#36. Life as Shepherd in the Desert.#--Moses' life at court came to a sudden end, through his patriotic effort to deliver one of his race from the cruelty of an Egyptian. As a result he had to flee for his life, as even Pharaoh could not defend him for slaying one of the ruling race for cruelty to a mere slave. For forty years we find him on the Sinaitic peninsula, herding sheep. These must have been years of deep thought. Often he must have wondered why God had given him such deliverance, only to let him languish in the desert while at the same time his people, whom he might have helped, were ground down under the heel of the taskmaster. At the same time these years of solitude must have been rich in opportunity for meditation and communion upward. The city is not the best place for deep thought. Elijah was no city man, neither was John the Baptist. In solitude these men learned much that the city never could teach them. #37. Life as a Leader of God's People in the Desert.#--His life of solitude came to a sudden close, when God called to him out of the midst of the burning bush, and bade him return to Egypt and deliver his people. At first Moses begged to be excused, for he doubtless well remembered that because of his effort to deliver _one_ Hebrew, he had been an exile for forty years. How then could he succeed in delivering _a nation_? But on God's promise to be with him, he and his brother Aaron undertook the task. #38.# Here we note the collision between God's plan and that of the king. God's plan is, Let my people go. Pharaoh's plan is, they shall stay right here. So the battle was joined. Note that Pharaoh, as a result of the consecutive plagues, relents and tries compromises. For these read carefully the story of the plagues, noting especially these passages: Exodus 8:8, 15, 25, 32; Exodus 9:28, 35; Exodus 10:11, 20, 24, 28. And at last, when his pride is utterly broken, comes Exodus 12:31. #39.# Then came that night, much to be observed, on which Israel marched out in triumph, while Egypt mourned, and Pharaoh repented ever resisting the divine command. To this day all Jews observe that great night, called the night of the Passover. #40.# Under the crags of Mount Sinai, Moses spent one year with his people. That was a most significant year, as there he received the ten commandments, and the instructions as to the building of the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant. There, too, he received directions as to the sacrifices that were to be typical of that great sacrifice on Mount Calvary, hundreds of years later. There, too, he had his bitter experience with his people in the matter of the worship of the golden calf; a presage of much that was to follow in the history of that wonderful but stiffnecked people as they continued their journeys through the wilderness.