REMESES OF DAMASCUS TO SESOSTRIS.
The events which have transpired since I last wrote to you, mock my pen by their sublimity and infinite grandeur. Upon a rock for a tablet, the desert around me, the Sea of Edom before me, I desire to record, while they are vivid in my memory, the stupendous scenes of the past six days. The millions of Israel have come forth out of Egypt! The Sea of Suphim is between them and the land of their bondage! But I have so much to write, such wonders to relate, that I will not anticipate your curiosity, but proceed to send you a narrative of each event in due order. Let all the earth say that the Lord God of the Hebrews is the only God: besides Him there is no God!
The day that Moses and Aaron departed from the presence of Pharaoh-Thothmeses, in truth to see his face no more, the Lord commanded them to call together the elders and people of the Hebrews, and instruct them to take a male lamb, or a kid without blemish, one to each household, keep it till the fourteenth day of the month, which day was just at hand, and kill it on the evening thereof, sprinkling, with a bunch of hyssop, the lintel and door-posts of their houses dipped in its blood, and roasting the flesh, eat it at night, leaving none until morning. "And ye shall eat it," said the Lord, "in haste, with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; for it is the Lord's passover, who will the same night pass through the land of Egypt, and smite all the first-born of the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment! I am the Lord: and this day shall be a memorial to you forever."
Then Moses did as the Lord commanded. Moreover on the day of the night on which the lamb, that had been selected from the flocks three days before, was to be slain, he said to the elders of Israel, whom he called, together, "Thus saith the Lord your God, 'Let none of you go out at the door of his house until the morning; for this night the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side-posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.'" There were also other ordinances of bread unleavened established, which bread they were commanded to eat for seven days, at the "feast of unleavened bread."
And when Moses had proclaimed these and other ordinances, the people bowed their heads and worshipped God, and said they would do all that the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron to say unto them.
Then, my dear father, followed a scene of the deepest interest! It was three millions of people preparing to break their bondage of generations, and to go forth from under the cruel sceptre of the king of Egypt forever. The mighty miracles of Moses had, long since, silenced the murmurs and doubts of the elders, openly uttered at the beginning, when Pharaoh in revenge against Moses and Aaron, increased their burdens, and denied them straw for their bricks. At each successive miracle they had gained confidence in their powerful advocate before Pharaoh; and when they saw that he could not be equalled by the magicians, they became vain and proud of him, whom before they had condemned; and waited, with wonder and expectation, their mighty deliverence. At the occurrence of the sixth miracle they threw up all work, and no Egyptian had the heart to say, "Go to your tasks!" for they saw that God was with them. Thus from all parts of Egypt, drawn by curiosity, hope, wonder, and a desire to behold this mighty leader whom God had raised up, they flocked to Goshen, until the land was filled with their vast numbers! The houses and huts could not contain them, and they slept by thousands in the fields, and by the wayside. When they perceived that the darkness, and the locusts, and the hail approached not their land, the most timid and desponding took courage, and lifted their voices to the God of their fathers, in hope and gratitude. Indeed, after the awful plague of darkness, thousands of the most ignorant Hebrews shouted that he was a god, and the Egyptians of all classes were ready to acknowledge him as Osiris or Thoth! And in some of the temples, the day after the darkness passed, the priests waved incense to Osiris by the name of Musæusiris, or Osiris-Moses: and, I doubt not, divine honors will be paid him in Egypt for generations to come! Yet this mighty servant of God moves among the people, as unassuming and self-forgetful as the humblest of his brethren, quietly giving his directions for the greatest movement earth was ever to behold—a nation marching in one day from bondage to freedom!
I moved in and out, everywhere among them. There was a strange joy lighting up every face. Old men looked calm and happy; young men were noisy with hope; maidens were full of joy; mothers smiled with delight, as they clasped their babes to their bosoms, in the certainty that they would not grow up in servitude to Pharaoh. All eyes were turned to Moses and Aaron, as they passed to and fro, and many fell on their knees, and worshipped them; while others shouted, as the only way they could express their emotions. How must the heart of the servant of God have swelled with gratitude to his Creator, as he beheld the happiness around him! And how deeply he must have realized his responsibility, as he reflected that the hopes of three millions of people, whom he had assembled in Goshen, with the promise of deliverance from the sceptre of Pharaoh, hung upon his single arm, but which was, for the time, the arm of God!
With what emotions of awe and expectation did the children of Israel, 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.
PRINCE REMESES OF DAMASCUS TO KING SESOSTRIS.
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.
When I surveyed the place, I marvelled to know how Moses would move forward the next day; for the mountainous ridges of the rocky valley, along which we had come, continued close to the shore of the sea on the right hand, and on the left, and I could perceive, as I walked to the place, no room for a single man, much less an army, to go either south or north between the mountains and the water; for the sea broke with its waves against its perpendicular sides. I concluded, therefore, that on the morrow the whole host would have to retrace its steps, and enter the desert by the way of Etham, where it had before encamped, and so make a sweep around the head of the sea to the northward and eastward. But I did not express to any one my thoughts. The calm majesty and repose of Moses awed me. Upon his expansive brow was stamped confidence in his God, who, if need were, could make a road across the sea for His people, for whose deliverance He had done such wonders. I reflected, too, that the leader was God himself, and that He had gone before, and led them to the place where they were. I therefore waited the will of God, to see what in His wisdom He would do.
How little did I anticipate the end! How far was I from understanding that God had led His people into this defile, which had no outlet but that by which they entered, in order to display His glory, and present to the world the final exhibition of His power, and his judgments upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians!
The divinely inspired Moses seemed to understand my thoughts, when I returned to the camp.
"My son," he said, "this is done to try Pharaoh; for, when he heareth that we are in the valley of Pi-hahiroth, before Migdol, he will say, 'They are entangled in the land—the wilderness hath shut them in.' 'Then,' saith the Lord to me, 'Pharaoh will repent that he let you and my people go, and he will follow after you, and when he shall come after you, I will be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.' God will yet avenge Himself upon this wicked king, and reward him for all his wickedness that he hath done against Him and His people Israel! Wait, and thou shalt see the power of God, indeed!"
With what expectation, and with what confidence in God I waited the result, my dear father, you may conceive. How wonderful is this God, and His ways how past finding out! "It was just four hundred and thirty years from the day Israel left Egypt," said Aaron to me, "to the day their father Abram left Chaldea for Canaan; and that, their books say, is the exact time prophesied for their deliverance. Their actual residence in Egypt from the Syrian Prince Jacob's coming to settle in Goshen, to the day they left, was two hundred and fifteen years. The existence of their bondage began at the death of Joseph, who died sixty-five years, not seventy, as you supposed, before the birth of Moses. This servant of God is now eighty years old; therefore, the number of years that they were in servitude is one hundred and forty-five, or equal to five generations. Thus, were the descendants of Abraham, and Abraham himself, wanderers without any country of their own for four hundred and thirty years, according to the word of the Lord to Abraham; not all this time in bondage, indeed, but under kings of another language. Now, at length behold them returning a mighty nation, to claim from the Canaanites and Philistines the land so long ago promised to their remote ancestor, Abram. God is not forgetful of His promise, as this vast multitude proclaims to the world, though He seems to wait; but His purposes must ripen, and with the Almighty a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."
Now behold, my dear father, a new manifestation of His glory and power, and the awful majesty of His judgments, before whom no man can stand and live! The next day, being the seventh, whereon a divine tradition ordains rest, but which in their bondage could not be regarded, Moses and Aaron commanded the whole host to repose. Thus time was given Pharaoh, not only to hear the report,—as he did by some Egyptians who, in dread of the wilderness, went back,—of their being shut in by the craggy mountains, with the sea before them,—but to arm and to pursue and destroy them or compel them to submit again to his yoke.
I have learned from an officer of Pharaoh, who, fearing God, escaped from the palace, and came and informed Moses of the king's purposes, that when the news reached the king, who had been three days bitterly repenting his compliance with the demands of Moses, he sprang from the table at which he sat, and, with a great oath by his gods, cried—
"They are entangled between Pi-hahiroth and the sea! They have played me false, and are not gone by Etham into the desert to sacrifice! Their God has bewildered them in the Valley of Rocks by the sea! Now, by the life of Osiris, I will up and pursue them!" He called all his lords and officers, and gave commands to send couriers to the army already assembled at Bubastis, and expecting to march against the king of Edom, who had long menaced Egypt. He ordered this army to hasten, by forced marches, to the plain before On. He then sent to the city, where he kept his six hundred chosen chariots of war, for them to be harnessed, and meet him the next day before Raamses. Couriers on fleet horses were sent to every garrison, and all the chariots in other cities, and in the three treasure-cities, to the number of four thousand charioteers, each with his armed soldier, gathered on the plain which the Israelites had left four days before. The forty-seven fortresses of the provinces sent forth their garrisons, of three and four hundred men each, to swell the Egyptian hosts.
All this intelligence reached Moses; but he remained immovable in his camp, the Pillar of Fire also standing in the air above the tent of Aaron, in which was the sarcophagus of Prince Joseph. Messenger after messenger, sometimes an Egyptian friendly to the Israelites, sometimes an Israelite who had been detained and did not leave Egypt with his brethren, came to Moses, and as they passed through the camp, gave up their news to the people.
One man said Pharaoh had left his palace, armed in full battle-armor, and at the head of his body-guard of six hundred chariots of gold and ivory, was driving to the plain of Raamses. A second messenger brought tidings, that the king's great army, from the vicinity of Bubastis and Pelusium, had passed On in full march,—seventy thousand foot, ten thousand horsemen, and two thousand chariots of iron! A third came, reporting that four thousand chariots had also assembled from all parts of Lower Egypt, and that every man was rallying to the standard of the king, to pursue the Hebrews and destroy them by the edge of the sword. By and by, a fourth came, an escaped Hebrew, who told that the king had marshalled his vast hosts of one hundred thousand foot, twenty thousand horsemen, nine thousand chariots of iron, besides his six hundred chosen chariots of his body-guard, and was in full pursuit of the Israelites by the way of Succoth.
These tidings filled the bosoms of the Hebrews with dismay. They were in no condition to do battle, there being among them all, one only who knew the use of arms, which one was Moses; who, with God on his side, was an army in himself.
The Egyptian army, marched all night, without rest to hoof or sandal. Before the sun was up, their approach was made known by the distant thunder of their chariot-wheels, and the tramp of their horses. At length, when the Pillar of Fire was fading into a white cloud, and the sun rose brilliantly over the Sea of Arabia, the van of the Egyptian army became visible, advancing down the inclosed valley. When the Israelites beheld its warlike front, and heard the clangor of war-trumpets and the deep roll of the drums, they fled with fear. The elders then hastened, and, pale with terror and anger, came before Moses, and cried to him—
"Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die here in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us to carry us forth out of Egypt? Did we not, at the first, tell thee in Egypt, 'Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians?' for it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness."
Then Moses answered their tumult, and said, without displeasure visible in his godlike countenance—
"Fear ye not! Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you to-day! for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more forever! The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. Wait to see what He will do."
Then Moses, with a troubled face, entered his tent, and his voice was heard by those near by, calling upon God.
And the Lord answered him from the cloud above the tent—
"Why criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward! But lift thou up thy rod and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And behold Pharaoh, (whom I withhold from nothing which he chooseth in his hard heart to do, leaving him to his own devices to reap the fruit of his own ways), he shall follow you with the Egyptians into the sea! and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord!"
Then Moses came forth from the tent, whence the voice of the Lord had been heard by all, both near and afar off. Now, lo! the angel of God in the Pillar of Cloud, as soon as the armies of Israel began to move forward to the sea, removed from the front, and went to the rear of the Hebrew host, and stood behind them in the Pillar of Cloud! Thus, it stood between the camp of the Israelites and the camp of the Egyptians, so that when night came, the Israelites, lying encamped on the shore, had the full splendor of its light; while the Egyptians, to whom it presented a wall of impenetrable darkness, also encamped, fearing to go forward in the unnatural night which enveloped them. So the two hosts remained all night, neither moving—the Pillar of Fire and the Pillar of Cloud between them, creating day on one side of it, and tenfold night on the other.
Now, at the going down of the sun, on that day when the Egyptians encamped because of the cloud, Moses had stretched forth his hand over the sea by God's command, and lo! there arose a mighty wind upon the sea, rising from the south and east; and all that night we heard the sea and waves roaring, and the hearts of Israel sunk within them for fear. The Pillar of Fire cast upon the sea a radiance like moonlight, so that we could perceive that it was in a great commotion, and that God was doing some great wonder in the deep. It is said that the noise of the waves reached the ears of Pharaoh, and that he at first believed it was the sound of the tramping of the whole host of the Israelites, advancing with their God to give him battle in the darkness. He called his men to arms, and tried to show front of war; but the shadow of the cloud between him and the Hebrews, rendered it impossible for any man to move from one place to another, or to see his fellow.
At length morning came to us, but not to the Egyptians, whose night still continued. But what a spectacle of sublimity and power we beheld! Before us, an avenue, broad enough for two hundred men to march abreast, had been cut by the rod of God through the deep sea, the water of which stood as a wall on the one side and on the other, glittering like ice on the sides of the rocks of Libanus, when capped with his snows. At this sight, the Hebrew hosts raised a shout of joy to God, for they could see that the sacred avenue reached as far as the eye could extend across the sea; but so great was the distance, that its sides converged to a point far out from the shore, and seemed but a hair line. Then Moses, lifting up his voice, commanded the children of Israel to form into companies and columns of one hundred and eighty men abreast, and enter the sea by the way God had opened for them. First went Aaron and the twelve elders, being one of each tribe, who guarded the body of Prince Joseph. Then followed the sarcophagus, drawn by twelve oxen, one also furnished by each tribe. Then came a hundred Levites, carrying all the sacred things which the Hebrews had preserved in their generations. Now came Moses, leading the van of the people in column. I also walked near him. As we descended the shore and entered the crystalline road, I marvelled, yet had no fear, to see the walls of water, as if congealed to ice, rise thirty cubits above our heads, firm as if hewn from marble, with sharp edges at the top catching and reflecting the sunlight. The bed of the sea was hard and dry sand, smooth as the paved avenue from Memphis to the pyramids. All day the Israelites marched in, and when night came not half their vast column had left the land. All the while the Pillar of Cloud stood behind, in the defile between the Israelites and the Egyptians. At length, in the first watch of the night, it removed, and came and went before the Israelites, throwing its beams forward along our path in the sea. Its disappearance from the rear removed also the supernatural darkness that enveloped the Egyptians; and when, by the light of the skies, Pharaoh beheld the Israelites in motion, he pursued with all his host, leading with his chariots his eager army. It was just light enough for him to see that his enemy was escaping, but not enough so to see by what way; but, doubtless, he suspected that they were wading around the mountains; for great east winds have, from time to time, swept the sea here outward, so that the water has been shallow enough for persons to make a circuitous ford around the northern cliff, and come in again upon the same shore into the desert above. Pharaoh knew that the wind had been blowing heavily, which he at first mistook for the Israelites in motion, and there is no doubt that he pursued with the idea that the sea had been shoaled by the wind, and that they would come out a mile or two on the north side, and gain the desert by Etham, and so double the head of the sea into the peninsula of Horeb. There can be no other reason assigned for his pursuit into such a road of God's power, unless it was judicial madness,—a hardening of his heart by God, in punishment for his contumacy and opposition to His will. Doubtless this is one way in which God punishes men, by making their peculiar sin the instrument of their destruction.
Pharaoh and his chariots, and horsemen, and host pursued, and came close upon the rear-guard of the Israelites, against whom they pressed with shouts of battle. The sea was faintly lighted, and the king and the Egyptians did not see the walls of water which inclosed them, as they rushed madly and blindly after their prey, urged on by the loud voice of Pharaoh. At length, when they were in the midst of the sea, the Lord, in the Pillar of Cloud, suddenly turned and displayed its side of dazzling light towards the astonished Egyptians! By its sunlike splendor, Pharaoh and his captains perceived their peril, and the nature of the dreadful road in which they were entangled. The walls of water on each side of them, say the Israelites who were in the rear and saw, moved and swelled, and hung above them in stupendous scrolls of living water, upheld only by the word of God! The vivid light of the shekinah blinded their eyes, and bewildered their horses, and troubled the whole host. All the horrors of his situation were presented to the mind of the king. With frantic shouts to his charioteers to turn back, he gave wild orders for his army to retreat, saying—
"Let us flee from the face of Israel! for the Lord their God fighteth for them against us!"
Then followed a scene of the most horrible confusion. The steady gaze upon them of the Angel of the Lord, in the cloud of fire, discomfited them! They turned to fly! Their chariot-wheels sunk in the deep clay which the wagons of the Hebrews had cut up, and came off! The king leaped from his car, and, mounting a horse held by his armor-bearer, attempted to escape, when the Lord said unto Moses, who now stood upon the Arabian side of the sea—
"Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen."
Then Moses stretched forth his hand upon the sea, in the deep defile of which, cleaved by God for his own people, the Egyptian hosts, chariots, horse and foot, were struggling to retrace their course to the Egyptian shore, each man battling with his comrade for preference in advance. The whole scene, for several miles in the midst of the sea, was a spectacle of terror and despair such as no war, no battle, nothing under the skies, ever before presented. The shouts and cries of the Egyptians reached our ears upon the shore with appalling distinctness.
Now Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, out of the path through which the last of the Israelites were coming forth, when the billows that had been cloven by the rod of God, and made to stand in two walls like adamant, began to swell and heave, and all at once both edges of this sea-wall fell over like two mighty cataracts plunging and meeting, roaring and rushing together each into the chasm wherein the whole host of Pharaoh—his captains, chariots, and horsemen—with their faces towards Egypt, were struggling to escape from the snare that God, in His just vengeance, had laid for them. The returning waters covered the whole host of them before our eyes, and, while we looked, the wild sea rolled its huge waves, laden with death, above the abyss; and then subsiding, the great sea once more flowed calmly over the spot, and Pharaoh, who had been erecting for years a majestic pyramid to receive his embalmed body, was buried by the God whom he defied, beneath the chariots and horses in which he trusted for victory over the sons of God.
This spectacle of God's power and judgment filled all Israel with awe. Those who had murmured against Moses sought his presence, and prostrated themselves before him, acknowledging their fault, and asking him to entreat God to pardon their iniquity, declaring that henceforth they would receive the voice of Moses as the voice of God.
That day the Israelites encamped on the shore; and all night the waves cast upon the coast the dead bodies of Pharaoh's host, and chariots innumerable, with their stores of quivers of arrows, lances, swords, and spears; so that the men of Israel, to the number of one hundred thousand chosen out of each tribe, save that of Aaron were armed from the spoils of the dead soldiers and chariots. Was not this, also, the finger of God, O my father! The impression made upon the minds of the children of Israel, by this wonderful exhibition of the power of God,—of His goodness to them and His vengeance upon Pharaoh,—was such that they believed God, and feared Him, and professed themselves ready henceforth to be obedient to His voice.
When Moses and the children of Israel saw that their enemies were dead, they chanted a sublime hymn of praise and triumph to God upon the shore. Then came Miriam, the sister of Aaron, the aged prophetess of God, bearing a timbrel in her hand, and followed by an innumerable company of maidens and daughters of Israel, each with her timbrel in her hand, and singing songs of joy and triumph, while the virgins danced before the Lord.
Now, my dear father, I have brought my letters nearly to a close. I have recorded the most wonderful events earth ever saw, and displays of Divine power which man has never before witnessed. In contemplating these wonders, you will be impressed with the terrible majesty of God, and overwhelmed by His greatness. You will be struck with His unwavering devotion and care for His people whom He hath chosen, and with His unceasing vengeance upon His enemies, and such as oppress those whom He protects. You will be awed and humbled with a sublime perception of his limitless power in the heavens, on earth, and in the sea; and feel deeply your own insignificance as a mere worm of the dust in His sight; and you will cry with me, as I beheld all these manifestations of His glorious power—
"What is man that thou art mindful of him, O God, who fillest the heavens with the immensity of Thy presence, and in Thine own fulness art all in all?"
From the Sea of Arabia, Moses led the armies of Israel, for three encampments, into the wilderness towards Horeb. Here was no water but that which was bitter; and the people murmuring, Moses pacified them by a miracle. Thence they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water and seventy palm-trees, and here we encamped for some days. After certain further wanderings, we came to a wilderness, just one month after departing from Egypt, God, in all that time, taking not away the Pillar of Cloud by day nor the Pillar of Fire by night from before the people. Indeed, the whole journey was a miracle, and attended by miracles; for in this wilderness, Sinn, their provisions failed, and the people (who are a perverse and stiff-necked people, forgetful of favors past, and rebellious—as is perhaps natural to those who have been so long in bondage, and find themselves now free), murmured, and again blamed Moses for bringing them from their fare of flesh and bread in Egypt, to die of hunger in the wilderness. God, instead of raining fire upon them, mercifully and graciously rained bread from heaven to feed them, returning their want of faith in Him with loving-kindness and pardon. And not only did God send bread from heaven—which continues to fall every morning—but sent quails upon the camp; so that they covered the whole plain. The taste of this heavenly bread is like coriander-seed in wafers made with honey. It is white, is called by the people manna, and is in quantities sufficient for the whole of them. The camp thence moved forward and came into the vale of Horeb, where I had first beheld Moses standing by his flock. Here there was no water, and the people murmured in their thirst, and again blamed Moses for bringing them out of Egypt into that wilderness, not remembering the mighty deliverance at the Sea of Arabia, nor the manna, nor the quails. At the first obstacle or privation, they would ever cry out against Moses, who, one day, exclaimed to his God, in his perplexity—
"What shall I do to this people? They are almost ready to stone me!"
Then the Lord commanded him to take his rod and strike the rock in Horeb. He did so, and the water gushed forth in a mighty torrent, cool and clear, and ran like a river, winding through all the camp.
We are now encamped before Horeb. From this mountain God has given, amid thunders, and lightnings, and earthquakes, His laws to His people, by which they are to walk in order to please Him. They are ten in number: four relating to their duty to Him, and the remaining six to their duty to one another. It would be impossible, my dear father, for me to describe to you the awful aspect of Horeb, when God came down upon it, hidden from the eye of Israel in a thick cloud, with the thunders, and lightnings, and the voice of the trumpet of God exceeding loud, so that all the camp trembled for dread and fear. Nor could I give you any idea of the aspect of the Mount of God, from which went up a smoke, as the smoke of a furnace, for seven days and nights, and how the voice of the trumpet waxed louder and louder, sounding long and with awful grandeur along the skies, calling Moses to come up into the mount to receive His laws, while the light of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire. In obedience to the terrible voice, Moses left Israel in the plain and ascended the mount. Aaron and others of the elders accompanied him so near, that they saw the pavement on which the God of Israel stood. It was, under His feet, as a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in its clearness.[2] He was absent forty days. When twenty days were passed and they saw him not, nor knew what had happened to him, the whole people murmured, became alarmed, believed that they would never see him again, and resolved to return to Egypt if they could find a leader. Aaron refused to go back with them; but at length they compelled him to consent, if in seven days Moses returned not. At the end of this period they called Aaron and shouted:
"Up! Choose us a captain to lead us back to Egypt."
But Aaron answered that he would not hearken to them, and bade them wait for Moses.
Then came a company of a thousand men, all armed, and said:
"Up! make us gods which shall go before us! As for this Moses, we wot not has become of him."
At length Aaron, no longer able to refuse, said—
"What god will ye have to lead you?"
"Apis! the god of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, whom we and our fathers worshipped in Egypt."
Then Aaron received from them the jewels of gold they had taken from the Egyptians, and cast them into a furnace, and made an image of the calf Serapis, and said, in grief, irony, and anger—
"This, and like this, is thy god, O Israel, that brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!"
And erecting an altar before this image, these Israelites, not yet weaned from Egyptian idolatry, burned incense and sacrificed before it, and made a feast to the god, with music and dancing, as the Egyptians do. At length Moses reappeared, sent down from the mount by an indignant God, who beheld this extraordinary return to idolatry. When the holy prophet saw what was done, he sternly rebuked Aaron, who excused himself by pleading that he was compelled to yield, and that he did so to show them the folly of trusting to such an idol, after they had the knowledge of the true God. Moses took the calf they had made, and made Aaron burn it in the fire, and he ground it to powder, and made the idolatrous children of Israel drink of the bitter and nauseous draught. Again he rebuked Aaron, and called for all who were on the Lord's side, when several hundreds of the young men came and stood by him. He commanded them to slay all who had bowed the knee or danced before the calf; and in one hour three thousand men were slain by the sword, in expiation of their sin against God.
Now, my dear father, my last letter must be brought to a close. Moses informs me that the Lord, in punishment of this sin of Israel, will cause them to wander many years in the wilderness ere He bring them to the land promised to their fathers, and will subject them to be harassed by enemies on all sides, some of whom have already attacked them, but were discomfited by the courage of a Hebrew youth, called Joshua, who promises to become a mighty warrior and leader in Israel, and whom Moses loves as an own son.
In view, therefore, of this long abode of the children of Israel in the desert, I shall to-morrow join a caravan which will then pass to the northward, on its way into Syria from Egypt. It will be with profound regret that I shall bid adieu to Moses, to Aaron, to Miriam, and all the friends I have found among this wonderful people. Will not the world watch from afar the progress of this army of God, which has beheld the wonders by which He brought them out of Egypt? Doubtless, ere this you have heard, by ships of Egypt, of some of the mighty miracles which have devastated her cities and plains; and you will hear, ere this letter reaches you, of the destruction of the whole army of Egypt, with their king Pharaoh-Thothmeses, in the Arabian Sea.
Farewell, my dear father; in a few weeks I shall embrace you. We will then talk of the majesty, and power, and glory of the God of Israel, and learn to fear Him; to love, obey, and serve Him,—remembering His judgments upon Pharaoh, and also upon His chosen people Israel when they forgot Him; and, that as He dealt with nations, so will He deal with individuals! Obedience, with unquestioned submission in awe and love to this great and holy God, our august Creator, is the only path of peace and happiness for kings or subjects; and the only security for admission, after death, into His divine heaven above, "whither," saith His holy servant Moses, "all men will ultimately ascend, who faithfully serve Him on earth; while those who, like Pharaoh-Thothmeses, despise Him and His power, will be banished forever from His celestial presence into the shades below, doomed there to endure woes that know no termination, through the cycles of the everlasting ages."
Farewell, my dear father; may the Pillar of Cloud be our guide by day, and the Pillar of Fire by night, in the wilderness of this world! With prayer to God to bring me in safety to you, and to guard you in health until I see your face again,