Moses remained with the Hebrews forty years, and laboured to make them a religious and God-fearing people; but they frequently revolted against him, murmuring whenever they were in distress, and tried his patience to the utmost, till he forgot himself, and also complained against God, for which he was forbidden to enter the land of Canaan. Therefore, when he had admonished and repeated to the people all the laws he had given them, he brought them to the border of Canaan, and gave over the charge of the Hebrews to Joshua, his disciple and their commander. Now, as Moses went from them to the place where he wished to vanish out of their sight, they all followed after him weeping; but he beckoned with his hand to those that were remote from him, and bade them stay behind in quiet, while he exhorted those that were near him that they would not mourn so at his departure. Whereupon they thought they ought to grant him that favour, to let him depart according as he himself desired; so they restrained themselves, though weeping still towards one another. All those who accompanied him were the Senate, and Eleazar the High Priest, and Joshua, their commander. Now as soon as they were come to the mountain called Abarim (which is a very high mountain, situate over against Jericho, and one that affords, to such as are upon it, a prospect of the greatest part of the excellent land of Canaan), he dismissed the Senate; and, as he was going to embrace Eleazar and Joshua, and was still discoursing with them, suddenly a cloud stood over him, and he disappeared in a certain valley out of their sight.[[9]]
Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he left the camp of the Israelites. He spent forty years of his life in teaching the Laws of God to the people in the wilderness. He was one that exceeded all men that ever were in understanding, and made the best use of what that understanding suggested to him. He had a very graceful way of speaking and addressing himself to the multitude; and as to his other qualifications, he had such a full command of his passions, as if he had hardly any such in his soul, and only knew them by their names, as rather perceiving them in other men than in himself. He was also such a general of an army as is seldom seen, as well as a king and a prophet as was never known, and this to such a degree, that whatsoever he pronounced one would think he heard the voice of God Himself. So the people mourned for him thirty days, nor did any grief so deeply affect the Hebrews as did this upon the departure of Moses; nor were those who had witnessed his conduct the only persons who desired him, but those also who perused the laws he left behind him greatly longed for him, and from those laws learned the extraordinary virtue he was master of.[[10]] At this period of his life his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. “And Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him; and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses. And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel.”[[11]] Although he wrote in the holy books that he died, it was for fear lest they should say that, because of his extraordinary virtue, he went to God.[[12]]
Moses was as we shall see, a great traveller, and acquainted with the vast wilderness that extends from the centre of Africa to the jungles of Bengal, that consists of rugged mountains and of sandy wastes; it was traversed by three river-basins or valley plains. In its centre was the basin of the Tigris and Euphrates. On its east was the basin of the Indus; on its west was the basin of the Nile. Each of these river systems was enclosed by deserts; the whole region resembling a broad yellow field with three green streaks running north and south. The inhabitants of these regions were not in the habit of travelling beyond the confines of their own valleys. They resembled islanders, and they had no ships. But the intermediate seas were navigated by the wandering tribes, who sometimes pastured their flocks by the waters of the Indus, sometimes by the waters of the Nile. It was by their means that the trade between the river-lands was carried on. They possessed the camels and other beasts of burden requisite for the transport of goods. Their numbers and their warlike habits, their intimate acquaintance with the watering-places and seasons of the desert, enabled them to carry the goods in safety through a dangerous land; while the regular profits they derived from the trade, and the oaths by which they were bound, induced them to act fairly to those by whom they were employed. At this time, 1451 B.C., a mighty tide of the Aryans immigrated to the basin or valley plain of the Indus. They called themselves Arya, or noble, and spoke a language the common source of Sanskrit, Prakrit, Zand, Persian, and Armenian in Asia. They settled down as agriculturists in the districts surrounding the Indus, their wealth consisting of flocks and herds; thence, after a time, they overran by successive irruptions the plains of the Ganges, and spread themselves over the regions called Aryavarta, occupying the whole of Central India. They were the promoters of the moral and intellectual progress and civilization in India; and notwithstanding all the diversities of the Hindoo populations throughout India, their religious faith has been preserved in their one language and one literature, furnishing a good evidence of the original unity of the Indo-Aryans. Their leader and legislator was known by the name of Manu, who was no other than Moses. After leaving the camp of the Israelites he travelled to the Indus; the form of Government he established there was the counterpart or duplicate of the one he established among the Hebrews; the laws and customs were the very same; the most careful comparison will confirm the fact. Moses was afraid that the Hebrews would trace his footsteps, so he sank his identity by assuming a foreign name: thus, for Moses he used Manu; for Abraham, Brahman; for Amram, Ram. All the remarkable Biblical events are familiar to the Brahmans, and the record of the creation as contained in the Bible was given in the Rig-veda of the Hindoos. The narrative of the finding of Moses by the daughter of Pharaoh has a corresponding record, but as he was more than one hundred and twenty years old when he arrived in India, the account is that the Lawgiver was cradled by a large sea-serpent on the bosom of the great waters for ages, whilst he was in a state of somnolence.
The origin of the belief in the Transmigration of the Soul is also taken from an event in the life of Moses, which is recorded in the Hebrew Talmud thus: The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, thy days approach that thou must die.” On this Moses thought that he had committed but a slight offence, which would be pardoned; for ten times had Israel tempted God’s wrath and been forgiven through his intercession, as it is written: “And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word.” But when he became convinced that he would not be pardoned, he made the following supplication: “Sovereign of the universe, my trouble and my exertion for Israel’s sake is revealed and known before Thee. How I have laboured to cause thy people to know Thee, and to believe in Thy Holy Name, and practise Thy holy law, has come before Thee. O Lord, as I had shared their trouble and their distress, I hoped to share their happiness. Behold, now, the time has come when their trials will cease, when they will enter into the land of promised bliss, and Thou sayest to me, Thou shalt not pass over this Jordan. O Eternal, great and just, if thou wilt not allow me to enter into this goodly land, permit me at least to live on here in this world.”
Then God answered Moses, saying: “If thou wilt not die in this world, how canst thou live in the world to come?” But Moses continued: “If thou wilt not permit me to pass over this Jordan, let me live as the beasts of the field; they eat of the herbs and drink of the waters, and live and see the world; let my life be even as theirs.”
And God answered: “Let it suffice thee; do not continue to speak unto me any more on this matter.” Yet again Moses prayed: “Let me live even as the fowls; they gather their food in the morning, and in the evening they return unto their nests. Let my life be even as theirs.”
And again God said: “Let it suffice thee; do not continue to speak to me any more on this matter.” Then Moses proclaimed: “He is the Rock; His work is perfect, and His ways are just; the God of Truth, just and upright is He.”[[13]]
The Persians, known in India as Parsees, are worshippers of the element of fire. This fire-worship originated from an event that took place in Persia when the Hebrews were captives in that country. The King of Persia gave the Hebrews leave to sacrifice to the Lord as Moses had commanded them; and when the prophet Nehemiah had prepared the sacrifice, the priests and the Israelites offered up this prayer: “O Lord, Lord God, Creator of all things, Who art fearful and strong, and righteous and merciful, and the only and gracious King, the only giver of all things, the only just, almighty, and everlasting, Thou that deliverest Israel from all trouble, and didst choose the fathers, and sanctify them: Receive the sacrifice for Thy whole people Israel, and preserve Thine own portion, and sanctify it. Gather those together that are scattered from us, deliver them that serve among the heathen, look upon them that are despised and abhorred, and let the heathen know that Thou art our God. Punish them that oppress us, and with pride do us wrong. Plant Thy people again in Thy holy place, as Moses hath spoken.” And the priests sang psalms of thanksgiving.
Now when the sacrifice was consumed, Nehemiah commanded the water that was left to be poured on the great stones. When this was done, there was kindled a flame; but it was consumed by the light that shined from the altar. So when this matter was known, it was told the King of Persia that, in the place where the priests that were led away had hid the fire, there appeared water, and that Nehemiah had purified the sacrifices therewith. Then the King, inclosing the place, made it holy, after he had tried the matter and convinced himself of the fact.[[14]]
The Mohammedans are the followers of Mohammed, and the Koran that he gave them, he told his followers, “is not a new invented fiction, but a confirmation of those Scriptures which have been revealed to Moses before it, and a distinct explication of everything necessary in respect either to faith or practice, and a direction and mercy unto people who believe.”[[15]]