Exodus 2: Why the Demonic Strategy Has Always Been to Kill the Boys and Men

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In the grand spiritual war against God’s people, the enemy's strategy is both ancient and terrifyingly consistent: to dismantle the Church, he attacks its men. This is a demonic tactic, aimed at severing covenant confidence, breaking the chain of leadership, and leaving God's people exposed and defenseless. The earthly rulers who execute this agenda, men like Pharaoh and Herod, are not the secure strongmen they appear to be. They are, in fact, ideal instruments of evil precisely because they are fueled by a deep-seated and neurotic pride. The life of Moses, detailed in Exodus 2, serves as the ultimate case study, revealing the mechanics of this demonic assault and, more importantly, God’s powerful counter-strategy for forging the kind of faithful manhood that can withstand it.

This very theme is at the heart of my new book, God at Work. It offers a deep and accessible guide to these foundational chapters of Israel’s deliverance, bringing theological, psychological, and social insight to this transformative biblical narrative. Drawing on years of scholarship and classroom teaching, I explore Exodus through the lenses of thinkers like Karen Horney, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Abraham Kuyper to walk readers through God’s rescue of his people, the formation of their covenant identity at Mount Sinai, and the implications of these events for individuals and churches today. With practical reflection questions and clear applications, God at Work reconnects this ancient Scripture to contemporary life, offering a rich theological journey that equips readers to confront modern forms of bondage while inspiring transformation and obedience.

The Anatomy of a Demonic Attacks

The assault begins with Pharaoh’s decree to kill all Hebrew male infants, an act of political brutality that is, at its core, a spiritual objective. The devil, seeking to prevent the rise of a prophesied deliverer, finds a willing partner in a ruler consumed by what psychoanalyst Karen Horney identified as neurotic pride.

This pride is not genuine self-confidence but a brittle, inflated sense of self based on an imagined, glorified image. Horney writes that despite his power, such a leader "still feels at bottom unwanted, is easily hurt, and needs incessant confirmation of his value." For Pharaoh, the explosive growth of the Hebrews is a deep personal insult, a threat to his fragile self-conception as an omnipotent god-king. This neurotic pride makes him "extremely vulnerable," and his response is one of anxious, vindictive, murderous rage.

This psychological fragility finds its political expression in what the scholar R.J. Rummel calls democide: the murder of a people by their own government. Rummel’s research shows that war or the fear of rebellion provides the perfect pretext for a regime to unleash its most brutal policies. The fear of conflict "breaks the crust" of normal laws and routines, permitting actions that would otherwise be "impossible or inconceivable." Pharaoh’s stated fear that the Hebrews might "join our enemies" is the classic pretext Rummel describes, a political justification for a spiritually motivated slaughter.

Centuries later, the devil’s playbook is run again with chilling precision. When King Herod hears of the birth of a rival "king of the Jews," the same neurotic pride is wounded. His response is the identical demonic strategy: kill the boys of Bethlehem to eliminate the infant Christ (Matthew 1:18-2:23). This recurring pattern confirms a demonic agenda, not a historical anomaly.

The Making of a Man of God

While the devil’s strategy is to kill men, God’s counter-strategy is to make a man. Moses, a survivor of the original demonic attack, becomes God’s prototype. His journey in Exodus 2 offers a three-stage model for every man seeking to live out his divine calling.

Stage 1: Impulsive Justice and Failure (Exodus 2:11-14)

As a prince of Egypt, Moses sees an injustice—an Egyptian beating a Hebrew—and is moved to act. He kills the oppressor. The impulse is righteous, but the execution is rooted in his own strength, his own position, his own pride. The result is immediate rejection from the very people he sought to save: "Who made you ruler and judge over us?." This is the man of God acting on his natural fire but without divine formation. It is a picture of striving in the flesh, and it invariably leads to failure.

Stage 2: The Wilderness of Formation (Exodus 2:15)

This failure thrusts Moses into exile. He flees to Midian, a fugitive stripped of his princely identity. This is the wilderness, God’s divine crucible for dismantling pride. Horney notes that neurotic pride is built on a "shaky foundation" and is as insubstantial as a house of cards. The wilderness is God’s way of blowing that house down. By removing the external props of power and status, God teaches a man true dependence. The forty years Moses spent in Midian were not a detour; they were the curriculum for forging a man who could lead not by his own strength, but by God’s.

Stage 3: The Character of Everyday Faithfulness (Exodus 2:16-25)

The man who emerges from this process is fundamentally different. At a well in Midian, he again confronts injustice as local shepherds drive away women trying to water their flock. He still acts, but his strength is now channeled into humble, protective service. He "got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock". He then embraces the foundational callings of a man: he marries, becomes a father, and faithfully tends his father-in-law’s sheep.

This is the ultimate antidote to the neurotic pride of tyrants. While Pharaoh and Herod are obsessed with their "glorified version of oneself," Moses finds his identity in hidden, humble service. While the Israelites groaned under slavery, Moses was learning the quiet lessons of a shepherd’s life. It was this man that God called from the burning bush. As the chapter closes, we see that while Moses was being faithful, God was hearing the cries of His people and remembering His covenant.

Application Today

Here are some potential ways that the enemy might try to destroy the lives of men and boys today to take them out:

• Destroy his marriage

• Build a fragile identity on curated social media profiles, porn-fueled fantasies, or powerful gaming avatars

• Drown him in shame

• Devalue real-world effort by chasing the instant perfection seen in social media highlight reels and pay-to-win video games

• Use endless scrolling on apps or excessive video gaming to escape the potential shame of real-world failure

• Sports betting

• Avoid personal accountability by hiding behind anonymous online forums or blaming manipulative algorithms for poor choices

• Over-eating

• Develop a paralyzing fear of rejection by engaging with the superficial swipe-culture of dating apps

• Sedentary lifestyle

• Glorify vindictiveness and online retaliation as a form of strength while seeing forgiveness as a weakness.

• Make him care about work too much

• Cultivate a pride in being “invulnerable,” which leads to suppressing emotions and an inability to admit pain

• Twist negative traits into virtues, like framing addiction as “freedom,” rebellion as “being authentic,” or manipulation as being “strategic.”

• Rely on constant irony and cynical humor to deflect from genuine shame and avoid confronting personal flaws

• Trust his own intellect and rationalizations over objective truth, creating a detached and distorted view of reality.

What did I miss?

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Book Update

Here’s the book, God at Work: Loving God and Neighbor Through the Book of Exodus. It’s the result of years of study, teaching, and reflection on how the story of Exodus speaks to our struggles with fear, calling, identity, and freedom today and, to my surprise, watching the book of Exodus awaken faith in the lives of college students. Pick up a copy today! You can read a sample here.

Here’s a video of what the book is about…