Chapter XLIV.

THE FAITH OF MOSES.

THE daughter of king Pharaoh nourished Moses as if he had been her own son.

But though he

was brought up as if he had been a king's son, Moses did not forget his father and his mother, and his own people, the children of Israel.

Now the Egyptians lived at their ease, while the children of Israel worked for them. The Egyptians were the masters, and the children of Israel were their servants and slaves. But when Moses had grown up, he would not be called any more an Egyptian, or the son of Pharaoh's daughter, but he took the part of his own people.

The Egyptians were idolaters. They worshipped idols, and animals,—a bull and other creatures. But the Israelites worshipped the true God: they were God's own people, the children of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, whom God had promised to be with. And Moses thought it better to be one of God's people, though they

were poor and in bondage, than to have all the riches of Egypt.

When Moses was about forty years old, he had gone forth to visit his brethren, the children of Israel; and he saw an Egyptian beating an Hebrew. Then Moses took the part of the Israelite, and he slew the Egyptian.

When king Pharaoh heard that Moses had slain an Egyptian, he wished to kill Moses. But Moses fled away from Pharaoh into the land of Midian. And God was with Moses, and took care of him, because he had faith in God, and loved to be one of His people, and chose rather to suffer with them, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin in Pharaoh's house.

And Moses married the daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian; and he lived in the land of Midian forty years.

The children of Israel still suffered hard bondage in the land of Egypt, and in their affliction they cried to the Lord, and prayed to Him to deliver them. And God heard their prayer, and He remembered His promise to Abraham, and to Isaac, and to Jacob.

The time was now coming when God would bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, and lead them to the land of Canaan, the land which He had promised to give to the seed of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.

Exodus ii. Acts viii. 20-29.

Hebrews xi. 23—27.

Bondage, is slavery, or hard service.
Affliction, is heavy sorrow.

Chapter XLV.

THE CALL OF MOSES TO BE THE DELIVERER OF GOD'S PEOPLE.

MOSES kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, in the land of Midian. And he led the flock into the desert, near to the mountain Horeb.

And at Horeb the angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush and Moses looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and was not consumed. And Moses said, "I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." Then God called unto Moses out of the midst

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of the bush, and said, "Moses, Moses." And he said, "Here am I." And God told Moses not to come nearer; He said, "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

Then Moses put off his shoes from off his feet. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

And the Lord said, that He had seen the hard bondage of His people, the children of Israel, that He knew their sorrows, and had heard their prayers. And He said, that He would now deliver His people from the Egyptians, and bring them forth out of Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey-the land of Canaan.

The land of Canaan was called a land flowing with milk and honey, because it was a rich and very pleasant land. Every kind of food and fruit for man grew there; and there was much grass for sheep and cattle, and many flowers from which the bees gathered honey.

Then the Lord told Moses that He had chosen him to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. And He said, that He would send him to Pharaoh the king, to command him to let the Israelites go.

Then Moses said unto God, "Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel forth?" And God said, "Certainly I will be with thee." And He commanded Moses to say to the children of Israel, that the Lord God of their fathers had sent him, and had said that He would bring them up out of Egypt, to a land flowing with milk and honey. And God said that the children of Israel would hearken to Moses, but that Pharaoh the king would not let them go, until He should smite him, and all his land, with many grievous plagues.

But Moses said, that he was afraid that the Israelites would not hearken to him, and that they would not believe that God had sent him.

Then God told Moses to take the rod which he had in his hand, and cast it on the ground. And Moses cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent. And the Lord said unto Moses, "Put