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Spiritual Gifts, Volume 3
they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
And God said unto Moses I Am That I Am. And he said, Thus shalt
thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And
God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children
of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you. This is my
name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.”
Moses did not expect that this was the manner in which the Lord
would use him to deliver Israel from Egypt. He thought that it would
be by warfare. And when the Lord made known to him that he must
stand before Pharaoh, and in his name demand him to let Israel go he
shrank from the task.
The Pharaoh before whom he was to appear, was not the one who
had decreed that he should be put to death. That king was dead, and
another had taken the reins of government. Nearly all the Egyptian
kings were called by the name of Pharaoh. Moses would have preferred
to stand at the head of the children of Israel as their general, and make
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war with the Egyptians. But this was not God’s plan. He would
be magnified before his people, and teach not only them, but the
Egyptians, that there is a living God, who has power to save, and to
destroy. Moses was commanded first to assemble the elders of Israel,
the most noble and righteous among them, who had long grieved
because of their bondage, and say unto them, “The Lord God of your
fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto
me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to
you in Egypt. And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction
of Egypt, unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the
Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a
land flowing with milk and honey. And they shall hearken to thy voice,
and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of
Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath
met with us, and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey
into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.”
The Lord also assured Moses that Pharaoh would not let Israel go.
Yet his courage should not fail, for he would make this the occasion of
manifesting his signs and wonders before the Egyptians, and before
his people. “And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go,
no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite
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