One day—it was after he was grown up, and had passed beyond the years
of childhood—Moses went to the land of Goshen, in which lived the
children of Israel. There he saw the burdens under which his people
were groaning, and he inquired why the heavy service had been put upon
them. The Israelites told him all that had befallen, told him of the
cruel edict Pharaoh had issued shortly before his birth, and told him
of the wicked counsels given by Balaam against themselves as well as
against his person when he was but a little boy and had set Pharaoh's
crown upon his head. The wrath of Moses was kindled against the
spiteful adviser, and he tried to think out means of rendering him
harmless. But Balaam, getting wind of his ill-feeling, fled from Egypt
with his two sons, and betook himself to the court of Kikanos king of
Ethiopia.[69]
The sight of his enslaved people touched Moses unto tears, and he
spoke, saying: "Woe unto me for your anguish! Rather would I die than
see you suffer so grievously." He did not disdain to help his
unfortunate brethren at their heavy tasks as much as lay in his power.
He dismissed all thought of his high station at court, shouldered a
share of the burdens put upon the Israelites, and toiled in their
place. The result was that he not only gave relief to the heavily-laden
workmen, but he also gained the favor of Pharaoh, who believed that
Moses was taking part in the labor in order to promote the execution of
the royal order. And God said unto Moses: "Thou didst relinquish all
thy other occupations, and didst join thyself unto the children of
Israel, whom thou dost treat as brethren; therefore will I, too, put
aside now all heavenly and earthly affairs, and hold converse with
thee."[70]
Moses continued to do all he could to alleviate the suffering of his
brethren to the best of his ability. He addressed encouraging words to
them, saying: "My dear brethren, bear your lot with fortitude! Do not
lose courage, and let not your spirit grow weary with the weariness of
your body. Better times will come, when tribulation shall be changed
into joy. Clouds are followed by sunshine, storms by calm, all things
in the world tend toward their opposites, and nothing is more
inconstant than the fortunes of man."[71]
The royal favor, which the king accorded him in ever- increasing
measure, he made use of to lighten the burden laid upon the children of
Israel. One day he came into the presence of Pharaoh, and said: "O my
lord, I have a request to make of thee, and my hope is that thou wilt
not deny it." "Speak," replied the king. "It is an admitted fact," said
Moses, "that if a slave is not afforded rest at least one day in the
week, he will die of overexertion. Thy Hebrew slaves will surely
perish, unless thou accordest them a day of cessation from work."
Pharaoh fulfilled the petition preferred by Moses, and the king's edict
was published in the whole of Egypt and in Goshen, as follows: "To the
sons of Israel! Thus saith the king: Do your work and perform your
service for six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; on it ye
shall do no labor. Thus shall ye do unto all times, according to the
command of the king and the command of Moses the son of Bithiah." And
the day appointed by Moses as the day of rest was Saturday, later given
by God to the Israelites as the Sabbath day.[72]
While Moses abode in Goshen, an incident of great importance occurred.
To superintend the service of the children of Israel, an officer from
among them was set over every ten, and ten such officers were under the
surveillance of an Egyptian taskmaster. One of these Hebrew officers,
Dathan by name, had a wife, Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the
tribe of Dan, who was of extraordinary beauty, but inclined to be very
loquacious. Whenever the Egyptian taskmaster set over her husband came
to their house on business connected with his office, she would
approach him pleasantly and enter into conversation with him. The
beautiful Israelitish woman enkindled a mad passion in his breast, and
he sought and found a cunning way of satisfying his lustful desire. One
day he appeared at break of dawn at the house of Dathan, roused him
from his sleep, and ordered him to hurry his detachment of men to their
work. The husband scarcely out of sight, he executed the villainy he
had planned, and dishonored the woman, and the fruit of this illicit
relation was the blasphemer of the Name whom Moses ordered to execution
on the march through the desert.
At the moment when the Egyptian slipped out of Shelomith's chamber,
Dathan returned home. Vexed that his crime had come to the knowledge of
the injured husband, the taskmaster goaded him on to work with
excessive vigor, and dealt him blow after blow with the intention to
kill him.[73] Young Moses happened to visit the place at which the
much-abused and tortured Hebrew was at work. Dathan hastened toward
him, and complained of all the wrong and suffering the Egyptian had
inflicted upon him.[74] Full of wrath, Moses, whom the holy spirit had
acquainted with the injury done the Hebrew officer by the Egyptian
taskmaster, cried out to the latter, saying: "Not enough that thou hast
dishonored this man's wife, thou aimest to kill him, too?" And turning
to God, he spoke further: "What will become of Thy promise to Abraham,
that his posterity shall be as numerous as the stars, if his children
are given over to death? And what will become of the revelation on
Sinai, if the children of Israel are exterminated?"
Moses wanted to see if someone would step forward, and, impelled by
zeal for the cause of God and for God's law, would declare himself
ready to avenge the outrage. He waited in vain. Then he determined to
act himself. Naturally enough he hesitated to take the life of a human
being. He did not know whether the evil-doer might not be brought to
repentance, and then lead a life of pious endeavor. He also considered,
that there would perhaps be some among the descendants to spring from
the Egyptian for whose sake their wicked ancestor might rightfully lay
claim to clemency. The holy spirit allayed all his doubts. He was made
to see that not the slightest hope existed that good would come either
from the malefactor himself or from any of his offspring. Then Moses
was willing to requite him for his evil deeds. Nevertheless he first
consulted the angels, to hear what they had to say, and they agreed
that the Egyptian deserved death, and Moses acted according to their
opinion.
Neither physical strength nor a weapon was needed to carry out his
purpose. He merely pronounced the Name of God, and the Egyptian was a
corpse. To the bystanders, the Israelites, Moses said: "The Lord
compared you unto the sand of the sea-shore, and as the sand moves
noiselessly from place to place, so I pray you to keep the knowledge of
what hath happened a secret within yourselves. Let nothing be heard
concerning it."
The wish expressed by Moses was not honored. The slaying of the
Egyptian remained no secret, and those who betrayed it were Israelites,
Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Pallu, of the tribe of Reuben, notorious
for their effrontery and contentiousness. The day after the thing with
the Egyptians happened, the two brothers began of malice aforethought
to scuffle with each other, only in order to draw Moses into the
quarrel and create an occasion for his betrayal. The plan succeeded
admirably. Seeing Dathan raise his hand against Abiram, to deal him a
blow, Moses exclaimed, "O thou art a villain, to lift up thy hand
against an Israelite, even if he is no better than thou." Dathan
replied: "Young man, who hath made thee to be a judge over us, thou
that hast not yet attained to years of maturity? We know very well that
thou art the son of Jochebed, though people call thee the son of the
princess Bithiah, and if thou shouldst attempt to play the part of our
master and judge, we will publish abroad the thing thou didst unto the
Egyptian. Or, peradventure, thou harborest the intention to slay us as
thou didst slay him, by pronouncing the Name of God?"
Not satisfied with these taunts, the noble pair of brothers betook
themselves to Pharaoh, and spoke before him, "Moses dishonoreth thy
royal mantle and thy crown," to which Pharaoh returned, saying, "Much
good may it do him!" But they pursued the subject. "He helps thine
enemies, Pharaoh," they continued, whereupon he replied, as before,
"Much good may it do him!" Still they went on, "He is not the son of
thy daughter." These last words did not fail of making an impression
upon Pharaoh.[75] A royal command was issued for the arrest of Moses,
and he was condemned to death by the sword.
The angels came to God, and said, "Moses, the familiar of Thine house,
is held under restraint," and God replied, "I will espouse his cause."
"But," the angels urged, "his verdict of death has been pronounced—yes,
they are leading him to execution," and again God made reply, as
before, "I will espouse his cause."
Moses mounted the scaffold, and a sword, sharp beyond compare, was set
upon his neck ten times, but it always slipped away, because his neck
was as hard as ivory. And a still greater miracle came to pass. God
sent down the angel Michael, in the guise of a hangman, and the human
hangman charged by Pharaoh with the execution was changed into the form
of Moses. This spurious Moses the angel killed with the very sword with
which the executioner had purposed to slay the intended victim.
Meantime Moses took to flight. Pharaoh ordered his pursuit, but it was
in vain. The king's troops were partly stricken with blindness partly
with dumbness. The dumb could give no information about the
abiding-place of Moses, and the blind, though they knew where it was,
could not get to it.[76]