Finally the moment we've been waiting for. After Moses and Aaron worship with the elders of Israel, they go before Pharaoh and the showdown begins.
There are a remarkably few scenes from the Bible that I would've liked to have witnessed but this is one of them. It must have been an awesome sight. The palace at Thebes was a grand sight, its pillars and walls ornately painted with scenes from Egypt's past. As Moses and Aaron walked in, undoubtedly their attention drawn to Ahmose smiting the Hyksos who were not unlike the Israelites. They walked past hundreds of nobles, courtiers, priests, and scribes, all richly dressed with linen kilts and shimmering jewelry. And sitting at the end of the hall on his golden throne with the Ureaus (the cobra symbol that protected Pharaoh and by extension Egypt) wrapped around his head was Pharaoh.
Here more so the anywhere else with the possible exception of Karnack were Moses and Aaron confronted with the awesome splendor of the world's mightiest nation. And here they stood, no crowns or jewelry to announce their station; no nobles or courtiers. Instead they were dressed in simple shepherd's garb, their only symbols of power being an old, gnarled stick in each hand.
The contrast must have been striking and yet I cannot help but wonder who truly carried the weight of power with them. Pharaoh was supposed to be god, Horus incarnate, but for all of his trappings and temporal power, did he really feel divine in the face of these two simple men? Who really carried the weight of power with them in that room 3500 years ago?
Moses and Aaron deliver their simple message: "This is what the LORD (Yahveh), the God of Israel, says: 'Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert.'"
Pharaoh (probably Thutmose III) had been a young man sent off to fight wars in Canaan when Moses had gone into exile. Moses had been intended for the throne by his aunt and sort of step-mother Hatshepsut (Thutmose was the son of a concubine. Egyptian family trees can be a bit confusing). But Moses had largely refused to become Pharaoh, choosing rather to side to a degree with his people. Hatshepsut had used this refusal to essentially take the throne for herself while sending her nephew and legitimate heir off into the wilderness.
But then Moses, the Hebrew, had murdered the Egyptian task master which was just the thing Thutmose III needed. Moses had been forced into exile and shortly thereafter Hatshepsut had died, leaving Thutmose III in sole possession of the throne. He had immediately erased his cousin and aunt from history.
Or so he had thought. Now this ghost from the past was standing before him having hardly aged a day in the 40 years he'd been gone, demanding that he let the Israelites go into the desert for a festival. Why this and why now? Who was this "Yahveh"? The God of Israel? What right did the god of slaves have to demand anything of Pharaoh, the divine incarnation of Horus on earth?
"Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go?" questions Pharaoh. "I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go."
"The God of the Hebrews has met with us," Moses and Aaron answer. "Now let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword."
Dread seizes Thutmose as his eyes flicker up to the elaborate paintings on the wall of Ahmose driving the Hyksos back to Canaan and beyond. His memory goes back to his own campaigns against the Semites, like his epic victory at Megiddo so many years ago.
Had Moses changed his mind? Had he come back to unite the Israelites against Egypt, to overthrow the Egyptians and set himself up as the new Hyksos Pharaoh? Moses had been a skilled warrior and tactician in his day, the Pharaoh remembers. This, Thutmose resolves, he will not allow to happen at any cost.
With a snarl, he retorts to the two prophets, "Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work! Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working."
But Pharaoh isn't done yet. His fear drives him to employ even harsher measures. Under the pretext of laziness, he gives orders to his foremen that they are to no longer provide straw for the Israelites to make bricks with. Straw was a key ingredient in mud bricks, which is what was used to build in Egypt. When the mud and straw were baked in the sun, the straw secreted a substance that made the bricks almost plastic like, thus preventing them from dissolving in rain. Many of these bricks have survived to this day and you can still see the straw in them.
Yet now the Israelites are told they have to find their own straw to make bricks but they are required to make the same number of bricks as before. This is of course impossible and they are worked harder and beaten more mercilessly. When they go to Pharaoh to beg for mercy, the hard-hearted king rebuffs them, accusing them of laziness and subtly pointing the finger of blame at Moses and Aaron. Naturally they turn and rail at Moses and Aaron.
Moses particularly is distressed. This is not at all how he envisioned this whole rescue thing working out. He knew it wasn't going to be easy, he knew that Pharaoh wasn't going to just say, "Okay, you kids have fun" and leave it at that. But not this. Instead of helping, Moses was making things worse.
In despair, he cried out to Yahveh, wondering if somehow he had made a mistake, if he had misread what Yahveh wanted him to do. He asks if this is why Yahveh sent him to Pharaoh, to make things worse for the Israelites instead of helping them. Yahveh's answer is beautiful.
"Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country. I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty but by my name the LORD (Yahveh) I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan where they lived as aliens. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.
"Therefore, say to the Israelites: 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from the under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to your Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD."
What is Yahveh saying in all of this? Essentially he is saying that I have not forgotten my people or my promise. I am going to rescue you them and I am going to bring them to a better land. You just have to trust me.
Many people when they become Christians think that their lives will instantly become better. They will get promotions at work, their spouse will love them even more, they're health will markedly improve, and they'll suddenly stop struggling with all those pesky sins.
But this is rarely, if ever, the case. If anything, life usually gets worse, not better when we devote our lives to the service of Christ. Our coworkers and friends look at us funny, even making deriding comments about us behind our backs or even to our face. Our spouses just don't understand what we're experiencing. Temptations seem to hit us harder than ever and we still aren't Olympic athletes. In many ways, we can relate to the Israelites who are promised deliverance only to see life get markedly worse. So what gives?
The battle between Pharaoh and Yahveh (a concept that will be dealt with in the next post) personifies arguably the central theme throughout the entire Bible: the Great Controversy between Christ and Satan. It started in heaven eons ago before coming to earth in Genesis 3. Ever since then, Christ and Satan (adversary in Hebrew) have been fighting a constant battle over humanity.
You see there are two sides to this world: the good that is brought on by Yahveh and the bad, generated by Satan. Just like Pharaoh wasn't going to take the defection of his slaves lying down, can we really expect Satan to do the same? No, of course not. He is going to throw everything he's got at anyone who goes to the other side. So really, we should expect things to get worse.
But there is a silver lining to all of this. Things will get better. Just like he promised the Israelites through Moses to deliver them out of the bondage of Pharaoh, Yahveh has promised to deliver us out of the bondage of Satan. Life may be harder now, but it will get better. All you have to do is endure just a little longer.
That's really what faith is: endurance. It's trusting that no matter how bad things are now, Yahveh's promises to make this world a better place are firm and true and hanging firm to him. It's easier said than done, I know, but it doable. Look at the people in Hebrews 11 (of whom Moses is one). If you read their stories, you realize that there is nothing special about them. Yet they are remembered simply because they endured when times got rough. They refused to let go of Yahveh's promise.
They say the night is darkest just before the dawn and in life, that is true. The hardest times, the worst pains, the most miserable moments are all just before the great things come. Serving Christ is not easy; he never promised that it would be. But he did promise that the dawn is coming.
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