(Continued from page 288)

2. TRAINING IN SECRET

Soldiers are trained far from the field of battle. Awkward youths are drilled where no hostile eye looks on. Thus Moses is removed to a place where he is trained to do battle in God's way.

Upon his arrival in Midian he is ready for anything that turns up. He might have wasted his life blaming others for his failure, but he is as ready as ever to "do his bit." Sitting by a well in the new country, he discovers there is service to be rendered there. For he sees the daughters of the priest of Midian driven off by shepherds who monopolize the troughs filled by the labor of these women. So he stands up and helps them and waters their flock. And it is this service that introduces him to Jethro, who welcomes him, gives him Zipporah as wife, and finds him employment.

We now see him in the solitude of the desert engaged as a shepherd for forty years. This may seem an unnecessarily long period, but it will be found that when the proper time arrives, things move according to divine schedule. In the meantime the iniquity of the Amorites becomes full, and Israel becomes ready for emancipation.

Referring to the long-continued training of Moses, let us copy a tale from Wm. Barker's "Waters of Quietness." "Porporo, one of the most illustrious masters of music in Italy, conceived a friendship for a young pupil, and asked him if he had courage to persevere.. .in the course he should mark out for him… .When the pupil answered in the affirmative, Porporo wrote upon a single page of ruled paper the diatonic and chromatic scales, ascending and descending, the intervals of the third, fourth, and fifth, etc. This page occupied both the master and scholar during an entire year; and the year following was also devoted to it. When the third year commenced, nothing was said of changing the lesson, and the pupil began to murmur; but the master reminded him of his promise. The fourth year slipped away; the fifth followed, and always the same eternal page. The sixth found them at the same task; but the master added to it some lessons of articulation, pronunciation, and lastly of declamation. At the end of the year, the pupil, who supposed himself still in the elements, was much surprised when one day his master said to him:'Go, my son, you have nothing more to learn. You are the first singer of Italy, and of the world.' He spoke the truth, for this singer was Caffarelli."

Thus the thorough training of Moses, the long seasons of silence, the exceptional opportunities for meditation and prayer, are forming in him the habit of referring everything to God. And at a later day it is apparent he has learned his lesson for, as problems arise in Israel, he solves them because he has God's point of view.

At last the day arrives when God judges him fit for service in Egypt. Hence at Mount Horeb He addresses him out of "the burning bush," impressing upon him His Holiness and His Compassion. Thereupon He says:"Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people the children of Israel out of Egypt" (Exod. 3:10).

MOSES RECEIVES HIS COMMISSION
But he who pressed forward forty years earlier, now draws back. He says:"Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?" Alas, the flesh that exhibits itself in forwardness may equally reveal itself in backwardness. Yet, to His timid servant, once so exuberant, God encouragingly says:"Certainly I will be with thee!" Still he demurs. Whereupon God reminds him that he bears a message from the I AM, and that opposition will give way before it.

Moses, however, is thinking of what others will say, because he is looking at himself rather than God. We remember hearing a brother remark:"When Elijah got his eye on Jezebel, he fled!" But another brother added:"When Elijah got his eye upon himself he said:As Jezebel is after me, I must flee!" Similarly, as Moses is looking at himself he is wondering how others will treat him. He even goes further, and says:"They will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice:for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee." Yet God had said, "They shall hearken to thy voice." At this juncture he receives

CREDENTIALS TO HIS BRETHREN

Casting his rod on the ground it becomes a serpent, but taking it by the tail it becomes a rod in his hand. Putting his hand in his bosom he takes it out leprous, but putting it again in his bosom he withdraws it cleansed. He is to take of the water of the river and pour it upon the ground, and it will become blood. These signs mil accredit him as sent of God.

If we may be permitted to consider their meaning as applied to ourselves, we would observe that,

The "rod" represents human power, but as become a serpent it is seen under satanic control. That control, however, is broken at the cross, and he who accepts this deliverance is enabled to do the will of God. Thenceforth the rod is "the rod of God."

The "bosom" is the fountain of man's being, but sin has made it unclean; hence the service of the hand is denied thereby. But by the death of His Son God cleanseth from sin, so that we may serve Him acceptably.

The "river" as the world's source of life is subject to death.

Thus the servant's credentials are not human advantages nor an official status, but the experimental knowledge of divine power and grace. He gains a hearing among men because he can speak as (1) delivered from Satan's rule and brought under the authority of God; as (2) having no confidence in the flesh but glorying in the cross; and as (3) realizing that this world lies under the judgment of death.

Returning however to Moses, we note that, notwithstanding the credentials given him, he persists in his hesitancy, saying:"O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant [since yesterday, nor since the third day, margin]:but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue" (Exod. 4:10). But Jehovah says:"Who hath made man's mouth?" and adds, "Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." He urges him forward. As Stoney illustrates:-A horse is led by its rider to a barrier which he intends it to leap, but it shies. However the rider knows .what the horse can do, so at proper intervals he brings it to the barrier again and again, until one day the noble creature leaps it beautifully. The rider has his way, and the horse is not sorry.

Moses replies:"O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the' hand of him whom Thou wilt send." That is, Please send someone else! This answer provokes the Lord to anger, but He permits Moses his way to the extent of learning upon an arm of flesh. What a loss this, not only to Moses but to Israel! Thus he is allowed to take Aaron as his mouth-piece to the people. And God says:"I know that he can speak well!"Yes, God is well aware of the existence of good speakers, but He is more desirous of securing the service of hesitant Moses than that of fluent Aaron; He prefers the serious, candid Moses who will carefully say exactly what he means, to the ready-tongued speaker who will later tell his brother:"I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me:then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf" (see Exod. 32:2-4, 24). Undoubtedly Aaron is ready with words, but never would such a speech have fallen from the lips of Moses and, however useful Aaron is [this paper does not treat of his typical position], there can be no doubt that God foresaw dangers which would have been prevented had His servant Moses stepped forward when called. Nor is that all. If "good speaking" consists in the proper use of the plainest language, who is there among the sons of men who ever stated facts more simply and tersely in writing than the lawgiver, and who (but One) could have excelled him in speaking when God would have been with his mouth?

However, despite the unbelief that grieves Him, God shows His pleasure in the reality that lies beneath it, by communicating His wishes to Moses rather than to Aaron, the latter receiving them from the former who is to be to him "instead of God." The matter now being settled in this way, Moses informs his father-in-law of his intended departure and, taking his wife and two sons, sets out in the direction of Egypt'.

In concluding this "Epoch" we note that God insists that His servant must be

FAITHFUL IN HIS HOME

Thus it "came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go:then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision" (vers. 24-26). Evidently there had been discord in the home, the wife opposing the circumcision of her "son"-it does not say sons. Perhaps the firstborn had been circumcised, but Zipporah, objecting to its repetition in the second son, succeeds in getting her husband to yield the point for the sake of peace. In this she is not a helpmeet, that is, a meet help. Nevertheless as Moses is accountable, it is he who is- imperilled. This his wife sees, and performs the rite herself, yet does so in a state of rebellion at God's ordinance.

They now resume their journey however, Aaron meeting them at Mount Horeb. And they enter Egypt and gather "all the elders of the children of Israel," to whom "Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken-unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people." And they believed, and bowed their heads and worshiped. R. J. Reid

(To be continued, D.V.)