PREPARATION FOR LEADERSHIP

Angels taught Moses that God had chosen him to deliver the children of Israel. They also told the leaders of the Israelites it was almost time for them to be delivered. The angels said God would use Moses to deliver Israel from slavery.SRme 1.417

Moses thought the Israelites would be delivered by a war against the Egyptians. He thought he would lead an Israelite army that would break the chains of Egyptian slavery. Because Moses believed this, he was careful not to let his love for his adopted mother or for Pharaoh become too strong. He wanted to be free to do the will of God.SRme 1.418

The Lord kept Moses from being harmed by the evil influences around him. Moses never forgot the truths he had been taught by his God-fearing parents. When he most needed to be shielded from the evils of royal life, he remembered the lessons learned in his youth.SRme 1.419

Moses loved and respected God and had a strong love for his own people, the Israelites. His respect for the Hebrew faith was strong. He would not hide the fact he was an Israelite, in exchange for the honor of being an heir of Egypt's royal family.SRme 1.420

One day when Moses was forty years old, he went out to see how his people were doing. He saw they were working hard as slaves. He also saw an Egyptian beating an Israelite.SRme 1.421

"Moses looked all around, and when he saw that no one was watching, he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. The next day he went back and saw two Hebrew men fighting. He said to the one who was in the wrong, 'Why are you beating up a fellow Hebrew?'SRme 1.422

"The man answered, 'Who made you our ruler and judge? Are you going to kill me just as you killed that Egyptian?' Then Moses was afraid and said to himself, 'People have found out what I have done.'SRme 1.423

"When the king heard about what had happened, he tried to have Moses killed, but Moses fled and went to live in the land of Midian" (Ex. 2:12-15, TEV).SRme 1.424

The Lord led Moses to find a home with Jethro, a man who worshiped God. Jethro was both a shepherd and a priest of Midian. His daughters cared for his sheep. Soon Moses took over the care of the sheep. Moses married Jethro's daughter and stayed in Midian forty years.SRme 1.425

Moses had been too fast in killing the Egyptian. He thought the Israelites understood that God had raised him up to deliver them. But God did not plan to deliver Israel by war, as Moses had thought. Instead, God planned to deliver Israel by His own great power; then the glory would be given to Him alone.SRme 1.426

God overruled Moses' act in killing the Egyptian. The Lord had put Moses in the royal family of Egypt, where he received the highest education. But Moses was not ready to do the great work of delivering Israel that God had raised him up to do. As the king's grandson in the house of Egypt, Moses' every wish was satisfied. So, he was not ready to perform the special work God had for him to do. Moses must have time to obtain experience and to be educated in God's school of difficulties and poverty.SRme 1.427

While Moses took care of Jethro's sheep, the Lord sent angels to give him special understanding about the future. As he took care of the sheep, Moses learned lessons of self-control and humility. God was preparing the shepherd of Midian to become the spiritual shepherd of His people, the Israelites.SRme 1.428

As Moses led the sheep into the desert, he came to Sinai--the mountain of God. "There the angel of the Lord appeared to him as a flame coming from the middle of a bush" (Ex. 3:2).SRme 1.429

"Then the Lord said, 'I have seen how cruelly My people are being treated in Egypt; I have heard them cry out to be rescued from their slave. . .[supervisors]. I know all about their sufferings, and so I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of Egypt to a fertile and spacious land. . . . I have indeed heard the cry of My people, and I see how the Egyptians are oppressing them. Now I am sending you to the king of Egypt so that you can lead My people out of his country'" (Ex. 3:7-10).SRme 1.430

At last the time had come for Moses to exchange his shepherd's rod for the rod of God. God would use Moses' rod in a powerful way to perform signs and wonders, to deliver His people from slavery, and to keep them from being harmed by their enemies.SRme 1.431

Moses agreed to do this work. He first visited his father-in-law, Jethro, to get permission to take his family back to Egypt. Moses did not tell Jethro the message God had given him for the king. Moses was afraid Jethro would not be willing to let his daughter and grandchildren go with Moses on a trip that would be so dangerous.SRme 1.432

The Lord strengthened Moses and took away his fears by telling him, "'Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead'" (Ex. 4:19).SRme 1.433