When the boy Moses grew to manhood he did not forget his own people—the Israelites. Sometimes he left the beautiful palace and its gardens, where he lived among the princes of Egypt, and went out to the fields and cities where his people were toiling. His heart felt sad when he saw the cruel taskmasters oppress his people. He believed that God had spared his life when a baby in order that he might some day help his own people. How he longed for that time to come! He even despised the riches of Egypt when he saw the hardships and poverty of the Israelites. He despised the idolatry of Egypt when he saw the princes and rulers bow down to worship oxen, and cats, and snakes. One day Moses, when he had left the king’s palace to visit the Israelites, acted very unwisely. He saw a taskmaster beating an Israelite, and this made him very angry. He looked about quickly to see that no one was watching, and then he killed the taskmaster and buried him in the sand. He thought the Israelite would understand that he was trying to help him. The next day he saw two Israelites quarreling between themselves and beginning to fight. “Why are you so unkind to each other!” he asked, and the one who had done the wrong replied crossly, “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us! Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian taskmaster yesterday!”
When Moses heard these words he understood at once that his people did not expect him to help them. They did not know how much he loved them and how greatly he desired to relieve their burdens. They were not keeping secret his act of the day before, and soon Pharaoh would hear of the taskmaster’s death. Then Pharaoh would be angry with Moses and would seek to kill him. Knowing this, Moses hurried away from his people with a sad heart, and sought a hiding-place in the wilderness.
After a long, tiresome journey across the desert, Moses one day came to a well. Here he sat down to rest. Presently seven young women came to the well to draw“ water. They were sisters, and they kept their father’s flocks. While they were drawing water for the sheep some wicked shepherds came by and tried to drive them away. Many times before those wicked shepherds had annoyed the young women. But this time Moses defended the women and compelled the wicked shepherds to go away.
When the sisters returned home with the flocks, their father, Jethro, who was a priest of Midian, asked, “How is it that you have come home so early today?” “We met a stranger at the well,” they replied, “who helped us when the wicked men tried tio drive our sheep away.” Jethro then sent for Moses and invited him to live among his people, and to care for his flocks. Later he gave one of his daughters to be-come Moses’ wife, and for, many years Moses worked as a shepherd in the land of Midian. Because he was a stranger among the people of Midian, Moses named his eldest son Ger shorn, which means, “A stranger here.”
During this time a change had taken place in Egypt. The Pharaoh whom Moses feared had died, and a new Pharaoh had come to the Egyptian throne. This ruler was just as cruel as the one whose place he took. Daily he oppressed the Israelites and added miseries to their unhappy lives. As they worked and toiled their hearts grew very sad. They groaned beneath their heavy burdens, and they wept and prayed for relief. And God heard their prayers.
You remember that long before this time God promised to give the land of Canaan to the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You remember, too, that Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, and that his children and their children after them were called Israelites. And so it was these Israelites to whom God had promised the land of Canaan. Now when God heard their cries of distress in Egypt: he remembered his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. And he planned to deliver them from Pharaoh’s cruel bondage and bring them to their own land. Although forty years had passed since Moses fled out of Egypt, still one of the Israelites remembered that Moses had believed God would some day use him to help his people. This Israelite was Moses’ brother, Aaron. Now Aaron, too, had believed that God spared the life of Moses when a baby in order to use him some day as a deliverer for his oppressed kinsmen. But Moses was gone far away now, and Aaron thought he might have forgotten about the suffering of his people.
One day Aaron decided to go out into the great wilderness to search for his lost brother. “If I find him,” he thought), “I shall tell him that the king whom he knew and feared is dead, and that the new Pharaoh has been equally as cruel to our people as the one whose place he took. When Moses hears about the suffering of our people, surely he will try to help us.” But Aaron did not realize what a changed Moses he should find,