Ibn Abbas said: “[This means] the disbelievers.” This indicates that the Israelite whom Moses aided was a disbeliever. This was also the view of Muqatil. Qatadah said: “After this, I will not assist in any sin.” Ibn Abbas said: He made no exception, and so he was tested through him on the following day.

“So he became fearful, watchful in the city, when suddenly the man who had sought his help the day before cried out to him for help. Moses said to him, ‘You are clearly a man astray.’ (18) Then, when he was about to strike the one who was an enemy to them both, he said, ‘O Moses, do you intend to kill me as you killed a man yesterday? You seek only to be a tyrant in the land, and you do not seek to be among those who set things right.’ (19) And a man came running from the farthest part of the city. He said, ‘O Moses, the chiefs are deliberating over you in order to kill you, so leave. Indeed, I am giving you sincere advice.’ (20)”

“So he became fearful in the city,” that is, in the city where he had killed the Copt, “watchful,” fearing repercussions for having killed the Copt. To be watchful means to await something harmful. Al-Kalbi said: He was waiting to see when he would be apprehended. “When suddenly the man who had sought his help the day before cried out to him for help”: he appealed to him for rescue and called out to him from afar.

Ibn Abbas said: Pharaoh was approached and told, “The Children of Israel have killed one of our men, so exact our due for us.” He said, “Find his killer and someone to testify against him, for it would not be proper to pass judgment without evidence.” While they were going about seeking evidence but finding none, Moses passed by on the following day and saw that same Israelite fighting a man of Pharaoh. The Israelite appealed to Moses for help against the man of Pharaoh. Moses came upon him, having regretted what he had done the day before in killing the Copt.

“Moses said to him,” that is, to the Israelite: “You are clearly a man astray”—your waywardness is evident. Yesterday you fought a man, and I killed him because of you; today you are fighting another and appealing to me for help against him? It was also said that Moses said to the man of Pharaoh, “You are clearly a man astray because of your wrongdoing.” But the first view is more correct, and it is the position of the majority: that he said this to the Israelite.

“Then, when he was about to strike the one who was an enemy to them both”: compassion (1) for the Israelite came over Moses, so he stretched out his hand to seize the man of Pharaoh. But, because he saw Moses’s anger and heard him say, “You are clearly a man astray,” the Israelite thought that Moses intended to seize him. He said, “O Moses, do you intend to kill me as you killed a man yesterday? You seek,” meaning, you intend, “only to be a tyrant in the land,” by killing unjustly, “and you do not seek to be among those who set things right.”

When the Copt heard what the Israelite had said, he realized that Moses was the one who had killed that man of Pharaoh. He went to Pharaoh and informed him of it, whereupon Pharaoh ordered Moses to be killed. Ibn Abbas said: When Pharaoh sent the executioners to kill Moses, they took the main road.

“And a man came,” one of Moses’s followers, “from the farthest part of the city,” that is, from its outermost end. Most exegetes said that his name was Hazbil, a believer from Pharaoh’s household. It was also said that his name was Shamaun, and it was said: Shaman, “running.”