Musar do Wyjścia 2:19

All this helps us understand the Midrash Shemot Rabbah 1,32, on the verse איש מצרי הצילנו "an Egyptian man has saved us," that the daughters of Yitro described their rescue at the hands of Moses as having been the work of an Egyptian (Exodus 2,19). Surely Moses did not claim to be an Egyptian! The Midrash then describes a person who had been bitten by a wild ass as rushing to the river to get relief for his feet. As soon as he gets to the river, he finds a baby about to drown in the river. He reaches out, and saves the baby. Had the man not been bitten by the wild ass, the baby would have drowned. Similarly here. Had Moses not killed the Egyptian, and had he not been forced to flee for his life, he would now not have been in a position to help Yitro's daughters. This is what those daughters meant when they said "an Egyptian man has saved us." They attributed their rescue to the Egyptian whom Moses had killed.

Although Noach did not compare favourably with Abraham, it is entirely possible that, had he lived during the time of Abraham, he would have been so inspired by Abraham that he would have equalled the latter in stature. After all, also Abraham had been told by G–d: "Walk before Me and become תמים, perfect" (Genesis 17,1). The view that Noach did not compare to Moses can be explained by the statement of Rabbi Berechyah in Bereshit Rabbah 36,3 who proves that Moses was more beloved of G–d than Noach since the Torah first refers to Noach as 6,9) ,איש צדיק) and later on as 9,20) איש האדמה). In the case of Moses we find him first referred to as an Egyptian, i.e. איש מצרי (Exodus 2,19), whereas later on he is called איש האלוקים (Deut. 33,1).

Rabbi Berechyah means to tell us that from the moment Moses had become an איש, he was headed towards his ultimate achievement. His early youth foreshadowed his career. This is true in spite of the fact that at one point the Midrash Shemot Rabbah 45,5 comments that when Moses began to prophesy he was a relative child, i.e. immature in the ways of prophecy, since he had asked to be shown G–d's glory. Moses progressed constantly, until at the end of his life the Torah testifies that no one ever again attained his stature as a prophet and a man of G–d. The reason that he is described as איש, a title denoting that he was someone of stature already when he was a young man, is to indicate that sparks of G–dliness already came forth from him, such as when -as an act of jealousy on behalf of G–d- he killed the Egyptian who had tortured a Jew. He displayed his close attachment to G–d already at that time. Our sages expressed this thought when they said that Moses slew the Egyptian by uttering the Ineffable Name of G–d when cursing the Egyptian (Midrash Hagadol Exodus 2,20). We observe that even when engaged in an act at the beginning of his spiritual development, Moses is already described in a complimentary fashion, –

I have explained a Midrash in Bereshit Rabbah on Noach where Moses and Noach are contrasted. It says that Moses was more beloved than Noach, since the latter is first described as איש צדיק, a righteous man (Genesis 6,9), whereas later he is called איש האדמה, man of the earth (Genesis 9,20). Moses, on the other hand, is first called איש מצרי and later on he is called איש האלוקים.