CHAPTER VI. THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT, AND PASSAGE THROUGH THE RED SEA. THE children of Israel, who were in bondage in Egypt, making bricks, and working in the field,' were looked upon with compassion by the Lord.' He heard their groaning, and remembered his covenant with Abraham,' with Isaac, and with Jacob. He, therefore, chose Moses (an Israelite, who had murdered an Egyptian, and who, therefore, was obliged to flee from Egypt, as Pharaoh sought to punish him), as his servant, to carry out his plans. Moses was at this time keeping the flock of Jeruth, his fatherin-law, in the land of Midian. The angel of the Lord, or the Lord himself, appeared to him there, and said unto him: "I am the God of thy Father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. . . I have seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their tormentors; for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land into a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." Then Moses said unto the Lord: 'Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say unto me: What is his name? What shall I say unto them ?" Then God said unto Moses: "I AM THAT I AM." 995 “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.' 1 Exodus i. 14. 2 Exodus ii. 24, 25. 3 See chapter x. 4 Exodus ii. 12. understood by all the initiated among the Egyptians." "The 'I AM' of the Hebrews, and the 'I AM' of the Egyptians are identical." (Bunsen: Keys of St. Peter, p. 38.) The name "Jehovah," which was adopted by the He brews, was a name esteemed sacred among the Egyptians. They called it Y-HA-HO, or Y-AB Exodus iii. 1, 14. And God said, moreover, unto Moses: "Go and gather the Elders of Israel together, and say unto them: the Lord God of your fathers appeared unto me, saying: 'I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt. And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto a land flowing with milk and honey.' And they shall hearken to thy voice, and thou shalt come, thou and the Elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him: 'the Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us, and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days journey in the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God." "I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders, which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people (the Hebrews) favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it shall come to pass, that when ye go, ye shall not go empty. But every woman shall borrow of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver and jewels of gold, and raiment. And ye shall put them upon your sons and upon your daughters, and ye shall spoil the Egyptians." The Lord again appeared unto Moses, in Midian, and said: "So, return into Egypt, for all the men are dead which sought thy life. and Moses took his wife, and his son, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God (which the Lord had given him) in his hand." 4 Upon arriving in Egypt, Moses tells his brother Aaron, "all the words of the Lord," and Aaron tells all the children of Israel. Moses, who was not eloquent, but had a slow speech, uses Aaron as his spokesman. They then appear unto Pharaoh, and falsify, "according to the commands of the Lord," saying: "Let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey in the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God." The Lord hardens Pharaoh's heart, so that he does not let the children of Israel go to sacrifice unto their God, in the desert. WEH. (See the Religion of Israel, pp. 42, 43; and Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 329, and vol. ii. p. 17.) "None dare to enter the temple of Serapis, who did not bear on his breast or forehead the name of JAO, or J-HA-HO, a name almost equivalent in sound to that of the Hebrew Jehovah, and probably of identical import; and no name was uttered in Egypt with more reverence than this IAO." (Trans. from the Ger. of Schiller, in Monthly Repos., vol. xx.; and Voltaire Commentary on Exodus; Higgins' Anaс., vol. i. p. 329; vol. ii. p. 17.) "That this divine name was well-known to the Heathen there can be no doubt." (Parkhurst: Hebrew Lex. in Anac., i. 327.) So also with the name El Shaddai. "The extremely common Egyptian expression Nutar Nutra exactly corresponds in sense to the Hebrew El Shaddai, the : very title by which God tells Moses he was known to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob." (Prof. Renouf: Relig. of Anc't Egypt, p. 99.) 1 Exodus iii. 15-18. 2 Exodus iii. 19-22. Here is a command from the Lord to deceive, and lie, and steal, which, according to the narrative, was carried out to the letter (Ex. xii. 35, 36); and yet we are told that this same Lord said: "Thou shalt not steal." (Ex. xx. 15.) Again he says: "Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob him." (Leviticus xix. 13.) Surely this is inconsistency. 3 Exodus iv. 19, 20. 4 Exodus iv. 10. 6 Exodus iv. 16. Moses and Aaron continue interceding with him, however, and, for the purpose of showing their miraculous powers, they change their rods into serpents, the river into blood, cause a plague of frogs and lice, and a swarm of flies, &c., &c., to appear. Most of these feats were imitated by the magicians of Egypt. Finally, the firstborn of Egypt are slain, when Pharaoh, after having had his heart hardened, by the Lord, over and over again, consents to let Moses and the children of Israel go to serve their God, as they had said, that is, for three days. The Lord having given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, they borrowed of them jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and raiment, "according to the commands of the Lord." And they journeyed toward Succoth, there being six hundred thousand, besides children.' 'And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day, in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light to go by day and night.” "And it was told the king of Egypt, that the people flea. . . And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him. And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel, and overtook them encamping beside the sea. when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel . . And were sore afraid, and And the Lord said unto Moses, speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the Red Sea, and divide it, and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground; and the waters were a wall unto them upon the right hand, and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, and his chariots, and his horse-men." After the children of Israel had landed on the other side of the sea, the Lord said unto Moses : "Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horse-men. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength. And the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horse-men, and all the host of Pharaoh 1 Exodus vii. 35-37. Bishop Colenso shows, in his Pentateuch Examined, how ridiculous this statement is. 2 Exodus xiii. 20, 21. 3" The sea over which Moses stretches out his hand with the staff, and which he divides, so that the waters stand up on either side like A walls while he passes through, must surely have that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. . . . And Israel saw the great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and his servant Moses." The writer of this story, whoever he may have been, was evidently familiar with the legends related of the Sun-god, Bacchus, as he has given Moses the credit of performing some of the miracles which were attributed to that god. Is is related in the hymns of Orpheus,' that Bacchus had a rod with which he performed miracles, and which he could change into a serpent at pleasure. He passed the Red Sea, dry shod, at the head of his army. He divided the waters of the rivers Orontes and Hydaspus, by the touch of his rod, and passed through them dry-shod. By the same mighty wand, he drew water from the rock, and wherever they marched, the land flowed with wine, milk and honey." Professor Steinthal, speaking of Dionysus (Bacchus), says: Like Moses, he strikes fountains of wine and water out of the rock. Almost all the acts of Moses correspond to those of the Sun-gods. Mons. Dupuis says: "Among the different miracles of Bacchus and his Bacchantes, there are prodigies very similar to those which are attributed to Moses; for instance, such as the sources of water which the former caused to sprout from the innermost of the rocks." In Bell's Pantheon of the Gods and Heroes of Antiquity,' an account of the prodigies attributed to Bacchus is given; among these, are mentioned his striking water from the rock, with his magic wand, his turning a twig of ivy into a snake, his passing through the Red Sea and the rivers Orontes and Hydaspus, and of his enjoying the light of the Sun (while marching with his army in India), when the day was spent, and it was dark to others. Al these are parallels too striking to be accidental. We might also mention the fact, that Bacchus, as well as Moses 1 Exodus xiv. 5-13. 2 Orpheus is said to have been the earliest poet of Greece, where he first introduced the rites of Bacchus, which he brought from Egypt. (See Roman Antiquities, p. 134.) The Hebrew fable writers not wishing to be outdone, have made the waters of the river Jordan to be divided to let Elijah and Elisha pass through (2 Kings ii. 8), and also the chil dren of Israel. (Joshua iii. 15-17.) 4 Moses, with his rod, drew water from the rock. (Exodus xvii. 6.) 5 See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 191, and Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 19. The Legend of Samson, p. 420. Dupuis: Origin of Religious Beliefs, p. 165. 8 Vol. i. p. 122. was called the "Law-giver," and that it was said of Bacchus, as well as of Moses, that his laws were written on two tables of stone.' Bacchus was represented horned, and so was Moses.' Bacchus "was picked up in a box, that floated on the water," and so was Moses. Bacchus had two mothers, one by nature, and one by adoption, and so had Moses. And, as we have already seen, Bacchus and his army enjoyed the light of the Sun, during the night time, and Moses and his army enjoyed the light of "a pillar of fire, by night." 997 In regard to the children of Israel going out from the land of Egypt, we have no doubt that such an occurrence took place, although not in the manner, and not for such reasons, as is recorded by the sacred historian. We find, from other sources, what is evidently nearer the truth. It is related by the historian Choeremon, that, at one time, the land of Egypt was infested with disease, and through the advice of the sacred scribe Phritiphantes, the king caused the infected people (who were none other than the brick-making slaves, known as the children of Israel), to be collected, and driven out of the country." Lysimachus relates that: A filthy disease broke out in Egypt, and the Oracle of Ammon, being consulted on the occasion, commanded the king to purify the land by driving out the Jews (who were infected with leprosy, &c.), a race of men who were hateful to the Gods." The whole multitude of the people were accordingly collected and driven out into the wilderness."10 Diodorus Siculus, referring to this event, says: "In ancient times Egypt was afflicted with a great plague, which was attributed to the anger of God, on account of the multitude of foreigners in Egypt: by whom the rites of the native religion were neglected. The Egyptians accordingly drove them out. The most noble of them went under Cadmus and Danaus to Greece, but the greater number followed Moses, a wise and valiant leader, to Palestine."" 1 Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 122; and Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 19. 2 Ibid. and Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 174. Taylor's Diegesis, p. 190; Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. under "Bacchus ;" and Higgins: Anacalypsis ii. 19. Exodus ii. 1-11. Taylor's Diegesis, p. 191; Bell's Pantheon. vol. i. under " Bacchus;" and Higgins: p. 19, vol. ii. Exodus ii. 1-11. 7 Exodus xiii. 20, 21. 8 See Prichard's Historical Records, p. 74; also Dunlap's Spirit Hist., p. 40; and Cory's Ancient Fragments, pp. 80, 81, for similar accounts. "All persons afflicted with leprosy were considered displeasing in the sight of the Sungod, by the Egyptians." (Dunlap: Spirit Hist. p. 40.) 10 Prichard's Historical Records, p. 75. 11 Ibid. p. 78. |