THE SECRET OF ITS GREATNESS
[Illustration: (drop cap G) The Great Pyramid]
God always chooses the right kind of people to do His work. Not only
so, He always gives to those whom He chooses just the sort of life
which will best prepare them for the work He will one day call them to
do.
That is why God put it into the heart of Pharaoh's daughter to bring up
Moses as her own son in the Egyptian palace.
The most important part of Moses' training was that his heart should be
right with God, and therefore he was allowed to remain with his Hebrew
parents during his early years. There he learned to love and serve the
one true God. Without that knowledge no education can make a man or
woman fit to be a blessing to the world.
But after this God gave him another training. The man who should be
called to write the first words of God's Book would need a very special
education. Most likely some of the Children of Israel could read and
write, for we know there were plenty of books and good schools in
Moses' time, but they certainly did not make such good scholars as the
Egyptians.
'_And the child grew and she (his mother) brought him unto Pharaoh's
daughter, and he became her son._' (Exodus ii. 10.)
In those few words the Bible shows us the Egyptian side of Moses'
education.
And a very thorough education it must have been, for the Egyptians were
the most highly cultured people in the world in those days, and we know
that '_Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians._' (Acts
vii. 22.)
The Egypt of Moses' time was very different from the Egypt of to-day.
Among all the great nations it held the first place; for the people of
Egypt were more clever, and rich; their gardens more beautiful, their
cornfields and orchards more fruitful than those of the dwellers in any
other land.
Again, of all the peoples in the world the Egyptians were looked upon
at that time as the most religious. From one end to another the land
was full of temples, many of them so huge in size, and so magnificent
with carvings and paintings, that even their poor ruins--the great
columns shattered or fallen, the enormous walls tottering and
broken--are still the wonder of the world.
Every great city had its schools and colleges. Clever men devoted
their whole lives to teaching in these colleges and to writing learned
books, just as they do in the cities of Europe and America to-day.
These men were called 'scribes,' that is, 'writers.' Moses, a boy
brought up in the royal palace, would have the best and most learned
scribes for his teachers.
A fragment of an old Egyptian book describing the duties of a lad in
the scribes' school has been found. It tells how the schoolmaster
wakes the boys very early in the morning. 'The books are already in
the hands of thy companions,' he cries; 'put on thy garments, call for
thy sandals.'
If the lad does not make haste he is severely punished; if he is not
attentive in school the master speaks to him very seriously indeed.
'Let thy mouth read the book in thy hand, and take advice from those
who know more than thou dost!'
He has to write many copies, and as he gets he learns to compose
business letters to his master; before he is fourteen he is most likely
a clerk in a government office, and must continue his studies at the
same time.
The letters and copies of a schoolboy who lived three thousand years
ago have been discovered. How many bad marks did his teacher give him,
do you think, when he had to correct that carelessly written capital?
[Illustration: Schoolboy's copy from ancient Egypt. Notice the
teacher's corrections]
So great a respect had the Egyptians for writing that they used to say,
'The great god Thoth invented letters; no human being could have given
anything so wonderful and useful to the world.'
Arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, drawing, an Egyptian lad was supposed
to study all these, and as we have seen, those lads who were trained
for work in the Foreign Office had to learn other languages as well;
they had also to read and write 'cuneiform'--the name given to the
strange wedge-shaped letters of Assyria and Babylonia.
All the letters from the people of Canaan to the Egyptian king and his
Foreign Office were written in cuneiform.
Chinese is supposed to be the most difficult language to learn in our
day; but the ancient cuneiform was certainly quite as complicated as
Chinese. The cuneiform had no real alphabet, only 'signs.' There were
five hundred simple signs, and nearly as many compound signs, so that
the student had to begin with a thousand different signs to memorize.
Yes, boys had their troubles even in those days.
Now, as Moses grew older and learned more, he must often have felt very
thoughtful and sad. So many books, so many ideas, so many stories of
cruel gods and evil spirits--where was the truth to be found? No one
seemed to remember the One True God, the God of his fathers, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob.
Very likely a Babylonian book written in cuneiform, and pretending to
describe the Creation of the world, and the story of the Ark and the
great Flood found its way into Egypt. Many copies of this book existed
in Moses' day; part of a later copy was found a short time ago in the
ruins of the library of a great Assyrian king, and is now to be seen in
the British Museum. A strange book it is. The words were not written,
remember, but pricked down on a large flat tablet of clay.
If Moses read such a book as this, it must have troubled and puzzled
him very much. For it is a heathen book, in which the beautiful clear
story of the Creation of the world is all darkened and spoilt. The
Babylonian who wrote the book, and the Assyrians who copied it, were
all descended from Noah, and therefore some dim remembrance of God's
dealings with the world still lingered in their hearts; but as the time
passed they had grown farther from the truth. That is why the oldest
copies of these books are always the best; the heathen had not had time
to separate themselves so completely from God.
'In the old, old days,' they said, 'there were not so many gods as
there are now'; and some of the most learned heathen even believed that
in the beginning there was but one God. 'Afterwards many others sprang
up,' they declared.
'_In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth._' (Genesis i.
1.) Oh, how far the nations had wandered already from the greatest,
deepest truth which the world can know! How sad to think that horrible
nightmare stories of evil spirits and cruel gods should have come
between men's souls and the loving Father and Creator of all!
Yes; it was time, indeed, that the first words of the Bible should be
written, and that a stream of pure truth should begin to flow through
the world.
But Moses had much to do for God before he could write one word of his
part of the Bible.
We know how his life of learning and splendour came to a sudden end; he
fled from Egypt, and became a shepherd in the land of Midian; and there
in Midian God called him to the great work of leading the Children of
Israel out of Egypt towards the Promised Land.
Terrible troubles had come upon God's people in the land of Goshen.[1]
For the most selfish and cruel Pharaoh who ever reigned over Egypt had
determined to treat the people who had come to live in Egypt, at the
invitation of a former Pharaoh, just as though they were captives taken
in battle.
Many of the old ruins in Egypt are covered with writings describing his
cruelties. He killed all who rebelled against him, and condemned whole
nations to wear out their lives by working for him in the gold mines,
or granite quarries, or by making endless stores of bricks; he cared
for no man's life if only he could be called the richest king in the
world.
'_And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses,_'
(Exodus i. 11) that is, store-cities. In Egypt many store-cities were
needed because corn was more plentiful there than in any other country.
'Pithom--where was Pithom?' So people were asking a few years ago, and
because there was no answer to that question they began to doubt. Had
there ever been such a city?
But in the year 1884 the earth gave up another of its secrets--the
ruins of Pithom were found, buried deep in the dust; and the remains of
great store-houses built of rough bricks, mixed with chopped straw
(Exodus v.) and stamped with the name of the cruel Pharaoh (Ramesis
the Second) were laid bare once more.[2]
What a pity some readers had not waited a little longer before doubting
the truth of the Bible!
'_And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words._' (Exodus
xxxiv. 27.) So it was at last that God called Moses to begin the great
work of writing the Bible, just as He had called him to lead the people
out of Egypt; just as by His Spirit He calls men and women to do His
work to-day.
How did Moses write the first words of the Bible? What kind of letters
and what language did he use?
These are great questions. We know at least that he could have his
choice between two or three different kinds of letters and materials.
Perhaps he wrote the first words of the Bible on rolls of papyrus paper
with a soft reed pen, in the manner of the Egyptian scribes.
Hundreds of these rolls have been found in Egypt: poems, histories,
novels, hymns to the Egyptian gods; and some of these writings are at
least as old as the time of Moses. The Egyptian climate is so fine and
dry, and the Egyptians stored the rolls so carefully in the tombs of
their kings, that the fragile papyrus--that is, reed-paper--has not
rotted away, as would have been the case in any other country.
Certainly in after years the Jews used the same shaped books as the
Egyptians. Indeed, the Jews' Bible--that is, the Old Testament--was
still called '_a roll of a book_' in the days of Jeremiah. (Jeremiah
xxxvi. 2.)
Or perhaps Moses wrote on tablets of clay like those used by the great
empires of Babylon and Assyria, and by the people of Canaan. Clay was
cheap enough; all one had to do was to mould moist clay into a smooth
tablet, and then to prick words on it with a metal pen. The prophet
Jeremiah mentions this kind of book also. (Jeremiah xvii. 1.)
Most likely, however, Moses wrote on parchment made from the skins of
sheep and goats. The Children of Israel kept large flocks, and could
supply him with as many skins as he wanted.
And in what language did he write?
Perhaps even the very first words were written in Hebrew; we know that
in later times the prophets and historians of the Jews wrote in Hebrew.
But we must remember that languages alter as years pass on. The Hebrew
of Moses' time could only have been an ancient kind of Hebrew, very
different from the Hebrew of to-day. Does this surprise you? Why, you
and I could hardly read one word of the English written in England even
a thousand years ago!
About the middle of the last century a German missionary found a large
carved stone in that part of Palestine which used to be called Moab.
This wonderful stone, which is black and shaped something like a
tombstone, is covered with writing. It is called 'The Moabite Stone,'
and was set up by Mesha, king of Moab. (2 Kings iii. 4.) The writing
on it is neither Egyptian nor cuneiform, but a very ancient kind of
Hebrew.
[Illustration: First words of Kin Mesha's writing on the Moabite Stone.
Moses most likely used letters like these]
Of course, this does not take us back actually to the days of Moses,
but still it is so old that Moses may well have used the same kind of
writing.
We have seen that most nations in those old times had their books, and
we know that each nation had always one book that it valued more than
the rest. This was the book that told the people about their religion,
and the gods in whom they believed.
In most of these books some grains of truth were found. All the
nations of the world are but one great family, you know, and even the
most ignorant people were not without some knowledge.
The heathen nations of Moses' time therefore remembered dimly some of
God's dealings with the world; they were so blinded by their heathen
worship, that no atom of fresh light could reach them, and little by
little they drifted further into the darkness.
But, though tiny fragments of truth are to be found in their books, not
one word is to be traced in any book of the most precious truth of all
until God revealed it to His servant Moses.
This makes our Bible so wonderful and different from all other books:
it is a revelation--that is, something which comes to us from God and
which we could never have known without His help.
From first to last the Bible is written to teach us about Christ.
Throughout the whole of the Old Testament Christ is referred to as the
coming Saviour, or Messiah, which you know, is the Hebrew word for
Christ.
Christ is to bruise the serpent's head. (Genesis iii. 15.) In Him all
the nations of the earth are to be blessed. (Genesis xxii. 18.) He is
the Star that shall come out of Jacob. (Numbers xxiv. 17.) When the
Lamb of the Passover was killed, and the people taught they could only
escape from death through the sprinkled blood, this was a type or
picture of Salvation through the Blood of Jesus.
When at last the Saviour came, the Jews rejected Him and would not
accept Him as the Messiah. Then He said to them: '_Had ye believed
Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me._' (John v. 46.)
[1] The Egyptians spelt 'Goshen' 'Kosem.' An old writing says, 'The
country is not cultivated, but left as a pasture for cattle because of
the stranger.'
[2] Some of these bricks are in the British Museum.