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Shemos 2:19:

They [the daughters of Yisro] replied, "An Egyptian man rescued us from the hand[s] of the shepherds, and he also drew [water] for us and watered the flocks."

I once heard an interpretation that the Egyptian man was not Moshe himself but the Egyptian that Moshe killed in Egypt [2 (12)] and because of whose death, Moshe had to flee to Midian.

Who said this interpretation?

(related Moshe killing the Egyptian)

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  • Interesting idea...
    – Shoel U'Meishiv
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 21:25
  • How would the Egyptian save the daughters of Yisro if he was killed by Moshe earlier? Ich farshtei nisht...
    – ezra
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 21:41
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    @EzraHoerster This means that Moshe having killed the Egyptian man, caused him to flee from Egypt and wind up in Midian so that he (Moshe) would be able to save them. Thus the original cause of their being saved was the Egyptian man that caused Moshe to come to Midian
    – sabbahillel
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 22:03
  • @sabbahillel - Ah, I see how it works now. Perhaps the OP should clarify this in their question.
    – ezra
    Commented Jan 18, 2017 at 3:08
  • The Rav says this: I heard it in a recorded lecture of his on a website that had a lot of mp3s of the Rav's schmuessen. I don't know where it was, sorry, but I'm sure that if you look around you can find it.
    – Shimon bM
    Commented Jan 18, 2017 at 4:14

2 Answers 2

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Maadanei Shemuel points to Midrash Shemos Rabbah 1:32:

אמרו בנות יתרו למשה: יישר כחך, שהצלתנו מיד הרועים! אמר להם משה: אותו מצרי, שהרגתי, הוא הציל אתכם! ולכך אמרו לאביהן: איש מצרי, כלומר מי גרם לזה, שיבוא אצלנו, איש מצרי שהרג.

The daughters of Yisro said to Moshe: "Congratulations on saving us from the shepherds". Moshe told them: "The Egyptian that I killed saved you". Therefore they told their father: "An Egyptian man". That is to say, who caused him to come to us? THe Egyptian man that he killed.

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Maasiyos Hazohar brings such a Peshat

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  • Impressive that you knew the Zohar better than the Midrash!
    – Avrohom Yitzchok
    Commented Jan 18, 2017 at 9:30

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