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When you think of Egypt,
you think of Pharaohs carved in stone,
mysterious tombs with ancient writing and pictures.
Perhaps you think of camels, and, of course, the pyramids.
Now when Jacob and his twelve sons first settled in Egypt,
just a little ways north of here,
there were only 70 Hebrews in total.
But 350 years later, they numbered two and a half million.
Two and a half million Israelites--in Egypt--
could hardly be ignored.
The Egyptian king (or Pharaoh), well,
he was worried about a rebellion,
so he came up with an idea
to keep the Israelites under his control.
Not only were the Israelites enslaved,
they were slaves condemned to hard labor.
But God had not forgotten his promises.
The Bible says:
Well the time had come for the Israelites to leave Egypt.
And the Lord had his man in place--an Israelite named Moses.
Now Moses had been born in Egypt to Israelite parents.
And at birth, he was condemned to die,
but providentially, he was rescued and raised as
a member of Pharaoh's household
with access to the best education in the land.
But, as an adult, he murdered an Egyptian
in defense of an Israelite;
and then he fled for his life out into the desert.
And it was here in the desert that he became a shepherd,
and for the next 40 years he learned to lead sheep.
You could say it was an education designed by God
to prepare him for a very special task.
Anyway, the Scripture says:
One can't help but think that Moses stood
staring at that bush for some time.
He must have been perplexed.
I mean, what sort of wood was this tree?
It wasn't burning up!
Wouldn't his wife be glad to hear of this--
a wood that burned yet wasn't consumed
would make great fuel for her kitchen stove!
He decided to take a closer look.
A talking tree no less!
One can imagine Moses looking around, you know, a little
worried, all in a sweat, hoping no one was listening.
What would it look like,
him carrying on a conversation with a shrub?!
Moses' blood must have chilled.
He'd been raised on stories about the eternal Most High God.
He knew God as the Creator-Owner of all the living.
This was the holy God who had separated himself
from Adam and Eve, from all mankind
because of their sin.
Moses himself was a sinner--a murderer.
Moses must have sighed with relief.
God was not coming to judge Moses, but to give him a job.
But there was a problem:
Moses was a shepherd and the task looked formidable.
Who was he anyway?
People wouldn't put reams of confidence in a fellow
who said he had spoken to a bramble bush.
I AM means:
Though Moses struggled with misgivings,
he also knew that when God made a promise,
he also kept His Word.
So Moses packed his bags and headed back to Egypt--
back to Pharaoh and the Israelite slaves.
On the way, he met his brother, Aaron,
whom God had sent to be his spokesman.
Well, it happened just the way God said it would.
The people believed and worshiped the Lord.
God was keeping his word.