Moses is best known for confronting Pharaoh and leading Israel’s Exodus out of Egypt. Yet, based upon the below passage, Moses had a bad temper. Moses wasn’t just a bully who beat up other people, he lost his cool and simply snapped. After seeing a fellow Jew severely beaten by an Egyptian, Moses’ temper didn’t stop until this man was dead.
One day, after Moses was grown, it happened that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of [Moses’] brethren. 12 He looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 He went out the second day and saw two Hebrew men quarreling and fighting; and he said to the unjust aggressor, Why are you striking your comrade? 14 And the man said, Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Then Moses was afraid and thought, Surely this thing is known, Exodus 2:11-14.
Moses points out that the sins of a father are often passed down to their children, Exodus 34:7. At an early age, I developed a bad temper, freaking out in fits of rages if things in life didn’t go my way. Apparently, I quickly learned this from my father who also struggled with a bad temper. This was usually on display while out at dinner as a family with my father making a scene at the expense of our waitress.
You have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not kill, and whoever kills shall be [ac]liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court. 22 But I say to you that everyone who continues to be [ad]angry with his brother or harbors malice (enmity of heart) against him shall be [ae]liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court; and whoever speaks contemptuously and insultingly to his brother shall be [af]liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, You [ag]cursed fool! [You empty-headed idiot!] shall be [ah]liable to and unable to escape the hell (Gehenna) of fire, Matthew 5:21-22.
As for Moses, he didn’t realize anger was an issue until a fellow Hebrew called him out, “are you going to kill me too?” Jesus unfolds the byproduct of anger in the Sermon on the Mount. You don’t just wake up and decide to kill someone. Rather, as anger brews inside your heart, hatred is conceived. Once hatred is full blown, thoughts are acted upon, James 1:13-15. If you’re struggling to overcome a losing battle with a bad temper, claim the words of 2 Timothy 1:7 to find victory.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 