Ramka.[514] And when the horse of Pharaoh saw the mare of Gabriel, he
plunged forward and followed the mare into the sea. Then, when the
Egyptian army saw their king enter fearlessly into one of the channels,
they also precipitated themselves into the ways through the deep.
They advanced till they reached the middle of the Red Sea, and then
Gabriel reined in and turned and unfurled before Pharaoh the order he
had given for the destruction of Moses in the water, and it was signed
by Pharaoh and sealed with his own signet.
“See!” exclaimed the angel. “What thou wouldest do to Moses, that shall
be done to thee; for thou art but a man, thou who fightest against God.”
Then the twelve heaps of water overwhelmed the host. But Pharaoh’s horse
was so fleet of foot that he outfled the returning waters, and he
brought the king to the shore. He would have been saved, had not Gabriel
smitten him on the face, and he fell back into the sea and perished with
the rest. Then said Miriam, as he sank, “_Sing ye to the Lord, for He
hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into
the sea._”[515]
Another curious incident is related by Tabari. When the water reached
Pharaoh, and he knew that he must perish, he cried out, “I believe in
the God of Israel!” Gabriel, fearing lest Pharaoh should repeat these
words, and that God in His mercy should accept his profession of faith,
and pardon him, passed his wing over the bottom of the sea, raised the
earth, and threw it into the mouth of Pharaoh so as to prevent him from
swallowing again, and said, “Now thou believest, but before thou wast
rebellious; nevertheless, thou art numbered with the wicked.”[516]
It was the ninth hour of the day when the children of Israel stood on
dry land on the further side of the sea.
On the morrow, the children of Israel assembled around Moses, and said
to him, “We do not believe that Pharaoh is drowned, for he had peculiar
power. He never suffered from headache, nor from fever, nor from any
sickness, and was internally moved but once a week.”
Then Moses clave the sea asunder with his rod, and they saw Pharaoh and
all his host dead at the bottom of the sea. The bodies of the Egyptians
were covered with armour and much gold and silver, and on the corpse of
Pharaoh were chains and bracelets of gold. The children of Israel would
have spoiled the dead, but Moses forbade them, for he said, “It is
lawful to spoil the living, but it is robbery to strip the dead.”
Nevertheless many of the Hebrews went in and took from the Egyptians all
that was valuable. Then God was wroth, because they had disobeyed Moses,
and the sea was troubled, and for ten days it raged with fury, and even
to this day the water is not at rest where the Israelites committed this
sin. And the name of that place at this day is Bab el Taquath.[517]
6. THE GIVING OF THE LAW.
As long as Moses was with them, the Israelites did not venture to make
idols, but when God summoned Moses into the Mount to talk with Him face
to face, then they spake to Aaron that he should make a molten god to go
before them.
Aaron bade them break off their earrings and bracelets and give them to
him, for he thought that they would be reluctant to part with their
jewels. Nevertheless the people brought their ornaments to him in great
abundance, and one named Micah cast them into a copper vessel; and when
the gold was melted, he threw in a handful of the sand which had been
under the hoof of Gabriel’s horse, and there came forth a calf, which
ran about like a living beast, and bellowed; for Sammael (Satan) had
entered into it. “Here is your god that shall go before you,” cried
Micah; and all the people fell down and worshipped the golden calf.[518]
And when Moses came down from the Mount and drew near to the camp, and
saw the calf, and the instruments of music in the hands of the wicked,
who were dancing and bowing before it, and Satan among them dancing and
leaping before the people, the wrath of Moses was suddenly kindled, and
he cast the tables of the Commandments, which he had received from God
in the Mount, out of his hand and brake them at the foot of the
mountain; but the holy writing that was on them flew, and was carried
away into the heavens; and he cried, and said, “Woe upon the people who
have heard from the mouth of the Holy One, ‘Thou shalt not make to
thyself any image, a figure, or any likeness;’ and yet at the end of
forty days make a useless molten calf!”
And he took the calf which they had made, and burned it with fire, and
crushed it to powder, and cast it upon the face of the water of the
stream, and made the sons of Israel drink; and whoever had given thereto
any trinket of gold, the sign of it came forth upon his nostrils.[519]
Of all the children of Israel only twelve thousand were found who had
not worshipped the calf.[520]
The Mussulmans say that the Tables borne by Moses were from ten to
twelve cubits in length, and were made, say some, of cedar wood, but
others say of ruby, others of carbuncle; but the general opinion is that
they were of sapphire or emerald;[521] and the letters were graven
within them, not on the surface, so that the words could be read on
either side. When the golden calf had been pounded to dust, Moses made
the Israelites drink water in which was the dust, and those who had
kissed the idol were marked with gilt lips. Thus the Levites were able
to distinguish them; and they slew of them twenty and three
thousand.[522]
It is a common tradition among the Jews that the red hair which is by no
means infrequently met with in the Hebrew race is derived from this
period; all those who had sinned and drank of the water lost their black
hair and it became red, and they transmitted the colour to their
posterity.
Another version of the story is as follows. Samiri (Micah), who had
fashioned the golden calf, was of the tribe of Levi. When Moses came
down from the Mount, he would have beaten Aaron, but his brother said,
“It is not I, it is Samiri who made the calf.” Then Moses would have
slain Samiri, but God forbade him, and ordered him instead to place him
under ban.
From that time till now, the man wanders, like a wild beast, from one
end of the earth to the other; every man avoids him, and cleanses the
earth on which his feet have rested; and when he comes near any man, he
cries out, “Touch me not!”
But before Moses drave Samiri out of the camp, he ground the calf to
powder, and made Samiri pollute it; then he mixed it with the water, and
gave it to the Israelites to drink. After Samiri had departed, Moses
interceded with God for the people. But God answered, “I cannot pardon
them, for their sin is yet in them, and it will only be purged out by
the draught they have drunk.”
When Moses returned to the camp, he heard a piteous cry. Many Israelites
with yellow faces and livid bodies cast themselves before him, and
cried, “Help! Moses, help! the golden calf consumes our intestines; we
will repent and die, if the Lord will pardon us.”
Some, really contrite, were healed. Then a black cloud came down on the
camp, and all those who were in it fought with one another and slew one
another; but upon the innocent the swords had no power. Seven thousand
idolaters had been slain, when Moses, hearing the cry of the women and
children, came and prayed; and the cloud vanished, and the sword
rested.[523]
According to some, the complaint caused by swallowing the dust of the
calf was jaundice, a complaint which has never ceased from among men
since that day. Thus the calf brought two novelties into the world, red
hair and jaundice.
And Moses went up again into the Mount, and took with him seventy of the
elders. And he besought the Lord, “Suffer me, O Lord, to see Thee!”[524]
But the Lord answered him, “Thinkest thou that thou canst behold Me and
live?” And He said, “Look at this mountain; I will display Myself to
this mountain.”
Then the mountain saw God, and it dissolved into fine dust. So Moses
knew that it was not for him to see God, and he repented that he had
asked this thing.[525] After that he went with the seventy elders to
Sinai, and a cloud, white and glistening, came down and rested on the
head of Moses, and then descended and wholly enveloped him, so that the
seventy saw him not; and when he was in the cloud, he received again the
Tables of the Commandments, and he came forth out of the cloud. But they
murmured that they had not also received the revelation. Then the cloud
enveloped them also, and they heard all the words that had been spoken
to Moses; and after that they said, “Now we believe, because we have
heard with our own ears.”
Then the wrath of God blazed forth, and a thundering was heard so great
and terrible that they fainted and died. But Moses feared, and he prayed
to God, and God restored the seventy men to life again, and they came
down the Mount with him.[526]
And it was at this time that the face of Moses shone with the splendour
which had come upon him from the brightness of the glory of the Lord’s
Shekinah in the time of His speaking with him. And Aaron and all the
sons of Israel saw Moses, and, behold, the glory of his face was
dazzling, so that they were afraid to come near to him. And Moses called
to them, and Aaron, and all the princes of the congregation; and he
taught them all that the Lord had spoken to him on Mount Sinai. And when
Moses spoke with them, he had a veil upon his face; and when he went up
to speak with the Lord, he removed the veil from his countenance until
he came forth.[527]
This was the reason why the face of Moses shone. He saw the light which
God had created, whereby Adam was enabled to see from one end of the
earth to the other. God showed this light now to Moses, and thereby he
was able to see to Dan.[528]
When Moses went up into the Mount, a cloud received him, and bore him
into heaven. On his way, he met the door-keeper Kemuel, chief of twelve
thousands of angels of destruction; they were angels of fire; and he
would have prevented Moses from advancing: then Moses pronounced the
Name in twelve letters, revealed to him by God from the Burning Bush,
and the angel and his host recoiled before that word twelve thousand
leagues. But some say that Moses smote the angel, and wounded him.
A little further, Moses met another angel; this was Hadarniel, who had a
terrible voice, and every word he uttered split into twelve thousand
lightnings; he reigned six hundred thousand leagues higher than Kemuel.
Moses, in fear, wept at his voice, and would have fallen out of the
cloud, had not God restrained him. Then the prophet pronounced the Name
of seventy-two letters, and the angel fled.
Next he came to the fiery angel Sandalfon, and he would have fallen out
of the cloud, but God held him up. Then he reached the river of flame,
called Rigjon, which flows from the beasts which are beneath the Throne,
and is filled with their sweat; across this God led him.[529]
It is asserted by the Rabbis that Moses learnt the whole law in the
forty days that he was in the Mount, but as he descended from the
immediate presence of God, he entered the region where stood the angels
guarding the Mount, and when he saw the Angel of Fear, the Angel of
Sweat, the Angel of Trembling, and the Angel of Cold Shuddering, he was
so filled with consternation, that he forgot all that he had learnt.
Then God sent the Angel Jephipha, who brought back all to his
remembrance; and, armed with the law, Moses passed the ranks of all the
angels, and each gave him some secret or mystery; one the art of mixing
simples, one that of reading in the stars, another that of compounding
antidotes, a fourth the secret of name, or the Kabalistic mystery.[530]
It is said by the Mussulmans, that when the law was declared to the
children of Israel by Moses, they refused to receive it; then Mount
Sinai rose into the air, and moved above them, and they fled from it;
but it followed them, and hung over their heads ready to crush them. And
Moses said, “Accept the law, or the mountain will fall on you and
destroy you.”
Then they fell on their faces and placed the right side of the brow and
right cheek against the ground and looked up with the left eye at the
mountain that hung above them, and said, “We will accept the law.” This
is the manner in which the Jews to this day perform their worship, says
Tabari; they place the brow and right cheek and eye upon the ground, and
turn the left cheek and eye to heaven, and in this position they
pray.[531]
7. THE MANNA. (Exod. xvi.)
All the time that Israel wandered in the wilderness they were given
manna, or angels’ food. This food is ground by the angels in heaven, as
Moses saw when he was there. For when Moses was in heaven, he knew not
when it was night and when it was day, till he listened to the song of
the angels; and when they sang “Holy God,” then he knew it was morning
below on earth; and when they sang “Blessed be thou,” he knew it was
evening below. Also he observed the angels grinding the manna and
casting it down; and then he knew it was night, and they were strewing
it for the Israelites to gather in the morning.[532] It is in the third
firmament, called Schechakim (clouds), that the mills are in which manna
is ground.[533] Along with the manna fell pearls and diamonds, and on
the mountains it was heaped so high that it could be seen from
afar.[534]
And the manna, this bread from heaven, contained in itself all
sweetness; and whatsoever any man desired to eat, the manna tasted to
him as if it were that food.[535] Thus, if any one said, “I wish I had a
fat bird,” the manna tasted like a fat bird. But usually it had the
taste of cakes made of oil, honey, and fine flour, according to the
words of the Lord, “_My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and
oil, and honey wherewith I fed thee_” (Ezek. xvi. 10).[536] The Targum
of Palestine thus describes the fall of the manna:—In the morning there
was a fall of holy dew, prepared as a table,[537] round about the camp;
and the clouds ascended and caused manna to descend upon the dew; and
there was upon the face of the desert a minute substance in lines,
minute as the hoar frost upon the ground. And the sons of Israel beheld,
and wondered, and said to one another, “Man hu?” (What is it?) for they
knew not what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread which
hath been laid up for you from the beginning in the heavens on high, and
now the Lord will give it you to eat. This is the word which the Lord
hath dictated: You are to gather of it; every man according to the
number of the persons of his tabernacle.”
And the children of Israel did so, and gathered manna more or less. And
Moses said to them, “Let no man reserve of it till the morning.”
But some of them, Dathan and Abiram, men of wickedness, did reserve of
it till the morning; but it produced worms, and putrefied. And they
gathered from the time of the dawn until the fourth hour of the day;
when the sun had waxed hot upon it, it liquefied and made streams of
water, which flowed away into the great sea; and wild animals that were
clean, and cattle, came to drink of it; and the sons of Israel hunted,
and ate them.[538]
Some of the Gentiles, the Edomites and Midianites, came up, and, seeing
the chosen people eating, they also gathered of the manna and tasted,
but it was to them as wormwood.[539]
8. THE SMITTEN ROCK. (Exod. xvii. 1-7.)
And all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed from the desert
of Sin and encamped in Rephidim, a place where their hands were idle in
the commandments of the law, and the fountains were dry, and there was
no water for the people to drink.
And the wicked of the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us
water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why contend ye with
me? Why tempt ye the Lord.”
But the people were athirst for water, and the people murmured against
Moses and said, “Why hast thou made us come up out of Egypt to kill us,
and our children, and our cattle, with thirst?”
And Moses prayed before the Lord, saying, “What shall I do for this
people? Yet a little while, and they will stone me.”
And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass over before the people, and take the
rod, with which thou didst smite the river, in thine hand, and go from
the face of their murmuring. Behold, I will stand before thee there, on
the spot where thou sawest the impression of the foot on Horeb; and thou
shalt smite the rock with thy rod, and therefrom shall come forth waters
for drinking, and the people shall drink.”
And Moses did so before the Elders of Israel. And he called the name of
that place Temptation and Strife; because the people strove with him
there, and tempted God.[540]
Tabari gives these particulars concerning the smitten rock. In the
desert there was no water. Moses prayed to God, and He commanded him to
strike a rock with his staff.
Some say that this was an ordinary stone in the desert, others that it
was a stone from Sinai which Moses carried about with him that he might
stand on it whenever he prayed. Moses struck the rock, and twelve
streams spouted from it.
Then Moses said, “You have manna and quails in abundance, gather only
sufficient for the day, and you shall have fresh on the morrow.” But
they would not obey his word; therefore the Lord withdrew the birds, and
the people were famished. Then Moses besought the Lord, and the quails
were restored to them. And this is how the quails fell in the camp.[541]
A wind smote them as they flew over the camp, and broke their wings.
Then the people murmured again, and said to Moses, “The heat is
intolerable, we cannot endure it.”
So he prayed, and God sent a cloud to overshadow Israel; and it gave
them cool shade all the day.[542]
After that, they complained, “We want clothes.” Then God wrought a
marvel, and their clothes waxed not old and ragged, nor did their shoes
wear out, nor did dirt and dust settle on their garments.[543]
It is also commonly related that the rock followed the Israelites, like
the pillar of fire and the manna, all the time they went through the
wilderness; to this tradition S. Paul alludes when he says, “_They drank
of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was
Christ._”[544]
9. MOSES VISITS EL KHOUDR.
One day, say the Mussulmans, Moses boasted before Joshua of his wisdom.
Then said God to him, “Go to the place where the sea of the Greeks joins
the Persian Gulf, and there you will find one who surpasses you in
wisdom.”
Moses therefore announced to the Hebrews, who continued their murmurs,
that, in punishment for their stiffneckedness and rebellion, they were
condemned by God to wander for forty years in the desert.
Then having asked God how he should recognize the wise man of whom God
had spoken to him, he was bidden take a fish in a basket; “and,” said
God, “the fish will lead thee to my faithful servant.”
Moses went on his way with Joshua, having the fish in a basket. In the
evening he arrived on the shore of the sea and fell asleep.
When he awoke in the morning, Joshua forgot to take the fish, and Moses
not regarding it, they had advanced far on their journey before they
remembered that they had neglected the basket and fish. Then they
returned and sought where they had slept, but they found the basket
empty. As they were greatly troubled at this loss, they saw the fish
before them, standing upright like a man, in the sea; and it led them,
and they followed along the coast; and they did not stay till their
guide suddenly vanished.
Supposing that they had reached their destination, they explored the
neighbourhood, and found a cave, at the entrance to which were inscribed
these words, “In the Name of the all-powerful and all-merciful God.”
Joshua and Moses, entering this cavern, found a man seated there, fresh
and blooming, but with white hair and a long white beard which descended
to his feet. This was the prophet El Khoudr.
Some say he was the same as Elias, some that he was Jeremiah, some that
he was Lot, and some that he was Jonah. The greatest uncertainty reigns
as to who El Khoudr really is. All that is known of him is that he went
with Alexander the Two-horned, to the West, and drank of the fountain of
immortality, and thenceforth he lives an undying life, ever fresh, but
also marked with the signs of a beautiful old age.
El Khoudr derives his name from the circumstance of his having sat on a
bare stone, and when he rose from it the stone was green and covered
with grass.[545]
In later times he was put to death for the true faith with various
horrible tortures, by an idolatrous king, but he revived after each
execution.
The explanation of the mystery of El Khoudr is this. He is the old
Sun-god Thammuz of the Sabæans, and when he was dethroned by Mohammed,
he sank in popular tradition to the level of a prophet, and all the old
myths of the Sun-god were related of the prophet.
His wandering to the West is the sun setting there; his drinking there
of the well of immortality is the sun plunging into the sea. His
clothing the dry rock with grass is significant of the power of the sun
over vegetation. His torments are figures of the sun setting, in storm,
in flames of crimson, or swallowed by the black thunder-cloud; but from
all his perils he rises again in glory in the eastern sky.[546]
Moses said to El Khoudr, “Take me for thy disciple, permit me to
accompany thee, and to admire the wisdom God hath given thee.”
“Thou canst not understand it,” answered the venerable man. “Moreover,
thy stay with me is short.”
“I will be patient and submissive,” said Moses; “for God’s sake, reject
me not.”
“Thou mayest follow me,” said the sage. “But ask me no questions, and
wait till I give thee, at my pleasure, the sense of that which thou
comprehendest not.”
Moses accepted the condition, and El Khoudr led him to the sea, where
was a ship at anchor. The prophet took a hatchet, and cut two timbers
out of her side, so that she foundered.
“What art thou doing?” asked Moses; “the people on board the ship will
be drowned.”
“Did I not say to thee that thou wouldst not remain patient for long?”
said the sage.
“Pardon me,” said Moses; “I forgot what I had promised.”
El Khoudr continued his course. Soon they met a beautiful child who was
playing with shells on the sea-shore. The prophet took a knife which
hung at his girdle, and cut the throat of the child.
“Wherefore hast thou killed the innocent?” asked Moses, in horror.
“Did I not say to thee,” repeated El Khoudr, “that thy journey with me
would be short?”
“Pardon me once more,” said Moses; “if I raise my voice again, drive me
from thee.”
After having continued their journey for some way, they arrived at a
large town, hungry and tired. But no one would take them in, or give
them food, except for money.
El Khoudr, seeing that the wall of a large house, from which he had been
driven away, menaced ruin, set it up firmly, and then retired. Moses was
astonished, and said, “Thou hast done the work of several masons for
many days. Ask for a wage which will pay for our lodging.”
Then answered the old man, “We must separate. But before we part, I will
explain what I have done. The ship which I injured belongs to a poor
family. If it had sailed, it would have fallen into the hands of
pirates. The injury I did can be easily repaired, and the delay will
save the vessel for those worthy people who own her. The child I killed
had a bad disposition, and it would have corrupted its parents. In its
place God will give them pious children. The house which I repaired
belongs to orphans, whose father was a man of substance. It has been let
to unworthy people. Under the wall is hidden a treasure. Had the tenants
mended the wall, they would have found and kept the treasure. Now the
wall will stand till its legitimate owners come into the house, when
they will find the treasure. Thou seest I have not acted blindly and
foolishly.”
Moses asked pardon of the prophet, and he returned to his people in the
wilderness.[547]
The same story, with some variation in the incidents, is related in the
Talmud.
God, seeing Moses uneasy, called him to the summit of a mountain, and
deigned to explain to him how He governed the world. He bade the prophet
look upon the earth. He saw a fountain flowing at the foot of the
mountain. A soldier went to it to drink. A young man came next to the
fountain, and finding a purse of gold, which the soldier had left there
by accident, he kept it and went his way.
The soldier, having lost his purse, returned to search for it, and
demanded it of an old man whom he found seated by the spring. The old
man protested that he had not found it, and called God to witness the
truth of his assertion. But the soldier, disbelieving him, drew his
sword upon him and killed him.