each at the door of his house, prepare to slay the chosen lamb, and
sprinkle its blood on the side-posts and lintel! To them it was the
command of Moses simply, and beyond that none knew the significance.
It was a beautiful and serene evening. The sun had filled the skies
with golden atoms, and the horizon was tinged with commingled emerald,
blue, and orange colors, fused into an atmosphere of ineffable glory.
It seemed as if the presence of the God of the Hebrews was in His
skies, beholding His people! At the given hour, being the ninth of the
day, a hundred thousand sacrificial knives--held in the hands of the
men of a whole nation, which became, for the moment, a nation of
priests to God--flashed in the sun, and the blood of the victims,
pouring upon the land of Goshen, consecrated it as the altar where the
God of the Hebrews first received the national worship of His people,
and their recognition of Him as their God.
Then, with hyssop dipped in a basin of the blood, each man sprinkled
the door-posts, and cross-piece of the entrance of his house, in
behalf of all who either should dwell in it, or who, being
stranger-brethren, came from other parts of Egypt, and could enter no
house for the throngs, yet were numbered with some one household: as,
for instance, the house of Aaron's father-in-law, which could hold but
thirty people, had on its list three hundred and seventy names, as its
household,--all brethren from other provinces; for Goshen was now like
a mighty camp. There were besides, hovering about the confines of
Goshen, and even mingling with the Hebrews, thousands of Egyptian
families, who, flying from the terror of the Lord in Egypt, had sought
safety near the Hebrews, and under the wing of the God who had
protected them,--hoping to share their safety. Many of these brought
their substance with them--their rich apparel, their gold, and jewels,
and silver--hoping, therewith, to purchase the favor of their once
despised, and now dreaded, bondmen.
How, my dear father, shall I record the events of the night that
followed the death of the lambs! As the sun went down, the Hebrews,
with awe, retired within their dwellings, and closed the doors.
Mothers, with anxious haste, drew in their first-born. Even many of
the hapless Egyptians, who had heard of the command to the Hebrews,
chose a lamb and slew it--their hands trembling, and hearts sinking
between hope and fear--and sprinkled the door-posts of their wretched
places of shelter, if, peradventure, the great and terrible God of the
Hebrews would, in the coming night of His vengeance upon Pharaoh,
seeing the blood, pass them by, and spare their first-born also.
At length a silence, like that which forever reigns in the heart of
the pyramids, reigned throughout Goshen. Not an eye was closed in all
Israel, during those first hours of dread watching for the first sound
abroad of God's coming down upon Egypt. I remained up, in the house of
the venerable Aminadab, the father-in-law of Aaron. Elisiba, the wife
of Aaron, with her arm around her eldest son Nadab, a fine young man,
held him firmly by her side. Aaron and Moses were apart, in a room by
themselves, engaged in low conversation, or in solemn prayer. No other
sound was heard, but the voice of this wonderful man talking, as if
face to face with his God.
Suddenly, at midnight, a bright light from heaven shone above the
dwelling, and from it went forth a glory which filled the land of
Goshen with its beams. I stood, at the moment, in the court, and fell
with my face to the earth; for I knew that it was the presence of God.
At length Moses touched me, and said--
"Fear not! Rise and behold the glory of God, that when thou shalt
return and sit upon thy throne, thou mayest teach thy people that the
God of the Hebrews is the God of heaven and earth! For thy sake, as
well as for Israel, and Pharaoh, and the Egyptians, and all the
nations who shall hear of this, are these wonders and judgments done;
that Pharaoh, and all kings, and the whole earth, may know who is the
Lord, and worship only Him!"
I arose, and lo! in the height of heaven I beheld a column, or pillar
of fire, the base of which was above the roof of the house, and the
summit thereof in the region of clouds. It was in the form of a Hebrew
staff, with a bar of light across it near its top, upon which seemed
to be a crown of glory, shooting forth thorns of light and splendor.
In this cloud, or pillar of light, there seemed to stand a form like
that of a man, but resplendent with ineffable radiance, and I covered
my face and worshipped. When I looked again, the dazzling vision, if
such it were, was in motion towards Egypt, and the city of On. As it
moved, it lighted up the whole earth. When it came over the city of
the Sun, a sword seemed to be drawn by the man who stood in the pillar
of fire, and I beheld it sweep over the palace of Pharaoh, and strike.
Then, with the swiftness and dazzling gleam of lightning, it turned
every way over Egypt, till I could not, dared not behold longer and
bowed my head, veiling my eyes, and adoring.
Then we heard, even in Goshen, a cry as from the living heart of
Egypt, as if every mother in the vast cities of On and Memphis, and
the hundred surrounding villages, had lifted her voice in one
prolonged, dreadful wail of woe.
I knew what that cry meant, and trembled in silent awe. I prostrated
myself before God and cried for mercy!
At length the sword was drawn back by the hand of the man in the
pillar of cloud, and the shining column returned and stood over the
house where Moses and Aaron remained; a calm, lambent light, soft as
moonbeams, being now emitted from it, instead of the angry splendor
with which it shone before.
One or more hours passed, and two horsemen, riding like the wind,
entered Goshen and cast themselves upon the ground at the feet of
Moses and Aaron. They were couriers from Pharaoh.
"My lords," cried one of them, pale and trembling with fear and haste,
after he had risen from his prostration, "the king hath sent us to
thee, and these are the words he hath commanded us to say: 'Rise up,
Moses and Aaron, and get you forth from among my people, and from
Egypt, both ye and the children of Israel, and go and serve the Lord
as ye have said. Take your flocks, and your herds, and all that ye
have, and be gone; and pray your dreadful God for me, that He may
bless me also, for He hath slain my son!'"
Then came, while he was yet speaking, a large company of lords, and
high officers, and great men of Egypt, whose sons the wrath of God had
slain (for there was not a house in Egypt where there was not one
dead, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat upon the throne, to the
first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon), and they were
urgent upon Moses and Aaron, and the Hebrew people, imploring them,
with tears and supplications, to hasten from the land, with all they
had, and to make all haste.
Then Moses, as soon as it was day, sent word throughout all Israel to
prepare to go forth out of Egypt that day. He directed the people to
take all the jewels, and gold, and silver, and raiment, which the
Egyptians were forcing upon them to bribe them to hasten; "for," he
said, "it is yours, as the Lord hath commanded you to spoil the
Egyptians, for whom ye have labored without wages. It is the Lord's
gift to you from those whom He would spoil, and whose lives He has
spared to them."
Now followed a spectacle of wonderful interest and sublimity. As if
moved by one spirit, Israel marshalled itself into companies of
hundreds, and these into bands of thousands, and these into mighty
divisions of tribes, so that by noon there were twelve separate armies
of God, ready to march at the voice of Moses. The whole plain of
Goshen, as far as the eye could see from the tower of Jacob, was
covered with their mighty hosts. Each tribe had its women, and little
ones, and flocks and herds within its own square. They waited now for
the signal to move forward, every man with his loins girded, his shoes
on his feet, and his staff in his hand, their bread unbaked in their
kneading-troughs, and their persons laden with the jewels and gifts
which the urgent Egyptians had forced upon them, either that they
might see their faces no more, or from fear, or in the hope to be
blessed by their Lord God for these favors: for so the Lord, to whom
the gold and silver of the earth belong, had disposed their hearts
towards the Hebrews.
Then, at the going down of the sun, Moses gave the signal for this
mighty march. There were no trumpets sounding, no military display of
banners and spears; but they moved to their own tread, which seemed to
shake the earth. They came on in columns, a thousand men abreast, and
marched past the tower of Jacob, on which Moses stood, with Aaron by
his side, the miraculous rod in his hand. When the van of this army of
Jehovah, terrible in its strength, came up with the tower, the white
cloud of the Presence of Jehovah (which, all day had stood in the air
like a snow-white cloud, immovable and wonderful to behold), advanced,
as if borne upon a gentle wind, and placed itself before the host.
Night came on ere half the divisions had passed by where Moses stood;
and, as the sun went down, never more to rise upon Israel in Egypt,
the Pillar of Cloud became a Pillar of Fire, and shed a glory over the
innumerable armies of Israel equal to the splendor of day.
It was midnight ere the last tribe had passed by with its face to the
desert. Then Moses and Aaron descended, and I kneeled before them, and
asked if I might be permitted to go out of Egypt with the Lord's
people, and continue to behold the power of God. Moses answered me
with benignity, and said I should be with him as a son, that I might
see the wonders of Jehovah, and make known in Phœnicia His glory
and power.
While he was speaking, a mixed multitude of Egyptians, Nubians,
slaves, captives of Egypt, and of all those persons who hoped to be
blessed and benefited with Israel, fell to the ground before Moses,
and entreated him to suffer them to go up to the new land to which he
was going. Moses granted them, without hesitation, their prayer.
Then I learned that those among the Egyptians who had, in obedience to
the command of Moses, sprinkled their own door-posts, escaped like the
Israelites, for it was the sign of the blood of obedience alone, that
the angel of the Lord regarded; on the other hand, several Israelitish
families saw their first-born perish, they having neglected to obey
the command of Moses, from avarice or indifference, or doubt of the
intention of God, or supposing that being Israelites would save their
households.
And here, my dear father, let me make known to you that I have learned
from Aaron the significance of this sign; for God having made known to
him that "he is to become the high-priest, as Moses is the leader, of
his people, has revealed to him that the slaying of the lamb is a type
of a divine and innocent Person, who shall come down from God, and one
day be sacrificed. Earth, as the antitype of Egypt, is to be the altar
of this future stupendous sacrifice. And as by the blood of a lamb,
and the death of the first-born, Israel is delivered from Egypt, so by
the blood of the Lamb, the first-born of God, shall the whole of
mankind who look to his blood be finally delivered from this earth,
and from Satan its Pharaoh, and be led by God into a heaven above the
skies, a land of eternal happiness and peace, to dwell there till the
end of ages."
Is not this a sublime doctrine? Is God, then, making with Israel, an
outline of what He is to perform with the whole earth? Shall we escape
this world-broad Egypt, and under a divine leader like Moses, by the
blood of the mysterious Lamb of God, be led to another world? I have
but indistinct knowledge, my dear father, of all this; but have
learned enough to make my heart bound with joy. For in this enlarged
conception of the wonderful theme, you and I, and all in the whole
earth,--who shall look to the God of Israel, and by foresight of faith
trust in the sprinkling of the blood of the Lamb upon the threshold of
our hearts,--are also of Israel; their God is our God; their land of
heaven our land of promise also! Oh, who can fathom the wisdom, and
goodness, and love, and power of God? To His name be glory, majesty,
dominion, and worship from all nations! Before Him let kings fall
down, and princes prostrate themselves, and every knee of all people,
nations, kindred, and tongues, be bent; for He is the Lord of heaven
and earth, and besides Him there is no God!
Also, my dear father, Moses, whose lips ever distil celestial wisdom,
was graciously pleased, on the night before the death of the
first-born, as he walked to and fro in the court of the house of
Aminadab, to reveal to me the divine aim in sending such miracles as
He did upon Egypt, instead of any others. I listened with wonder and
increased awe, and, if I may so express it, redoubled admiration of
the wisdom and justice of God.
Said the holy Hebrew and sage, "The Egyptians have ever believed, that
the jugglery and magic arts, in which their magicians and priests of
mysteries display such astonishing proficiency, are actual miracles,
exhibiting the power of their deities, and their co-operation with
their priests to enable them to do these deceptions. Miracles,
therefore (or magic), were regarded by them as acts of their idols. It
became necessary that the Lord God of the Hebrews should manifest
Himself and His power by miracles also; and not only this, but that
the miracles which He performed should be of such a character as to
distinguish them from the jugglery of the magicians, and at once
convince the Egyptians that they proceeded from a Being omnipotent
over their idols, and show the Israelites themselves, who had almost
forgotten God, that the author of such mighty miracles as they beheld,
must be the only living and true God of the earth and skies. Now, my
dear Remeses," he continued, "if you will give heed to my words for a
few moments, you will perceive how perfectly fitted the ten miracles
which God performed in the sight of Pharaoh, Egypt, and Israel, were
to destroy their faith in the gods of Egypt, and make known the true
God as the only Deity to be feared and worshipped by men.
"At first, in conformity with the Divine purpose, the strength of the
magicians was brought out and fairly measured with my own, as God's
servant, inspired by Him, for of myself I did nothing. Unless this
trial of skill had been made, both the Egyptians and doubting
Israelites would have said that I derived my power from their gods
(for they would not forget I had been an Egyptian and knew their
mysteries), and God would not have been honored. But when the royal
magicians appeared in the name of the gods of Egypt, lo! the God of
heaven was shown not only to be superior to their sorcerers by His
miracles, but, as you will perceive, hostile to their idolatrous
worship. The observers of both sides were permitted not only to
distinguish the power of God from the inferior arts of the magicians
of Egypt, but are led to withdraw with us, as is the case with tens of
thousands who seek to follow us from Goshen,--their confidence in the
protection and power of their gods being utterly destroyed. Observe
now, my dear prince, the direction taken by the miracles.
"The first one, which confirmed my authority and mission to Pharaoh,
destroyed the serpents. This was the first assault of the Almighty
upon the gods and sacred animals and things of Egypt; for you are
aware of the temple of the sacred Uræus, where the serpent is
worshipped. The serpent of the rod of God destroying the serpents of
the Egyptians, showed Pharaoh that his gods could not live, or save
themselves in the presence of the servant of the true God. Thus the
serpent form taken by the rod was not merely an arbitrary shape; there
was profound design concealed thereunder.
"The Nile is held sacred, revered as a god by the Egyptians, and the
fish they regard as holy. Its waters supply all Egypt with a drink
which they quaff with reverence and pleasure, believing that a healing
virtue dwells in its waves. Changed to blood, and its fish becoming
putrid, they loathed their god and fled from his banks with horror.
"The next miracle--of frogs--was also directed against a god of the
Egyptians and the worship of these unclean animals. He was made to
become their curse; and as they dared not kill them, being sacred,
they became to them a terror and a disgust unspeakable.
"The miracle which followed was directed against their priests and
temples; for, by the laws of the forty two books, no one could
approach the altars upon which so impure an insect harbored; and the
priests, to guard against such an accident, wore white linen, and
shaved their heads and bodies every other day. The severe nature of
this miracle, as aimed against the religious rites and altar-services
of the Egyptians, you will perceive. So keenly did the magicians feel
this, and foresee how it would close every temple in Egypt, that they
were forced to exclaim, in my presence--
"'This is the finger of God!'
"The succeeding and fifth miracle was designed to destroy the
confidence of the Egyptians in their god of flies, Baal-zebul. This
god had the reputation of protecting Egypt from the swarms of flies
which, at certain seasons, infest the air throughout all Egypt. The
inability of the magicians who were sent for by Pharaoh to remove
them, showed that the Lord God was more powerful than their fly-god,
and thus led them to look upon their own idol with contempt.
"The miracle which destroyed their cattle was aimed at Apis, and
Mnevis, and Amun, the ram-headed god of Thebes, and at the entire
system of their worship of animals. Thus, by this one act of power,
the Lord Jehovah vindicated His own honor, and destroyed their
confidence in their idols, and the very existence of their gods.
"When, by the command of God, I took ashes from the altar of human
sacrifices, and sprinkled it towards heaven, as did their priests, to
avert evil, and evil came in the shape of the boil, God taught them,
that what they trusted to, He could make against them, and out of
their idolatrous rites bring a curse upon them and upon Egypt.
"The eighth miracle," continued Moses, while I gave ear to his words
with wondering attention, "was directed at the worship of Isis, as the
moon, and controller of the seasons, and clouds, and weather. When the
hail and the rain, the lightning and thunder, was brought by God upon
the land, and all the prayers to Isis failed to stay the fearful
tempest of His wrath, it should have convinced Pharaoh of the folly of
his idolatry, and taught the people not to put their trust in an idol
that could not help them against the power of the God of the Hebrews.
"The miracle which followed, was directed against the adoration and
rites of Serapis, and his whole gorgeous system of worship; for the
Egyptians saw that the god who was regarded as their peculiar
protector against the destructive power of locusts, was impotent to
remove the cloud of these voracious insects, which God brought upon
them from the sea; and that only when Pharaoh entreated God, were they
removed.
"The last miracle was aimed at the universal worship of Osiris, or the
Sun. It was intended to teach Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and also
Israel, that the God of the Hebrews was superior to their 'lord of the
sun,' and that He could veil His splendor when, and for any length of
time, it pleased Him! And also that they were called by the exhibition
of this mighty miracle to worship Him who made the sun, and moon, and
stars, and all the glory of them--Jehovah is His name!"
When, my dear father, the man of God had ceased speaking, I remained
for some time silent with awe, meditating upon what I had heard;
worshipping, and adoring, and praising God, whose wisdom, and power,
and judgments, are over all His works, who will not give His glory to
another, nor leave Himself without a witness of His existence upon
earth.
Thus you see, my dearest father, that the miracles were not arbitrary
displays of power, but grand divine lessons, mingled with judgments.
It was JEHOVAH vindicating His own worship, and showing the impotency
of false gods, by the manifestation of His supreme power and majesty,
as the destroyer of gods, and the only potentate,--God of gods, King
of kings, and Ruler over all, blessed for evermore!
Having now revealed to you the mystery, veiled under the miracles of
Moses, I will close my long letter, leaving you to reflect, my father,
upon the wonders of God, and to contemplate His wisdom. In one or two
more letters, I shall close my correspondence; as, travelling in the
desert, I shall have no opportunity to communicate with you. I shall
proceed into Syria by the caravan route in a few days, and by the way
of Palestine and the valley of the Jordan, return to Damascus, and
thence, as soon as my affairs will permit, shall hasten to see you at
your palace in Tyre.
Farewell, my dear father.
Your affectionate son,
REMESES OF DAMASCUS.
LETTER XII.
PRINCE REMESES OF DAMASCUS TO KING SESOSTRIS.
HOREB IN THE DESERT.
MY DEAR FATHER:
I will now resume the subject which occupied the foregoing portion of
my last letter, namely, the departure of the twelve armies of the
Hebrews from the land of Egypt.
When the last division had passed the tower, after midnight, Moses and
Aaron went forward and travelled all night, along the column of march,
addressing the leaders of tribes, divisions, thousands, and hundreds,
as they went, giving them words of courage, and commanding them to
keep in view the Pillar of Fire.
This Divine Glory, which the whole people of the Hebrews, and even the
Egyptian followers, were permitted to behold and gaze at with wonder,
as if it were the moon or sun, moved onward, far in advance of the
last division, and seemingly directly over the head of the column.
When I reached, with Moses, the van of the mighty slowly-moving host,
I perceived that a sort of sarcophagus on wheels was drawn by twelve
oxen in front of all; and that over this, the "shekinah," as Aaron
termed the presence of God in the cloud of light, was suspended. I had
not seen this before, but knew that it must contain the embalmed body
of Prince Joseph, which the children of Israel had jealously guarded
and concealed from the Pharaohs of the present dynasty, waiting the
time of the deliverance; for the venerable Joseph, on his death, had
taken an oath from his brethren, the children of Israel, that they
would carry up his bones out of Egypt, when God should send the
deliverer to bring them forth.
Faithfully were this wonderful people now fulfilling the oath of their
fathers to Joseph, after more than two hundred years had passed. Thus
their going out of Egypt bore a resemblance to a national funeral. At
the side of the sarcophagus Moses and Aaron walked, and thus the
solemn march advanced towards the wilderness. All that night they
journeyed from the plain of Raamses, and came to the verge of a rocky
valley where the way was rough, compared with the fertile and level
plains of Egypt. When the sun arose, the pillar of fire faded, as it
were, into a columnar cloud which still advanced miraculously and
wonderfully before us. When the heat of the day increased, the cloud
descended and rested over a place called Succoth. Here Moses ordered
the people to encamp, and bake their unleavened bread which they
brought with them in their kneading-troughs from Egypt. The next night
they travelled up the valley to a place called Etham, a short journey;
and thence, after a rest, turning back a little, they traversed the
valley between rocks eastward, and encamped at a well of water called
Pi-hahiroth, where there were many palm-trees. Here they remained to
rest, with the hills on either hand, wondering why God should not have
let them pass into the desert at Etham, instead of bringing them into
that defile, which seemed to have no outlet but at the shore of the
sea. Passing Pi-hahiroth, with its castle and garrison, the latter of
which fled at our advance, as also the garrison of the tower of
Migdol, which guarded the way to Egypt from the Arabian Sea, and so up
the cliffs of the valley-sides, Moses encamped between Migdol and the
sea, which spread far away eastward in front, with the towers and
fortified city of Baal-zephon visible on the opposite side. The Pillar
of Cloud had indicated this place of encampment, by resting above it
near the shore.