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Children of Israel
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poverty. While he was living in retirement, the Lord sent His angels
to especially instruct him in regard to the future. Here he learned
more fully the great lesson of self-control and humility. He kept the
flocks of Jethro, and while he was performing his humble duties as
a shepherd, God was preparing him to become a spiritual shepherd
of His sheep, even of His people Israel.
As Moses led the flock to the desert and came to the mountain
of God, even to Horeb, “the angel of the Lord appeared unto him
in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.” “And the Lord said, I
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have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and
have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their
sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the
Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and
a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.... Now therefore,
behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come up unto Me: and
I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress
them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that
thou mayest bring forth My people the children of Israel out of
Egypt.”
The time had fully come when God would have Moses exchange
the shepherd’s staff for the rod of God, which He would make pow-
erful in accomplishing signs and wonders, in delivering His people
from oppression, and in preserving them when pursued by their
enemies.
Moses consented to perform the mission. He first visited his
father-in-law and obtained his consent for himself and his family
to return into Egypt. He did not dare to tell Jethro his message to
Pharaoh, lest he should be unwilling to let his wife and children
accompany him on such a dangerous mission. The Lord strengthened
him and removed his fears by saying to him, “Return into Egypt: for
all the men are dead which sought thy life.”
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