had already broken forth in behalf of his oppressed countrymen broke forth again in behalf of the
distressed maidens. They returned unusually soon to their father, Jethro, and told him of their
adventure. Moses, who up to this time had been “an Egyptian,” (Exodus 2:19) now became for a
time an Arabian. He married Zipporah, daughter of his host, to whom he also became the slave and
shepherd. (Exodus 2:21; 3:1) Here for forty years Moses communed with God and with nature,
escaping from the false ideas taught him in Egypt, and sifting out the truths that were there. This
was the third process of his training for his work; and from this training he learned infinitely more
than from Egypt. Stanely well says, after enumerating what the Israelites derived from Egypt, that
the contrast was always greater than the likeness. This process was completed when God met him
on Horeb, appearing in a burning bush, and, communicating with him, appointed him to be the
leader and deliverer of his people. Now begins the third period of forty years in Moses’ life. He
meets Aaron, his next younger brother, whom God permitted to be the spokesman, and together
they return to Goshen in Egypt. From this time the history of Moses is the history of Israel for the
next forty years. Aaron spoke and acted for Moses, and was the permanent inheritor of the sacred
staff of power. But Moses was the inspiring soul behind. he is incontestably the chief personage
of the history, in a sense in which no one else is described before or since. He was led into a closer
communion with the invisible world than was vouchsafed to any other in the Old Testament. There
are two main characters in which he appears—as a leader and as a prophet. (1) As a leader, his life
divides itself into the three epochs—the march to Sinai; the march from Sinai to Kadesh; and the
conquest of the transjordanic kingdoms. On approaching Palestine the office of the leader becomes
blended with that of the general or the conqueror. By Moses the spies were sent to explore the
country. Against his advice took place the first disastrous battle at hormah. To his guidance is
ascribed the circuitous route by which the nation approached Palestine from the east, and to his
generalship the two successful campaigns in which Sihon and Og were defeated. The narrative is
told so briefly that we are in danger of forgetting that at this last stage of his life Moses must have
been as much a conqueror and victorious soldier as was Joshua. (2) His character as a prophet is,
from the nature of the case, more distinctly brought out. He is the first as he is the greatest example
of a prophet in the Old Testament. His brother and sister were both endowed with prophetic gifts.
The seventy elders, and Eldad and Medad also, all “prophesied.” (Numbers 11:25-27) But Moses
rose high above all these. With him the divine revelations were made “mouth to mouth.” (Numbers
12:8) Of the special modes of this more direct communication, four great examples are given,
corresponding to four critical epochs in his historical career. (a) The appearance of the divine
presence in the flaming acacia tree. (Exodus 3:2-6) (b) In the giving of the law from Mount Sinai,
the outward form of the revelation was a thick darkness as of a thunder-cloud, out of which proceeded
a voice. (Exodus 19:19; 20:21) on two occasions he is described as having penetrated within the
darkness. (Exodus 24:18; 34:28) (c) It was nearly at the close of these communications in the
mountains of Sinai that an especial revelation of God was made to him personally. (Exodus 33:21,22;
34:5,6,7) God passed before him. (d) The fourth mode of divine manifestation was that which is
described as beginning at this juncture, and which was maintained with more or less continuity
through the rest of his career. (Exodus 33:7) It was the communication with God in the tabernacle
from out the pillar of cloud and fire. There is another form of Moses’ prophetic gift, viz., the poetical
form of composition which characterizes the Jewish prophecy generally. These poetical utterances
are—
frankie
(Frankie)
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