He sees an Egyptian taskmaster brutally beating an Israelite. Something snaps. But it wasn’t brute force that Moses used. No weapon was needed. According to Legends of the Jews, Moses simply pronounced the Name of God. And the Egyptian was dead.
Imagine the scene. The Israelites, witnesses to this act, are stunned. Moses, knowing the implications of what he's done, pleads with them: "The Lord compared you unto the sand of the sea-shore, and as the sand moves noiselessly from place to place, so I pray you to keep the knowledge of what hath happened a secret within yourselves. Let nothing be heard concerning it." He begs them for silence, for discretion. He asks them to be like the silent, shifting sands.
But secrets, as we know, rarely stay buried.
Moses's wish, alas, was not honored. The word got out about the Egyptian's death. And who betrayed him? None other than fellow Israelites: Dathan and Abiram, sons of Pallu, from the tribe of Reuben. These weren't just any Israelites; they were known for their audacity and their love of a good argument. Legends of the Jews paints them as troublemakers, plain and simple.
These two, consumed by malice, plotted to expose Moses. The next day, they staged a fight. A petty, manufactured squabble, all to draw Moses in. Their plan worked perfectly.
Seeing Dathan raise his hand to strike Abiram, Moses intervenes, exclaiming, "O thou art a villain, to lift up thy hand against an Israelite, even if he is no better than thou." It's a moment of frustration, a plea for unity among his people. But Dathan seizes the opportunity.
Dathan retorts, dripping with sarcasm and veiled threat: "Young man, who hath made thee to be a judge over us, thou that hast not yet attained to years of maturity? We know very well that thou art the son of Jochebed, though people call thee the son of the princess Bithiah, and if thou shouldst attempt to play the part of our master and judge, we will publish abroad the thing thou didst unto the Egyptian. Or, peradventure, thou harborest the intention to slay us as thou didst slay him, by pronouncing the Name of God?"
Wow. He throws everything at Moses: his uncertain parentage, his youth, his presumption. And the ultimate threat: expose his secret, the power he wielded, the death he caused. It's a chilling moment of betrayal.
What does this tell us? Perhaps it's a reminder that even in moments of extraordinary power, human flaws – envy, resentment, the desire for control – can derail the best intentions. Even as Moses tries to protect his people, some among them are ready to tear him down. This sets the stage for the complex and very human story of the Exodus. The journey wasn’t just about escaping slavery; it was about navigating the complexities of human nature, the burden of leadership, and the weight of secrets.