EU 30-34{Sophy. What were the secrets of the Lord about?
Mamma. About His chosen people, and of how He would glorify Himself in them, notwithstanding all their disobedience and their unfaithfulness to Him. For the Lord told Moses that when His people were scattered among the other nations, if they turned to Him when they were in a far country, He would gather them again into their own land, and if they loved Him with all their heart, and with all their soul, He would bless them and be their God. And Moses said: call heaven and earth to witness against you to-day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore now choose life, that you and your children may live, that you may love the Lord, and obey His voice, and cling to Him, for He is your life, that you may dwell in the land that God promised to Abraham, and to Isaac, and to Jacob.
And when Moses had spoken these words to them, he said: I am a hundred and twenty years old to-day; and the Lord has said to me that I shall not go over Jordan. But you shall go over into the land, and the Lord will go over with you; be strong, and of good courage, and do not be afraid, for He will not fail you nor forsake you.
S. Did Moses make Joshua their captain then?
M. Yes; he called Joshua, and said to him before all the children of Israel: Be strong, and of good courage, for you must go with this people into the land which the Lord has promised you. The Lord will go before you; do not be afraid.
Then Moses wrote the law in a book, and gave it to the elders and to the priests who carried the ark, and they were to put it beside the ark in the Tabernacle; and he told them to read it every seven years, when all the slaves and captives were set free. At the Feast of Tabernacles, all Israel, men, and women, and children, and the strangers in their cities, were to come up before the Lord; and the priests were to read out the law before them, that they might know it and do it, and that they might fear the Lord always.
S. Were the little children to keep the law?
M. Yes. They are especially mentioned many times in this book; they were to be taught it when they were so young that they did not know anything else. Then the Lord told Moses to come with Joshua to the Tabernacle, and they came. And the Lord appeared in the Tabernacle in the pillar of the cloud. And the Lord said to Moses: You will die, and this people will go after other gods, and they will break My covenant, and I will forsake them, and hide My face from them. Now, therefore, write this song and teach it to the children of Israel, that this song may be a witness for Me against them.
S. Did God tell Moses what to write?
M. Yes. By His Spirit God taught him what to write will read you this beautiful song In the thirty-third chapter of Deuteronomy. The last thing Moses did on earth was to sing of the goodness of God; and he taught the song to Joshua, and to the children of Israel. And Moses called heaven and earth to witness that he spoke there words to them. And that day the Lord said to him: Come up the mountain, and die there, as Aaron died in Mount Hor; and you shall see the land which give to the children of Israel.
Then Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death, and he said: The Lord came from Sinai, He shined forth from Mount Paran. He came with ten thousands of His saints; from His right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, He loved the people. Then Moses blessed the tribes by name, and exclaimed: Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto Thee, O people saved by the Lord. And when he had said this he went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah.
S. Was Moses very sorrowful as he went up the mountain?
M. No. I think he had such joy in God that he did not think of himself at all. Moses had a bright and blessed faith in God from the very beginning, when he endured all the trials and sufferings he had in Egypt, because he saw Him who is invisible. That is, he saw God by faith, and God gave his faith in Him a great reward.
S. Was the joy God gave him his reward?
M. Yes; Moses enjoyed more of the company of God than any other man that ever lived, for the Lord spoke to him as a man would speak to his friend. And even in his death the Lord attended him, for He met him upon Mount, Pisgah, and showed him all the land of promise. And the Lord showed him that here was Dan's possession, and there was Ephraim's, and there was Judah's, and so on. So that with his eyes he saw the good land, and by faith he saw the people of the Lord dwelling there according to His word. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there, and the Lord buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, but no one knows to this day where his grave was. The Lord kept that a secret.
S. How much God must have loved him!
M. Yes; God loved him, and he knew it; and that is what makes the story of Moses' life such a very lovely one. He lived in this world for a hundred and twenty years, and from the moment he was born, a little helpless baby, God had watched over him. When his believing mother bid her little one in the ark of bulrushes, by the river side, God saved him from the cruel king. And God took care of him while he was in Pharaoh's daughter's house. And when he was forty years old God put it into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel; and Moses chose to suffer affliction with God's people, and to have the true God for his God, instead of having all the pleasures and riches of Egypt.
S. And when Moses was alone in a strange country, God showed Himself' to him in the burning bush.
M. Yes; Moses hid his face that day, for he was afraid of God; but God took the fear out of his heart by the revelation of Himself, and of His purpose to bless. Moses was never afraid of God again. And by and by we shall read how God told Moses his secret thoughts about His own beloved Son. For Moses has been on this earth again—the disciples saw him talking to Jesus on the holy mount.
S. Was that really the same Moses?
M. Yes; he was talking to Jesus when the voice carne out of the cloud: This is my beloved Son; hear Him. And Moses will yet come again in glory with the Lord Jesus Christ, and then he will see how God fulfills all that He has said about His people Israel.
The people wept and mourned for Moses thirty days. And Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom, but there never was another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.
In the palace-halls of Egypt,
One there was who walked apart,
Egypt's glory all around him,
Ceaseless sorrow in his heart.
For afar his heart was dwelling
Where the people of his God
Toiled amidst the bricks of Egypt,
Toiled midst sufferings, tears, and blood.
The adoption and the glory,
And the covenant their own;
And a land, where, in God's favor,
Israel should dwell alone.
Thither—who would lead them thither
For they would not understand
That their God had heard their groaning,
And would cave them 'by his hand.
Therefore in the lonely desert,
As a stranger would he dwell,
Egypt's glory cast behind him,
Scorned by those he loved so well;
There amidst the lonely desert.
God's uttering grace to learn,
And in his Almighty power.
Israel's Savior to return.
Then again with cloud and fire,
With the Lord's own ransomed band;
Through the riven sea to journey,
From the desolated land,
From the place of Egypt's treasures,
Now to win the joy he prized;
Grief with God's beloved people,
And the blest reproach of Christ.
Learning ever deeper lessons
Of the grace that dwelt above;
Those dark clouds of awful thunder,
Vail that hid God's cloudless love;
Whilst beneath, amid the shadows,
Israel trod the desert road,
He above, in God's bright glory,
Learned the wondrous heart of God.
Whither led that long strange journey
To the hills so 'green and fair.
Where the-vine and spreading fig-tree
Tell of God's unwearied tare?
This the rest for Israel's children,
But to him no portion fell.
Barred by law from Canaan's pastures,
Brought by grave with God to dwell,