They could find none except Moses fit to be their king. They hastened
and stripped off each man his upper garment, and cast them all in a
heap upon the ground, making a high place, on top of which they set
Moses. Then they blew with trumpets, and called out before him: "Long
live the king! Long live the king!" And all the people and the nobles
swore unto him to give him Adoniah for wife, the Ethiopian queen, the
widow of Kikanos. And they made Moses king over them on that day.
They also issued a proclamation, commanding every man to give Moses of
what he possessed, and upon the high place they spread a sheet, wherein
each one cast something, this one a gold nose ring, that one a coin,
and onyx stones, bdellium, pearls, gold, and silver in great abundance.
Moses was twenty-seven years old when he became king over Ethiopia, and
he reigned for forty years. On the seventh day of his reign, all the
people assembled and came before him, to ask his counsel as to what was
to be done to the city they were besieging. The king answered them, and
said: "If you will hearken to my words, the city will be delivered into
our hands. Proclaim with a loud voice throughout the whole camp, unto
all the people, saying: 'Thus saith the king! Go to the forest and
fetch hither of the young of the stork, each man one fledgling in his
hand. And if there be any man that transgresseth the word of the king,
not to bring a bird, he shall die, and the king shall take all
belonging to him.' And when you have brought them, they shall be in
your keeping. You shall rear them until they grow up, and you shall
teach them to fly as the hawk flieth."
All the people did according to the word of Moses, and after the young
storks had grown to full size, he ordered them to be starved for three
days. On the third day the king said unto them, "Let every man put on
his armor and gird his sword upon him. Each one shall mount his horse,
and each shall set his stork upon his hand, and we will rise up and
fight against the city opposite to the place of the serpents."
When they came to the appointed spot, the king said to them, "Let each
man send forth his young stork, to descend upon the serpents." Thus
they did, and the birds swooped down and devoured all the reptiles and
destroyed them. After the serpents were removed in this way, the men
fought against the city, subdued it, and killed all its inhabitants,
but of the people besieging it there died not one.
When Balaam saw that the city had fallen into the hands of the
besiegers, he exercised his magic arts, which enabled him to fly
through the air, and he carried with him his two sons, Jannes and
Jambres, and his eight brothers, and they all took refuge in Egypt.
Seeing that they had been saved by the king, and the city had been
taken by his good counsel, the people became more than ever attached to
him. They set the royal crown upon his head, and gave him Adoniah, the
widow of Kikanos to wife. But Moses feared the stern God of his
fathers, and he went not in unto Adoniah, nor did he turn his eyes
toward her, for he remembered how Abraham had made his servant Eliezer
swear, saying unto him, "Thou shalt not take a wife for my son of the
daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell." He also remembered
what Isaac did when Jacob fled before his brother Esau, how he
commanded his son, saying, "Thou shalt not take a wife from the
daughters of Canaan, nor ally thyself by marriage with any of the
children of Ham, for the Lord our God gave Ham the son of Noah and all
his seed as slaves to the children of Shem and Japheth forever."
At that time Aram and the children of the East heard that Kikanos the
king of Ethiopia had died, and they rose up against the Ethiopians, but
Moses went forth with a mighty army to fight against the rebellious
nations, and he subdued them, first the children of the East and then
Aram.
Moses continued to prosper in his kingdom. He conducted the government
in justice, righteousness, and integrity, and his people loved and
feared him.
In the fortieth year of his reign, while he was sitting upon his throne
one day, surrounded by all the nobles, Adoniah the queen, who was
seated before him, rose up, and spake: "What is this thing which you,
the people of Ethiopia, have done these many days? Surely you know that
during the forty years this man bath reigned over you, he hath not
approached me, nor hath he worshipped the gods of Ethiopia. Now,
therefore, let this man reign over you no more, for he is not of our
flesh. Behold, Monarchos my son is grown up, let him reign over you. It
is better for you to serve the son of your lord than a stranger, a
slave of the king of Egypt."
A whole day the people and the nobles contended with one another,
whether to pay heed to the words of the queen. The officers of the army
remained faithful to Moses, but the people of the cities were in favor
of crowning the son of their former lord as king. The following morning
they rose up and made Monarchos, the son of Kikanos, king over them,
but they were afraid to stretch forth their hand against Moses, for the
Lord was with him. They also remembered the oath they had sworn unto
Moses, and therefore they did him no harm. Moreover, they gave many
presents to him, and dismissed him with great honor.
When Moses left Ethiopia, in the sixty-seventh year of his age, it was
the time appointed by God in the days of old to bring Israel forth from
the affliction of the children of Ham. But fearing to return to Egypt
on account of Pharaoh, Moses journeyed to Midian.[80]