The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
R Frand quoted the Apter Rav who is famous for linking every parsha in the Torah to the concept of Jews loving fellow Jews (Ahavas Yisrael). R' Frand said that he never tried to make a link, but he did say that there is a concept of HaKaras Hatov in every parsha.
In connection with Parshas Shemos, R' Frand connected this concept to the pasuk where Tzipporah tells her father "Ish Mitzri Hitzilanu" - an Egyptian man saved us (Shemos 2:19). The conventional pshat on this pasuk is that she is telling Yisro, a man who appeared to be Egyptian saved us. However, R' Frand gave an interesting drush on the pasuk.
R' Frand said that Tzipporah was telling her father - the Ish Mitzri who Moshe saw striking a Jew in Shemos (1:11) and who Moshe killed, saved them. How? Because if not for the Ish Mitzri striking the Jew, Moshe does not kill him and does not then run away the following day to Midyan.
R' Frand then tied this into a Medrash which tells a story about how a child was drowning in a river at the same time that a man was bitten by an Arod. The man ran down to the river and washed his wound. When he reached the river he saw the drowning child and saved him. The child then thanked the man for saving him, but the man said to him - I did not save you, the Arod did. Had the Arod not bitten him, he would not have been there to save the child.
R' Frand said that the lesson is that if a person does something which benefits you, even if it is clear that it was not his intention, you should still show your HaKaras Hatov. The Mitzri who struck the Jew probably never heard of Tzipporah, but he was the reason that Moshe ran away and eventually saved her.
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