Scarcely had he penetrated this desert land in his flight when he made the acquaintance of a priest of Midian [Jethro], and of his seven shepherdess daughters, one of whom became his wife. Like the somewhat similar experience of Abraham, falling in with the priest of Salem, ♦Melchizedek, the circumstance suggests the inquiry how much of the true knowledge and worship of God existed in those early ages outside the line of Abraham’s family. The historical traces of such piety are certainly very few, yet they recur so incidentally that we are justified in the hope that these cases are not exhaustive; stood not altogether alone. When we come to consider the history of Job we shall take occasion to observe, that his location is certainly in this great region of Arabia, and that his date must in all probability have somewhat preceded this residence of Moses in the land of Midian. Here Moses may have found the story in a traditional form; may perhaps have seen Job’s immediate descendants; may possibly have put the story in its present form as one of the pastimes of a literary shepherd’s life; and then, retaining it in his possession during his subsequent years, may have himself solved the problem――How came this book in the archives of the Hebrew nation, on an equal footing as to inspired authority with their historical books? _The Great Mission of Moses._ Of the second forty-year period in the life of Moses, little is reported save its first scenes and its last. Ex. 3 opens the latter. Moses is keeping the flock of his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He has “led them to the back side of the desert”――_i. e._ to the west side of it, for in designating the points of compass the Hebrews always turned the face toward the east. The east is in front――_before_; and of course the west is behind. Horeb and Sinai lay on the western margin of the great Arabian desert.――――Here “the angel of the Lord appeared to him” (v. 2), called “angel” however only as one who comes or is sent with divine manifestations; for in every subsequent mention he is called “the Lord” and “God” (vs. 4, 6, 7, 11, 13, etc.)[28]――――Remarkably this visible manifestation was made by the symbol of fire in a bush――the bush all aflame yet not consumed. This strange sight attracted the attention of Moses, and he turned aside to look into it more closely, when a voice from the bush called him by name; warned him not to approach in the spirit of mere curiosity, but to take off his shoes because the place on which he stood was holy ground. The mystery before Moses’ mind is solved――the Lord is there! His purpose in this appearing is soon told. He has heard the cry of distress from his oppressed people, has come down to deliver them and to bring them forth into Canaan. He has a mission for Moses in this work. “Come” said he, “I will send thee to Pharaoh.” Moses knew the power and the pride of Pharaoh, and saw at a glance the difficulties of this enterprise.