Moses sees an Egyptian “striking” a Hebrew, and so he “strikes” the Egyptian (Exod. 2:11–12). The same word is used in both verses. This means that the Egyptian is trying to kill the Hebrew, and Moses delivers his Israelite brother from death. Moses uses deadly force to stop the Egyptian from using deadly force. Like Yahweh, Moses acts on the principle of “eye for eye, tooth for tooth, stroke for stroke.” Stephen the martyr calls this an act of “vengeance on behalf of the oppressed” (Acts 7:24), and that’s a good thing to do. Moses is permitted to do this because he is a prince and ruler in
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