Exodus 3:1, commentary and pictures

Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro in Midian, and he led it to the backside of the desert to Horeb, the mountain of God, where God met him at the burning bush to commission him to deliver Israel. Though educated in Egypt as a mighty statesman, general and prospective ruler, he was not ready to lead, for he tried to deliver by his own force when he killed an Egyptian. God therefore gave him forty years of lowly shepherd work in the solitude of the desert as essential discipline and preparation for his special work. There caring for weak and straying sheep taught him faithfulness, meekness, patience, humility, self-forgetfulness and tender care, while communion with God in the school of nature taught him to know God, trust Him constantly and work as unto Him. At the same time the hardship and solitude undid the pride, self-sufficiency and wisdom of Egypt, humbling and purifying him until he was self-distrustful, reverent and meek and ready to exchange his shepherd's crook for the rod of authority.

Setting and Call at Horeb

Exodus 3:1 finds Moses in Midian as a humble shepherd keeping the flock of Jethro, where he remained for forty years in lowly shepherd work before his great work. Those forty years caring for the flocks of Jethro were his desert experience before his call to deliver Israel, a time that looked like being cut off from his mission but was discipline essential for its fulfillment. Only when that faithful shepherd training was complete was he sent to deliver Israel, for he could not be taken straight from the king's court to do his appointed work. Together with his learning as a learned man and mighty warrior, that schooling in affliction and adversity trained, qualified and fitted him to lead the vast army of Israel to Canaan and stand at their head.

He led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. That was a place of mountain solitudes and altitudes in the wilderness of Midian and Sinai, among plains and mountains where he was shut in by God's presence and surrounded by evidence of God's power. Away from his usual work among the flocks and apart from busy activity, he could commune with God in the quiet of nature as a place of communion and worship. His mountain solitude there stands contrasted with John's wilderness home before the heights of Moab.

There God met him at the burning bush as the Angel, the I AM, and spoke with him. At Horeb God called him from the bush and began his commission to deliver Israel and carry God's message to Pharaoh, marking the setting of his divine call and the beginning of his mission. Speaking with the Angel in the bush came before hearing the message for Pharaoh, so communion with God precedes service for God. The encounter shows that God's work would be carried out through a humble servant and that His presence calls for reverence.

Shepherd Training for Deliverance

Moses had been raised as the king's grandson and prospective heir and ruler, with thorough training in the highest civil and military wisdom of Egypt as a mighty statesman, leader of armies and general, yet that education had not taught him true greatness and left him unready for his work. He supposed he could deliver Israel by force and for praise, and in that hasty, impetuous attempt he killed an Egyptian and hid him in the sand. His Egyptian standing as prospective ruler could not carry him straight from the palace and the court to the deliverance of his people.

God therefore appointed him to forty years keeping sheep in the rocks, mountains, wilds and valleys of the desert of Midian, a special preparation for his special work. That time looked like being cut off forever from his life mission, but it was providential discipline essential to its fulfillment. Only when that humble shepherd training was complete was he met at the bush and sent to deliver Israel.

Leading the flocks through mountain wilds and valley pastures was directed to give him experience in caretaking, thoughtfulness and tender solicitude, to make him a faithful shepherd ready to take charge of God's people. There he learned faith, meekness, patience, humility, self-forgetfulness, tenderness and long-suffering, with self-mastery that would give him wisdom to govern an ignorant and undisciplined multitude. He cared for the weak, nursed the sick, sought the straying, bore with the unruly, tended lambs and nurtured the old and the feeble, patiently hunting and searching for stray sheep. He learned to guard creatures whose voice could never complain of mistreatment with the tenderest care, watching their condition and drawing out his sympathies toward every living thing, because God cares for all the creatures He has made.

In the solitude of the mountains, in the school of nature with Christ as teacher, the God of nature taught him the highest and grandest wisdom. That schooling drew him nearer to the chief Shepherd and united and bound his soul closer to the Holy One of Israel. He learned to do faithfully as unto God the work committed to him, to recognize God's presence in his surroundings while all nature spoke of the unseen One, to know God as a personal God and grasp His presence more fully by meditating on His character, and to find refuge in the everlasting arms. In that solitude he contemplated and learned humility, meekness, faith and trust with a humble manner of living, gaining simple, unwavering faith and constant trust in the Lord that all instruction in the king's palace was unable to impart. Through years of communing with God in the mountain altitudes and at Horeb he was prepared to see God with a single heart and to learn of God in order to become God's representative, with communion coming before the message to Pharaoh.

In the stern simplicity, solitude and hardship of the wilderness he had much to unlearn through long, severe mental and moral discipline. The impressions made on his mind and character by Egypt disappeared and were undone and softened little by little, including affection for his foster mother, position as grandson of the king, luxury and vice alluring in ten thousand forms, and the refinement, subtlety and mysticism of a false religion. The effects of Egyptian wisdom, the false theories instilled by training to be a general of armies, and all the idolatrous rubbish of heathen lore from the influences surrounding him and the impressions from what his eyes had looked upon had to be removed and corrected as he learned to obey and to rely on God's power rather than human strength and wisdom.

That proving, testing and trying in the school of affliction and adversity humbled his soul before God, taught him to understand himself and learn what poverty is, and purged his defects as he did God's will. It ended his self-powered plan to deliver by force, sweeping away pride and self-sufficiency. He came forth from the furnace refined and purified with another spirit different from his younger years, self-distrustful yet strengthened as a thinker and doer of God's word, very meek above all men, patient, reverent and humble, ready to exchange his shepherd's crook for the rod of authority. Jethro also helped him toward a more correct faith during those years.

Pattern for Future Service

Usefulness does not come from human learning or confidence in ability, but from humility, trust in God, and obedience to His commands, for God works through a willing, disciplined instrument taught dependence on Him. Moses had been raised as the prospective ruler of Egypt, yet he could not be taken straight from the king's court to do his appointed work as deliverer, but after forty years as a faithful shepherd with Jethro's flock at Horeb, only when that training was complete was he sent to deliver Israel. Useful and honored workers receive their preparation amid faithful labor in the most lowly positions in life, and the account of the call marks the beginning of the commission for which he had been prepared. He was appointed to forty years of communing with God in the mountain altitudes before he could be God's instrument, and speaking with the Angel in the burning bush came before hearing God's message to Pharaoh, so communion with God precedes service for God.

He was directed to spend time keeping and leading a flock in order to obtain experience in caretaking, thoughtfulness, and tender solicitude, that as a faithful shepherd he might be ready when called to take charge of God's people. The same shepherd experience is essential for those who preach the truth, who must first drink at the life-giving fountain themselves in order to lead souls to it. His forty years as a humble shepherd caring for Jethro's flocks in Midian, where he learned what poverty is, was education in the school of affliction and adversity by which God trained, qualified and fitted him, together with his learning as a learned man and mighty warrior skilled in warfare, to lead the vast army of Israel to Canaan and to stand at their head. That keeping of sheep was training under God to fit him to train others, yet he had much to unlearn through the severest mental and moral discipline worked in him over a long time, for his instruction in the Egyptian courts to make him a general of armies had instilled false theories, and the influences surrounding him and the impressions his eyes had looked upon could not be easily shaken off, so all the idolatrous rubbish of heathen lore had to be removed little by little.

In his humble sphere as a shepherd he gave himself to God with the whole soul, using his talents to do God's work and listening for His commands that he might obey them. Willing obedience gives vital energy and power to the soul and transforms character, so he became great, eloquent, patient, self-reliant, and competent to do the greatest work ever entrusted to mortal man, with increase of talents and a work enduring as the sun done both for himself and for those for whom he labors, however limited his capacity, acceptable to God. Long service keeping the flocks taught him true humility, and the burden of God's work laid upon him made him a man of power, yet the call still found him inefficient, hesitating, self-distrustful, and overwhelmed by the command to deliver Israel. In the fear of God he accepted the trust, and he did not bring the work down to his own deficiency but in the strength of God put forth the most earnest efforts to elevate and sanctify himself for his sacred mission. He would never have been prepared had he waited for God to do the work for him, for light from heaven comes to those who feel their need and seek for it as for hidden treasures, who exert to the utmost the powers God has given, who pray much and exercise the mind vigorously, and who pass through severe mental and moral discipline so God can combine divine power with human effort instead of their remaining weak and inefficient in inactivity.

Away from his usual work among the flocks in the wilderness of Sinai he could be apart from busy activity and commune with God. The disciples likewise needed to withdraw from their labors to be instructed by Christ and learn that their strength came from God, not themselves. In the wilderness of Midian among the mountains he was shut in by God's presence and surrounded by evidence of God's power, where Christ met and communed with him. Quiet nature could thus serve as a place of communion and worship, while his mountain solitude is contrasted with John's wilderness home which lay before the heights of Moab.

His experience as a mighty statesman and leader of armies in Egypt did not teach the lessons essential for true greatness, for he needed humble duties as a caretaker to become tender toward every living thing. In caring for the sheep and lambs his sympathies were drawn out and he learned to guard these creatures of God with the tenderest care, watching their condition though their voice could never complain of mistreatment, because God cares for all the creatures He has made. Working for God in this lowly station taught him to be a tender shepherd for Israel, and condemns a harsh, overbearing spirit in dealing with others. Trained as a general, he had thought deliverance would come by force, and when he saw an Egyptian striking an Israelite he killed the Egyptian and fled to Arabia where for forty years he kept sheep, and those years swept away his pride and self-sufficiency and made him patient, reverent, humble, very meek above all men on the face of the earth. Self-sufficiency must therefore not be cherished, humility and meekness must be learned, God must be walked humbly before, and imperiled souls must be helped gently and not driven farther from Christ.