"Go," he cried, when he beheld them,—"go, sacrifice to thy God in this land; for He is a mighty God, and may not be mocked!"
"It is not meet, O king," answered Moses, "that we should sacrifice to our God in the land of Egypt. We Hebrews sacrifice bulls and rams, sacrifices abominable to the Egyptians, who call them their gods! Lo! shall we sacrifice the gods of the Egyptians to our God, before their eyes, and will they not stone us? If we sacrifice, we will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God as He shall command us."
Seeing the resolute purpose of the terrible Hebrew, Pharaoh consented to his demand, only adding, "Ye shall not go very far away! Now go and entreat your God for me, for the removal of these flies!"
While this discourse was passing between them, the fan-bearers of the king, with all their diligence, could not protect his face from the stings of the flies, which plagued him sorely; while upon Aaron and Moses not one alighted.
"To-morrow," answered Moses, as he went out, "the Lord, whom I will entreat for thee, shall remove this plague also. But deal not deceitfully, O king, any more, in not letting the people go."
When, the next day, Pharaoh saw that the flies were removed, so that not one remained, he repented that he had given his promise, and resolved not to keep it with Moses.
Once more God sent his servants, the two Hebrews, to the king, demanding the release of the children of Jacob from their yoke of bondage, menacing him with a murrain upon all the cattle, horses, camels, and beasts of Egypt, if he resolved to hold them still in the land. The king, however, who seemed after every demand to grow more obstinate when the evil had passed, refused, and sent them away with threats of vengeance. Indeed, it is surprising, my dear father, that he hath not slain them before this; and I have no doubt he is miraculously restrained from doing so, by the Almighty God, whose faithful and holy servants they are.
On the morrow, according to the word of Moses, a fatal pestilence seized upon the oxen, the bulls, and cows of Egypt, so that all the cattle in the land died. When the priests of the sacred ox, Mnevis, came rushing from their temple to the palace, crying that their god was dead with the murrain; when at midnight came before him the priests of Apis, exclaiming that the sacred bull was also dead, then Pharaoh began to know and feel that the God of the Hebrews was greater than the gods of Egypt. Early in the morning, when he rose, hearing that not one of the cattle of the Israelites was dead, instead of repenting and trembling, he became enraged, acting like a man blinded by the gods, when they would destroy him by his own acts.
Judge, my dear father, of the patience and forbearance of the God of the Hebrews towards him who still refused to acknowledge His power. Behold the firmness and steadiness of purpose of Moses and Aaron,—their courage and independence! What a sublime spectacle—two private men contending successfully with the most powerful king on the earth! What a painful sight to see this most powerful king of the earth measuring the strength of his feeble will against the power of the God of the universe!
Upon the refusal of Pharaoh to let Jehovah have His people, that they might serve Him, God commanded Moses in a vision of the night, beside the fountain of Jacob, where He talked with him as in the burning bush, to take the ashes of a human sacrifice, to be immolated by Pharaoh the next day, and sprinkle it towards heaven upon the winds. He did so; and instead of protecting the places wheresoever its atoms were carried, they broke out in boils upon man and beast, breaking forth with painful blains. The magicians and sorcerers, essaying to recover their credit with the king, attempted to do the same miracle; but the boil broke forth upon them also so heavily, that they could not stand before Moses, and fled with pain and cries from his presence. Yet Pharaoh remained obdurate, and grew more hardened and defiant; for the boils touched not his own flesh.