry at Moses for intervening the following day said: Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?

The Hebrew word back of killed there in v14 can mean anything from murder (Genesis 4:8) to divine judgment (Exodus 13:15) to capital punishment (Numbers 25:5) to self-defense (Esther 8:11).

It is this general word for killing that’s used in Ecclesiastes 3:3: A time to kill, and a time to heal (emphasis added). Obviously, this doesn’t mean there’s a time to murder!

The context is going to determine the shade of meaning—whether murder, or some other kind of killing.

Besides, even if we did decide that Moses had been accused of murder in this passage; are we to simply accept the word of an aggressor who was hostile towards Moses for calling out his violence?

Here’s something else to consider: Was Moses’ action justified? Because if so, it was not murder.

I’m going to show you something from the Hebrew of vv11-12 that our English translations tend to obscure.

And he saw an Egyptian beating [Heb. nakah] a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed [Heb. nakah] the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

Notice that the same Hebrew verb is translated as beating in v11, and killed in v12. So the verb for what Moses did to the Egyptian, is the same verb for what the Egyptian was doing to the Hebrew.

The verb nakah means to strike or to smite. As we saw earlier with the verb for kill, it is capable of various shades of meaning, up to and including striking someone so that they die. Indeed, in Exodus 9:25, it’s used for the plague of hail God sent upon Egypt, which killed both man and beast (Exodus 9:19).

Moreover, in both cases, the verb is in the Hiphil stem—expressing causative force. In the case of the Egyptian striking the Hebrew, it’s a participle: smiting. So the image you’re supposed to have is the Egyptian is raining down [potentially lethal] blows on the Hebrew. Meanwhile, Moses’ action is a consecutive imperfect. Having seen the Egyptian ruthlessly beating the Hebrew, Moses strikes the Egyptian to stop him.

In other words, the force Moses used to stop the Egyptian was proportional to the force the Egyptian was using against the Hebrew. He used deadly force to disarm deadly force.

So a strong case can be made from the language that what Moses did was heroic—certainly not murder.

Now, let’s consider how this story is remembered by two New Testament passages.

Hebrews 11:24-26: Moses acted by faith

By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
‭‭NKJV‬‬

Hebrews makes sure that we understand that Moses, as a grown and mature man, made a conscious decision to return to his people, instead of staying in the Pharaoh’s court. For he knew the promise of the coming Redeemer God had made to his ancestors (notice Hebrews mentions he chose to suffer the reproach of Christ, i.e., for the sake of the Christ he knew was to come).

Thus, Moses’ attempt here to relieve one of his kinsmen—one of the people of God—from deadly oppression in his adoptive nation, was not a thoughtless reaction. Rather, it was a foreshadowing of the liberation to come, when God would send him back to Egypt years later to free the Hebrews from their slavery.

Hebrews says he made the decision to forsake an easy (but sinful) life in Pharaoh’s court, in order to cast his lot with the people of God by faith. When he struck the Egyptian who was attacking one of his brethren, this was a demonstration of his faith in the promises of God.

Since this is inspired revelation, this is how we should think of what Moses did.

Acts 7:20-28: Moses was defending the oppressed

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. But when he was set out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds. Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 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. 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?” But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?”
‭‭NKJV

This is the longest treatment we have of Moses killing the Egyptian. Acts 6:10 tells us that Stephen spoke these words under the direction of the Holy Spirit.

How did Stephen interpret what happened?

1. Stephen stated that Moses was defending his fellow Hebrew when he struck down the Egyptian (v24).
2. Stephen stated his brethren ought to have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand (v25). In other words, the man who threw it back in Moses’ face the next day was wrong.

So Stephen—by inspiration of the Holy Spirit—declared that Moses was defending his kinsman, and what he did was justified. Moses understood what God wanted him to do. His fellow Hebrews did not yet understand.

Conclusion

Moses was not a murderer.

Nowhere in Scripture is he called a murderer. The closest anyone ever comes to calling him a murderer is when the aggressor he confronted shot back: Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday? But he is not a reliable witness.

Moses used what turned out to be deadly force to save the life of a fellow Hebrew who was being attacked by deadly force.

Likewise, the New Testament attributes his actions to faith (Hebrews 11:24-26), and frames killing the Egyptian as defending the life of a fellow Hebrew against an oppressor.

The Ninth Commandment is: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour (Exodus‬ ‭20‬:‭16‬). To lay the charge of murder on Moses is not only factually incorrect based on all the relevant biblical data; it is a violation of the Ninth Commandment. It is bearing false witness, and slander against a man Scripture calls faithful in all God’s house as a servant (Hebrews 3:5 ESV)