The Pillar of Fire; or, Israel in Bondage

by J. H. Ingraham

"I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. Now, therefore, O Moses and Aaron, forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your God that he may take away from me this death only!"

This confession seemed to be made with a certain frankness and sincerity, and a show of deep humility; and Moses answered—

"The Lord forgive thee, according to what is in thy heart. I will entreat the Lord for thee, and the plague shall be removed from thee and thy people."

Then Moses went out from the presence of Pharaoh; and when he had come into Goshen he ascended the tower of Jacob, and entreated the Lord for Pharaoh. Immediately the cloud of locusts became tossed as with a whirlwind; and the wind, changing from the east to the west, blew strongly, and pressed back the mass of locust-clouds, sweeping those that were on the earth into the air, and rolling the whole body of winged creatures eastward. This wind blew all night, and all the next day, and the next night, a mighty wind, and on the following morning not a living locust was visible in all the coasts of Egypt.

Moses now sent messengers all through Egypt, calling upon the children of Israel to leave whatever they might be occupied in, and assemble themselves in the land of Goshen, with their wives, and children, and flocks, and all that they had. He had previously sent men into Upper Egypt and to the mines; and, what is wonderful, the Hebrews in the mines were permitted to go forth from thence by their keepers, for the fear of Moses had reached their ears, and they gladly let them go! The messengers whom Moses now sent everywhere, from Migdol to Syene, were Hebrews, and were nowhere molested as they went; for a fear and reverence of them, as the people of the mighty God of Moses, had taken the place, in the minds of the great body of the Egyptians, of their former contempt: nay, every one was willing to do them a kindness.

Now, my dear father, you are prepared to read that Pharaoh, according to his word, permitted the children of Israel to depart from his dominions. But Thothmeses IV. is no ordinary man! Probably, such a character as his is unknown in the history of kings. Such a union of opposite qualities is rarely encountered in one individual. Superstitious, yet sacrilegious! cowardly, yet braving death! faithful to his oath to his gods, yet a perjurer of himself to men! tender-hearted as a woman to his own children and family, yet cruel as a tiger and relentless as a lion to the Hebrews and their little ones! Treacherous, sycophantic, malicious, and ironical, he is twofold in speech, and double-minded in secret intention; he promises when in danger, and revokes his word in security! Despising his foes, yet fearing them, he flatters, smiles upon, and deceives them! Trembling under judgment, he denies his terrors when they are past! convinced of the truth, yet opposing it! confessing the power of God, yet defying it! These qualities, God, who reads the character in the heart, saw in Pharaoh, and knew from the beginning what he would do, and how he would receive Moses, far better than we can know how our well-known friends would act under supposed circumstances. It was perhaps, therefore, on account of the peculiar character of this Pharaoh, that God chose the time and the man for showing His power, glory, majesty, and terror to Egypt, to Israel, and to the world! Under such a queen as Amense, or such a prince as the mild Thothmeses II., the first miracle of the serpent swallowing the rods of the magicians, would have drawn their consent to let Israel go. Where then would have been the manifestation of the power of God, that the earth is now witnessing with awe and fear? God, therefore, knowing what was in the man, chose this Pharaoh as the person in whom, through the natural agency of his obdurate heart, He might make manifest His name as the God of heaven and earth, whose power neither man nor gods can resist. Thus Pharaoh, unwittingly, through the perversity of his own will, and the instability of his character, is actually carrying out God's ultimate designs, glorifying Him in His greatness, and drawing forth these stupendous manifestations of His Almighty power over earth, and air, and skies! Yet is he no less guilty before God; for he does not intend His glory, but, on the contrary, denies and defies Him in its every successive manifestation!

Pharaoh, therefore, did not stand to his word now, dear father. When left to himself, he forgot all that had gone before, and sent word to Moses and Aaron not to attempt to remove the Hebrews, as he would not let them go; for Egypt was devastated, and nearly ruined in every part, and he must first have the labors of the Hebrews to restore the dikes and canals, and the terraces and gardens of the lakes, and then he would let them go.

Then Moses and Aaron went at noon-day and sought the Lord as aforetime, in the silence and loneliness of the well of Jacob, where they ever prayed unto Him, and where He spake unto them all the words He commanded them to speak before Pharaoh. And when they had ended their prayers and supplications before their great and terrible God, whose name they never spake but with the profoundest awe, the Lord said unto Moses:

"Stretch forth thine hand towards heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness that may be felt."

Obeying the command, Moses ascended the tower of Jacob, and stretched forth his hand towards heaven.