Key Verse: "Now Moses kept the flock of
Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to
the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to
Horeb."
- Exodus 3:1 KJV
For forty years Moses had been shepherding sheep in the wilderness. It appears to us as if all those years were lost. We can see how profitably the first forty were spent. Those earlier years under his mother's influence—he carried their lessons and impress to the end. Then those years in the schools of Egypt and in the palace he learned much there which was essential to his mission. But what did that long period in the desert do toward fitting him to be a leader, a lawgiver, the builder of a nation? Far more, no doubt, than we can tell. All that while, his character was knitting itself into strength. He was learning self-discipline. In the wilderness, he was taught many a lesson which made him more fit for his work—lessons he could never have learned in the busy life of Pharaoh's palace.