Exodus 2:19 records the daughters of Reuel, the priest of Midian, explaining to their father why they came home so early: an Egyptian stranger had stepped in, driven off the rough shepherds who were harassing them, and watered their flock. The verse is a plain report of a kindness, and it shows that Moses, a fugitive far from home, had already become known for protecting the vulnerable. The speakers are Reuel’s daughters, and the one they are describing is Moses.
They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock.”
Exodus 2:19 (WEB)
What Exodus 2:19 Means
The daughters begin with a surprising description. They call Moses “an Egyptian,” which is how a Midianite family would naturally identify a man from Egypt, the land Moses had fled. Their point is that a foreigner did what the local men refused to do. The shepherds had pushed them aside at the well, and Moses was the one who got them water and watered their animals.
The word “moreover” signals that the rescue was only the start. Saving them from the shepherds was one act, but he also did the work of drawing water, a task that was slow, physical and not glamorous. The verse celebrates a man who went past what was required.
What the verse does not do is hand out a lesson on morality or promise that every stranger will be friendly. It is a snapshot from a family conversation. Its value is in showing character through action, and the reader is left to draw the connection to the wider story of Moses’s life.
The Context of Exodus 2:19
Exodus is traditionally attributed to Moses himself, and it tells how God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt. Chapter 2 pulls back to show Moses’s early life: born to Hebrew parents, raised in Pharaoh’s household, and then forced to flee after killing an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew. Verses 16 to 22 show him arriving in Midian with nothing, sitting by a well, and stepping into a family’s life.
Just before the verse, Moses defended the priest’s daughters at the well. Just after it, Reuel invites Moses to eat, gives him his daughter Zipporah in marriage, and Moses names his son Gershom, meaning “a stranger there.” Read this way, Exodus 2:19 is the hinge that makes the hospitality and marriage possible. The verse explains why Reuel’s family opened their home to a man with no family of his own.
Key Phrases in Exodus 2:19
Exodus 2:17
The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
(WEB)
This verse sets up the scene at the well and shows Moses standing up against the shepherds before the daughters ever speak about him. Reading it first helps you see that the rescue was his own initiative, not a report he heard later.
Deuteronomy 10:19
Therefore love the foreigner; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
(WEB)
Later in the Torah, Israel is commanded to love the foreigner because they themselves were foreigners in Egypt. This passage shows that the kindness Moses showed to strangers was part of a wider call to hospitality that God wanted for his people.
A Short Prayer From Exodus 2:19
Lord, thank you for the reminder that you can use anyone to bring help to those in need. Give me eyes to see the people who are being pushed aside, and the courage to step in when I can. Help me to do the quiet work of serving others without needing applause. Let my hands be ready for the ordinary tasks that bring relief to someone else’s day. Amen.
