in all the wisdom and learning of the Egyptians; and the people looked
upon him with hope as their future sovereign.[474]
3. THE YOUTH AND MARRIAGE OF MOSES.
Moses, as he grew older, distinguished himself from all other young
men of Egypt by the conquest which he acquired over himself and his
youthful passions and impetuous will. Although the life of a court
offered him every kind of gratification, yet he did not allow himself
to be attracted by its pleasures, or to regard as permanent what
he knew to be fleeting. Thus it fell out, that all his friends and
acquaintances wondered at him, and doubted whether he were not a god
appeared on earth. And, in truth, Moses did not live and act as did
others. What he thought, that he said, and what he promised, that he
fulfilled.
Moses had reached the summit of earthly greatness; acknowledged as
grandson to Pharaoh, and heir to the crown. But he trusted not in the
future which was thus offered to him, for he knew from Jochebed, whom
he frequently visited, what was his true people, and who were his real
parents. And the bond which attached him to his own house and people
was in his heart, and could not be broken.
Moses went daily to Goshen to see his relations; and he observed how
the Hebrews were oppressed, and groaned under their burdens. And he
asked wherefore the yoke was pressed so heavily on the neck of these
slaves. He was told of the advice of Balaam against the people, and of
the way in which Pharaoh had sought the destruction of himself in his
infancy. This information filled Moses with indignation, and alienated
his affections from Pharoah, and filled him with animosity towards
Balaam.[475] But, as he was not in a position to rescue his brethren,
or to punish Balaam, he cried, “Alas! I had rather die than continue to
behold the affliction of my brethren.” Then he took the necklace from
off him, which indicated his princely position, and sought to ease the
burden of the Israelites. He took the excessive loads from the women
and old men, and laid them on the young and strong; and thus he seemed
to be fulfilling Pharaoh’s intentions in getting the work of building
sooner executed, whereas, by making each labor according to his
strength, their sufferings were lightened. And he said to the Hebrews,
“Be of good cheer, relief is not so far off as you suppose--calm
follows storm, blue sky succeeds black clouds, sunshine comes after
rain. The whole world is full of change, and all is for an object.”
Nevertheless Moses himself desponded; he looked with hatred upon
Balaam, and lost all pleasure in the society of the Egyptians. Balaam
seeing that the young man was against him, and dreading his power,
escaped with his sons Jannes and Jambres to the court of Ethiopia.
The young Moses, however, grew in favor with the king, who laid upon
him the great office of introducing illustrious foreigners to the royal
presence.
But Moses kept ever before his eyes the aim of his life, to relieve his
people from their intolerable burdens. One day he presented himself
before the king and said, “Sire! I have a petition to make of thee.”
Pharaoh answered, “Say on, my son.”
Then said Moses, “O king! every laborer is given one day in seven for
rest, otherwise his work becomes languid and unprofitable. But the
children of Israel are given no day of rest, but they work from the
first day of the week to the last day, without cessation; therefore
is their work inferior, and it is not executed with that heartiness
which might be found, were they given one day in which to recruit their
strength.”
Pharaoh said, “Which day shall be given to them?”
Moses said, “Suffer them to rest on the seventh day.”
The king consented, and the people were given the Sabbath, on which
they ceased from their labors; therefore they rejoiced greatly, and
for a thousand years the last day of the week was called “The gift of
Moses.”[476]
As the command to destroy all the male children had been withdrawn
the day that Moses was cast into the Nile, the people had multiplied
greatly, and again the fears of the Egyptians were aroused. Therefore
the king published a new decree, with the object of impeding the
increase of the bondsmen.
He required the Egyptian task-masters to impose a tale of bricks on
every man, and if at evening the tale of bricks was not made up, then,
in place of the deficient bricks, even though only one brick was short,
they were to take the children of those who had not made up their tale,
and to build them into the wall in place of bricks.[477] Thus upon one
misery another was piled.
In order that this decree might be executed with greater certainty,
ten laborers were placed under one Hebrew overseer, and one Egyptian
task-master controlled the ten overseers. The duty of the Hebrew
overseers was to wake the ten men they were set over, every morning
before dawn, and bring them to their work. If the Egyptian task-masters
observed that one of the laborers was not at his post, he went to the
overseer, and bade him produce the man immediately.
Now one of these overseers had a wife of the tribe of Dan, whose name
was Salome, daughter of Dibri. She was beautiful and faultless in her
body. The Egyptian task-master had observed her frequently, and he
loved her. Then, one day, he went early to the house of her husband,
and bade him arise, and go and call the ten laborers. So the overseer
rose, nothing doubting, and went forth, and then the Egyptian entered
and concealed himself in the house. But the overseer returning, found
him, and drew him forth, and asked him with what intent he had hidden
himself there; and Moses drew nigh. Now Moses was known to the Hebrews
as merciful, and ready to judge righteously their causes; so the man
ran to Moses, and told him that he had found the Egyptian task-master
concealed in his house.
And Moses knew for what intent the man had done thus, and his anger was
kindled, and he raised a spade to smite the man on the head and kill
him.
But whilst the spade was yet in his hand, before it fell, Moses said
within himself, “I am about to take a man’s life; how know I that he
will not repent? How know I that if I suffer him to live, he may beget
children who will do righteously and serve the Lord? Is it well that I
should slay this man?”
Then Moses’ eyes were opened, and he saw the throne of God, and the
angels that surrounded it, and God said to him, “It is well that thou
shouldst slay this Egyptian, and therefore have I called thee hither.
Know that he would never repent, nor would his children do other than
work evil, wert thou to give him his life.”
So Moses called on the name of the Most High and smote; but before the
spade touched the man, as the sound of the name of God reached his
ears, he fell and died.[478]
Then Moses looked on the Hebrews who had crowded round, and he said to
them, “God has declared that ye shall be as the sand of the sea-shore.
Now the sand falls and it is noiseless, and the foot of man presses it,
and it sounds not. Therefore understand that ye are to be silent as is
the sand of the sea-shore, and tell not of what I have this day done.”
Now when the man of the Hebrews returned home, he drove out his wife
Salome, because he had found the Egyptian concealed in his house,
and he gave her a writing of divorcement and sent her away. Then the
Hebrews talked among themselves at their work, and some said he had
done well, and others that he had done ill. There were at their task
two young men, brothers, Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, of the
tribe of Reuben, and they strove together on this subject, and Dathan
in anger lifted his hand, and would have smitten Abiram. Then Moses
came up and stayed him, and cried, “What wickedness art thou doing,
striking thy comrade? It beseems you not to lay hands on each other.”
Boldly did Dathan answer: “Who made thee, beardless youth, a lord and
ruler over us? We know well that thou art not the son of the king’s
daughter, but of Jochebed. _Wilt thou slay me as thou didst the
Egyptian yesterday?_”
“Alas!” said Moses, “now I see that the evil words, and evil acts, and
evil thoughts of this people will fight against them, and frustrate
the loving kindness of the Lord towards them.”
Then Dathan and Abiram went before Pharaoh, and told him that Moses had
slain an Egyptian task-master; and Pharaoh’s anger was kindled against
Moses, and he cried, “Enough of evil hath been prophesied against thee,
and I have not heeded it, and now thou liftest thy hand against my
servants!”
For he had, for long, been slowly turning against Moses, when he saw
that he walked not in the ways of the Egyptians, and that he loved
the king’s enemies, and hated the king’s friends. Then he consulted
his soothsayers and his councillors, and they gave him advice that
he should put Moses to death with the sword. Therefore the young
man, Moses, was brought forth, and he ascended the scaffold, and the
executioner stood over him with his sword, the like of which was not in
the whole world. And when the king gave the word, the headsman smote.
But the Lord turned the neck of Moses into marble, and the sword bit
not into it.
Instantly, before the second blow was dealt, the angel Michael took
from the executioner his sword and his outward semblance, and gave to
the headsman the semblance of Moses, and he smote at the executioner,
and took his head from off his shoulders. But Moses fled away, and none
observed him. And he went to the king of Ethiopia.[479]
Now the king of Ethiopia, Kikannos (Candacus) by name, was warring
against his enemies; and when he left his capital city, Mero, at the
head of a mighty army, he left Balaam and his two sons regents during
his absence.
Whilst the king was engaged in war, Balaam and his sons conspired
against the king, and they bewitched the people with their
enchantments, and led them from their allegiance, and persuaded them
to submit to Balaam as their king. And Balaam strengthened the city on
all sides. Sheba, or Mero, was almost impregnable, as it was surrounded
by the Nile and the Astopus. On two sides Balaam built walls, and on
the third side, between the Nile and the city, he dug countless canals,
into which he let the water run. And on the fourth side he assembled
innumerable serpents. Thus he made the city wholly impregnable.
When King Kikannos returned from the war, he saw that his capital was
fortified, and he wondered; but when he was refused admission, he knew
that there was treason.
One day he endeavored to surmount the walls, but was repulsed with
great slaughter; and the next day he threw thirty pontoons across the
river, but when his soldiers reached the other side, they were engulfed
in the canals, of which the water was impelled with foaming fury by
great mill-wheels. On the third day he assaulted the town on the fourth
side, but his men were bitten by the serpents and died. Then King
Kikannos saw that the only hope of reducing the city was by famine; so
he invested it, that no provisions might be brought into it.
Whilst he sat down before the capital, Moses took refuge in his camp,
and was treated by him with great honor and distinction.
As the siege protracted itself through nine years, Kikannos fell ill
and died.
Then the chief captains of his army assembled, and determined to elect
a king, who might carry on the siege with energy, and reduce the city
with speed, for they were weary of the long investment. So they elected
Moses to be their king, and they threw off their garments and folded
them and made thereof a throne, and set Moses thereon, and blew their
trumpets, and cried “God save King Moses!”[480]
And they gave him the widow of Kikannos to wife, and costly gifts of
gold and silver and precious stones were brought to him, but all these
he laid aside in the treasury. This took place 157 years after Jacob
and his sons came down into Egypt, when Moses was aged twenty-seven
years.
On the seventh day after his coronation came the captains and officers
before him, and besought of him counsel, how the city might be taken.
Then said Moses, “Nine years have ye invested it, and it is not yet in
your power. Follow my advice, and in nine days it shall be yours.”
They said, “Speak, and we will obey.”
Then Moses gave this advice, “Make it known in the camp that all the
soldiers go into the woods, and bring me storks’ nests as many as they
can find.”
So they obeyed, and young storks innumerable were brought to him. Then
he said, “Keep them fasting till I give you word, and he who gives
to a stork food, though it were but a crumb of bread, or a grain of
corn, he shall be slain, and all that he hath shall become the king’s
property, and his house shall be made a dung-heap.”
So the storks were kept fasting. And on the third day the king said,
“Let the birds go.”
Then the storks flew into the air, and they spied the serpents on the
fourth side of the city, and they fell upon them, and the serpents
fled, and they were killed and eaten by the storks or ever they reached
their holes, and not a serpent remained. Then said Moses, “March into
the city and take it.”
And the army entered the city, and not one man fell of the king’s army,
but they slew all that opposed them.
Thus Moses had brought the Ethiopian army into possession of the
capital. The grateful people placed the crown upon his head, and the
queen of Kikannos gave him her hand with readiness. But Balaam and his
sons escaped, riding upon a cloud.
Moses reigned in wisdom and righteousness for forty years, and the
land prospered under his government, and all loved and honored him.
Nevertheless, some thought that the son of their late king ought to
ascend the throne of his ancestors;--he was an infant when Moses was
crowned, but now that he was a man, a party of the nobles desired to
proclaim his right.
They prevailed upon the queen to speak; and when all the princes and
great men of the kingdom were assembled, she declared the matter before
all. “Men of Ethiopia,” said she, “it is known to you that for forty
years my husband has reigned in Sheba. Well do you know that he has
ruled in equity, and administered righteous judgment. But know also,
that his God is not our God, and that his faith is not our faith. My
son, Mena-Cham (Minakros) is of fitting age to succeed his father;
therefore it is my opinion that Moses should surrender to him the
throne.”
An assembly of the people was called, and as this advice of the queen
pleased them, they besought Moses to resign the crown to the rightful
heir. He consented, without hesitation, and, laden with gifts and good
wishes, he left the country and went into Midian.[481]
Moses was sixty-seven years old when he entered Midian. Reuel or
Jethro,[482] who had been a councillor of Pharaoh, had, as has been
already related, taken up his residence in Midian, where the people
had raised him to be High Priest and Prince over the whole tribe. But
Jethro after a while withdrew from the priesthood, for he believed
in the one True God, and abhorred the idols which the Midianites
worshipped. And when the people found that Jethro despised their gods,
and that he preached against their idolatry, they placed him under the
ban, that none might give him meat or drink, or serve him.
This troubled Jethro greatly, for all his shepherds forsook him, as
he was under the ban. Therefore it was, that his seven daughters were
constrained to lead and water the flocks.[483]
Moses arrived near a well and sat down to rest. Then he saw the seven
daughters of Jethro approach.
The maidens had gone early to the well, for they feared lest the
shepherds, taking advantage of their being placed under ban, should
molest them, and refuse to give their sheep water. They let down their
pitchers in turn, and with much trouble filled the trough. Then the
shepherds came up and drove them away, and led their sheep to the
trough the maidens had filled, and in rude jest they would have thrown
the damsels into the water, but Moses stood up and delivered them, and
rebuked the shepherds, and they were ashamed.
Then Moses let down his pitcher, and the water leaped up and
overflowed, and he filled the trough and gave the flocks of the seven
maidens to drink, and then he watered also the flocks of the shepherds,
lest there should be evil blood between them.
Now when the maidens came home, they related to their father all
that had taken place; and he said, “Where is the man that hath shown
kindness to you?--bring him to me.”
So Zipporah ran--she ran like a bird--and came to the well, and bade
Moses enter under their roof and eat of their table.
When Moses come to Raguel (Jethro), the old man asked him whence he
came, and Moses told him all the truth.
Then thought Jethro, “I am fallen under the displeasure of Midian, and
this man has been driven out of Egypt and out of Ethiopia; he must be
a dangerous man; he will embroil me with the men of this land, and, if
the king of Ethiopia or Pharaoh of Egypt hears that I have harbored him
it will go ill with me.”
Therefore Raguel took Moses and bound him in chains, and threw him into
a dungeon, where he was given only scanty food; and soon Jethro, whose
thoughts were turned to reconciliation with the Midianites, forgot him,
and sent him no food. But Zipporah loved him, and was grateful to him
for the kindness he had showed her, in saving her from the hands of
the shepherds who would have dipped her in the water-trough, and every
day she took him food and drink, and in return was instructed by the
prisoner in the law of the Most High.[484]
Thus passed seven, or, as others say, ten years;[485] and all the while
the gentle and loving Zipporah ministered to his necessities.
The Midianites were reconciled again with Jethro, and restored him
to his former position; and his scruples about the worship of idols
abated, when he found that opposition to the established religion
interfered with his temporal interests.
Then, when all was again prosperous, many great men and princes came to
ask the hand of Zipporah his daughter, who was beautiful as the morning
star, and as the dove in the hole of the rock, and as the narcissus by
the water’s side. But Zipporah loved Moses alone; and Jethro, unwilling
to offend those who solicited her by refusing them, as he could give
his daughter to one only, took his staff, whereon was written the name
of God, the staff which was cut from the Tree of Life, and which had
belonged to Joseph, but which he had taken with him from the palace of
Pharaoh, and he planted it in his garden, and said, “He who can pluck
up this staff, he shall take my daughter Zipporah.”
Then the strong chiefs of Edom and of Midian came and tried, but they
could not move the staff.
One day Zipporah went before her father, and reminded him of the man
whom he had cast into a dungeon so many years before. Jethro was
amazed, and he said, “I had forgotten him these seven years; he must be
dead; he has had no food.”
But Zipporah said meekly, “With God all things are possible.”
So Jethro went to the prison door and opened it, and Moses was alive.
Then he brought him forth, and cut his hair, and pared his nails, and
gave him a change of raiment, and set him in his garden, and placed
meat before him.
Now Moses, being once more in the fresh air, and under the blue sky,
and with the light of heaven shining upon him, prayed and gave thanks
to God; and seeing the staff, whereupon was written the name of the
Most High, he went to it and took it away, and it followed his hand.
When Jethro returned into the garden, lo! Moses had the staff of the
Tree of Life in his hand; then Jethro cried out, “This is a man called
of God to be a prince and a great man among the Hebrews, and to be
famous throughout the world.” And he gave him Zipporah, his daughter,
to be his wife.[486]
One day, as Moses was tending his flock in a barren place, he saw that
one of the lambs had left the flock and was escaping. The good shepherd
pursued it, but the lamb ran so much the faster, fled through valley
and over hill, till it reached a mountain stream; then it halted and
drank.
Moses now came up to it, and looked at it with troubled countenance,
and said,--
“My dear little friend! Then it was thirst which made thee run so far
and seem to fly from me; and I knew it not! Poor little creature, how
tired thou must be! How canst thou return so far to the flock?”
And when the lamb heard this, it suffered Moses to take it up and lay
it upon his shoulders; and, carrying the lamb, he returned to the flock.
Now whilst Moses walked, burdened with the lamb, there fell a voice
from heaven, “Thou, who hast shown so great love, so great patience
towards the sheep of man’s fold, thou art worthy to be called to
pasture the sheep of the fold of God.”[487]
4. MOSES BEFORE PHARAOH.
One day that Moses was keeping sheep, his father-in-law, Jethro, came
to him and demanded back the staff that he had given him. Then Moses
cast the staff from him among a number of other rods, but the staff
ever returned to his hand as often as he cast it away. Then Jethro laid
hold of the rod, but he could not move it. Therefore he was obliged to
let Moses retain it. But he was estranged from him.
Now Pharaoh was dead. And when the news reached Moses in Midian, he gat
him up, and set his wife Zipporah and his son Gershom on an ass, and
took the way of Egypt.
And as they were in the way, they halted in a certain place; and it was
cloudy, and cold, and rainy. Then they encamped, and Zipporah tried to
make a fire, but could not, for the wood was damp.
Moses said, “I see a fire burning at the foot of the mountain. I will
go to it, for there must be travellers there; and I will fetch a brand
away and will kindle a fire, and be warm.”
Then he took his rod in his hand and went. But when he came near the
spot, he saw that the fire was not on the ground, but at the summit
of a tree; and the tree was a thorn. A thorn-tree was the first tree
that grew, when God created the herb of the field and the trees of
the forest. Moses was filled with fear, and he would have turned and
fled, but a voice[488] called to him out of the fire, “_Moses, Moses!_”
And he said, “_Here am I._” And the voice said again, “_Put off thy
shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy
ground._” This was the reason why he was bidden put off his shoes; they
were made of asses’ hide, and Moses had trodden on the dung of his ass
as he followed Zipporah and Gershom.
Then God gave Moses his commission to go into Egypt, and release his
captive people. But Moses feared, and said, “I am of slow lips and
tongue!” for he had burnt them, with his finger, when he took the live
coal before Pharoah, as already related. But God said to him, “I have
given thee Aaron thy brother to speak for thee. And now, what is this
that thou hast in thy hand?”
Moses answered, “This is my rod.”
“And to what purpose dost thou turn it?”
“I lean on it when I am walking, and when I come where there is no
grass, I strike the trees therewith, and bring down the leaves to feed
my sheep withal.” And when he had narrated all the uses to which he
put the staff, God said to him, “With this staff shalt thou prevail
against Pharaoh. Cast it upon the ground.” And when he cast it down, it
was transformed into a serpent or dragon, and Moses turned his back to
run from it; but God said, “Fear not; take it up by the neck;” and he
caught it and it became a rod in his hands. Then said the Most Holy,
“Put thy hand into thy bosom.” And he did so, and drew it forth, and it
was white, and shining like the moon in the dark of night.
Then Moses desired to go back to Zipporah his wife, but the angel
Gabriel retained him, saying, “Thou hast higher duties to perform
than to attend on thy wife. Lo! I have already reconducted her to
her father’s house. Go on upon thy way to Pharaoh, as the Lord hath
commanded thee.”
The night on which Moses entered Egyptian territory, an angel appeared
to Aaron in a dream, with a crystal glass full of good wine in his
hand, and said, as he extended it to him:--
“Aaron, drink of this wine which the Lord sends thee as a pledge of
good news. Thy brother Moses has returned to Egypt, and God has chosen
him to be His prophet, and thee to be his spokesman. Arise, and go
forth to meet him!”
Aaron therefore arose from his bed and went out of the city to the
banks of the Nile, but there was no boat there by which he could cross.
Suddenly he perceived in the distance a light which approached; and
as it drew nearer he saw it was a horseman. It was Gabriel mounted
on a steed of fire, which shone like the brighest diamond, and whose
neighing was hymns of praise, for the steed was one of the cherubim.