of this remarkable proverb. The language is intentionally exaggerated, and there is no necessity for
supposing an allusion to a mode of punishment by which criminals were put to death by being
pounded in a mortar. A custom of this king existed among the Turks, but there is no distinct trace
of it among the Hebrews. Such, however, is supposed to be the reference in the proverb by Mr.
Roberts, who illustrates it from his Indian experience.
Moserah
(bonds), (10:6) apparently the same as Moseroth, (Numbers 33:30) its plural form, the name
of a place near Mount Hor.
Moses
(Heb. Mosheh, “drawn,” i.e. from the water; in the Coptic it means “saved from the water”),
the legislator of the Jewish people, and in a certain sense the founder of the Jewish religion. The
immediate pedigree of Moses is as follows: Levi was the father of: Gershon— Kohath— Merari
Kohath was the father of: Amram = Jochebed Amram = Jochebed was the father of: Hur = Miriam—
Aaron = Elisheba— Moses = Zipporah Aaron = Elisheba was the father of: Nadab— Abihu—
Eleazar— Ithamar Eleazar was the father of: Phineas Moses = Zipporah was the father of: Gershom—
Eliezer Gershom was the father of: Jonathan The history of Moses naturally divides itself into three
periods of 40 years each. Moses was born at Goshen, In Egypt, B.C. 1571. The story of his birth
is thoroughly Egyptian in its scene. His mother made extraordinary efforts for his preservation from
the general destruction of the male children of Israel. For three months the child was concealed in
the house. Then his mother placed him in a small boat or basket of papyrus, closed against the water
by bitumen. This was placed among the aquatic vegetation by the side of one of the canals of the
Nile. The sister lingered to watch her brother’s fate. The Egyptian princess, who, tradition says,
was a childless wife, came down to bathe in the sacred river. Her attendant slaves followed her.
She saw the basket in the flags, and despatched divers, who brought it. It was opened, and the cry
of the child moved the princess to compassion. She determined to rear it as her own. The sister was
at hand to recommend a Hebrew nurse, the child’s own mother. here was the first part of Moses’
training,—a training at home in the true religion, in faith in God, in the promises to his nation, in
the life of a saint,—a training which he never forgot, even amid the splendors and gilded sin of
Pharaoh’s court. The child was adopted by the princess. From this time for many years Moses must
be considered as an Egyptian. In the Pentateuch this period is a blank, but in the New Testament
he is represented as “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” and as “mighty in words and
deeds.” (Acts 7:22) this was the second part of Moses’ training. The second period of Moses’ life
began when he was forty years old. Seeing the sufferings of his people, Moses determined to go
to them as their helper, and made his great life-choice, “choosing rather to suffer affliction with
the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.” (Hebrews 11:25,26) Seeing an Israelite suffering the
bastinado from an Egyptian, and thinking that they were alone, he slew the Egyptian, and buried
the corpse in the sand. But the people soon showed themselves unfitted as yet to obtain their freedom,
nor was Moses yet fitted to be their leader. He was compelled to leave Egypt when the slaying of
the Egyptian became known, and he fled to the land of Midian, in the southern and southeastern
part of the Sinai peninsula. There was a famous well (“the well,”) (Exodus 2:15) surrounded by
tanks for the watering of the flocks of the Bedouin herdsmen. By this well the fugitive seated himself
and watched the gathering of the sheep. There were the Arabian shepherds, and there were also
seven maidens, whom the shepherds rudely drove away from the water. The chivalrous spirit which
frankie
(Frankie)
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