The Pillar of Fire; or, Israel in Bondage

by J. H. Ingraham

All the people who heard my voice, as I thus invoked the Living God, and saw my hands outstretched heavenward, turned from their idols and amulets, and ceased their prayers and cries, to hear me. The lightnings flashed about us in a continual flame, so that the ship seemed on fire, and I could be seen by all.

Judge, O Sesostris, my surprise, when instantly the winds—which at the first word of my prayer softened—ceased to roar; the waves fell level with the sea; the clouds parted above us, and revealing a bright moon shining down from the starry sky, they rolled, on all sides, swiftly away towards the horizon.

This sudden and wondrous change, evidently in response to my prayer, as a proof that it was heard by the Ear to which I, in fear and hope, addressed it, amazed me. It was the power and act of my God! I felt it to be so, and lifting up my eyes and hands to the cloudless skies, I said—

"Thine, O Lord Almighty, thine be the praise and glory; for Thou art the hearer and answerer of prayer, and art loving to all Thy creatures. Thou hast power in heaven and on earth, and on the broad sea, nor is any thing hid from Thee. Darkness is no darkness with Thee, and no power can resist thine! Thanks be to Thee, O Lord God on high, for this manifestation of Thy presence, and this confirmation of my faith. Let these idolaters likewise glorify Thee, for whose sakes Thou hast also done this."

When I ceased, I beheld a crowd, made up of all nations, prostrate around me. The captain, turning away from his god, was burning incense before me, while the invocations of the crew and passengers were being offered to me. With horror I drew back and waved them away, saying, "Rise, men, stand upon your feet! Not unto me, not unto me, but unto God, the one invisible Creator, give thanks and praise for your mighty deliverance!"

I then made known to them the mystery of the true God, whose power they and I had witnessed, and exhorted them to turn from their idols, and worship Him in spirit and in truth; for that He was their Maker, and besides Him there was no God. Nevertheless, but for my stern anger against it, they would have sacrificed a sheep to me, as if I were Hercules.

In a few hours we reached Pelusium, and to escape the adulations of the people on shore, to whom the crew made known this miracle of God, I withdrew privately, and went to Bubastis. After visiting, unknown to them, the tens of thousands of my brethren, who are engaged in extending the walls of that place, and increasing the number of treasure-houses therein, I took boat and came hither secretly, for fear that Mœris, if he knew me to be in Egypt, might watch my movements, if not banish or imprison me.

I have now been several days in the bosom of my family. My mother and father are well; but they, and Miriam with all the other women of our nation, have tasks of weaving put upon them, which are to be done each day before they are permitted to sleep. My heart is deeply wounded at all this. On every side I behold oppression and cruelty. Daily, scores of the Hebrews perish, and their dead bodies are thrown into ditches, dug for the purpose, and covered with earth. Often, the wretched men who dig them are the first to occupy them, for the work goes on day and night. An edict has been published throughout all Egypt, within the past month, that no Egyptian shall assist a Hebrew; and that no Hebrew who sinks down under his toil, shall be suffered to remain upon the ground, but must be placed upon his feet again, and driven to his task, until he sinks to rise no more; and to such, neither bread nor water shall be offered, that they may die! Such, O king, is the heart of this Mœris!

Yet, with all these extraordinary measures, inspired by his fear, to lessen the number of the Hebrews, they increase in the most unprecedented manner. The women bring forth without midwives, and are put to no inconvenience whatsoever afterwards. Such a state of things alarms the Egyptian king, and well it may; for it seems to me to be a direct act of the Divinity, so to multiply the people, that Egypt will be compelled to liberate them, and send them forth to find a country of their own.

There is a prophecy which, as I associate more with the elders—who are slow, however, to give me their confidence, regarding me still as an Egyptian in feeling and prejudices—I ascertain to be well preserved, that, at the end of about four hundred years from the days of Prince Abraham, his descendants shall come out of Egypt a great nation. This period is drawing to its close. God, who can deliver from the storm, can deliver from the hand of Pharaoh those who trust in Him, and call for His Almighty arm to aid them.