The influences that had surrounded him in Egypt, the affection
of his foster mother, his own position as the grandson of the king, the
luxury and vice that allured in ten thousand forms, the refinement,
the subtlety, and the mysticism of a false religion, had made an
impression on his mind and character. In the stern simplicity of the
wilderness all this disappeared.
Amidst the solemn majesty of the mountain solitudes Moses
was alone with God. Everywhere the Creator’s name was written.
Moses seemed to stand in His presence and to be overshadowed
by His power. Here his self-sufficiency was swept away. In the
presence of the Infinite One he realized how weak, how inefficient,
how short-sighted, is man.
Here Moses gained that which went with him throughout the
years of his toilsome and care-burdened life—a sense of the personal
presence of the Divine One. Not merely did he look down the ages
for Christ to be made manifest in the flesh; he saw Christ accompanying
the host of Israel in all their travels. When misunderstood
and misrepresented, when called to bear reproach and insult, to face
danger and death, he was able to endure “as seeing Him who is
invisible.” Hebrews 11:27.
Moses did not merely think of God, he saw Him. God was the
constant vision before him. Never did he lose sight of His face.
To Moses faith was no guesswork; it was a reality. He believed
that God ruled his life in particular; and in all its details he acknowledged
Him. For strength to withstand every temptation, he trusted
in Him.
The great work assigned him he desired to make in the highest [64]
degree successful, and he placed his whole dependence upon divine
power. He felt his need of help, asked for it, by faith grasped it, and
in the assurance of sustaining strength went forward.
Such was the experience that Moses gained by his forty years of
training in the desert. To impart such an experience, Infinite Wisdom
counted not the period too long or the price too great.
The results of that training, of the lessons there taught, are bound
up, not only with the history of Israel, but with all which from that
day to this has told for the world’s progress. The highest testimony
to the greatness of Moses, the judgment passed upon his life by
48 Education
Inspiration, is, “There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto
Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.” Deuteronomy 34:10.
Paul, Joyful in Service
With the faith and experience of the Galilean disciples who had
companied with Jesus were united, in the work of the gospel, the
fiery vigor and intellectual power of a rabbi of Jerusalem. A Roman
citizen, born in a Gentile city; a Jew, not only by descent but by
lifelong training, patriotic devotion, and religious faith; educated
in Jerusalem by the most eminent of the rabbis, and instructed in
all the laws and traditions of the fathers, Saul of Tarsus shared to
the fullest extent the pride and the prejudices of his nation. While
still a young man, he became an honored member of the Sanhedrin.
He was looked upon as a man of promise, a zealous defender of the
ancient faith.
In the theological schools of Judea the word of God had b
