Moses'
age and other numerical details at different stages of the Exodus story:
40
years old when he first visited his fellow Israelites in Egypt. So, forty years
living in Pharaoh's environment.
40
years in Midian.
80
years when confronted with the burning bush and reluctantly accepted the duty
of bringing the enslaved Israelites out of Egypt.
120
when the Promised Land was conquered. He was not allowed to visit the
Promised Land, though he saw it. He had been disobedient in that he struck the
rock so that the water would flow from it. The book of Numbers has the story
(20:1-12): Moses was told by God to speak to the rock rather than strike it. He
didn't give God the credit. What an example for Christians. This mighty servant
of the Lord was disobedient in this one thing and punished for it.
120 when
he passed from this earth. “His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated,”
we read in Deuteronomy. And tradition has it that he did not die. “No man
knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day,” being the basis of the tradition.
When he
was in Midian, he never forgot his people, the Israelites, so he was ready and
listening when God got his attention with the burning bush. How about this
command: “Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou
mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt”? What a
commission! He put all his objections to divine Mind and that Mind (God) gave him the assurance
that it was up to him, and that he could do it.
In our
time, Mary Baker Eddy was given a similar challenge - that of telling mankind
that they need not be in error's thrall; they can claim their son-ship and
daughter-ship of Spirit, God. They can put off their enslavement to the belief
in matter as all.
So, I am
trying to get back to my emphasis on Midian in the Moses story. He travelled
back to Egypt, taking his wife and his sons – on an ass; one each we hope. It
is gratifying that Aaron was listening to Mind enough to come out into the
wilderness to meet Moses.
One
wonders how long it took to get the people away from Pharaoh's influence.
Years?
The
narrative of Exodus in chapter 14 is swift moving, making for an excited
feeling, but the time taken must have made for a slow journey.
Joyce Voysey
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