Q&A: And He Turned This Way and That
And He Turned This Way and That
Question
You have brought this up many times, in connection with Rashi’s interpretation of this verse: that Moses our Rabbi explains that he saw prophetically that no person would ever come from this Egyptian who would convert.
And you keep clarifying that no one would come from him because he is killing him now! And from this you prove various things about the definition of prophecy, and so on.
But this is difficult for me, because you are assuming that this Egyptian has no child now (and therefore in the future no person will come from him, including no one who would convert, and from this you prove etc.). But that may very well be incorrect. It could certainly be that this Egyptian already has children now, sons and daughters, and Moses our Rabbi saw prophetically that nothing good would come in the future from those descendants, and therefore decided to kill him.
Answer
That is not possible. If he already had a child, then there would be no point in taking that into account when considering whether to kill the Egyptian. The consideration whether to kill him is relevant only to children who would come from him if he remained alive.
Incidentally, he really did have a child beforehand, and he apparently even converted. That was the blasphemer. See Rashi there.