Chapter Three
The Mountain
Christopher Golde
"See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him.”
Date: 1,566 BC
Location: Nubia, Middle East
Moshe stood looking at the barren landscape that lay ahead. His heart sank as he contemplated going back to his people and telling them his promised land was still not to be seen, even from this, the highest peak. He sat down on the edge of a rock ledge and stomped his cane into the dust.
“My God, why hast thou forsaken your devout servant like this,” he cried to the sky in frustration, “after all, it was thou that sent me the message to bring them this way, was it not?”
Moshe referred to the messenger angel that had come to him in his dream during a stay with his brothers in Harob. As a result of that vision, he had gathered his nearly three hundred thousand followers and left Egypt, following the route he had been offered by the angel. In the message, he had been told to climb this particular mountain ridge alone, where he would learn of the future for his people. Of course, he and his followers had dreamed of finding a peaceful, fertile land that they might settle away from the oppression of the Egyptians. Hence, he had assumed from here he would be able to see such a land.
The sun burned into his naked scalp and at this moment he doubted his own strength to continue on. As he sat pondering what now he was to do, he noticed a hissing sound growing louder and louder from behind him. Thinking it was one of the large desert snakes that frequented the area; he raised himself from the ledge carefully and slowly turned, so as not to startle the serpent. He looked about the ground in the near vicinity, but as the sound grew louder, he doubted that only one snake could make that much noise. Raising his eyes he noticed a bush burning nearby, or so it seemed.
He stood where he was and stared at the bush, frozen by the spectacle. It not only burned but also changed shapes and shifted through an impossible kaleidoscope of colours. It was then, as he stood in awe of the fiery spectacle, a voice boomed forth from the direction of the burning bush.
“Moshe, you have done well to make it this far,” said the voice from the bush in fluent Egyptian dialect.
Moshe stepped back and was about to flee, fearing that this somehow was the Pharaoh’s magic.
“Take this rock I lay before you, and deliver it to your people and thus, to all the people of the world. These rules men must follow, or they will be dammed in mine eyes,” said the voice, “make these my law on Earth and tell them this is the word of God.”
Moshe looked at the ground in front of the burning bush and saw a large flat rock. It glowed also as if it burned and then suddenly, seemed to cool instantly. The bush now began to dull and the leaves again became green, as if untouched by the flame. In the sky, he could see a rainbow that arched directly up into the heavens, before disappearing completely.
Moshe fell to his knees and dropped his head in spontaneous prayer. He was terrified, yet relieved and at least now he could return to his people with something. The angel had been right and this restored his faith in himself.
After rising from the dirt, he walked carefully to the stone slab. On it, he could read in Egyptian hieroglyphics a number of commands. “Thou shall not kill,” he deciphered, “Thou shall not steal.”
When he had finished reading he smiled.
“This was so simple, yet so true, it could only be the word of God,” he said to himself.
The stone tablet presented a logistical problem, it was large and heavy. There was no other way, so he gathered some rocks, sharpened their edges, then proceeded to break the large tablet into two even pieces. As he worked darkness approached and soon he had to light a fire to see. By the first light of morning, he lay sprawled on the ground next to two almost evenly proportioned pieces of stone.
Slowly, he opened his eyes and blinked. The sun now burned hot in a mid-morning sky and blinded him momentarily.
‘Had he dreamed,’ he thought, as he sat upright and rubbed the dust from his hair and face. He quickly looked around and was relieved to see the two pieces of stone lying on the ground nearby.
“By the word of God it is true,” he said, raising himself to his knees and bowing to the Earth. “Thank you, Lord, I shall not let you down.”
With this, he got to his feet and after stretching gathered the two pieces together and struggled off in the direction of his people. Another day passed, as he made his way back down the mountain. Due to the weight of the stones, he had rested regularly and the going had been very slow. At the end of the day, he could, at last, see his people below him and although they were still far away and out of earshot, he felt relief.
After another two hours of laborious climbing, the sun was now low enough to cast a giant shadow over the camp below him. He had made his way down the last part of the mountain cautiously, as he tediously placed one stone in front of the other to get down this last steep section. When he was almost at level ground, someone from his camp noticed his approach and soon everyone had gathered to greet him.
Moshe looked older than when he had left, due to the fact that he was covered in dust and burnt badly from the sun. His long brown beard was now completely white and his green lively eyes were bloodshot from his lack of sleep.
Many from his tribe had begun to think he had perished, he had been gone so long and although they were tired, hungry and some even disgruntled, they were all overjoyed to see their leader return. As he came to the last ledge before the level ground, he stopped and raised one of the tablets as high as he could.
“My people,” he yelled, “I have returned with the word of God.”
All was silent.
He continued.
“God has come to me on the mountain and left me these two stone tablets. On them is written his laws.”
The entire camp was silent and stunned. They could not know, how much these words, had just changed the future for all humanity.