The Garden of Eden 8
And when the Egyptian army got out of the fog, and came in sight of the
sea, there were the Children of Israel more than half across. And the
captains commanded the drivers of the chariots, and in they went, as
fast as the horses could carry them, chasing the Children of Israel. But
it was a bad road for chariots. Deeper and deeper, the wheels sank in
the mud. And then, as day began to dawn, the wind changed. Instead of
blowing from the east, it blew from the west, and the water came back
with it, and the path was covered, and the sea returned to its strength.
And when the sun arose, there were the Children of Israel safe on the
shore of Arabia, but the Egyptians were nowhere to be seen. The sea had
covered them. They had sunk like lead in the mighty waters.
And on the shore the Children of Israel sang a song of praise and
thanksgiving. Moses led the voices of the men, and Miriam and all the
women, with timbrels in their hands, joined in the chorus. “Sing ye to
the Lord,” they sang, “for He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and
his rider hath He thrown into the sea.” Thus God overthrew the Egyptians
in the midst of the sea, and the Children of Israel were saved from
their enemies.
XII
THE GOLDEN CALF
After the great adventure of the Red Sea, the Children of Israel started
on their way to the Mountain of the Burning Bush. They had never been
away from home before, and they did not know how to behave. So when they
were uncomfortable, as people are likely to be on a long journey,
instead of taking it cheerfully, they complained and cried.
One time, they were very thirsty, and there was no water. And they all
said, “Oh, that we had stayed in Egypt, where there was plenty of
water!” And they said to Moses, “Why did you not let us alone? You have
brought us into this desert to kill us with thirst.” But Moses found a
spring of water coming out of a great rock, and gave them to drink.
Another time, they were very hungry, and there was nothing to eat. And
they cried out against Moses, and said, “Oh, that we had stayed in
Egypt, by the fleshpots! You have brought us into this desert to kill us
with hunger!” But Moses said, “Be patient. God is taking care of you.
He will feed you.” And when they waked up the next morning, the ground
was covered with something which looked like frost. And they gathered
it, and ground it, and baked it, and it was very nice to eat. And the
name of it was manna.
So they ate the manna, and they liked it so much that they said it was
good enough even for angels. But as day after day passed and there was
manna for breakfast, and manna for dinner, and manna for supper, and
nothing else, they came to hate the sight of it. Again they wished that
they were back in Egypt. “When we were in Egypt,” they said, “we had
fish to eat, and cucumbers to eat with it, and melons and leeks and
onions and garlic. Now we have nothing but manna.” So they went on their
way complaining, and Moses had a very hard time with them.
But at last they came to the mountain where they were to meet God. And
there they pitched their tents, and put out their flocks and herds to
pasture. And on the morning of the third day, there was a great storm of
thunder and lightning, and the mountain, which was called Sinai, was
covered with black clouds, and smoked like a volcano, and out of the
smoke and cloud came a sound like the blowing of a mighty wind, and like
the rolling of thunder, and like the voice of a loud trumpet. And the
Children of Israel were exceedingly afraid. But Moses said, “I am going
to climb the mountain. I am going up into the cloud and smoke and
thunder. God told me that He would speak to us in this place. I am going
up to meet Him.” And he took with him a young man named Joshua.
“You wait,” he said to the people, “till I come back and tell you what
God says.”
So Moses and Joshua climbed up the steep side of the mountain, and the
black cloud hid them from the people’s sight. And the storm increased in
fury. The lightning flashed its fires of red and green, the rain came
down in torrents, and louder and louder pealed the voice of the wind and
the thunder and the trumpet. And as the people stood watching and
waiting, they trembled so that their knees knocked together. But night
came, and Moses did not return. All the next day they waited, but he did
not appear. And the days grew into weeks, and the weeks into a month,
till the people said, “Moses is dead. He lost his way, or he fell over a
cliff, or he was struck by lightning. What shall we do? What shall we
do?” And they made Aaron their leader.
Now the people of Egypt, among whom the Children of Israel had lived so
long, had strange ideas about God. They thought that God lived in
certain animals. And they
[Illustration: IT SOUNDS TO ME LIKE SINGING]
said their prayers to these animals, and made images of them to put in
their churches. And as years passed and years passed, till the time of
Joseph was as far away from them as the time of Columbus is from us, a
good many of the Children of Israel, being slaves in Egypt, forgot the
religion of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and became like the Egyptians.
So now they said to Aaron, “Make us an image of God.” And Aaron said,
“Give me your earrings.” Now all the men and women wore gold earrings,
and they gave them to Aaron, and he melted them together and made a
golden calf. And the people said, “This is our God.” And they began to
pray to it, and to dance and sing around it.
But all this time, Moses was speaking with God. God told Moses what He
wished the people to do. And these things were put in the Ten
Commandments, and were written on two smooth tables--or, as we say,
tablets--of stone. And Moses took the Ten Commandments, and started down
the mountain.
And on the way he heard a noise; and he said to Joshua, “What is that
noise?”
And Joshua said, “It sounds like shouting. There must be a battle.”
But Moses said, “It sounds to me like singing.”
So they came in sight of the camp. And there was the Golden Calf, and
all the people singing and dancing around it. And Moses was so angry
that he took the tables of stone and threw them down the mountain, and
they broke in pieces. And the people were ashamed and afraid. And he
told them what a foolish and wicked thing they had done. “God,” he said,
“has just been telling me that we must not worship images.” And he
destroyed the Golden Calf.
Then he went again upon the mountain, and asked God to forgive his
people. And God gave him the Ten Commandments over again. Thus the
Children of Israel met God at the mountain, and were told what they must
do, and were ready at last to start upon their journey to the Promised
Land.
XIII
THE PROPHET AND THE KING
Once upon a time, when the world was younger than it is at present, and
people believed that all the animals could speak Hebrew if they only
would, a man was riding on an ass along a country road.
Sometimes the way went between wide farms which stretched out over the
flat land. Sometimes it lay between vineyards, and had a stone wall on
the right and on the left. Sometimes the man hastened the ass, striking
her with a stick; because he had been sent for by the king and was in a
hurry. Sometimes he let the ass take her own time, and she strayed now
on this side of the road and now on that, cropping the thistles;
because, although the man had been sent for by the king, he was not
quite sure whether he ought to go or not.
The man’s name was Balaam and the king’s name was Balak. They were both
of them heathen; that is, they did not know so much about God as the
Children of Israel knew. But God knew them, and to Balaam God sometimes
spoke, and told him what was right and what was wrong; so that people
came to Balaam, even from distant lands, that he might tell them the
will of God. Thus before a battle, a general or even a king might come
and say, “Tell me, Balaam, is God for me or against me? Shall I lose or
win?” And Balaam would go away by himself and ask God, and God would
speak in Balaam’s soul and teach him what to say, and Balaam would come
back and say it. Many people thought that Balaam could do quite as he
liked, and bless or curse as he pleased, and they said, “See, Balaam,
here is gold and silver: come now, bless me and curse my enemy.” But
Balaam would speak only that which the Lord God taught him to speak.
Balak was the king of Moab. After the Children of Israel had come across
the Red Sea out of Egypt, they wandered in the wilderness and lived in
tents till they grew strong enough to go to war. They had no country of
their own, but they meant to take the country which God had promised to
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. There were already people living in that
country, having walled cities and brave soldiers, and the Children of
Israel had to grow very strong indeed before they could hope to take it
away from them. But now the time had come. The Children of Israel were
on the march. Only one country remained to be crossed before they came
to the Promised Land: and that was Moab.
So Balak, king of Moab, was filled with fear, and he sent for Balaam.
“Behold,” he said, “there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they
cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me. Come now,
therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people, else shall they lick us up
as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” And the princes of Balak came
to Balaam with these words.
And Balaam said, “Stay here this night, and I will ask the Lord, and in
the morning I will tell you.” So the princes stayed at Balaam’s house,
and in the night God spoke in Balaam’s soul, and God said, “Do not go to
Balak. Thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed.”
And when the morning was come, Balaam told the princes that he could not
go.
But Balak was not satisfied. He sent more princes, and they came to
Balaam with splendid promises. And Balaam answered, “I must do as the
Lord says. If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I
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