Professor Schneider writes about an interesting dichotomy. When Moses was born, he was described as beautiful. The sages (Sotah 12a) compare this to the light that God saw as good. Yet Moses described himself to God as slow of speech and slow of tongue. Professor Schneider considers different understandings of what this means.
The book of Exodus begins with a statement that the Israelites have become too numerous, and that we (Egypt) need to do something about that. James Loeffler raises the question of whether Pharaoh is evil or simply misguided. What is the real reason for Pharaoh’s fear? He cites Kohelet, who “warned against pretensions to wisdom that lead to self-destruction.” The Hebrew text is not exactly clear.
Moses refuses the mission of leading the Israelites to freedom 4 times. In the second one, he says “But they will not believe me. They will not listen to me. The will say, ‘God did not appear to you.’” The first reason is interesting because God has already assured him that they would listen. The sages also consider whether Moses is guilty of lashon hara, for the sign of his hand turning white. Then they are concerned about Moses’ sense of his own inadequacy