THE first step Moses took towards fulfilling the trust thus confided to him was to request of his father-in-law permission to revisit his brethren in Egypt. Jethro gave his consent, and then, having received the Divine assurance that _all the men were dead which sought his life_, accompanied by Zipporah and her two sons, Gershom and Eliezer, Moses commenced his return to Egypt[57]. He had not proceeded far before he encountered his brother Aaron coming forth to meet him, to whom he explained their commission, and the signs that were to attest it. On arriving in the land of Goshen the Brothers gathered together all the clans of the nation. Aaron, as spokesman, rehearsed _the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people_. His announcement had the desired effect. The Israelites believed that the Lord God of their fathers had indeed interposed in their behalf, _and bowed their heads and worshipped_. The next step was to procure from Pharaoh the necessary permission for the departure of the people. But now, even as the Almighty had forewarned them, the difficulties of the Brothers commenced. On presenting themselves before Pharaoh, and informing him of the will of Jehovah, the God of Israel, that His people should be permitted to go three days’ journey into the wilderness, there to offer sacrifice unto Him (Ex. v. 3), the monarch haughtily asked, _Who is Jehovah, that I should obey His Voice to let Israel go?_ Conceiving the God of Israel to be merely a national god, it seemed to him inexplicable that One who had suffered His worshippers to endure a lengthened and degrading bondage, could demand of him, the mightiest monarch of the earth, to let His people depart. Concluding, therefore, that it was only an expedient to excite aspirations for freedom among the bondslaves, in contemptuous mockery of them and their God, he ordered that the severity of their toil should be doubled. Hitherto straw had been found them, wherewith to make bricks for the treasure-cities and other gigantic works then in progress; but now it was ordered that they must go and gather straw for themselves, and yet the tale of bricks must not be diminished; what it was before, that it was to remain, and to be completed also. To comply with this tyrannical command was impossible, and the Israelitish officers, who had been set over the people by the Egyptians were beaten, and their complaints to Pharaoh were utterly disregarded. This produced a great change of feeling towards Moses and Aaron, at whose announcement of speedy deliverance the people had so lately _bowed the head and worshipped_. They heaped reproaches upon them, and openly charged them with being the cause of their now accumulated miseries, of _having made their savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh_ (Ex. v. 1–21).