Law of God
173
“And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth
thy wrath wax hot against thy people which thou hast brought forth
out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, For mischief did he
bring them out to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them
from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of
this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel,
thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto
them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land
that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit
it forever.”
The thought that the heathen nations, and especially the Egyptians,
would triumph over Israel, and reproach God, was overwhelming to
Moses. He could not let Israel go, notwithstanding all their rebellion,
and their repeated murmurings against him. How could he give up a
people for whom so much had been done, and who had in so wonderful
a manner been brought out of Egypt. The news of their deliverance had
been spread among all nations, and all people were anxiously watching
to see what God would do for them. And Moses remembered well the
words of the Egyptians, that he was leading them into the wilderness
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that they might perish, and he receive their possessions. And now if
God should destroy his people, and exalt him to be a greater nation
than Israel, would not the heathen triumph, and deride the God of
the Hebrews, and say that he was not able to lead them to the land
he had promised them? As Moses interceded for Israel before God,
his timidity was lost in his deep interest and love for that people for
whom he had, in the hands of God, been the means of doing so much.
He presented before God his promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. He prayed to God with firm faith and determined purpose. The
Lord listened to his pleadings and regarded his unselfish prayer, and
promised Moses that he would spare Israel.
Nobly did Moses stand the test, and show that his interest in Israel
was not to obtain a great name, nor to exalt himself. The burden of
God’s people was upon him. God had proved him, and was pleased
with his faithfulness, his simplicity of heart, and integrity before him,
and he committed to him, as to a faithful shepherd, the great charge of
leading his people through to the promised land.