AARON TO KING SESOSTRIS.
Pardon, O king, thy servant, for addressing an epistle to thee; but when thou art informed of the reason which has led me to take this liberty, thou wilt, I feel, acquit me of too great boldness.
Know, O King Sesostris, that my brother, thy beloved friend, who wrote the letter which I send to thee with this epistle (and which he himself would have forwarded, but for what I am about to relate), has fled from Egypt, pursued by the vindictive power of Pharaoh. I will, as briefly as I can, make known to thee the painful circumstances which led to this result.
The morning after he had completed his letter to thee, O king, he said to me, "I will go forth and see my brethren who are at work on Lake Mœris, that I may talk also with the old and young men, and inspire their heavy hearts with hope." So he departed, and, crossing the river, disguised as an Egyptian,—for no Hebrew dare now be seen walking alone for fear of being challenged by the soldiers, who garrison all the country, and stand guard at every corner, and at every gate,—he came to the shores of Lake Amense, the beauty of which, with its garden and palace-lined shores, so much pleased thee, O king, when, five years ago, thou wast in Egypt. There he saw King Mœris clothed in scarlet, a chain of gold across his breast, standing in his chariot, as he slowly drove around the lake, giving directions to the chief captains over the works. My brother was not recognized by him, however, and went on his way, observing the severe labors of his brethren. In the two hours that he was there, he saw three strong men lie down in the foul water and die! At length, coming to a place where several young and old men were working together, he beheld such cruelty exercised upon them, that he groaned in spirit, and prayed the Almighty to shorten the days of the four hundred years, and come to their deliverance. Unable longer to behold sufferings that he could not relieve, he walked sadly away, deeply meditating upon the mysterious providence of the Almighty, in His dealings with the seed of His servant Abraham. After a little time he found himself in a narrow, sand-drifted lane, between two walls, when he was suddenly aroused from his reflections by a cry of pain, accompanied by sharp blows with a stick. He looked up, and spied an Egyptian taskmaster dragging by the hair Izhur, a youth whom he greatly loved. The Egyptian had pursued him, as he fled up the lane from his blows, and was now plainly intent, in his great wrath, upon putting him to death.
My brother, indignant and grieved, commanded him in a tone of authority to release him; whereupon the Egyptian, cursing him by his gods, drew his knife from its sheath and would in revenge have driven it into the heart of Izhur, when Moses caught his arm, and bade the young man fly. The Egyptian, thereupon, would have slain my brother, who, looking this way and that, and seeing they were alone, struck him to the earth with one blow of his hand, in the name of the God of Abraham, the Avenger of his people, so that he died on the spot! He then hid the body in the sand, and returned home, where he made known to me what he had done.
"Surely," I said, in amazement, "thou art the first Hebrew, my brother, who hath slain an Egyptian. A divine motion must have moved thee! Peradventure it is by thy arm that he will yet deliver his people!"
Thereupon my brother, with his characteristic modesty, said—
"Not mine! not mine, my brother! Breathe into my heart no such ambitious pride! Yet I felt moved and animated by God to do this. Therefore do I justify the act to man and my own conscience."
The next day, my brother visited the lake again, intending to make its circuit, and see certain elders to whom he wished to make himself known,—men wise and good, who were superintending the work of others of their own people. On his way he perceived two Hebrews striving together, and as he came up, one of them struck the other with his working tool, so that he staggered from the blow.
"Sirs, ye are brethren," he said; "why do ye strive together, seeing ye are brethren?"—and then added, sternly and sorrowfully, to the one who had struck the blow—
"Friend, why hast thou done this wrong? He whom thou hast stricken is a Hebrew. Do not your taskmasters beat you enough, that you must strike each other?"
Whereupon the man who did the injury to his fellow, said fiercely, looking narrowly upon my brother—
"Thou art Remeses, the Hebrew 'son of Pharaoh's daughter!' I remember thee. Dost thou think that thou art still a Prince of Egypt? Mœris is now our king. Who hath made thee prince and judge over us? Thou forgettest that thou art now a slave, like the rest of us. Intendest thou to kill me as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday?"
No sooner had the man thus spoken, than Moses, alarmed, perceived that the thing was known, and beholding the eyes of the Egyptian officers, and many of the Hebrews fastened upon him, he hastened to escape, for he beheld several men run to a high officer of the king, as if with the news, who at once drove rapidly away in his chariot, probably seeking Mœris, whom my brother knew to be not far off, superintending the placing of a statue of Horus upon a new terrace. Several Hebrews would have interposed to arrest Moses, when they heard who he was, for they look upon him more as an Egyptian than as one of their brethren. But he succeeded in retiring unharmed, and at once hastened to recross the Nile. When he had told us that what he had done to the Egyptian was known, and that he was recognized, and that Mœris would surely hear of it, his mother and I advised his immediate flight.
He said that he had no doubt the king would seek his destruction, and that he ought to be cautious and consult his own preservation. "But," he added, "I do not fear the wrath of Pharaoh so far that, were I in his power, I would either deny, excuse, or ask pardon for my act. What I have done I will justify. The oppressor deserved to die! And so, one day, will God, by the hand of a Hebrew, slay Pharaoh and all his hosts!" This was spoken with the light of prophecy in his noble face, as if his words were inspiration. When Amram, his father, came in, and heard all, he said—
"The God of Jacob be glorified! There is one man in Israel to whom He has given courage to smite the oppressor of his people! Fly, my son! Fly not for fear, for thou art a brave man and hast been a tried soldier; but fly to preserve a life which my spirit tells me will yet be dear to our people!"
"My father," said Moses sorrowfully, "I believed that my brethren would understand that God was with me, and would acknowledge me as sent to be their friend, instead of joining the Egyptians against me! I will fly! Mœris would rejoice to hold me in his power! But with the hope, that even in a foreign land I may serve my people, at least by prayer and supplication to God for them, I will keep my life out of Pharaoh's hand."
In the garb of an Egyptian, with a store of provisions, and taking gold in his purse, my brother embraced us all, and departed from the house, my mother weeping and saying—
"A second time have I given up my son from the sword of Pharaoh,—once to the waters and now to the desert sands!"
"And the waters, O woman," said my father, "gave him to be a prince of Egypt, and from the sands of the desert God can call him to be king over Israel!"
I looked into my venerable father's face, for often of late years he is gifted with prophetic inspirations, and I saw that his aged eyes shone with a supernatural lustre. My brother returned a few steps, again embraced his mother, bowed his head before his father for his blessing, arose, and went on his way eastward. I accompanied him for an hour, when tenderly embracing we parted—he taking the way towards Midian. Ru-el Jethro, the lord of that country, O king, which was settled by Midian, son of Abram, by Keturah, thou didst meet at this table of thy friend "Remeses," when thou wast in Egypt, at which time, thou mayst remember, he invited my brother to visit his kingdom in Arabia.
It was well for Moses that he so thoroughly knew the character of King Mœris; for when I returned, I learned from my mother, that a party of soldiers had been sent by Pharaoh to seize him. Another hour, and he would have fallen into his hand.
At my mother's request, O king, I have written the foregoing, and now inclose his letter to you. I had no sooner entered my house, than I saw my parents and sister preparing to fly from the king, fearing his vengeance when he should learn of the escape of Moses! Not that Pharaoh cared for the life of the slain Egyptian, but he would gladly seize upon the occasion, as a pretext to destroy his former rival.
May God long preserve thy life, O king.
AFTER AN INTERVAL OF FORTY YEARS,
REMESES, PRINCE OF TYRE AND OF DAMASCUS,
SON OF SESOSTRIS,
VISITS EGYPT, AND ADDRESSES THE FOLLOWING
Series of Letters to his Father.
It is with emotions of no ordinary kind, that I find myself amid the scenes familiar to your eyes, when forty-six years ago, a young man, you visited Egypt. Every object upon which I gaze is invested with new interest as I reflect—"And this my father also saw. On this pylon he has stood and surveyed the landscape; and along these corridors, his feet have awakened the echoes which respond to mine."
The letters which you wrote from Egypt, during the reign of the wise Queen Amense, addressed to my royal grandmother, and which are now in my possession, early familiarized my mind with this wonderful land; and I recognize every place of interest, from your descriptions.
There are, however, some changes. Pharaoh-Mœris, who has been long dead, and his son Meiphra-Thothmes, Thothmeses his grandson, and Thothmeses IV., the present king, all inaugurated their reigns by laying the foundations of temples, palaces, and pyramids; while the ruins of others have been repaired. Mœris restored the ancient temple of Thoth, in the Island of Rhoda, where Prince Remeses was hidden three months, and also all other temples in Egypt. His reign, though tyrannical, was distinguished by improvement in arts, in letters, in astronomy, architecture, and arms. His pyramid is an imposing one, and singularly pre-eminent, by having an obelisk at each angle. His lake, however, is this Pharaoh's greatest monument, if I may so term it.
This lake was begun by former princes, and enlarged by Queen Amense, in order to receive the surplus waters of the Nile, when the inundations, as sometimes happen, arise and overflow the fields after the corn is up. The lake, however, was not large enough wholly to correct this evil, and King Mœris still further enlarged it, by means of the services of the Hebrews, three hundred thousand of whom, it is said, perished in the work, before it was completed. It is ample enough in breadth and depth to contain the excess of the Nile. One of the wonders of the world, it is only paralleled in grandeur by the pyramids. In the midst of this magnificent inland sea—for such it seems—arise two pyramids, upon the summit of each of which, three hundred and eight feet in the air, stands upon a throne, shaped like a chariot, a statue, one being that of Thoth, the other of Mœris. Upon the former is inscribed—
"The god prospered;" on the other, "Pharaoh builded." Beneath this inscription is written—
"This lake is three hundred and forty miles in circumference, and one hundred and fifty feet in depth. Within its bounds it can contain all the rivers of the earth."
This sublime work, my dear father, has upon the east side a canal eighty feet broad, and four leagues in length. At its entrance are seated two colossi, figures of Apis and Mnevis; and along its shores are double rows of trees, bordering a terrace, upon which face palaces, villas, temples, gardens, and squares. At the Nile termination stands a single colossus, representing the god Nilus. He is astride the canal, his feet upon the bases of pyramids, and beneath him are great floodgates, that let in or exclude the waters of the river. On the south of the lake, upon a plain of sand, Mœris erected a vast temple to Serapis, dedicated it with great pomp, and inclosed it by gardens a mile square, the earth of which was carried by Hebrews in baskets, from the excavations of the lake. He commenced a noble avenue of sphinxes, leading from the lake to the temple, and which has been recently completed by Thothmeses IV., who last week invited me to be present at its inauguration. It was a magnificent spectacle, first the procession of priests and soldiers, nobles and citizens, with the king and his court, in a thousand galleys, sailing across the lake; then the landing at the majestic pylon, the march of the procession for a mile between the double row of sphinxes, the mighty temple terminating the vista, and the solemn invocations, libations, and sacrifices before the god.
I marvel, my dear father, at such splendor having no other object than a black bull; such glory leading to an enshrined brute, before whom all this magnificence, power, and rank fall prostrate, as to God! Happy am I, O my wise and good father, to have been early instructed in the knowledge of the true God. I pity while I admire what I see in Egypt. This king is an intelligent man, and I often feel like saying to him, "O king, dost thou believe in thy heart that this bull is God?"
The shores of this vast artificial sea are lined with groves, palaces, and waving fields. The sides of the Libyan hills are terraced and adorned with marble palaces and gardens. At one point, where the cliffs stretch into the lake, are four temples, facing four ways, respectively dedicated to Athor, Pthah, Apis, and Bubastis, the four deities of Memphis; and their sides are covered with golden bronze, so that, in the sunlight, nothing can be more gorgeous.
Upon a small island, opposite this gilded promontory, and left for the purpose, Thothmeses II. erected, during his brief reign, a temple of Syenite stone to the goddess Isis, before which is a recumbent figure of Osiris, seventy feet in length. Its vestibule is enriched with sculpture, and is the most splendid portico in Egypt. In the interior it is surrounded by a peristyle of statues representing the twelve constellations, each eighteen feet in height.
Besides all these, I have visited, my dear father, during the six weeks I have been in Egypt, the "Plain of the Mummies," the Catacombs, the Labyrinth—a marvel of mystery and perplexity to one not initiated into the intricacies of its mazes—the chief pyramids, and that also of Queen Amense, at the entrance of which I placed fresh flowers for your sake.
Pharaoh-Mœris greatly extended the bounds of Memphis. It is not less than twelve miles in circuit. He covered with it a large portion of the plain westward of the pyramids; and where once was a barren waste, are now streets, avenues, colonnades, temples, public edifices, aqueducts, causeways, and all the splendor of metropolitan magnificence. Avenues of sphinxes are almost innumerable; colossal statues, obelisks, and pyramids meet the eye everywhere. Near the foot of the hills he formed a chariot-course, that extends three miles along the lake. In the rock of the cliff he caused to be hewn fourteen sarcophagi of black marble, and of gigantic dimensions. In these he entombed the bodies of as many tributary kings, when, in succession, they died; commanding their mummies to be brought into Egypt for the purpose. He has everywhere multiplied, with singular variety, his statues; and in front of this tomb of kings stands one of them upon a pedestal, the feet of which are fourteen sculptured crowns, representatives of their own.
But, my dear father, Egypt is so familiar to you, that I will not weary you with any more descriptions, unless, indeed, I should visit the City of a Hundred Gates, as you were not able to go thither. I will speak, however, of a visit that I paid yesterday to the sphinx that stands before Chephres, and near Cheops. I was impressed, as you were, with the grandeur of the whole. But the great ancient temple, which you spoke of as ruinous, has, in forty-five years, become still more defaced. Indeed, the reigning Pharaoh has expressed his intention of removing it altogether, so that the pyramids may stand forth in solitary majesty.
Among other events of the reign of Mœris, was the discovery, by him, that the tradition which represented the great sphinx as being hollowed into chambers was a true one. He found the entrance, which was beneath the small temple, between the fore-paws of the statue. What he discovered is known to no man; but it is certain that he suddenly displayed vast treasures of gold and silver, jewels and precious stones, with which he carried on his magnificent and expensive works.
You have not forgotten the Ethiopian captive king, Occhoris. He still exists, though his beard is snow white and his form bent. He remains a captive, each monarch in succession retaining so important a personage in chains, annually to grace their processions to the temples of the gods.
The condition, my dear father, of the Hebrew people, in whom you are so deeply interested, has enlisted all my sympathies also. Forty years have multiplied their number, notwithstanding all the ingenious efforts of the Pharaohs to destroy them by deadly labors, until they amount to three millions and a half of souls. The population of Egypt is only seven millions; and thus, for every two Egyptians there is one Hebrew. This alarming state of things fills the mind of Thothmeses IV. with ceaseless anxiety. He does not hesitate to confess to me, freely, his fears for the security of his crown.
I have not yet described this monarch to you. When I arrived and presented your letters, he received me with marked courtesy; inquired after your welfare and the prosperity of your reign; asked your age, and when I told him you were seventy-three, he said he knew of no king so aged, unless it was Jethro, king of Midian. He inquired why I had delayed coming to Egypt until I was forty-two (for I told him my age, which exactly corresponds with his own); and when I informed him that I had been engaged in improving and restoring my kingdom of Damascus, which I inherited from my mother, and which the Sabæans had thrice invaded and devastated before I came of age, he expressed his pleasure that peace was restored, and that I had come into Egypt, at last. He seems naturally superstitious, credulous, and irresolute. I think he possesses little or no stability of character, and that he is easily influenced to do evil. He is timid in his policy, yet rash; vain of his wisdom, yet constantly guilty of follies; a devout worshipper of his gods, yet a slave to the basest personal vices; jealous of his rights, yet, from want of courage, suffering them continually to be invaded, both by his subjects and tributary princes; a man whose word is kept, only so far as his present interest demands; who will pardon to-night a suppliant, from irresolution and morbid pity, and execute him in the morning when the coldness of his nature returns. Were he my friend, I should distrust him; were he my foe, I would not delay to place the sea between me and his sword.
Under such a prince, you may imagine that the condition of the Hebrew people is not less pitiable than under his predecessors. Fearing them, he doubles their tasks, and resorts to every device of destruction, short of open and indiscriminate slaughter. Yet even this infernal idea has been suggested by him to his private council; but it was opposed, on the ground that the burial of so many millions would be impossible, and that a plague would result fatal to the population of Egypt.
So the Hebrews still exist, feared, suspected, and crushed by additional burdens. I have been among them, and, as you directed, have made many cautious inquiries after the learned Hebrew, Moses. They are more enlightened than when you saw them. The idea of God is less obscure in their minds, while their hope of a deliverer is bright and ever present. Few of the old men remember Remeses, or Moses; and none of them know any thing of his present abode, but seem sure he is long since dead. I have become deeply interested in some of these venerable men, in whose majestic features, set off by flowing beards, I recognize the lineaments of Abram, their ancestor, as sculptured on the mausoleum of his servant, "Eliezer of Damascus." The beauty of the children and young women, amid all their degradation, is wonderful. I was struck with the seeming good feeling which existed among these and the women of Egypt. The latter, either from pity, or because the Hebrew women are gentle and attractive, hold kind intercourse with them; and at a marriage, which I witnessed in one of their huts, the Hebrew females, especially the bride, were decked with jewels loaned to them by their friends, the Egyptian maidens. I have also been struck with the patient, uncomplaining, and gentle manner in which the Hebrews speak of the Egyptians, excepting their task-officers—who are brutal soldiers—and the king. Generations of oppression have made them forbearing and submissive; and, besides, the Egyptians and Hebrews, who now know one another, knew each other as children, before either could understand their different positions.
Here and there I have met a lord who recalled your visit, dear father, with pleasure; but were you now here you would feel a stranger indeed.
Farewell, my honored and revered father. I will continue my inquiries after Prince Remeses. To my sister Amense, and her husband, Sisiris, king of Sidon, give my kindest greetings.
I unseal this epistle to inform you, that while it has been lying three days, waiting for the galley of the Lord of Sarepta to depart, I have had intelligence of your old friend Remeses. He lives, and is in Midian, as you suspected, and is well, though, of course, far advanced in years. This is all that I can now add to my letter, as the secretary of the Sareptan noble is in my reception-room, and lingers only to take this letter, the wind being now favorable.
REMESES OF DAMASCUS, TO HIS FATHER, KING SESOSTRIS OF PHŒNICIA.
Having an opportunity, my dearest father, to send this letter the day after to-morrow, I will herewith make known to you, how I obtained the intelligence, that your ancient friend Remeses is still in the kingdom of Midian, whither he fled from King Mœris.
In obedience to your last instructions, I have diligently made all inquiries that were likely to obtain the information which your lively friendship prompts you to seek. There is something, dear father, very beautiful in this undying attachment, which has survived a period of forty years, and which still looks forward to behold the beloved face of thy cherished friend once more!
Learning yesterday that a caravan had arrived from Ezion-geber (by the Edomites called Ekkaba), which lies near the head of the orient arm of the Red or Arabian Sea, and not far from which are the borders of peninsular Midian, I crossed the Nile to the suburbs of the City of the Sun, where the caravan had found quarters in the quadrangle of the Serail.
Having found the governor of the company of merchants, I made myself known to him as a foreign prince, travelling for knowledge, and sight of men and scenes. He courteously received me, and I asked him many questions about his country, his journey, and the articles he brought, until he was at his ease with me, when I inquired if he had ever been in Midian. He answered that he himself was a Midianite, and that twenty days before he had left Midian to join the caravan, part of which belonged to Jethro, prince and priest of that country. Upon hearing this name, dear father, I was struck by its similarity to that mentioned in the last letter of Aaron the Hebrew, as being that of the king of the country who had invited Moses, while prince, to visit him.
"Dost thou know this Prince Jethro?" I asked.
"I have sat at his feet—his hand has often rested upon my head when I was a lad," he answered.
"You call him a priest," I said; "what is his religion?"
"That of our progenitor, Abram the Chaldean."
"The Hebrews sprung from Abram," I replied.
"Yes, by Sara, his first wife. The Midianites are the sons of Midian, a son of Abram by Keturah, the wife he took after Sara died. The cities of Epher, Ephah, and Hanoch, in Midian, were founded by princes who were this same Abram's grandsons, and sons of Midian."
"Do you worship the God of Abram—or Abraham, as the Hebrews call their ancestor?" I asked.
"Hast thou ever heard, O prince," he said, with feeling, "that we were idolaters, or fire-worshippers, or that we pray to bulls, and beasts, and creeping things, as these Egyptians do? We worship one God—the Lord of Heaven—the Almighty Creator, who revealed Himself to our father Abram."
When I told him that I also worshipped the same God, he took my hand, kissed it reverently, and said solemnly—
"There is but one God!"
"What is your form of worship, that your king is also your priest?" I inquired.
"By sacrifices. Morning and evening, the priests offer up to God incense, and oblations, and sacrifices of lambs. Hence we have large flocks and herds. On great days, the king himself officiates, lays his hand upon the head of the victim, and asks the Almighty to take the life of the sacrifice instead of that of the people, and to visit upon its head the wrath which the kingdom had incurred."
"Did Abram thus sacrifice?"
"Not only Abram, but Noah, the first father, and all the fathers of the old world. Our worship, therefore, O prince, consists in offering the life of a victim, to preserve our own!"
"Yes, if the great Lord of Heaven will so receive it! For who can weigh the life of a man with that of his lamb?" I said.
"None but God, who, in His goodness and glory, wills it so to be!" answered the Midianite.
"Hast thou ever heard, in Midian, of a Hebrew called Moses?"
"Dost thou mean Moses the Egyptian?" he asked, quickly.
"He was educated an Egyptian, and was supposed to be the son of Pharaoh's daughter, but was only adopted by her; and being discovered to be a Hebrew, he left Egypt."
"This same Moses, once Prince Remeses, is now in Midian, where he hath been these forty years," answered the venerable chief-captain of the caravan. "He is son-in-law to our prince, who has made him ruler over all the companies of shepherds in the region that lieth between the city of Keturah and the sea, and even to the back of the desert, where, on the sides of Horeb and the valleys thereof, he feeds his flocks. Moreover, there also he meditates, and writes in a cave—for he is a man of vast learning, and greatly revered in Midian as a wise sage. He is married to the daughter of the Prince Ru-el Jethro, and by her hath had many sons, but two only—mere lads—remain, the rest having died early. Surely, what man in Midian knoweth not Moses, the wise shepherd of Horeb?"
Upon hearing this good news, dear father, I rejoiced, in anticipation, at the pleasure you would receive, when you should read my letter containing the pleasing tidings. I now asked the good Midianite when he would return. He said that in seven days he should depart, and that it would take him eleven days to reach that part of the country where Moses dwelt. Upon this, my dear father, after making sundry other inquiries about the route, I determined to accompany him; for I knew you would value one letter from me, saying I had seen and spoken with your friend face to face, more highly than many from the hundred-gated Thebes. I shall be gone but one month, and shall be well repaid, not only by seeing Moses, whose noble countenance I can just recollect as a pleasant remembrance of my childhood, but by conferring upon him the unexpected pleasure of hearing from you by your son, his namesake. Thus, for your sake, as well as for his, and also my own gratification in seeing a new and rarely visited country, I take my departure with the caravan. After I reach Midian, and have seen your old friend in the land of his long exile, I will write to you fully of all that may interest you.
May the God of Abraham and of Moses have you always in His sacred keeping.
MOSES TO SESOSTRIS.
With what emotions of joy and gratitude I embraced your princely son, Remeses, I can feebly express! I give God thanks for this happiness, vouchsafed to me in my eighty-first year, of hearing from you again, and by the mouth of your son. I rejoice to hear of your welfare, and prosperous reign. The sight of the young Remeses revives all the past, and in his face I see, with delight, your features and smile. I also perceive that he possesses all your virtues, and, above all, that you have taught him the knowledge of the true God. His presence here, and his readiness to come across the desert to see me, gratifies me. It assures me that I am loved by you both! Although, my friend, I have not written to you—for, since my flight from Egypt, my life has been wholly without events—yet, from time to time, by foreign merchants who have been in Tyre, I have had news of you, and of your prosperity. Until I beheld your son, I believed that I was quite forgotten!
I shall keep Remeses with me as long as he will remain. My way of life, however, is humble. We are a pastoral people, and my occupation is that of a shepherd; for, though I am chief shepherd of the land, yet do I not disdain to lead my own flocks to feed upon the mountains,—where, as they browse, I meditate in solitude upon God, and also think upon the sad condition of my brethren in bondage in Egypt. Four kings have reigned and perished, and yet the sons of Jacob toil on, exchanging only one oppressor for another, each more cruel than the last! But the day draws near for their deliverance, O Sesostris, my friend and brother! The four hundred years of prophecy are drawing to a close! On the arrival of every caravan from Egypt I look for intelligence, that a deliverer has arisen, who, lifting the standard of the God of Abraham, shall call on Israel to rally around it, exchange their spades for spears, assert their freedom, and defy Pharaoh and his power! Who will be this hero of God? Who the favored man, to whom shall be committed the happiness and glory of leading the mighty Hebrew nation out of Egypt? Will they hear his voice? Will they acknowledge his authority? Will they have the courage to follow him? or has the yoke of Egypt, so long bound their necks down, that they have no hope nor desire to be free? Thus I meditate upon their fate, and meanwhile pray earnestly to my God to send the deliverer of my people; for the time is come when He will remember His promise to Abraham, and to our fathers!
From the painful accounts that your son Remeses gives me, the cup of their bondage is full to overflowing!—also the cup of Egypt!—for the same prophecy which foretells their deliverance after four hundred years, adds, "and the nation which they serve will I judge." Thus, O king, do I look forward to the overthrow of the power of Egypt, when God shall send His angel to deliver Israel from beneath Pharaoh's hand of iron.
What courage, wisdom, patience, meekness, faith, dignity of person, and ardent piety, must the servant of God have, who will lead Israel out of bondage! What man on earth is sufficient for this high office? What man in all Egypt, among the Hebrews, has God raised up and endowed with these attributes? Alas, I know none! They are all oppressed and broken in heart, and the spirit of manhood has died out within them! But He who wills can do! and He can arm with power the weakest instrument of His will! Let us trust in Him! for by His arm, whoever be the agent, they will be delivered.
During my exile I have re-written the book of the life of the Prince of Uz, with great care, and a larger share of the wisdom of God. At the same time I have instructed many, in Midian, in the truths of God. It has also seemed good to me, under the inspiration of the Almighty, to write, from our divine traditions, a narrative of the first acts of creation, from the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, down to the death of Prince Joseph. Of this book, a copy has been made by my wife Zipporah, which I will send to you by Prince Remeses for your acceptance.
With greetings of true and holy friendship, I am, O King Sesostris, thy servant and friend,
REMESES OF DAMASCUS TO THE KING HIS FATHER.
I have been two weeks a guest of your venerable friend, the Hebrew, Moses. My journey across the desert was agreeable from its novelty, and my sensations upon the boundless waste, were combined emotions of solitude and sublimity, similar to those I experienced on the great sea. Our route, after leaving the land of Egypt, continued eastward for five days—most of the time in the Arabian desert, with the mountains of Etham on our right, far to the south. Having on the sixth day passed round the western horn of the Sea of Arabia, we turned southwardly into the desert of Shur, which terminated at the base of a low range of hills, of mingled cliff and pasture-land. A valley opened between, and after three days' journeying, amid vales filled with herds and Arabian villages, we entered a mountainous region, the sea being on our right. Every hour the scenery became more grand and rugged, until the ridges, constantly rising in altitude, stretched far southwardly, and terminated in a majestic twin-peaked mountain, midway between the two arms or horns of the sea.
"That is Horeb," said the chief of the caravan. "It is in the land of Midian, though remote from the town of the king. In that mountain the royal flocks are pastured, and there you will find your father's friend Moses the Hebrew, either with his shepherds and flocks or in the retirement of his cave."
The same evening we entered the valley of Mount Horeb, which rose in sublime majesty, with its double crown, far into the skies above us. We had turned an angle of the mountain, which rose as abruptly as a pyramid from the plain, and were entering a gorge through which a road lay to the city of the king—a day's journey distant—when I beheld, from my camel, a shepherd standing upon a rock and leaning upon his staff—his sheep reclining about him. He was a tall, venerable man, with dark locks mingled with white, and a beard, like snow for whiteness, that descended over his breast. There was a majesty, and yet simplicity, in his aspect and costume, which impressed me, as he stood—the evening sun lighting up his kingly visage—upon a rock, like the statue of the god of the mountain-pass.
My heart instinctively said, "This is Moses!"
"Lo! there stands the son-in-law of Jethro!" said the merchant.
I immediately caused my camel to kneel, and descended to the ground with haste and joy. The next moment I was bending before thy friend, my dear father, crying, with reverent feelings of emotion—
"I am Remeses, son of Sesostris, thy friend! Venerable father, give me thy blessing, for I bear thy name!"
He regarded me for an instant with surprise, and then raising me, embraced me and said, a holy radiance of love and joy illumining his face—
"I see thy father, and hear his voice, in thee! Welcome, my son! How fares the good king? Hast thou ventured across the desert to see the exiled Hebrew?" he asked, with a smile of benignity and pleasure, as he gazed upon me. "The sight of thee brings up all the past!"
His voice was disturbed with emotion; though I perceived it had also a slight natural embarrassment of speech. I related why I had come, and gave him your messages of love. He took me to his cave, or grotto, which is like those of the sacred priests in Lebanon. The caravan encamped, near by, that night, and I remained in the company of the wise and virtuous sage. We conversed, for many hours, of you, of Tyre, of my grandmother, of Queen Amense, of the Hebrews in bondage, and his certain hope of their speedy deliverance.
How happy the princely old man was to hear from you, my dear father! What a venerable and holy friendship exists between you!—fresh and green at fourscore, as in the fire and impulse of youth!
The next day, I accompanied him to the chief city of Midian. There I beheld his matronly wife, Zipporah—and his two sons, beautiful and ingenuous youth of sixteen and eighteen. I was also presented to the venerable Ru-el Jethro, or the King Jethro, now one hundred and one years old, but retaining the full vigor of manhood. He described to me pleasantly, under what circumstances he first met Moses, forty years ago.
"My seven daughters," said the patriarchal Prince of Midian, "were with my shepherds at the well, near the city, drawing water for the flocks; for the prince of the mountain having no water, had thrice sent his shepherds to draw it from this well, when we had but little for our own herds. I sent my daughters, thinking that they would reverence their presence; but the mountain shepherds would have driven them away, when a stranger, who was seated by the well, rose up, and with great courage chastised the assailants. Though many in number, they fled from him in great fear, when he turned and bade my daughters remain and heed them not; and he helped them water the flocks.
"When they returned to me earlier than I looked for them, I inquired the cause, and they replied—
"'An Egyptian, a mighty man of valor, delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and aided us also in drawing water for our flocks.' 'Where is he?' I asked. 'Why is it that ye have left this brave stranger at the well?' They answered: 'He is an Egyptian;' for such from his dress, and speech, and looks, they believed him to be. I then sent my daughter Zipporah after him, to invite him to come and eat bread with me. From that day we became friends, and when I learned his story, that he was a Hebrew, and like myself, a descendant of Abram, I gave him Zipporah to wife, and he was content to remain in the land, and is now the greatest and wisest man in it, for God is with him."
I was much interested in this brief account, my dear father, and believe that you will be, as it is a connecting link in the life of Moses, that has been hitherto wanting.
The following week, I retired with Moses to the mountains, and here I pass my days, listening to his sublime teachings. Not all the wisdom and learning of Egypt can compare with his sublime knowledge. The secrets of nature, the mysteries of creation, seem unveiled to his intellectual vision. It is his habit to pass an hour or two every night in prayer, upon the mountain, beneath the silent stars, communing alone with his God, as if he were the high-priest of the earth, Horeb his altar, the universe his temple, and his theme the Hebrew nation in Egypt. Ah! my dear father, if God is to deliver them from Egypt by the hand of man, my heart tells me that Moses will be appointed their deliverer; for who on earth has so at heart their misery, or supplicates Heaven so earnestly for aid in their behalf? It is true he is an old man, seven years your senior, but his step is as firm as mine, his eye clear and brave, his natural force not abated, and his looks those of a man in his prime—so healthful is this mountain life, and the simple routine of his days.
He has written to you. I shall be the bearer of his letter, as well as of this, which I write in the door of his grotto, facing the valley, with the sea beyond. There go the ships of Ezion-geber, and the galleys of Ind. Far to the west is the blue line of the shores of Arabian Egypt, and to the east the rocky land of Arabia, and Eastern Midian. The prospect is sublime, and, at this hour of sunset, while purple mists are upon the hills, and a golden light upon the sea, it is beautiful and serene.
I had almost neglected to inform you, that your learned and eloquent friend Aaron, the brother of Moses, was lately in Midian, and was, for a time, an assistant priest of the sacrifices in the city; but has now returned to Goshen, where he married many years ago. His sister Miriam is here with Moses, and is one of the most majestic women I ever beheld. She is in her ninety-fourth year, but is as erect and buoyant in her step as a young and resolute woman. With her snow-white hair, piercing black eyes, and queenly mien, she looks like the venerable priestess of the sun at Baal-Phegor. The mother of Moses also dwells at Midian; but I think their father died in Arabia Deserta; for thither they fled from Egypt, before coming finally into Midian. Aaron is spoken of here as a noble-looking and stately priest, when, in his flowing robes, he used to offer sacrifices according to the simple rites of the Midianites, in the plain temple hewn from the rock, in which they worship God.
Farewell, my dear father. I am not surprised that you love Moses. He has won my heart.