188 EXODUS. 



he saw trees which blazed with fire and yet were not 

 consumed. He became a prophet ; he entered the 

 ecstatic state. 



Meanwhile the king had died ; a new Pharaoh had 

 mounted on the throne ; Moses was able to return to 

 Egypt and to carry out the great design which he had 

 formed. He announced to the elders of the people, to 

 the heads of houses, and the sheiks of tribes that 

 Eloah the God of Abraham had appeared to him in 

 Sinai and had revealed his true name — it was Jehovah 

 — and had sent him to Egypt to bring away his 

 people, to carry them to Canaan. The elders believed 

 in his mission, and accepted him as their chief. He 

 went to Pharaoh and delivered the message of Jehovah : 

 the king received it as he would havereceived the message 

 of an Arab chief: gods were plentiful in Egypt. But 

 whenever a public calamity occurred, Moses declared 

 that Jehovah was its author : and there were Egyptians 

 who declared that their own gods were angry with 

 them for detaining a people who were irreligious, 

 filthy in their habits, and affected with unpleasant 

 diseases of the skin. The king gave them permission 

 to go and offer a sacrifice to their desert god. The 

 Israelities stole away, taking with them the mummy 

 of Joseph and some jewellery belonging to their 

 masters. Guides marched in front bearing a lighted 

 apparatus like that which was used in Alexander's 

 camp : which gave a pillar of smoke by day and a 

 flame by night. Moses led them via Suez into Asia, 

 and then along the weed-strewn, shell-strewn shore of 

 the Red Sea to the wilderness of Sinai and the mount 

 of God. There with many solemn and imposing rites 

 he delivered laws which he said had been issued to 

 him from the clouds. He assembled the elders to 



