Shemos starts by explaining how Yakov’s children thrived in Egypt, and only once the brothers had died, did the slavery begin. It then continues with the process of how the enslavement began.
Before Moshe is introduced, the Torah tells us:
וַיֵּלֶךְ אִישׁ מִבֵּית לֵוִי – A man of the house of Levi went…
This man is Amram, Moshe’s father, and the leader of the Jews at the time. But why doesn’t the Torah start with the part that matters; Hashem contacting Moshe the shepherd? Would it not make more sense to say, “A shepherd of the house of Levi, called Moshe…”?
From the Torah’s description of Moshe’s early life, perhaps there is a subtle description of his nature and personality, that directly led to his selection as being suitable to lead the Jews out of Egypt.
When Moshe is first found by Batya, she says “ וַתִּרְאֵהוּ אֶת הַיֶּלֶד - and she saw him the child“, but then the next words are “וְהִנֵּה נַעַר בֹּכֶה – and behold, he was a weeping lad“. He went from being a baby to a lad (a term to describe someone older). Various commentators note that it was a mature cry i.e. a cry for others, his suffering brethren, that subsequently led her to conclude “ מִיַּלְדֵי הָעִבְרִים זֶה- “This is one of the children of the Hebrews.” (2:1)
We must note that it is clear that although he grew up in an Egyptian palace, and Batya was like a mother to him, he knew that he was a Jew, as we are told ” וַיְהִי בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם וַיִּגְדַּל מֹשֶׁה וַיֵּצֵא אֶל אֶחָיו וַיַּרְא בְּסִבְלֹתָם וַיַּרְא אִישׁ מִצְרִי מַכֶּה אִישׁ עִבְרִי מֵאֶחָיו – Now it came to pass in those days that Moshe grew up and went out to his brothers and looked at their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man of his brothers“ (2:11). Rashi points out that looking at their burdens distressed him as it was his own brothers suffering, and yet he was a prince of Egypt!
This undoubtedly placed him in turmoil. Here he was, an Egyptian prince, yet he empathised with Hebrew slaves, who were his brothers. He was neither an Egyptian, nor a Jew.
We are told how he noticed his brothers suffering, and intervened when he saw a Jew being abused:
וַיִּפֶן כֹּה וָכֹה וַיַּרְא כִּי אֵין אִישׁ וַיַּךְ אֶת הַמִּצְרִי וַיִּטְמְנֵהוּ בַּחוֹל – He searched this way and that way, and he saw that there was no man; so he struck the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.” (2:12).
He made the decision to stand with his brothers, and murdered an Egyptian, which inevitably meant that he had cut himself off from those that had nurtured him.
R’ Nathan Lopez Cardozo explains how this pasuk describes the conflict Moshe had. “Moshe searched (within himself), this way? (Egyptian?); that way? (or Jew?) and saw there was no (complete) man (i.e. he was neither). So he struck the Egyptian (within himself) and hid him in the sand.”
Whether or not he actually killed an Egyptian police officer, he chose to side with the Jews, thereby alienating Egyptian society culture within him, as he would be rejected by them (for siding with the Jews and/or for murdering a police officer)!
The point we can draw from this is that Moshe’s past made him into who he was. He was a product of Egypt, and he knew Egypt. In a way, he was Egypt! And he made the choice to become a Jew and severed his ties with Egypt, and this choice made him who he was. It is telling that G-d only speaks to Moshe after these events unfold.