He declared himself the humble follower of a great and guiding will.And when he felt thoroughly convinced of his own mission,when he knew that he had heard the voice of Jehovah,speaking from a burning bush,he returned to Egypt and began the gigantic task of moving an entire people from one country to another,through the endless tracts of the desert of Sinai.
But there were other difficulties.King Rameses was dead,and his successor,Mineptah,had probably never heard of the killing of the Egyptian.Moses could therefore safely return to Egypt,as far as the police were concerned.But now the Jews (his own people)were unwilling to believe in him.
Slavery is a bad thing for the souls of men.It makes them cowards.The Jews had a hard life in Egypt.But they were certain of three meals each day.It was no doubt very pleasant to talk about a glorious and free existence in a new country.But that Promised Land lay many miles away and just then it was in the hands of hostile heathen.There would be fighting and months of wandering through the hot sands of Sinai,and at the end,the success of the expedition was very doubtful.
Unfortunately,Moses was not a good talker.He was a man of unbounded courage and endless patience and perseverance.But like many another brave and intelligent leader,he got very impatient when he was trying to convince people who were unwilling to see the reasonableness of his arguments.
And so he wisely left the preliminary discussions to his brother Aaron and himself devoted his attention to many details that had to be arranged before anything definite could be done.
He went boldly to Pharaoh and asked that the Jewish tribes which had come to the country voluntarily during the reign of the great viceroy,Joseph,be allowed to depart in peace.
His request was curtly refused.It reacted most unhappily upon the poor workmen in the royal brick-yards.Henceforth they were treated as prisoners who had tried to escape.(They were carefully watched and their tasks were made harder than before.)Formerly,they had been given the straw that was necessary for the making of their bricks.Now they must provide this themselves,and yet they must turn out as many bricks per man per day as they had done before.This meant additional hours of toil.The new regulation made the Jews very angry with Moses.That is what had come of his meddling.He had better return to the desert whence he had come and leave his fellow-countrymen in peace,lest they all perish before the wrath of great Pharaoh.
Moses at last began to have a clear appreciation of the extreme danger of his position.
He sent his wife and his children,who had accompanied him,back to his father-in-law,in the distant Midian country.Then he began in all seriousness to prepare for the days that were to follow.Time and again (but with very little success)did he tell the Jews what they ought to do.He tried to convince them that it was Jehovah who was speaking to them.They must leave the land of slavery at once if the promise to Abraham,that Israel would be a great nation,was ever to be fulfilled.
The Jews listened.They mumbled to themselves and refused to budge.The years of bondage had broken their faith.They doubted the power of their ancient God.They were willing to be slaves.
Moses understood that neither side would make a move without the use of force.He alone was not strong enough to bring his own people to reason.Neither could he hope to convince Pharaoh.Jehovah alone could do this,and Jehovah did not desert his faithful servant in this hour of need.He told Moses to go once more before the King and warn him of the terrible things that would happen if he refused to heed the warnings of the God of the Jews.For the second time,Moses and Aaron went to the royal palace,and asked that their people be allowed to depart in peace.
Again they were refused.
Then Aaron took his staff and stretched it over the waters of the Nile.The waters turned red,and the people were forced to dig wells,that they might not die of thirst.
Pharaoh heard the cries of the thirsty people,but he refused to let the Jews go.
That was the first plague.
Then came the next.