When Jethro bestowed his daughter Zipporah upon Moses as his wife, he
said to his future son-in-law: "I know that thy father Jacob took his
wives, the daughters of Laban, and went away with them against their
father's will. Now take an oath that thou wilt not do the same unto
me," and Moses swore not to leave him without his consent,[108] and he
remained with Jethro, who made him the shepherd of his flocks. By the
way he tended the sheep, God saw his fitness to be the shepherd of His
people, for God never gives an exalted office to a man until He has
tested him in little things. Thus Moses and David were tried as
shepherds of flocks, and only after they had proved their ability as
such, He gave them dominion over men.
Moses watched over the flocks with loving care. He led the young
animals to pasture first, that they might have the tender, juicy grass
for their food; the somewhat older animals he led forth next, and
allowed them to graze off the herbs suitable for them; and finally came
the vigorous ones that had attained their full growth, and to them he
gave the hard grass that was left, which the others could not eat, but
which afforded good food for them. Then spake God, "He that
understandeth how to pasture sheep, providing for each what is good for
it, he shall pasture My people."
Once a kid escaped from the flock, and when Moses followed it, he saw
how it stopped at all the water courses, and he said to it: "Poor kid,
I knew not that thou wast thirsty, and wast running after water! Thou
art weary, I ween," and he carried it back to the herd on his shoulder.
Then said God: "Thou hast compassion with a flock belonging to a man of
flesh and blood! As thou livest, thou shalt pasture Israel, My
flock."[109]
Not only did Moses take heed that no harm should come to the herds
under his charge, but he was also careful that they cause no injury to
men. He always chose an open meadow as his pasturing place, to prevent
his sheep from grazing in private estates.[110]
Jethro had no reason to be dissatisfied with the services rendered to
him by his son-in-law. During the forty years Moses acted as his
shepherd not one sheep was attacked by wild beasts, and the herds
multiplied to an incredible degree.[111] Once he drove the sheep about
in the desert for forty days, without finding a pasturing place for
them. Nevertheless he did not lose a single sheep.
Moses' longing for the desert was irresistible. His prophetic spirit
caused him to foresee that his own greatness and the greatness of
Israel would manifest themselves there. In the desert God's wonders
would appear, though it would be at the same time the grave of the
human herd to be entrusted to him in the future, and also his own last
resting- place. Thus he had a presentiment at the very beginning of his
career that the desert would be the scene of his activity, which not
only came true in the present order of things, but also will be true in
the latter days, when he will appear in the desert again, to lead into
the promised land the generation, arisen from their graves, that he
brought forth from Egyptian bondage.[112]
Wandering through the desert, he reached Mount Horeb, which is called
by six names, each conveying one of its distinctions. It is "the
mountain of God," wherein the Lord revealed His law; "Basban," for God
"came there"; "a mountain of humps," for the Lord declared all the
other mountains unfit for the revelation, as "crookbackt" animals are
declared unfit for sacrifices; "mountain of abode," because it is the
mountain that God desired for His "abode"; Sinai, because the "hatred"
of God against the heathen began at the time when Israel received the
law thereon; and Horeb, "sword," because there the sword of the law was
drawn upon the sinners.[113]