Like Moses, God’s servant is called a “shepherd” of his people: “Then his people recalled the days of Moses of old: Where is he who brought them up out of the Sea with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he who put into him his Holy Spirit, who made his glorious arm proceed at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them, making an everlasting name for himself when he led them through the deep?” (Isaiah 63:11–13); “Like a shepherd he pastures his flock: the lambs he gathers up with his arm and carries in his bosom; the ewes that give milk he leads gently along” (Isaiah 40:11);
In the pattern of Moses, the servant releases his people from bondage and leads them in an exodus to promised lands: “And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Jehovah caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea—even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and horsemen. And it came to pass, that in the morning watch Jehovah looked at the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud and troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot wheels, that they drove them heavily, so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for Jehovah fights for them against the Egyptians.
“And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared. And the Egyptians fled against it; and Jehovah overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. There remained not so much as one of them” (Exodus 14:21–28); “His staff (his servant) is over the Sea (the end-time king of Assyria), and he will lift it over them as he did to the Egyptians. In that day their burdens shall be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke removed from your neck” (Isaiah 10:26–27).
Was the servant—as God’s “arm”—the same angel who led the way for Israel at its exodus out of Egypt as a type of end-time exodus out of Babylon to Zion? “Awake, arise; clothe yourself with power, O arm of Jehovah! Bestir yourself, as in ancient times, as in generations of old. Was it not you who carved up Rahab, you who slew the dragon? Was it not you who dried up the Sea, the waters of the mighty deep, and made of ocean depths a way by which the redeemed might pass? Let the ransomed of Jehovah return! Let them come singing to Zion, their heads crowned with everlasting joy; let them obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing flee away” (Isaiah 51:9–11).
As Moses mediated God’s covenant and served as his people’s lawgiver, so does the servant: “And Moses went up to God, and Jehovah called to him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the people of Israel” (Exodus 19:3–6); “Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. And he was king in Jeshurun when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together” (Deuteronomy 33:4–5); “Give ear and come unto me; pay heed, that your souls may live! And I will make with you an everlasting covenant: [my] loving fidelity toward David. See, I have appointed him as a witness to the nations, a prince and lawgiver of the peoples” (Isaiah 55:3–4).
As Moses anointed and consecrated Aaron and his sons as priests, so the servant anoints and consecrates as priests God’s end-time servants and sons: “You shall make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it like the engravings of a signet, Holiness to Jehovah. And you shall put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre, upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the people of Israel shall sanctify in all their holy gifts. And it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before Jehovah. And you shall embroider the coat of fine linen, and you shall make the mitre of fine linen and make the girdle of needlework.
“And for Aaron’s sons you shall make coats, and you shall make for them girdles, and make for them bonnets, for glory and for beauty. And you shall put them upon Aaron your brother and his sons with him, and shall anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest’s office” Exodus 28:36–41); “To endow those who mourn in Zion, bestowing upon them a priestly headpiece in place of ashes, the festal anointing in place of mourning, a resplendent robe in place of a downcast spirit. They shall be called oaks of righteousness planted by Jehovah for his glory” (Isaiah 61:3).
As Moses interceded with God in the wilderness when Israel turned to idolatry, so does the servant: “And Jehovah said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them, and I will make of you a great nation. And Moses besought Jehovah his God, and said, Lord, why does your wrath wax hot against your people, whom you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce wrath and repent of this evil against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. And Jehovah relented of the evil that he thought to do to his people” (Exodus 32:9–14; cf. Deuteronomy 9:16–29);
“He shall see the toil of his soul and be satisfied; because of his knowledge, and by bearing their iniquities, shall my servant, the righteous one, vindicate many. I will assign him an inheritance among the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the mighty, because he poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with criminals—he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:11–12). Lastly, just as Moses’ strength did not fail, so the servant’s strength does not fail, but he fulfills all God requires of him: “And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated” (Deuteronomy 34:7); “My servant whom I sustain, my chosen one in whom I delight, him I have endowed with my Spirit; he will dispense justice to the Gentiles. He will not shout or raise his voice to make himself heard in public. Even a bruised reed he will not break; a dim wick he will not snuff out. He will perform the work of justice in the cause of truth. Neither shall he himself grow dim or be bruised until he has brought about justice in the earth. The isles await his law” (Isaiah 42:1–4).
Two specifically LDS scriptures comping the servant to Moses throw further light on the servant’s end-time mission. The first deals with his bringing forth the words of Christ that are on the Large Plates of Nephi at the time the gospel turns from the Ephraimite Gentiles to Israel’s natural lineages: “In that day, for my sake shall the Father work a work, which shall be a great and a marvelous work among them; and there shall be among them those who will not believe it, although a man shall declare it unto them. But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.
“Therefore it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the Father shall cause him to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even as Moses said) they shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant. And my people who are a remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, yea, in the midst of them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver” (3 Nephi 21:9–12).
The second instance deals with the servant’s delivering the faithful saints out of bondage and leading then in the new exodus out of Babylon to Zion in the coming day of God’s power: “Behold, I say unto you, the redemption of Zion must needs come by power; Therefore, I will raise up unto my people a man, who shall lead them like as Moses led the children of Israel. For ye are the children of Israel, and of the seed of Abraham, and ye must needs be led out of bondage by power, and with a stretched-out arm. And as your fathers were led at the first, even so shall the redemption of Zion be. Therefore, let not your hearts faint, for I say not unto you as I said unto your fathers: Mine angel shall go up before you, but not my presence. But I say unto you: Mine angels shall go up before you, and also my presence, and in time ye shall possess the goodly land” (Doctrine & Covenants 103:15–20).
