The Pillar of Fire; or, Israel in Bondage

by J. H. Ingraham

The next day a procession was made by Pharaoh and his people to the little temple of Baal-Zebel, a deity that is reverenced as their protector from flies, which sometimes infest the land in ravenous swarms, and which, it is believed, this idol only can remove. Can Thothmeses be so superstitious? Or does he make all this show of piety merely to humor the superstitions of his people, and sustain the priests of these shrines? Does he fear Moses and his power, so as to desire to strengthen himself in the affections of the priesthood and people?

The day after the visit to the temple of the fly-god, he went in great state to the temple of the sacred ox of On, Mnevis. Here he sacrificed, prayed, poured libations, and offered oblations. It was an imposing scene, as he was attended by one thousand priests clad in rich vestments, and wearing shining crowns, the whole waving censers of gold. Of the god he asked protection to all the cattle of Egypt, and prosperity to the harvests; and then solemnly denounced the God of the Hebrews, as a God not known or honored in Egypt, and who, if He existed, was but a God of slaves.

The next day of this ten days' ovation, Pharaoh proceeded to the gloomy temple of Typhon, on the edge of the desert. Here a Nubian slave was sacrificed to the Evil Principle, by being bound to the altar and burned alive. The officiating priests then gathered the ashes and cast them high into the air, calling on their god and praying him, that wheresoever an atom of the ashes was borne on the wind, evil might not visit the place.

Thothmeses has diligently revived the human sacrifices which Queen Amense forbade, and the act sufficiently illustrates the native cruelty and superstition of the man.

Two days afterwards, having crossed the Nile in great pomp, he proceeded, in grand procession, to the temple of Serapis. The god Apis, you are aware, my dear father, has the peculiar office, besides many others, of protecting the country from locusts; and at the seasons when these destructive insects visit Egypt, Apis is invoked to command them to retire from the land.

The rites performed by the king before the god were imposing and gorgeous. He invoked him, not against locusts, but against the God of Moses!

Does not all this show a secret dread of the God he defies? Yet he knows nothing of His power, and has witnessed no act of wonder performed by Him. Doubtless he felt, that a servant who dared to be so bold and confident, must have a divine Master, who is great and powerful. Perhaps he had heard of the God of the Hebrews in times past;—of the dream of Prince Joseph and the seven years' famine;—of the destruction of the vale of Sodom, with its cities, by fire from heaven at God's command;—of the dispersion of the nations at the pyramid of Babylon;—of the mighty deluge which He caused to overflow the mountains and drown the world! Perhaps, for he is learned and intelligent enough, when Aaron spoke to him of the God of the Hebrews, he remembered who He was in times of old, and trembled to hear His name again.

Three days afterwards the king visited the shrine of Isis, and poured libations, and made thanksgivings; and invoked her, as the moon, and controller of the seasons and weather, to send abundant rains upon the mountains of Ethiopia, and the sources of the Nile, so that the annual overflow, now near at hand, may not fail, nor the land be deprived of its fertility.

Two days later, with a procession of all the priests of all the temples, and with chariots, and horsemen, and footmen,—a vast array,—he visited the great temple of Osiris, or the sun; and, after august ceremonies, himself acting as high-priest, with the high-priest of On for his assistant, he presented the statue of the god with a new crown of gold, and a crook and flail of ivory inlaid with jewels. He invoked him, by the appellation of the god of light, the dispeller of darkness, the terror of clouds, and the foe of lightnings and storms. And he implored clear skies, and serene weather for the harvests, as heretofore.

Thus the piety of Thothmeses has been quickened into unwonted activity by the dread of the God of Israel, as if he would secure his gods' faithfulness should the God of Moses be too strong for him. In the mean while the children of Israel are groaning under the weight of their increased oppression. I have seen Aaron to-day. He informed me, with looks of holy faith in his God, that Moses and he were, to-morrow, by God's command, to appear again before Pharaoh, and demand the release of the Hebrews.