Moses 1

(28-7-14)

Moses

The night was quiet, the wind was calm, and the moon was full and bright.  In this pleasant weather, the boats of Pharaoh were swimming like ducks in the blue water of the river Nile.   The Pharaoh and his queen were celebrating a moonlit party on the river.  For a short time, the great king was forgetting all the administrative worries.  He looked at his queen with admiration, and asked the captain to row the boats slowly so that he could enjoy the night in a complacent mood.

On the other side of the river, in a hut a mother was facing a great dilemma.  Her daughter was urging her to act according to the advice given to them. 

“I have no heart to do it.  My courage fails me,” she blubbered in a whisper which was more like a suppressed wail.

“This is a direct command (revelation) from God, and we cannot disobey it,” the daughter said firmly.

“Why are you asking me to do this cruel act? I cannot put my newly born baby into the river,” she said, sobbing slowly.

“Just be reasonable, mother.  You very well know the result of disobeying an order of God,” the daughter repeated.

The mother dragged herself to a box, opened it with a suppressed lament, placed the properly wrapped baby in it, and put the box into the river.  Her eyes swelled with tears and she sank into the sand of the beach.

“He will come back to you,” said the girl, “as it is prophesied.”  She further added, “I am going to walk on the bank of the river Nile alongside the box to keep an eye on the baby.  I am going to pretend I am a person who habitually walks on the bank of the river at sunrise. No one will know my real intention.”

All these soothing words had no consoling effect on the grief-stricken mother.  With eyes full of tears, she tried to stifle her sobs and returned to the hut.

The pharaoh and his queen were busy enjoying the sunrise when suddenly the queen spotted something bobbing on the waves of the river Nile.  “What is this object which is visible on the waves? It was not here before,” she exclaimed.  The moment she uttered these words, many swimmers jumped into the river to fetch the object of curiosity for the queen.  The swimmers presented the box in front of the king and queen.  When it was opened, the queen saw the face of a beautiful child fast asleep.  The pharaoh frowned at the discovery, but the queen’s heart was full of affection for this innocent babe.  She looked imploringly at the pharaoh. “Please do not throw this child back into the river.  We can adopt him as our own son.  He may prove very useful for us,” she said.  The king was in an excellent mood after a night of festivity.  He saw no danger in the baby, and he disliked the idea of rejecting the queen’s request for a harmless favor, so he consented.  The baby was adopted by the queen and taken to the palace.

The first few hours of the baby’s arrival were full of merrymaking.  He was named Moses, but when the time of feeding came he refused to drink milk.  Many wet-nurses were called from all around the area, but the child did not drink milk from them.  Moses had gone weak and pale with hunger and withered like an unopened bud.  The queen was upset with this new development, and her grief made the pharaoh furious.  “I am the mighty king of Egypt, and I am unable to provide milk for a baby.  This is entirely unacceptable,” he said and announced a big reward for anyone who could feed the child. 

Moses’ sister, who had been following the box, entered the palace and sought an audience with the queen.  She informed the queen that she could bring a woman to nurse the child.  The queen in ordinary circumstances might have not allowed a common woman to enter the palace, but the gravity of the event forced her to give permission.

When Moses’ sister entered the hut of her mother, she found her sitting in a corner sobbing bitterly.  Her eyes were swollen with constant weeping, and she was looking at the empty bed of her child with a blank face.  It was apparent from her behavior that she could not hold the secret for a long time.   “Mother, mother,” the daughter said and shook her violently.  “Please wash your tear-stricken face and come along with me to see your child.”

“Is it possible?” she said.  Suddenly God’s promise, which she had forgotten in her grief, came back to her.  A new hope awoke in her heart when her daughter informed her of the situation.  She washed her face, changed her clothes, and both mother and daughter hurriedly walked towards the king’s palace.  In ordinary circumstances, no Israeli woman was allowed to enter the palace, but it was an unprecedented situation and they entered the palace without facing any hindrance.        

Moses, pale and withered, was lying in his crib.  The queen disappointingly pointed towards him.  Moses’ mother walked towards the crib, her heart throbbing loudly with hope and fear, and picked up the child.  Moses opened his eyes as he felt her touch and drank milk.  The queen’s face lit up with joy, and she immediately appointed Moses’ mother as wet-nurse to look after him.  In this way, Moses grew in the pharaoh’s palace, ate the best food, and gained the best education, which he could not have in his own house. The queen and king were quite oblivious to the fact that they were bringing up their worst enemy with great care.