“Smitest thou thy fellow?”
The full verse · Exodus 2:13 · KJV
And when he went the , behold, of the together: and he to him that did the , Wherefore thou thy ?
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The Hebrew man who was striking his companion.. The specific audience is the Hebrew aggressor who was beating his fellow Hebrew in a dispute between two Israelites, witnessed by Moses on his second day of observing his people’s suffering.
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionMoses employs a question to expose the moral bankruptcy of Hebrew-on-Hebrew violence and to awaken the aggressor’s conscience about striking a kinsman who shares his oppression under Egyptian bondage.
The Response
What Scripture recordsThe Hebrew aggressor did not answer Moses’ question about his violence but instead challenged Moses’ authority with two counter-questions: ‘Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’ (Exodus 2:14). This hostile response revealed that Moses’ killing of the Egyptian the previous day was already known, causing Moses to fear for his life.
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyMoses asks why one Hebrew would strike another, using a question to magnify the absurdity and tragedy of internal violence among an oppressed people. The Hebrew verb נָכָה (nakah) means to strike, smite, or beat, the same verb used when Moses killed the Egyptian taskmaster the day before. By framing his rebuke as a question, Moses invites the aggressor to recognize the moral inconsistency of his actions rather than simply commanding him to stop. This rhetorical approach reflects Moses’ emerging identity as a leader who seeks to reason with his people, not merely dominate them. The question carries theological weight because it exposes how sin fractures the covenant community from within, often more destructively than external oppression. Moses’ intervention reveals God’s concern for justice even in interpersonal disputes among His people.
When you see conflict among fellow believers, do you turn away or step in? Moses risked his safety to challenge injustice among his own people, modeling the biblical principle that love confronts sin (Leviticus 19:17). When Christians wound one another with gossip, slander, or divisiveness, we betray the unity Christ died to create. Ask yourself honestly: Am I contributing to peace or fracture in my church, family, or workplace? The aggressor’s defensive response reminds us that rebuking sin often provokes hostility, but God calls us to courage anyway. Galatians 6:1 instructs us to restore the wayward gently, aware of our own vulnerability to sin. Your intervention, even if rejected, may plant seeds of conviction that bear fruit later when the Holy Spirit brings that person to repentance.
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