Joseph said to his brethren, “I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Genesis 50:24.

Only a few families went down into Egypt, but they had become a great multitude. And being surrounded with idolatry, many had lost the knowledge of the true God and had forgotten His law. Yet there were some among them who still worshipped … the maker of the heavens and the earth. They were grieved to see their children daily witnessing, and even engaging in, the abominations of the idolatrous people around them…. In their distress the faithful cried unto the Lord for deliverance from the Egyptian yoke….

They did not conceal their faith but openly acknowledged before the Egyptians that they served the only true and living God. They rehearsed the evidences of His existence and power, from Creation down. The Egyptians thus had an opportunity to become acquainted with the faith of the Hebrews, and their God….

The elders of Israel endeavored to encourage the sinking faith of their brethren by referring to the promise made to Abraham and the prophetic words of Joseph before his death, foretelling their deliverance from Egypt. Some would listen and believe. Others looked at their own sad condition and would not hope. When the Egyptians learned the expectations of the children of Israel, they derided their hopes of deliverance and spoke scornfully of the power of their God….

The faithful servants of God understood that it was because of their unfaithfulness to Him as a people and their disposition to intermarry with other nations, thus being led into idolatry, that the Lord had suffered them to go into Egypt….

But many of the Hebrews were content to remain in bondage rather than to go to a new country and meet the difficulties attending such a journey; and the habits of some had become so much like those of the Egyptians that they preferred to dwell in Egypt. Therefore the Lord did not deliver them by the first display of His signs and wonders before Pharaoh. He overruled events to more fully develop the tyrannical spirit of the Egyptian king, and also by manifestations of almighty power to give the Israelites more exalted views of the divine character, that they might be anxious to leave Egypt and choose the service of the true and merciful God.—Signs of the Times, March 4, 1880.

From From the Heart

And Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are many now, and you make them rest from their labor!” Exodus 5:5.

Aaron, being instructed by angels, went forth to meet his brother, from whom he had been separated for many years, and they met amid the desert solitudes in the mount of God…. Together they journeyed over the Arabian wastes, toward Egypt; and having reached the land of Goshen, they proceeded to assemble together the elders of Israel. Aaron, the eloquent spokesman, communicated to them all the dealings of God with Moses, and then they gave the signs before the people. “The people believed: and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.”

The next work of the two brothers was to communicate with the king himself. They entered the great palace of the Pharaohs as commissioners from Jehovah; they felt that God was with them there, and they spoke with authority: “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.” …

The king had heard of them before, and of the excitement among the people. He became very angry….

The same day the king issued orders to all the officers superintending the work of the Israelites, to do that which made their slavery doubly severe and cruel. The buildings of that country were and still are made of sun-dried bricks, with cut straw intermixed to hold the earth together, even their finest edifices being so constructed, and then faced with stone. The king now commanded that no more straw should be issued to the workmen, but the same amount of brick was rigidly required….

When the unfeeling requirement of the king was put in force, the people scattered themselves throughout the land to gather stubble instead of straw, but they found it impossible to accomplish the usual amount of labor. For this failure, the Hebrew officers, as well as the people, were cruelly beaten….

The Hebrews had expected to be released from bondage without any particular trial of faith or any suffering on their part. But they were not yet prepared to be delivered. They had but little faith and were unwilling patiently to suffer their afflictions until God should work for them a glorious deliverance.—Signs of the Times, March 4, 1880.

From From the Heart

Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. Exodus 3:10.

To the oppressed and suffering Hebrews the day of their deliverance seemed to be long deferred, but in His own appointed time God designed to work for them in mighty power. Moses was not to stand, as he at first anticipated, at the head of armies, with waving banners and glittering armor. That people, so long abused and oppressed, were not to gain the victory for themselves by rising up and asserting their rights. God’s purpose was to be accomplished in a way to pour contempt on human pride and glory. The deliverer was to go forth as a humble shepherd with only a rod in his hand; but God would make that rod powerful in delivering His people from oppression and in preserving them when pursued by their enemies.

Before Moses went forth, he received his high commission to his great work in a way that filled him with awe and gave him a deep sense of his own weakness and unworthiness. While engaged in his round of duties, he saw a bush, branches, foliage, and trunk, all burning, yet not consumed. He drew near to view the wonderful sight, when a voice addressed him from out of the flame. It was the voice of God. It was He who, as an angel of the covenant, had revealed Himself to the fathers in ages past. The frame of Moses quivered, he was thrilled with terror, as the Lord called him by name. With trembling lips he answered, “Here am I.” He was warned not to approach his Creator with undue familiarity: “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” …

Finite creatures may learn a lesson that should never be forgotten—to approach God with reverence. We may come boldly into His presence presenting the name of Jesus, our righteousness and substitute, but never with the boldness of presumption as though He were on a level with ourselves. We have heard some address the great and all-powerful and holy God, who dwelleth in light unapproachable, as they would not address an equal or even an inferior…. God is greatly to be reverenced; wherever His presence is clearly realized, sinners will bow in the most humble attitude.—Signs of the Times, February 26, 1880.

From From the Heart

Then Moses was content to live with the man [the priest of Midian] Exodus 2:21.

The human element is seen in all who have been chosen to accomplish a work for God…. Connected with God, the source of all wisdom, individuals may reach any height of moral excellence….

Moses had been learning much which he must unlearn. The influence which had surrounded him in Egypt—the love of his adopted mother, his own high position as the king’s grandson, the enchantments of grandeur in art, the dissipation on every hand, the imposing display connected with the idolatrous worship, and the constant repetition, by the priests, of countless fables concerning the power of their gods—all had left deep impressions upon his developing mind and had molded, to some extent, his habits and character. These impressions, time, change of surroundings, and close connection with God could remove. Yet it must be by earnest, persevering effort, a struggle as for life, with himself, to uproot the seeds of error, and in their place have truth firmly implanted. At every point Satan would be prepared to strengthen error and dislodge truth, but while God designed that Moses should be self-trained by severe discipline, He Himself would be his ever-ready helper against Satan when the conflict should be too severe for human strength….

The light of nature and that of revelation are from the same source, teaching grand truths and always agreeing with each other. As Moses saw that all God’s created works act in sublime harmony with His laws, he realized how unreasonable it is for humans to array themselves in opposition to the law of God. The conflict was most trying, the effort long, to bring heart and mind on all points in harmony with truth and with heaven; but Moses was finally a victor….

As year after year passed by and left the servant of God still in his humble position, it would have seemed to one of less faith than he as if God had forgotten him, as if his ability and experience were to be lost to the world. But as he wandered with his silent flocks in solitary places, the abject condition of his people was ever before him. He recounted all God’s dealings with the faithful in ages past and His promises of future good, and his soul went out toward God in behalf of his brethren in bondage, and his fervent prayers echoed amid the mountain caverns by day and by night. He was never weary of presenting before God the promises made to His people, and pleading with Him for their deliverance.—Signs of the Times, February 19, 1880.

From From the Heart

The children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. Exodus 2:23.

Moses had become, in every sense, a great man. As a writer, as a military leader, and as a philosopher, he had no superior. Love of truth and righteousness had become the basis of his character and had produced a steadfastness of purpose which no fickleness of fashion, opinion, or pursuits could influence. Courtesy, diligence, and a firm trust in God marked his life. He was young and vigorous, overflowing with energy and manly strength. He had deeply sympathized with his brethren in their affliction, and his soul had kindled with a desire to deliver them. Surely, it would appear to human wisdom that he was in every way fitted for his work.

But God seeth not as man sees; His ways are not as ours. Moses is not yet prepared to accomplish this great work; neither are the people prepared for deliverance. He has been educated in the school of Egypt, but he has yet to pass through the stern school of discipline before he is qualified for his sacred mission. Before he can successfully govern the hosts of Israel, he must learn to obey, he must learn self-control. For forty long years he is sent into the retirement of the desert, that, in his life of obscurity, in the humble work of caring for the sheep and lambs of the flock, he may gain the victory over his own passions. He must learn entire submission to the will of God before he can teach that will to a great people.

Short-sighted mortals would have dispensed with that forty years of training amid the mountains of Midian, deeming it a great loss of time. But Infinite Wisdom placed him who was to be the mighty statesman, the deliverer of his people from slavery, in circumstances during this period to develop his honesty, his forethought, his faithfulness and caretaking, and his ability to identify himself with the necessities of his dumb charge. Those to whom God has entrusted important responsibilities have not been brought up in ease and luxury; the noble prophets, the leaders and judges of God’s appointment, have been those whose characters were formed by the stern realities of life.

God does not select for His work persons of one mold and one temperament only, but individuals of varied temperaments.—Signs of the Times, February 19, 1880.

From From the Heart