Moses, the Leader of God’s People
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shall I say unto them?” The answer was, “I AM THAT I AM: ... I AM
hath sent me unto you.”
Moses was commanded first to assemble the elders of Israel who
had long grieved because of their bondage and to declare to them a
message from God. Then he was to go before the king, and say: “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.”
Moses was forewarned that Pharaoh would resist the appeal. Yet
the courage of God’s servant must not fail. The Lord would manifest
His power. “And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all
my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will
let you go.”
The Lord declared, “It shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye
shall not go empty: but every woman shall borrow of her neighbor,
and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels
of gold, and raiment.” The Egyptians had been enriched by the labor
unjustly exacted from the Israelites, and it was right for the latter to
claim the reward of their years of toil. God would give them favor
in the sight of the Egyptians. The requests of the bondmen would be
granted.
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What proof could Moses give his people that God had indeed sent
him? “Behold,” he said, “they will not believe me, nor hearken unto
my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.”
He was told to cast his rod upon the ground. As he did so, “it became
a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.” He was commanded to seize
it, and in his hand it became a rod. He was bidden to put his hand into
his bosom. He obeyed, and “when he took it out, behold, his hand was
leprous as snow.” Being told to put it again into his bosom, he found
on withdrawing it that it had become like the other. By these signs his
own people, as well as Pharaoh, would be convinced that One mightier
than the king of Egypt was manifest among them.
Moses Is Reluctant
But in his distress and fear the servant of God now pleaded as an
excuse a lack of ready speech: “O my Lord, I am not eloquent... . I
am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” He had been so long away