of them having a vain ambition to be a spectator of their gods.

Such appears to have been the Pharaoh before whom Moses was now about to appear with the demand from Jehovah to let his people go free.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE MISSION TO DELIVER.

ROM the city of Thebes, five and a quarter miles by

FROM

three in extent, or Memphis, estimated to be yet larger; and from what in the former may be called a city of magnificent temples, or from the hives of beings in the latter, where now the traveller walks over miles of disinterred mummy remains ;-from either was a long stride in human life to the rugged mountains and the solitudes of the deserts of Arabia; and such a transit there had been in the life of Moses.

In the region of such strong contrasts to the place of his bringing up, and in employments quite as strongly in contrast to his former occupations, he had now spent forty years. But it was a time of great opportunity for him. He could learn here, and he was learning. He was learning about himself: what was far better, he was learning about God. Where could there have been a better place for him to shake off the superstitions of his Egyptian priestly education; to break mental shackles; to unlearn a vast deal as well as to learn; to try to see God with clear and bright mental vision, and to draw near to him in faith? This simple employment of the nomads did not pall upon him, who in his mental life had such variety of resources, and so

His complete intellectual stores of knowledge there

much in his soul-life to do. training in Egypt, and his vast accumulated, came to his assistance; and now, when he had been chastened by trials and was here in the pure moral air of the shepherd race among these mountains, both came in to make him what he afterward showed himself to be, a strong thinker, and strong doer, in the right.

We can see him in his family, acted upon by the genial influences of wife and children; we can see him in the deep glens, or on the mountain sides or tops, feeling that he was alone with God, and finding the companionship ennobling to every faculty of his soul; and then we can see him in the tribe-gatherings at the tents, listening to traditions handed down from of old,—such historic streams there kept clear, because unmingled with grosser things or with multitudinous complicated events. The Kenite tribe, and the Ishmaelites, and occasional visitors from Edom,-all simple nomads from Abraham's time down,-all of them descendants from him, would have these traditions from their forefathers most carefully preserved, and would cherish them with that pride of genealogy which we still see in the Arab race.

And we may well believe also that, here at the tents were often heard the bardic strains, as the Kenites sat in the evening in the light of the wonderfully bright moon of that region, or as the fire flashed upon eyes equally flashing and upon features indicating that the listeners were wrought up into a frenzy of excitement.

We may ask, did Moses himself compose and chant at this place the sublime poetry of the book of Job? for the poetry and the subject were both worthy of him and his remarkable abilities; and the subjects of the poem are believed by commentators to have been drawn from Idumea, a country adjoining the peninsula of Sinai on the north. Numerous modern critics, the erudite Jahn among them, unite with the ancient Talmudists and many of the Greek

and Syrian Fathers in the belief that the Book of Job was written by Moses: and if so, it was doubtless at this period: for the total silence in it respecting the Exodus shows that it was composed previous to that event. It has all the indi

cations of a very early origin; and the customs hinted at in narrating its incidents are just such as prevailed among the Arabs of that region where Moses was living.

Forty years in this nomadic occupation had brought him to the intellectually well-matured age of eighty; his body strong and wiry as we always see among the nomads; his heart in full harmony with the grandeur of God's works all around him.-Then came to his life a quick and wonderful change!

In feeding his flocks, he had, on one occasion, got near to Mount Horeb in this peninsula: and there suddenly appeared before him a most astonishing sight;-a bush on fire and yet not in the least consumed! A form, as of an angel, appeared in the midst of the flame; and as Moses came near, he heard a voice, warning him to take off his sandals," for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." God himself was speaking now—

1

"I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob;" and then, as the awe-struck man hid his face and bowed, afraid to gaze longer, the words continued,

"I 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 then announced that the time for their deliverance and for their restoration to Canaan had come; with the conclusion, "Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou

'Fire among the Eastern nations was considered to be an emblem of the Deity. All people there perform their worship barefooted. The ancient Greeks did the same, and one of the maxims of Pythagoras was said to be, "Offer sacrifices and worship with your shoes off."

mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."

The amazed and frightened man drew back: the command was astounding!

"Who am I," he said, "that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?"—The reply was—

Certainly I will be with thee," with the assurance that at this very mountain those people should serve God. But Moses saw only confusion and doubts and difficulties in the minds of those debased, ignorant people, in whom the very idea of God had become dim.

Behold," he said, "when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?" The answer was,

"I AM THAT I AM. Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, 'I AM hath sent me unto you."

He was charged to say to them, moreover, that the God of their fathers had sent him; and to gather the elders of their people together and deliver a set message to them, with a promise from God of deliverance. Then he was to take the elders before the king and say to 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 same voice added that the king of Egypt would resist; but after certain demonstrations before him, of God's power, would yield and let them go. They were also, in consideration of their long, unpaid servitude, to spoil the Egyptians at their departure.

But Moses saw insuperable difficulties in his way. What proof could he give them that his commission was from God? He was a man like themselves, and he would be demanding of them the widest stretch of faith; they would not be

lieve, or even listen; they would treat him as an impostor. There was reason in the objections as he urged them now. Then, demonstrations open to his own senses were made. He was bid to cast the "rod" (probably his shepherd's staff) in his hand on the ground. He did so: it became a serpent, and he fled before it. He was recalled and bid to seize it; and on his doing so, it became again a rod. He was bid to put his hand into his bosom. He did so, and on taking it out, saw it all covered with the white scabs of leprosy, "leprous as snow." Again, on being bid, he put it into his bosom, and on withdrawing it saw that it was healed, and was as it had previously been. These were proofs to him that a supernatural power was to be joined with him in this. message, which was indeed in itself so utterly desperate; and he was told that signs of convincing power would be manifested by himself before this people.

But he was still overwhelmed by thoughts of this strange, wonderful commission, requiring so much from himself and from others: from him, only a man, and not gifted, as he thought, with the necessary qualifications. In himself he felt no added endowments, even in this present Divine companionship. Doubt and distress and terror still had their hold upon him.

"O my Lord," he said, "I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." The answer

was

"Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say."

Surely it was sufficient; and we are struck with God's forbearance, amid these long resistances, and with the patient reasoning. But now patience had its end; and God, letting the man's claim of weakness prevail, and with no