The Pillar of Fire; or, Israel in Bondage

by J. H. Ingraham

Then Moses turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh. But the lords of Egypt feared, and said unto their king—

"How long shall this man be a snare unto us and the evil destiny of Egypt? Let the men of the Hebrews go, that they may serve their mighty and dreadful God, as He commandeth them. Knowest thou not, O king, that Egypt is destroyed; and the locusts will destroy the wheat and the rye which are just bursting out of the ground, and the leaves that are putting forth?"

Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, who had not yet reached the gate of the palace, and when they again stood before him, he said—

"For the sake of these, and for Egypt's sake, which thy sorcery has nearly destroyed, I yield to thy demand, not because I fear thy God. Go, serve the Lord your God; but who are they that shall go?"

And Moses answered, and said firmly and fearlessly—

"We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters; with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the Lord, and a sacrifice unto our God."

Then Pharaoh answered, in great anger—

"Let the Lord look to you, not to me, for his sacrifices, as if I will let you go, and your little ones, that you may feast to Him! Look to it! Provoke not my wrath, for evil is before you! Ask not so. Go now, ye that are men and serve the Lord, since that is what ye ask! Now leave my presence! Ye are become the curse of Egypt. What! Do ye linger to ask more? Drive the men forth from the palace!"

The guards followed for some paces, but drew not near them for fear; and with calm dignity of demeanor, the divine brothers went out of the palace, and left the city. When we had departed from the presence of Pharaoh—for I had joined their holy companionship—he stretched forth his rod over the land eastward, and invoked the new judgment of God that he had threatened. Immediately a strong east wind arose, and blew all that day, and all the night, each hour increasing; and in the morning, when I waked at a great cry of the people, I looked forth, and beheld the heavens dark with a strange aspect, wholly unlike a cloud, yet moving like one, or, rather, like a great ocean-wave rolling along the sky. It was attended in its approach, which was from the direction of the Arabian Sea, by a confused humming, like the wind sweeping through the tall cedars on Libanus. As it drew near, it covered half the heavens, and appeared many hundred feet in thickness, the lower surface being not far from the earth. I soon perceived, from the cries around me, that it was the threatened plague of locusts coming upon Egypt, loosed from the open palm of God's hand. My position was at a window in the house of Aaron, and not far from the line between Goshen and the rest of Egypt. I saw them, as they passed over the plains, and fields, and city, and villages, descend in showers like flakes of snow, hundreds and thousands at a time, until the whole earth was brown with them. Thus the flight continued all that day, and all night, and all the next day and next night,—an endless cloud, darkening the sun by day and the stars by night. The surface of Egypt seemed agitated and alive like the sea after a storm, restless, and in continual motion in every part; while the noise made by the wings of the locusts was incessant,—a monotone awful to hear, without variation or diminution, till the ear became weary of hearing, and in vain sought relief from the deep, angry bass of this voice of vengeance of the Hebrews' God! In crossing the Nile, myriads fell into it, and covered its surface,—galleys, barges, men, and sails; and the water was defiled by their presence. At noon-day there was a dreadful twilight prevailing, for the beams of the sun could not penetrate this living cloud. They covered the whole face of Egypt, and their voracity left not a bud, or leaf, or any green thing on the trees, which were just putting out again; or in the herbs of the field, which had sprung up since the hail; for much seed was in the ground, which came up after the hail, only to be destroyed by the locusts.

Then the people, in despair, besieged the palace of Pharaoh with great cries. Though the Egyptians regard their king as their priest, and as a god, and are proverbially submissive to his will and power, they had now lost all fear, being driven to despair by this last plague. Nothing but famine and death were before them, and their wives, and little ones! Pharaoh also became alarmed at the endless power of the God of the Hebrews! He had long since given his magicians, Jambres and Jannes, to death, because they failed to keep pace with Moses and Aaron, and he evidently felt that this was the power of a God he could no longer compete with. He therefore sent for Moses and Aaron in haste. When they came into his presence they beheld him in a closed room, lighted by the seven golden lamps which Osirtasen captured from the king of Nineveh; for the locusts made it necessary to close every shutter, and turn day into night, in every house. He was reclining upon a lounge covered with Tyrian purple, and adorned with needle-work; and was surrounded by the ladies of his palace, who were imploring him, as the Hebrew brothers entered, to let Israel go! Even his son, the careless and gay Prince Amunophis, was kneeling before him, and urging him to abide by his resolution, to grant the demand of the God of the Hebrews. When he beheld the tall and majestic persons of Moses and Aaron enter, he rose from his couch, and cried—