When the Lord sent him on his mission to free the children of Israel from their Egyptian bondage, Moses said unto God: "Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?" And we read, "God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." This mission of Moses, the obedient servant of God, was certainly a mission of love; for to free the Israelites from hard, unjust labor, in the midst of sin, idolatry, and estrangement from the true, living God, was seemingly a very difficult task, one that needed the inspiration of love under God's protecting care.
After the children of Israel had been brought out of Egypt, they so visibly received God's loving protection that the pursuing hosts of the Egyptians could not overtake and destroy them, but were themselves destroyed, while the Israelites walked through the midst of the sea on dry land. Moses proved God's ever present love, power, and protection in providing the people with their daily needs during their journey through the wilderness, and in giving them also the Ten Commandments. We read in Deuteronomy: "And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day." Was not this a covenant of obedience and gratitude in loving remembrance of their wonderful delivery by the hand of God?
All through their experiences the children of Israel had the loving protection of the Lord. When Saul was at war with the Philistines, the latter tried to frighten the Israelites into submission by material force. God, however, showed them that the boastfulness of error was but an illusion, nothingness; for David approached, practically unarmed, and in the name of the Lord challenged Goliath the Philistine, and conquered him; and the hosts of the Philistines were put to flight.
