Aaron: "What! Great enough is our sorrow through those who have been in
Egypt from the beginning, and thou takest more to the land?"
Moses recognized that Aaron was right, and he sent his wife and his
sons back to his father-in-law Jethro.[151]
He was no less magnanimous than Aaron. If the elder brother felt no
envy on account of the younger brother's dignity, the younger brother
did not withhold from the other the teachings and revelations he had
received. Immediately after meeting with Aaron, Moses told him all that
God had taught him, even the awful secret of the Ineffable Name
communicated to him on Mount Horeb.[152]
In obedience to the command of God, the elders of the people were
assembled, and before them Moses performed the wonders that were to be
his credentials as the redeemer sent to deliver the people.
Nevertheless, the deeds he did were not so potent in convincing them of
the reality of the mission as the words wherein God had announced the
approaching redemption to him, which he repeated in their ears. The
elders knew that Jacob had imparted to Joseph the secret mark
designating the redeemer, and Joseph had in turn confided it to his
brethren before his death. The last surviving one of the brethren,
Asher, had revealed it to his daughter Serah, in the following words:
"He that will come and proclaim the redemption with the words of God,
'I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in
Egypt,' he is the true redeemer." Serah was still alive at Moses'
return, and the elders betook themselves to her, and told her the words
of Moses announcing the redemption. When she heard that his words had
been the same as those Asher had quoted, she knew that he was the
promised redeemer, and all the people believed in him.
Thereupon Moses invited the elders to go to Pharaoh with him, but they
lacked the courage to appear before the king. Though they started out
with Moses, they dropped off stealthily on the way, one by one, and
when Moses and Aaron stood in the presence of the king, they found
themselves alone, deserted by all the others. The elders did not go out
free. Their punishment was that God did not permit them to ascend the
holy mountain with Moses. They durst accompany him on the way to God
only as far as they had accompanied him on the way to Pharaoh, and then
they had to tarry until he came again.[153]