Exodus 2:11-1511And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. 13And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? 14And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. 15Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well. (Exodus 2:11‑15).
I HAVE told you how very hard the poor children of Israel worked in making bricks. When Moses was grown to be a man, this thought came into his mind: “I live in a fine house, and am as great as a prince.
I have no work to do; but my poor cousins, the children of Israel, they are working like slaves. Cruel men are beating them. Cannot I help them? “This thought made him sad.
Do you remember the promise God made to Abraham about his great-great-grandchildren? These children of Israel were the great-great-grandchildren of Abraham.
Abraham's child was called Isaac; Abraham's grandchild was Jacob; and Abraham's great-grandchildren were Joseph and his brothers. Now, Joseph's children were Abraham's great-great-grandchildren, and their children were his great-great-great-grandchildren. The children of Israel called Abraham their great-great-great grandfather; only they had never seen him; he died before they were born.
You, my little child, have a great-great-grandfather. I do not know what his name was, but I know he has been dead a long while. If he were alive, he would call you his great-great-grandchild.
I am now going to tell you about these great-great-grandchildren of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and about their children, and their children; and I will always call them "the children of Israel.”
What promise had God made to Abraham about them? He had said' that they should live in the land of Canaan-that sweet land, full of hills and rivers, grass and flowers, sheep and cows, milk and honey. God had said to Abraham, "I will give this land to your children." Not to Isaac, but to his great-great-great-great-grandchildren, and to their children, and to their children.
Moses had heard of this promise; perhaps his mother had told him of it. He had heard how he had been saved from being drowned when he was a little baby, and he believed that God would let him bring the children of Israel into Canaan. He wished to save them from being slaves among the wicked people of Egypt, and to make them happy in that pleasant land of Canaan, It was kind of Moses to wish to help the poor children of Israel.
Moses left the king's fine house, and all his fine things, and he went to the place where the poor Israelites were working hard. The children of Israel were sometimes called Israelites.
He wished to see whether they remembered God's promise to Abraham, and whether they wished to go to Canaan.
When Moses came to the place in Egypt where the children of Israel were working, how sad was the sight he saw I There they were, laboring in the heat of the sun. They worked from morning to night. They dug up the clay to make bricks—that was hard work. Then they made the bricks; they put them in heaps to dry them in the sun. Then they carried them to build the great walls for Pharaoh.
They were forced to make a great many bricks, and the cruel men that Pharaoh had sent, beat them when they were tired. They groaned and cried, but still they were made to do their tasks.
For the men set them a task; not such a little task as you have to do, but a great task. The men said, "You must make so many bricks." I do not know how many they told them to make, but a great many. If they did not do their task, the men would beat them.
It is a sad thing to be a slave. Did you ever hear this hymn?
“I was not born a little slave,
To labor in the sun,
And wish I were but in my grave,
And all my labor done.”
Moses was very sorry to see how the poor children of Israel were treated.
One day he saw one of the task-masters (the cruel men were called task-masters) beating one of the children of Israel. Moses could not bear to see the poor slave treated so cruelly. Moses looked to see whether there were any more task-masters near—he saw no one. So he killed the task-master, and then dug a hole in the ground, and covered it over with the earth.
Do you think it was wrong of Moses to kill the taskmaster? It is very wicked to kill people, for God has commanded people not to kill each other. But God may have people killed if He chooses. Moses had been sent by God to kill this wicked man, that he might show the poor Israelites that he was come from God to make them happy. So it was not wrong in Moses to kill the man, because God had sent him to do it.
One of the Israelites saw him, and soon king Pharaoh heard of it, and Pharaoh was very angry, and tried to find Moses that he might have him killed. So Moses was obliged to go into a country a great way off, where the king could not find him. I will tell you another time what happened to Moses in that country. God loved Moses, and He took care of him wherever he went.
Moses might have lived always in a fine house, and ridden in a chariot, and had many servants; but you see how much he loved the poor children of Israel. Do you not think that he was like the Lord Jesus, Who left His throne in heaven to save us from going to hell? Moses wished to please God more than to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He knew that God loved the children of Israel, and he knew that God would one day help him to take them into Canaan.
Hymn 19
In vain for me are tables spread
With costly meats and wine;
In vain upon a Silken bed
At noon-day I recline;
"In vain on prancing coursers mount,
In warlike chariots ride;
Treasures of gold and Silver count,
In palaces abide;—
“In vain am I for learning famed,
For courage and for strength;
And, son of Pharaoh's daughter named,
May wear a crown at length;
“In slavery my brethren groan,
And eat their bread with tears;
Beneath a cruel master's frown
They spend their bitter years.
“Yet God our father Abraham blessed
And promised to bestow
Upon his seed a land of rest
Where milk and honey flow,”
O! willingly would I forsake
This court and palace fair,
The glorious work to undertake
Of leading Israel there.”
O happy day! when we should see
The hills our fathers, trod,
And, as one numerous family,
Worship our fathers' God!”