출애굽기 18:4의 주석

ויצלני מחרב פרעה AND HE DELIVERED ME FROM THE SWORD OF PHARAOH — When Dathan and Abiram made the disclosure regarding the matter of the Egyptian whom Moses had killed and Pharaoh wished to slay Moses, his neck became as a column of marble so that the sword was powerless against him (Shemot Rabbah 1:31; cf. Rashi on Exodus 2:15).

ויצילני מחרב פרעה. At the time Eliezer was born the old king who had wanted to execute Moses had already been dead for a while. This is one of the reasons why the Torah mentioned this death in Exodus 2,23. At that time Moses felt secure from further attempts on his life. Pharaoh’s international police had an exceedingly long reach, just as that of Achav, King of Israel, who had been hunting for the prophet Elijah all over the neighbouring countries of Israel as documented in Kings I 18,10 “is there any kingdom to which the king (Achav) has not sent emissaries to arrange to have to you captured?”

ושם האחד אליעזר, and the name of the one was Eliezer, etc. The reason that Eliezer, Moses' second son is referred to as האחד, "the one," instead of the "second one," is that the reason for Eliezer being named as he was refers to an event which occurred even before Gershom was born. G'd had first saved Moses' life from the sword of Pharaoh before he had enabled him to settle down in Midian.

He attempted to kill Moshe, his neck became. . . See [Rashi on] v. 4:11.

(Exodus 18:4) "and the name of the second, 'Eliezer,' for (Moses said: 'The G d of (Elokei) my father was my help (ezri), and He saved me from the 'sword of Pharaoh.'" R. Yehoshua says: When did the L rd save him? When Dathan said to him (Ibid. 2:14) "Who made you a man, an officer and a judge over us, etc.?" and when Pharaoh heard of it, he said: "Seize Moses and bring him up to the (decapitation) block!" When they placed the knife on his neck, an angel descended in the guise of Moses, at which they seized the angel and let go of Moses, at which the L rd rendered them groups of mutes, deaf ones, and blind ones. They said to the mutes: Where is Moses? But they could not speak. To the deaf, but they could not hear. To the blind, but they could not see, as it is written (Ibid. 4:11) "Who made a mouth for man, or who makes one mute or deaf or seeing or blind?" Thus, "for the G d of my father was my help."

ושם האחד אליעזר, “and the name of the one was Eliezer.” Even though he was Moses’ second son, the Torah describes him as “the one;” the reason is that his name was due to an event involving him personally, seeing that it recalled that he had had to flee from Egypt. It therefore appeared to Moses as if this really was his first son.

The reason the Torah does not mention Eliezer's name first is that it first wanted to stress that Moses was in a strange land at the time the children were born. The Torah retraces events only after the main point that Moses was in a strange land has been established. An alternative explanation, one which I have mentioned on Exodus 2,22, is that when Moses spoke about a "strange land," he referred to our globe, this present life. He did not feel at home in this life, ever. This feeling of being a stranger in a strange land preceded even the time when G'd saved him from the sword of Pharaoh. Moses' whole attitude to life on earth has to be evaluated in that light. This throws a different light on the fact that his life on earth was saved by G'd after he had killed the Egyptian. The Torah had to spell out what precisely G'd saved Moses from or I would have thought that G'd saved Moses from some danger after he had settled in Midian. At any rate, there was something unique about the time when G'd saved Moses' life miraculously.

ויצילני מחרב פרעה, “He has saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.” The Pharaoh who sought to kill Moses had died some time earlier. G-d had told him this in Exodus 4,19. An alternate explanation: He did not call Eliezer his second son, as his birth had nothing to do with that of Gershom, as we explained on Exodus 4,26. The reason was that he had not been able to circumcise his first son due to the agreement with his fatherinlaw at the time he had married Tzipporah. [Compare what the author wrote on page 376. Ed.] From G-d’s point of view, Eliezer was Moses’ first son, as after having been circumcised he was Jewish. As such he belonged to G-d, seeing that we aj] are G-d’s firstborn.