“It was in those days, Moses grew and went out to his brethren, and he saw their burdens; he saw an Egyptian man beating a Hebrew man of his brethren” (Exodus 2:11). “It was in those days, Moses grew,” – Moses was twenty years old at that time, and some say forty years old. “Moses grew.” Doesn’t everyone grow?
Rather, it is telling you that he grew in an atypical manner. “And went out to his brethren,” this righteous one went out twice61Moses left the palace twice to check on his brethren. and the Holy One blessed be He wrote them one after another; “he went out on the second day” (Exodus 2:13), these are two. “He saw their burdens.” What is “he saw”?
He would see their burdens and cry and say: ‘Woe is me over you; would that I could die for you. There is no labor more arduous than labor with mortar.’ He would shoulder [the burdens] and help each and every one of them. Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Yosei HaGelili says: He saw a large burden on a small man and a small burden on a large man; the burden of a man on a woman and the burden of a woman on a man; the burden of an elderly man on a lad and the burden of a lad on an elderly man.
He would leave his royal guard and would arrange their burdens, feigning as though he was helping Pharaoh. The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘You left your affairs and went to observe the Israelite’s suffering, and you treated them in a brotherly manner; I will leave the upper and lower worlds to speak with you.’ That is what is written: “The Lord saw that he had turned to see” (Exodus 3:4); the Holy One blessed be He saw that he turned from his affairs to see their burdens; therefore, “God called to him from the midst of the bush” (ibid.).