A pull of loyalties (Exod 2:11-14)

Moses grew up with a dual identity as both Egyptian and Hebrew, prince and slave. We are not told of the turmoil this might have meant, but it is likely he would have felt the pull of loyalties. Those early memories living with his Hebrew parents, hearing his mother tongue must have made an impression even if he could not remember much of it later. Did he recall playing with Aaron and Miriam, lullabies his mother sang, the smell of cooking and the taste of food they ate?

Transitioning into Pharaoh’s household, he would have worn different clothes, learnt the Egyptian language and different customs. He had a new mother and a new status and the prestige that went with it. But perhaps there were whispers about his origins and not everybody accepted him as a fully-fledged member of the household. His legal status as adopted son would have protected him and even Pharaoh, if he knew what he was, could have tolerated his daughter’s ‘whim’ in adopting a Hebrew child. Was Moses tempted to merge in to belong, to shed his Hebrew origins and act more Egyptian than the Egyptians? Was the wealth and luxury he lived in, the prestige and authority, the privileges he enjoyed hard to let go of? Yet, either at the influence of his Hebrew parents (if he had contact with them later) or his Egyptian mother (sympathetic to the Hebrews’ plight), through his studies or God’s mysterious prompting, his sense of justice emerged. Perhaps he had hoped that due to his position he could lighten his brothers’ load. Whichever way it was, by the time he became an adult, he has made his choice and sided with the Hebrews (note the repeated language of ‘his brothers’ in Exod 2:11).

Although the pull of loyalties and the question of belonging is more acute for TCKs,[1] in one sense all Christians live with the tension of being planted in this world while belonging to God’s kingdom. We, too, make choices daily that express our loyalties. The difficulty is that not everything in this world is against God and so the choice is not always clear-cut. Jesus prays not that we might be taken out of this world, but for us to be kept from the evil one (John 17:15). On the positive side, we might speculate that Moses could be grateful for the experiences he received in a privileged Egyptian household, his education and the dignity possessed by a free man so different from the slave mentality of the Hebrews. Perhaps even his dual position as Hebrew and Egyptian relativized his sense of rootedness in Egypt, so that it was easier for him to up stakes in the exodus than it was for his Hebrew brothers. At the other end of the spectrum, he had to unlearn the corruptions of power. Although he acts from a sense of justice when he strikes the Egyptian (vv.11-12), taking the law into his own hands makes him a murderer and is as wrong as the Egyptians oppressing the Hebrews. Further, he could not have held on to his wealth and privilege when called to lead Israel out of Egypt, even if he had not lost it through his own rash actions.

Ultimately, God calls us to loyalty to Him and we can be grateful for the good things we may have received, whether upbringing, friends or opportunities in life, while repudiating unhealthy patterns of thinking and behaviour and holding loosely such things as wealth or status, willing to surrender them if God’s service requires.

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[1] Third-culture kids: those who grow up in more than one culture and so integrate perspectives from each thereby creating a unique ‘third’ culture. See my post on this relating to Moses here.