Far out across the sandy wild,
Where, like a solitary child
He thoughtless roamed and free,
One towering thorn was wrapped in flame--
Bright without blaze it went and came,
Who would not turn and see?
--_Keble._
One day, as Moses tended the sheep on Mt. Horeb, there appeared beside
him a bright light. And in another instant a bush near by leaped with
red flames.
The branches crackled; the tongues of flame streamed up against the sky;
but still the bush was not consumed, nor did it wither.
"This is strange," Moses thought; and he went up to the bush.
"Moses! Moses!" called a voice from out the flames.
[Illustration: MOSES COMING DOWN FROM MOUNT SINAI.]
Then Moses knew it was the voice of the Lord; and he fell upon his knees
before the bush. He was afraid.
"The place where thou standest it is holy-ground!" said the voice again.
"I am God, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob."
"I have seen my people's sorrow. I have heard their cry. I am come to
send thee to Pharaoh. And thou shalt bring my people out of Egypt."
"Who am I, O Lord," Moses cried, "that I should be chosen to go to
Pharaoh?"
"Fear not," said the voice of God again. "I will be with thee. Go, and
tell thy people that I sent thee. If Pharaoh disobey my command, then
will I send punishment upon him. Plagues will I send upon Egypt, and I
will bring out my people safely." Still Moses was afraid. It was a
great duty that had been laid upon him. He dared not believe he could do
all that the Lord bade him to do. What if the people refused to believe
him?
"Throw thy rod upon the ground," God said to Moses. For he knew the fear
that was in the heart of the man, and he meant to give him courage.
Moses threw the rod upon the ground, and behold, it was changed into a
serpent.
"Take the serpent in thy hand," commanded the voice from the burning
bush.
For a moment Moses hesitated; for it was a terrible serpent, with fangs
having deadly poison; and even the heart of the bravest man might well
quail at such a command.
But Moses knew the Lord would not allow it to harm him. So he seized it
by the tail--when lo! it changed again to a rod.
"Now," said the voice from the bush, "go to the people of Israel. Tell
them these signs I have given to you that they may believe that I have
sent you."
Still Moses feared. "O Lord," he cried, "I cannot speak well. My tongue
is slow; I have no words."
But the Lord said, "Who hath made thy tongue dumb? Have not I, the Lord?
Go; obey my command and I will instruct thee what thou shalt say. Take,
too, thy brother Aaron with thee; and I will teach both Aaron and thee
what to say."
Then Moses obeyed. Timid was he still; but the Lord gave him strength,
and he set out from the house of Jethro to deliver the people of Israel.
And as he journeyed towards the city, the Lord spoke, too, to Aaron,
and bade him to go out to meet Moses.
Then Aaron and Moses met; and when they met, they fell upon each other's
necks and wept.
Then they told each other what the Lord had said to them, and together
they went into the presence of Pharaoh and said, "Behold the Lord hath
told us to come to thee, and bid thee set free the people of Israel."
But Pharaoh sneered and said, "I know not the Lord of the Israelites,
nor shall I set the people free."
Instead, Pharaoh called together his governors and bade them oppress the
Israelites more heavily still; to give them more work and less pay; to
punish them; and in every way to do those things to them that would make
their yoke still harder to bear.
The governor obeyed. Then the poor Israelites blamed Moses and Aaron.
Moses went to God with the great burden of care now upon him. He was now
eighty years of age, and the care weighed upon him most heavily.
"All this I do know," the Lord said. "But have trust in me. I have heard
the groanings of my people. I remember the covenant that I made with
Abraham, and I will bring the people out from Egypt into the land of
Canaan."
[Illustration: MOSES AND AARON BEFORE PHARAOH.]