Volume 1 North Africa Chapter 10 Moses

  After Moses left the city of Pharaoh, he wandered here and there until he came to a tribe of Midianites. The warm-hearted Midianites brought out abundant food and goat's milk to entertain Moses.

  Moses also met Zipporah, the daughter of a Midian priest he had saved before. Zipporah was grateful to him and invited him to settle there.

  Life was so peaceful and quiet. Moses spent an unforgettable happy time in his life here. He learned to herd sheep here, and when he was with the flock, Moses was carefree. Moses' good and honest character was also loved by all the Midianites, and finally Zippporah, the daughter of Jethro, a priest of Midian, married Moses. After marriage, Zipporah gave birth to a son for Moses, and Moses named him Gershom, which means "a sojourner in a foreign land". The whole family lived happily ever after.

  One day Moses was driving the flock to the wilderness to graze, when he passed by a mountain and saw a white light shining from a cave. Moses curiously entered the cave to watch, and was shocked at what he saw. In the cave, a low thorny tree emitted white flames. Moses also heard the thorny tree calling his name.

  Moses replied in terror, "I am here; who are you?"

  And he said, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."

  "I have called you for the sake of my people who are in slavery in Egypt, whose cry and suffering I have heard. I have come down from heaven to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians. You will be my messenger; go to Pharaoh and tell him that the God of the Hebrews has spoken. And you will lead the Hebrews out of Egypt into a good and spacious land flowing with milk and honey."

  Moses replied to the flame, "I see my kinsmen suffering and I suffer with them. But I am now a fugitive; how can Pharaoh listen to me and let my kinsmen go?"

  The flame suddenly became fierce, and an angry voice came from it: "I am the all-powerful God Jehovah, I will bring down a divine sign to bring disaster to the Egyptians. What is in your hand?"

  Moses replied, "This is the shepherd's staff in my hand."

  A white flash of lightning shot out from the flames and struck Moses' staff, which immediately radiated light. "Go! This is the tool for you to display my signs, but the Egyptians will still not believe. You shall continue to perform miracles with your staff until the Egyptians believe in my existence."

  Moses returned to the land of Midian after hearing God's voice. After telling his wife about the things of God, he took his wife and children back to the city of the king of Egypt.

  When the mysterious Moses arrived at the palace, everyone in the palace was shocked. A prince who had been on the run for many years returned to the imperial city, causing a sensation immediately.

  At this time, the old Pharaoh had passed away, and the new Pharaoh was Ramses, Moses' brother. Ramses was overjoyed to see Moses return and immediately rushed down from his throne to embrace him. At that moment, a high-ranking official standing beside them said, "Your Majesty, Moses is a criminal who has committed a serious crime. He should be beheaded."

  Ramses looked at the minister with disdain, then raised his hands above his head and said, "The Pharaoh shines like the sun and moon, one word decides the world. I declare...". Ramses pointed to Moses with his hand, "No matter what crime he commits, I will forgive him. Because he is my king's son, a prince, a true Egyptian prince."

  Ramses finished speaking and the court immediately erupted in cheers.

  But Moses replied to Pharaoh, "I have come this time at the bidding of our God. Let my lord agree to let the Hebrews depart from Egypt."

  Ramses said with great joy, "Moses, you are my king. What kind of god do you have?"

  Moses lifted his head and looked at Ramses, whom he had not seen for a long time. After a while, he said, "Your Majesty, I am a Hebrew. My God is Jehovah."

  Ramses looked at Moses' serious expression and slowly withdrew his smile. He then said, "I won't let a god I've never heard of make the Hebrews leave Egypt. However, you will always be my friend. And I won't blame you for your offense."

  Moses helplessly picked up the wooden staff in his hand and said, "Your Majesty, if you don't let go, my God will show you His divine power until you agree." After finishing speaking, he stuck the staff upright on the ground.

  The wooden staff emitted a white glow and then transformed into an Eyewings King Snake.

  Ramses burst out laughing and said, "My King Di, it seems you've learned a lot of skills during your years outside." He clapped his hands twice.

  Two robed priests emerged from behind Ramses, also holding wooden staffs. They bowed to Ramses and his entourage, then tossed their staffs into the air while muttering incantations under their breath. A cloud of black smoke erupted from the two staffs. When the smoke cleared, the two staffs had transformed into a pair of eye-of-ra cobras.

  Two cobras swam directly to the cobra king and opened their big mouths, biting towards its head. The staff-turned-cobra king glanced at the two snakes with disdain, lazily opening its mouth as if waiting for them to come closer. Just when they were about to bite, it swiftly bit down on both of their heads. With one swift motion, it swallowed the two snakes whole after a few shakes of its head.

  Ramses saw the court magician's snake was defeated, but he didn't think much of it. He said to Moses, "Many people can perform such tricks. But as for the Hebrews, I will never let them go." After finishing speaking, he turned his head and returned to the palace.

  Moses could only walk out of the palace in despair.

  After a few days, Ramses boarded the royal ship with his son and cruised on the beautiful Nile River. He saw Moses leading many Hebrews on the shore to tell the story of God. He was very angry and ordered the guards on the ship to arrest Moses. Moses inserted his staff into the water, and slowly the Nile River's water turned red. The water became blood. The guards who were arresting Moses were terrified and thought that God had changed the river water, so they all scattered and escaped.

  Ramses was also startled. He hastily asked the court sorcerer what was going on. The court sorcerer was also surprised, but still took out a silver basin and poured in clear water and some medicinal powder. The water in the silver basin also turned red. Ramses then thought it was Moses' trick again. He did not respond to Moses' request again. He even ordered wells to be dug on both banks of the Nile River.

  Moses was communicating with God when God became angry. Suddenly, swarms of locusts flew everywhere, and frogs from the ponds and rivers crawled onto the shore and into the palace. They were everywhere, and the locusts bit people incessantly, making it impossible to defend against them. The fields were also infested with locusts. Then, a rain of fire came down from heaven. The rain of fire burned the entire city to ruins.

  Moses came again to the court and found Ramses. Ramses said absent-mindedly, "I have seen the power of your God, I can worship him along with other gods."

  "Moses looked calmly at Ramses and said, 'My God wants my fellow Hebrews to be free from slavery and leave Egypt. If you agree, all the disasters will disappear.'"

  Ramses looked at his brother, who had grown up with him, and a resolute expression also appeared on his face. "It seems that the policy of my father king is not wrong at all. I will not let the Hebrews leave Egypt. I want them to be my slaves forever, and I will also kill the newborn Hebrew male infants. I am Pharaoh, shining with the sun and moon."

  Moses left the palace and, while praying to Jehovah God, recounted the words of Ramses. Jehovah said to Moses: "Go back and slaughter a few sheep, and smear the sheep's blood on the doors of the Hebrews. Tonight I will display divine signs to punish the Egyptians."

  It was night, the whole Egyptian city was quiet, and people were all asleep. Countless white ghosts floated down from the sky, sweeping across the entire Egyptian city. When they encountered houses with sheep's blood on the doors, the ghosts would bypass them. And for those houses without sheep's blood, the ghosts would enter the rooms.

  In the morning when people got up, they found that all the firstborns of every family in the city had lost their breath. From Pharaoh's eldest son to the prisoner's son, and all livestock, everything was dead. The whole of Egypt mourned. Moses came to the palace again and saw Ramses also with a sorrowful expression on his face.

  Ramses' eyes were red with rage as he glared at Moses and said, "You have won. You have taken the life of my son. Take your Hebrews and go."

  Moses saw this and wept, silently leaving the palace. He led all the Hebrews out of the city, a multitude of people, including many who brought numerous cattle and sheep with them. As they walked, they devoutly praised Jehovah God, looking forward to a better life in the future.

  Ramses looked at the Hebrews who had already gone far away. He said fiercely, "Pass on the order to the chariot troops, tonight we will go and kill the Hebrews. I want them all to die in the wilderness, to avenge my son."

  Moses led the Hebrews to the edge of the sea, looking at the turbulent waves. Many Hebrews left tears behind. At this time, Ramses' chariot troops had also rushed to the back of the Hebrews. So people were terrified, and some even blamed Moses, saying that they would all die if they took them away.

  At that moment, a pillar of fire suddenly appeared in the sky, directly between the Hebrews and the Egyptians. The Egyptian war horses were frightened and ran wildly, causing most of the chariots to be damaged.

  Moses held the wooden staff and came to the seaside. He inserted the staff in his hand into the sea. A loud thunder rang out, and the seawater was divided into two sides. A path appeared at the bottom of the sea before everyone's eyes. Moses did not speak, picked up the staff, and walked straight along the path at the bottom of the sea. The Hebrews behind him also followed Moses and walked into the path in the sea.

  The reason I wrote some stories from the Bible is that I really couldn't think of a reason why the protagonist would want to save the Jews. The protagonist isn't a white knight like Dr. White. Although massacres are unacceptable, I reckon everyone wouldn't think that a shallow and hot-blooded young man could have the same enlightenment as a saint, especially in a world busy with World War I and II, to go around saving those Jews facing death. If so, the protagonist might as well become a savior.