The social teachings of the prophets and Jesus

Front matter

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Preface

The discovery that the great prophets and founders of Judaism and Christianity were above all else social teachers and reformers is rapidly revolutionising the study of the Bible. The Hebrew prophets and Jesus speak to us to-day more directly and convincingly than they did even to their contemporaries, for we are far more keenly alive to the importance of the social problems which they were seeking to solve. To appreciate fully the social principles which they laid down it is necessary first to become acquainted with the personality of each of these prophets and with the immediate political and social conditions with which they were dealing. Studied in the light of their historical background, these teachings can then be readily interpreted into universal terms and used as a solvent for the social problems of to-day.

The social teachings of the Bible are so deeply embedded in the Old and New Testament writings that they are not easily accessible to the general reader. Those of the prophets and of their practical interpreters, the priests and sages, have usually been treated separately from those of Jesus and his immediate followers. As a matter of fact, Jesus and Paul based their social teachings directly upon those of the earlier prophets. Without the final synthesis and interpretation which Jesus gave to these earlier teachings, they are disconnected and incomplete. To be clearly understood both the teachings of the prophets and those of Jesus and Paul must be studied together as parts of a genetic whole. The chief aims, therefore, of this volume are to single out the important social teachings of the Bible, to translate them into clear English, and then to classify and present them so that they may be intelligently studied in the light of their historical setting and development. The revi PREFACE

suit is primarily a source book; for the modern reader and student desire first of all to know the exact form as well as content of these epoch-making teachings. The final aim is to interpret the principles which underlie them into modern language and thought. In realising these aims I owe much to pioneers like Professor Francis G. Peabody of Harvard and Dean Charles R. Brown of Yale, who have discovered this rich field, but I am especially indebted to Professor J. W. Jenks of New York University and Mr. Frederick J. Kingsbury of New Haven, who have offered many valuable suggestions as this volume has been taking form.

These social principles represent the common ground on which conservative and radical, Protestant and Catholic, reformed Jew and progressive Mohammedan — in fact, every man who recognises the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man — can unite and work for the realisation of the ideals of the founders of their faith. These are the fundamental principles which the great prophets of Judaism and Christianity and of every vital religion supremely emphasised. In their eyes the petty differences which to-day divide the religious forces of the world were utterly unimportant. Deeds, not creeds, spirit, not forms, attitude, not professions, alone are essential. The social teachings of the prophets and Jesus, therefore, furnish the practical working basis on which the social and religious leaders of the world can co-operate in promoting and conserving the highest material and spiritual interests of the human race.

February, 1917.

Part I— The Social Ideals Of The Pre-exilic Prophets

PAGE

I. Moses' Assertion of the Rights of the Industrially Oppressed 3

The Social Significance of the Bible. — The Political and Economic Background of the Egyptian Oppression. — Ramses II's Policy of Oppression. — The Effects of Ramses II's Policy upon the Hebrews. — The Development of an Industrial Deliverer. — Moses' Vision in the Land of Midian. — The Social Problem. — Moses' Methods. — The Great Social and Economic Principles Illustrated by the Crisis in Egypt. — The Social Significance of the Deliverance of the Hebrews.

II. The Democratic Principles for Which Ahijah

and Elijah Contended 13

Israel's Social Inheritance. — The Social Transformation in Israel's Early History. — The Long Conflict between the Hebrew Nomadic and the Canaanite Agricultural Ideals. — The Early Conflict between the Hebrew and Canaanite Theories of the State. — The Ascendancy of the Canaanite Governmental Ideals under Solomon. — Solomon's Theory of Taxation. — The Popular Reassertion of Israel's Democratic Ideals. — Elijah's Defense of the Rights of the Individual Citizen. — The Social Principles Established in Israel's Early History.

III. The Social Teachings of the Early Prophetic

Story-Tellers 26

The Social Aim in Israel's Early Epic Narratives. — The Divroe Ideal for Human Society. — The Ultimate Basis of the Family. — The Unsocial Character and Effects of Sin. — The Making and Treatment of the Criminal. — The Survival of the Morally Fittest. — The Brotherhood of the Human Race. — The Significance of the Prophetic Portrait of Abraham. — The Socialising of the Unsocial Jacob. — Joseph, the Embodiment of the Agricultural Social Ideals.

> vii viii CONTENTS

IV. Amos's Interpretation of the Responsibilities

of the Rich and Ruling Classes 39

Social Transformations in Northern Israel. — The Political and Religious Situation. — The Making of a New Type of Social Reformer. — Amos's Methods of Social Reform. — Amos's Teaching Regarding the Duties of Rulers. — The Responsibility of Judges. — The Responsibilities of the Rich. — The Universal Brotherhood of Man and Its Obligations.

V. Hosea's Analysis of the Forces That Destroy

and Upbuild Society 49

The Personal Experience That Made Hosea a Social Teacher. — Hosea's Conception of the Obligations of Husbands and Wives. — The Effects of Social Immorality. — The Social Effects of Deceit and Robbery. — The Divine Lover. — Hosea's Contributions to Israel's Social Ideals.

VI. The Social Ideals of the Statesman Isaiah.. 60

The Social Conditions That Confronted Isaiahs — The Influences That Made Isaiah a Prophet. — Isaiah's Denunciation of the Corrupt Rulers of Judah. — Isaiah's Denunciation of Judicial Injustice. — Land Monopoly. — The Economic Significance of Intemperance and Luxury. — Man's Attitude toward God. — The Rule or Kingdom of God. — Isaiah's Contributions to Israel's Social Ideals.

VII. Micah the Tribune of the Common People. . 70

Micah's Origin and Point of View. — Micah's Teachings Regarding the Duties of Rulers. — The Responsibilities of Wealth. — The Duties of Those Intrusted with Public Education in Religion and' Morals. — The Results of Micah's Social Teaching. — The Prophetic Definition of Religious Responsibility.

VIII. The Social Reformers of the Seventh Century 78

The Decadent Seventh Century. — Nahum's Condemnation of War Prompted by Greed. — The Significance of the Reactionary Reign of Manasseh. — The Reformer Prophet Zephaniah. — Jeremiah of Anathoth. — Their Teachings Regarding the Duties of Rulers and Religious Leaders. — The Irresponsible, Unprincipled Rich. — The Aims of the Prophetic Reformers Who Prepared the Laws in Deuteronomy. — Formal Adoption of the New Prophetic Code.

CONTENTS ix

PAGE

IX. The Social Principles Embodied in the Prophetic Code of Deuteronomy 90

Domestic Relations : Duties of [Husbands 'to Their Wives. — Duties of Parents to Children. — Duties of Children to Parents. — Duties of Masters to Slaves. — Political and Civil Regulations: Obligations of Rulers. — Duties of Judges. — Duties of "Witnesses. — Public Education in Religion and Morals. — Economic Regulations: The Ownership of Property. — Responsibilities of Employers of Labour. — Measures for the Prevention of Poverty. — Measures for the Alleviation of Poverty. — The Characteristics of the Social Citizen. — The Completeness of the Deuteronomic Social Code.

Part Ii— The Social Ideals Of The Exilic And Post-exilic Prophets And Sages

X. Israel's Mature Political Ideals 107

Israel's New Outlook on Life. — The Social Significance of the Messianic Prophecies. — A Prayer in Behalf of a Benign Ruler. — The Portrait of the Prince of Peace. — The Ideal Ruler. — The Ideal State of the Future.

XL The Growth of Israel's Missionary Attitude

toward All Nations 117

Influences That Enlarged Israel's Social Consciousness. — The Recognition of the Rights of Resident Aliens. — The Open Door to the Heathen World. — Israel's Mission to the Heathen. — The Universality of Jehovah's Rule. — The Psalmists' Vision of the Kingdom of God. — Israel's Realisation of Its Missionary Ideal.

XII. The Second Isaiah's Ideal of Social Service. . 127

The Historical Background of the Second Isaiah. — The Prophet's Aims. — The Prophet's Interpretation of Israel's Destiny. — The Character of the Servant Whom Jehovah Needed to Realise His Purpose. — The Training of Jehovah's Loyal Servant. — The Task and Methods of Jehovah's Loyal Servant. — The Invincible Character of Voluntary Self- Sacriflce. — The Realisation of the Ideal of the Servant of Jehovah. — The Service That Is Alone Acceptable to Jehovah.

x CONTENTS

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XIII. The Social Teachings of the Wise. . . ; 141

The Interest of the Wise in Social Questions. — The Rights and Duties of Husbands and Wives. — The Duties of Parents to Children. — The Duties of Children to Parents. — The Rights and Duties of Masters and Servants. — The Rights and Duties of Rulers and Citizens. — Man in His Legal Relations. — The Responsibilities and Use of Wealth. — The Evils and Prevention of Poverty.

XIV. The Good Neighbour and Citizen According

to the Wise 154

The Characteristics That Make a Bad Neighbour and Citizen. — The Fundamental Social Virtues. — The Psalmists' Definition of the Qualifications of a Worthy Citizen. — The Culminating Old Testament Portrait of a Social Citizen.

XV. The Social Philosophy of Hillel and John

the Baptist 165

The Century of Social Inertia. — The Social Reawakening Led by Hillel. — Hillel's Social Teachings. — Hillel's Standards for the Socially Minded Citizen. — The Antecedents of John the Baptist. — The Social Standards Established by John. — John's Conception of the New Era That Was Dawning. — John's Prediction of the Advent of a Greater Spiritual Reformer. — The Significance of John's Work.

Part Iii— The Social Ideals Of Jesus

XVI. Jesus' Approach to the Social Problem 177

The Master Builder of Nazareth. — The Evidences of Jesus' Interest in Social Questions. — The Record of Jesus' Social Teachings. — The Social Problems of Jesus' Day. — The Experiential Basis of Jesus' Social Teachings. — Jesus' Conception of the Relation of Religion to Social Service.

XVII. Jesus' Aims and Methods as a Social Teacher 186

Jesus' Consciousness of a Social Mission. — Why Jesus Went to Capernaum. — Jesus' Work at Capernaum. — The Classes to Which Jesus Appealed. — Reasons Why Jesus' Social Appeal Was to the Individual. — Jesus' Way of Saving Men. — The Brotherhood Which Jesus Built Up at Capernaum. — The Breadth of Jesus' Social Plan.

CONTENTS xi

PAGE

XVIII. The Characteristics of the Christian

Citizen 198

Jesus' Estimate of the Value of Personality. — Jesus' Doctrine of Social Individualism. — The Importance of Developing a Complete Personality. — The Fundamental Importance of Socialised Thinking and Feeling. — The Ultimate Motive That Prompts Social Thinking and Feeling. — The Fundamental Social Virtues: Sincerity. — Charitable Judgment. — Forgiveness. — Love for Enemies. — Love for All Men. — The Attitude of Non-Resentment. — Jesus' Illustration of Social Citizenship.

XIX. Jesus' Appreciation of the Social Values

of Recreation and Popular Amusements 212

Jesus' Own Enjoyment of Wholesome Recreation. — Jesus' Sense of Humour. — The Joyous Life of the Capernaum Community. — Jesus' Commendation of All Forms of Wholesome Amusement. — Jesus' Condemnation of the So-Called Amusements That Are Harmful. — Jesus' Rejection of the Pharisaic Interpretation of the Sabbath. — Jesus' Example and Teachings Regarding the Larger Use of the Sabbath. — Jesus' Analysis of the Sources of Real Happiness. — Conclusions Regarding Jesus' Philosophy of Living.

XX. Jesus 5 Economic Teachings 225

Jesus' Interest in Economic Problems. — Jesus' General Attitude toward Wealth. — Jesus' Teachings Regarding the Perils of Wealth. — The Wrong Use of Wealth. — The Reasons Why the Mere Quest of Wealth Is Unsatisfy- , ing. — The Right Use of Wealth. — A Living Wage for All. — Relief of Poverty. — A Resume of Jesus' Economic Teachings.

XXI. Jesus' Teachings Regarding the Family... 241

Jesus' Estimate of the Importance of the Family. — Jesus' Attitude toward Marriage. — Jesus' Attitude toward Divorce. — The Duties of Husbands to Wives. — The Duties of Children to Parents. — Jesus' Evaluation of the Industrially Dependent Classes in the Home. — Jesus' Solution of the Servant Problem. — Jesus' Conception of the Ideal Home.

XXII. Jesus' Teachings Regarding the State 252

The Political Situation in Jesus' Day. — Jesus' Point of Approach to Political Questions. — Jesus' Democracy. — The Rights and Duties of Rulers. — The Duties of Citizens to the State. — The Treatment of Criminals. — Jesus' Teachings Regarding War.

xii CONTENTS

PAGE

XXIII. The Rule or Kingdom of God 267

Jesus' Use of the Term Kingdom of God. — Popular Jewish Conceptions of the Kingdom of God. — Jesus' Own Conception of the Rule or Kingdom of God. — The Two Corner-Stones of Jesus' Conception of the Kingdom of God. — Entering the Kingdom of God. — The Relation of the Kingdom to Existing Society. — The Realisation of Jesus' Ideal of the Kingdom in Society.

Part Iv— The Social Ideals Of Jesus' Followers

XXIV. The Social Life of the Early Christian

Communities 283

The Effect of Jesus' Death upon His Followers. — The Reasons Why Jesus' Followers Returned to Jerusalem after His Death. — The Personnel and Organisation of the Jerusalem Community. — The Spirit of Brotherhood in the Early Christian Communities. — The Economic Basis of the Early Christian Communities.

XXV. Paul's Social and Economic Teachings 290

Paul's Interest in Social Questions. — Marriage and Divorce. — The Mutual Responsibilities of Husbands and "Wives. — The Duties of Parents and Children. — The Responsibilities of Masters and Servants. — The Value and Use of Wealth.

XXVI. Paul's Ideal of Christian Citizenship 302

Paul's Two Dominant Social Aims. — The Characteristics of a Christian Citizen. — The Crowning Virtues of the Social Citizen. — The Christian's Attitude toward Civil Authorities. — The Christian Citizen's Obligations to His Fellow Christians. — The Christian's Duty to Non-Christians and Enemies. — The Christian Commonwealth.

XXVII. The Adoption of Jesus' Social Principles During the First Christian Century 316

The Spread of Jesus' Social Leaven. — The Duties of Wives and Husbands. — The Obligations of Christian Servants. — Attitude of the Christian toward His

CONTENTS xm

Fellow Christians. — The Democracy of the Epistle of James. — Responsibility of Wealth. — Social Significance of the Apocalyptic Visions in the Book of Revelation. — The Christian Law of Love. — The Realisation of Jesus' Social Ideals in the Life of the Primitive Church.

XXVIII. The Application of the Social Teachings

of the Prophets and Jesus 327

Christianity's Conquest of and by Rome. — The Effects of Christianity's Long Contest with Paganism. — The Trend toward Monasticism and Asceticism. — The Theological Interpretation of Christianity. — The Rediscovery of the Social Teachings of the Bible. — The New Social Awakening. — The Programme of Socialism and That of the Prophets and Jesus. — A Comparison of the Methods of Socialism and Christianity. — The Social Leaven at Work in the Life of the Modern Man. — In the Life of the Family. — In the Business World. — In the Christian Church. — In National and International Relations.

APPENDIX I. Selected Bibliography 343

APPENDIX II. Subjects for Discussion and Investigation 348

Part I The Social Ideals Of The Pre-exilic

PROPHETS

MOSES' ASSERTION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE INDUSTRIALLY OPPRESSED

The Social Significance of the Bible. Hitherto the Bible has been regarded primarily as a theological text-book. From its pages dogmatic theologians have drawn the proof -texts that have been made the foundations of many diverse creeds. But at last we are beginning to see that the Bible is far more than a theological treatise. Through its vivid records we still gain our clearest and most inspiring visions of the God revealed in the universe and in human history; but now we realise that its authors sought to do much more than to teach theology. Throughout its pages two dominant aims are clearly and constantly evident. The first is to make plain to men the ways in which they may enter into intimate acquaintance with God and find life and freedom in his loyal service. The second is to show them how they may live in right relations to their fellow men and by united effort develop a perfect social order in which each may find supreme happiness and complete self-expression. The one aim is in the largest sense religious, the other social. The Bible also makes forever clear the absolute unity of these two aims.

Many different voices are heard in the Old and New Testaments, but clear above them all rise in full harmony those of the Hebrew prophets and Jesus and Paul. They were not vague dreamers but men of practical insight and outlook, who stood together on the higher planes of reality. Their interpretation of the great social problems which confront the individual and society are so clarifying and significant that no intelligent man or age can afford to disregard them. Wrought out and thoroughly tested in the laboratory of personal and national experience, the religious and social principles which they set forth possess a unique and abiding value. The Bible also records the progressive development and formulation of these fundamental principles. From the very beginning of their national history the Hebrews were endowed with a rich social heritage derived from their nomadic ancestors. In the strenuous national crises which marked the enlargement of Israel's life and thought these inherited social ideals were reinterpreted and expanded by each succeeding prophet until they found their final and complete synthesis in the teachings of Jesus.

In this critical, transitional age, when selfish greed and materialism have nearly wrecked society, we are inexorably forced to the conclusion that the social principles of the prophets and Jesus are by far the most valuable assets that the past has bequeathed to us, for they furnish the only basis upon which an enduring civilisation can be reared. It is this fresh appreciation of the profoundly practical social idealism of the Bible that is gaining for it a new and pre-eminent place in the thought and interest of the present generation.

The Political and Economic Background of the Egyptian Oppression. Chief among the many reasons why Israel of all the nations has proved the leading social teacher of the human race is the fact that its history opened with a titanic social struggle. Its founder was a prophet and social agitator. In the throes of a great industrial crisis the Hebrew nation was born. Political and economic conditions in the land of Egypt during the thirteenth century before Christ were the result of a long process of development. The land of the Nile is naturally isolated. Originally it was divided into a large number of small independent states. Only gradually were they united. The invasion of the Hyksos conquerors about the twentieth century before Christ led them in desperation to acknowledge the absolute authority of the kings of the Eighteenth (Theban) Dynasty. After a long struggle these rulers succeeded in expelling the invaders and in extending the boundaries of Egypt until they included Syria and Palestine.

THE EGYPTIAN OPPRESSION 5

The deliverance was purchased, however, at great cost to the common people. All political power and most of the wealth of the empire were gathered into the hands of a small ruling class. Under the succeeding Nineteenth Dynasty social conditions grew even more intolerable. The local nobility disappeared and the kings became absolute despots, holding in their irresponsible hands all the vast resources of the empire and the lives of their subjects. A huge bureaucracy of minor officials, who were the paid tools of the tyrant, in his name controlled all commerce and collected as high as twenty per cent tax on all products of the soil. For the individual citizen there was no redress nor escape from this economic as well as political thraldom. Upon the thousands of captives and foreigners then found in the land of Egypt this intolerable burden rested most heavily.

Ramses IPs Policy of Oppression. Ramses II, the fourth king of the Nineteenth Dynasty, who reigned sixty-seven years (1292-1225 B.C.), was one of the greatest masters of industry that has ever appeared in human history. He was a man of unbounded energy and gifted with a remarkable organising ability. He was dominated by a colossal ambition to build memorials so many and so vast that they would make his reign forever glorious. The result is that the land of Egypt is to-day strewn from one end to the other with the evidences in crumbling stone of his overweening ambition. At Tanis in the delta is a huge granite monolith of the oppressor ninety feet high, weighing fully nine hundred tons. At Luxor (ancient Thebes) the ruins of the colonnaded hall of the great temple which he reared still surpass in size the largest buildings of the ancient and modern world. These imposing remains, as well as contemporary records, reveal the spirit of the man. He planned far more than he could execute. Turning his back on the most sacred traditions of his race, he tore down famous temples and noble works of art and used the material for his own crude building enterprises. Erasing the names of those who had originally reared them, he inscribed his own name on scores of ancient monuments. He was equally ruthless in his sacrifice of human life. All Egypt was put to work to satisfy his inordinate ambition. At the same time he was lavish in his gifts to the temples and in his public display of piety. Evidently he was eager to win for himself the approval of the gods and to blind his own subjects by the magnificence of his public benefactions. In every respect he was a perfect type of the unprincipled captain of industry; and, thanks to Egypt's malign inheritance, he was able to perfect an industrial system which in its inexorable effectiveness has never been surpassed.

The Effects of Ramses IPs Policy upon the Hebrews. The nomads from Palestine, who, driven by famine, under the benign reign of an earlier Pharaoh had found refuge and later a permanent home in the pasture lands east of the Nile Delta, were but a small fraction of the horde of foreigners who in the days of Ramses II filled the land of Egypt. Earlier Egyptian records contain references to the Semitic shepherds who came to water their flocks at the pools of Pi thorn. Until the days of Ramses II the Wady Tumilat, which ran from the Nile delta eastward toward the wilderness, had been given up to shepherds. Here the ancestors of the Hebrews had pastured their herds and flocks undisturbed except for the occasional visits of Egyptian tax collectors. In this favorable environment their numbers rapidly increased. Ramses II, however, was eager to develop the agricultural resources of the Wady Tumilat and to provide arsenals and granaries as a base for his campaigns in the neighbouring lands of Palestine and Syria. To effect this transformation and to build the store cities of Rameses and Pithom (Egyptian P- A turn = House of the god Atum), the Hebrews were drafted into the royal service. No people are more resentful of forced manual labor than the freedomloving sons of the desert. But the unorganised Hebrew clans were helplessly caught in the meshes of Pharaoh's industrial system. Their "lives were made bitter with hard service in mortar and brick." As their numbers continued to increase and their resentment became more evident, their burden was made more crushing. With absolutely no prospect of escape,

THE EFFECTS OF RAMSES IPS POLICY 7

sullen, sodden, and hungry, these hopeless serfs were compelled under the lash to toil at the vast enterprises which completed their bondage.

The Development of an Industrial Deliverer. Moses is the first man in human history with a well-developed social consciousness. He lived long before the days of exact Hebrew records; but his life is so simple and his work so significant that there is every reason to believe that the oldest traditions preserved in Exodus are thoroughly reliable. Interpreted into modern language, they give a marvellous picture of the way in which Israel's first great prophet and industrial deliverer was trained. They also illustrate the pre-eminent importance of personality. Moses was in one sense a product of contemporary conditions and. of the forces at work in his race and age. In another and deeper sense he was the moulder of his race and of new social ideals for humanity. Each factor in his youthful training was essential to his final work. His birth and upbringing as a child aligned him with his race. His later culture gave him a larger outlook and enabled him to understand the baffling social and economic problems which he sought to solve. The supreme crisis in his life came to him in his young manhood — the period when most prophets awaken to their mission. A cruel act of oppression suddenly aroused his loyalty to his kinsmen and so stirred his social consciousness that he awoke to a vivid realisation of the injustice of Pharaoh's policy. Hot-headed and red-handed, he attacked it by slaying a cruel Egyptian taskmaster (Ex. 2 11 - 12 ). Painful experience soon taught him that violence never helps but always hurts a just cause. His act probably brought only added woe to his kinsmen. Even they misunderstood and openly resented his interference. The trouble was that his zeal was misdirected and his method was not constructive. But his impulsive act forever committed him to the mighty task of delivering his enthralled kinsmen (Ex. 2 13_15a ).

Moses' Vision in the Land of Midian. Moses' violent assertion of his loyalty to his race and to the principles of justice gave him a new perspective. His enervating contact with the ruling class in Egypt was suddenly broken, and he found himself a fugitive in that trackless wilderness from which the ancestors of his race had emerged. He quickly identified himself with the freer, more democratic social life which flourished in those arid steppes and meagrely watered wadies. At their fountain source he drank in the social traditions of his race. In the calm, free atmosphere of the desert he saw more clearly by contrast the colossal injustice of the Egyptian industrial system. The great wrong, which he had in a pitiably inadequate and unwise way attempted to right, still remained, and he could not forget it. Doubtless he listened eagerly to the stray bits of information regarding conditions in Egypt that sifted out into the wilderness. At last the news came that the great taskmaster, who for more than six decades had held the people of Egypt under his pitiless lash, was dead.

The book of Exodus has preserved three distinct accounts of the way in which Moses received the divine call to take up his mighty task as an industrial deliverer. Each represents the bold attempt of early tradition to describe a profound spiritual experience. That they differ in details is not surprising. It is the points in which they agree that are significant. The background of Moses' call is his intimate knowledge of the needs of his oppressed kinsmen and his burning zeal to deliver them. The great outstanding fact in all the narratives is his vivid consciousness of Jehovah's presence and power. For the first time in human history Moses clearly realised that the God back of the universe is a God of justice and mercy who sympathises with the socially oppressed. Simply and directly the early Judean prophetic narrative states the truth which is the corner-stone of Israel's faith (Ex. 3 7, 8a ):

Jehovah said, 'I have surely seen the affliction of my people that are in Egypt, and have heard their cry of anguish because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the power of the Egyptians/

It was this conviction, and not merely the knowledge of the changed political conditions in Egypt, that transformed the

MOSES' VISION 9

Hebrew fugitive into the intrepid and tactful champion of a seemingly impossible cause. The consciousness that God is the friend and deliverer of the oppressed not only made Moses a prophet but also guided him in all his subsequent heroic and successful endeavors in behalf of his people.

The Social Problem. Human society has rarely presented a more baffling social problem than that which confronted Moses when he returned to Egypt. The system which was relentlessly crushing the bodies and souls of his kinsmen seemed to be impregnably intrenched. It was supported by the entire political, priestly, and military power of the empire. The spirit of his kinsmen had been crushed by their cruel burdens and at first they were suspicious of this prophet from the wilderness. Not the least of his tasks was to arouse this ignorant, inert mass. As has been truly said, "Moses himself was doubtless still on the black list of the Egyptian secret service.' ' No champion of ancient story ever attempted a more heroic feat than did he when he stood up single-handed against Egypt's mighty industrial system. The only external factor in his favour was that the merciless tyrant, Ramses II, was dead and Egypt was beginning to feel acutely the weakening effects of his rapacious policy. Unobserved, however, by king and people, mighty physical, social, and economic laws were also lined up on the side of the intrepid prophet. The effects of their co-operation are graphically and characteristically recorded in the plague stories of Exodus. With the eye of faith the ancient story-tellers saw not the economic and natural forces but the God back of them all, and told their story accordingly. The contemporary Egyptian records reveal still other forces at work: foreign invaders, civil war, and inefficient rulers were rapidly sapping the strength of the empire.