What It Means - Day 327

"He said, 'This is the parting between thee and me. I shall inform thee of the meaning of that which thou couldst not bear patiently: As for the ship, it belonged to indigent people who worked the sea. I desire to damage it, for just beyond them was a king who was seizing every ship by force. And as for the young boy, his parents were believers and we feared that he would make them suffer much through rebellion and disbelief. So we desired that their Lord give them in exchange one who is better than him in purity, and nearer to mercy. And as for the well, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and beneath it was a treasure belonging to the. Their father was righteous, and thy Lord desired that they should reach their maturity and extract their treasure, as a mercy from thy Lord."
Quran 18:78-82

We've reached the section in surah 18, al-Kahf, "The Cave," where Khidr explains his actions.The simplest way to think of it, and building upon a point I made the other day, Khidr represents esoteric knowledge whereas Moses represents exoteric knowledge. Moses was given the Ten Commandments, the very definition of tangible exoteric knowledge. Khidr's answers are more complex and evasive. Now, which is the better source of knowledge? Well, as with most things, the answer is somewhere in between. Having said that, it's interesting that it is Moses who follows Khidr and not the other way around.