99. “What is written after it, etc.” What is written after it? “And he slew an Egyptian, a man of appearance” (II Samuel 23:21). Here the secret of the verse comes to inform [us] that each time Israel sinned He departed and withheld all the goodness from them and all the lights that had illuminated for them. “He slew an Egyptian” is light, that is, that light which was illuminating for Israel. And who is “he”? He is Moses, as it is written about him**: “And they said, ‘an Egyptian delivered us etc. ’”** (Exodus 2:19), as he was born there, in Egypt, and raised there, and there he ascended to the supernal light.

Explanation: The verse is not referring to an actual man, but to light, since He nullified and concealed the light, and this is considered as though He killed it. This is why it states: “That light which was illuminating for Israel, and who is he? Moses.” In other words, He nullified the great light of the illumination of Moses to Israel. He calls him “an Egyptian” because he was born and raised in Egypt, as it is stated: “Moses grew up and he went out to his brothers etc.” (Exodus 2:11). There he merited the supernal light, [and] the redemption of Israel from Egypt.