Sunday, 12 July 2009
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The Israelite Diary
By Sheherbano Ahmed (then aged 11)
Pharaoh has been at his worst this week. He seems troubled, and I think it has to do with that Moses, that man who calls himself a messenger of God. God! He is almost dressed as raggedly as us! I think he should leave. He agitates Pharaoh, Pharaoh takes it out on us, and all the while, the fake spins some tedious yarn about the Lord! He does no one any good. I cannot think why Pharaoh listens to him, why he does not send him away. Because of his lies and stories, our backs are aching more than ever before. He should be stoned!
Moses is still here, but now he has done something; something unnerving, something only the gods are capable of. All the water of our great Nile, he has turned them to blood. I have heard he and the Commander arguing; but not about what I thought they would be, not about money. He was still talking about the Lord and all that, but he was also talking about us. He insisted we be set free. I am very confused. Who is this man? Where has he come from? And what does he want with us?
I do not know what is happening anymore. So many things… Again, it is Moses. Frogs, mosquitoes, flies, have overrun us. All our livestock have died. I and everyone else, including Pharaoh, are covered in boils the size of tomatoes. A hailstorm, such a hailstorm, has been injuring and sometimes even killing the villagers. Locusts eat our crops, our trees, everything. For three days, we are engulfed in darkness, such darkness. It seems like it is always night. He kills our firstborn, the animal's firstborn, until nothing is left. He is an evil person, this Man of God. We cannot survive if this goes on.
As if doing all this is not enough, he comes here, he tells us to come with him, to come and worship the Lord God, and make good. He has not made anything good! He has plagued us, taken away our food, driven Pharaoh to deny us rest, and he comes here, telling us to go with him! The man is crazy. He knows nothing. He says he created his plagues with God, so we would be set free. But then, I may have to go with him. As the others say, at least he will take us away from our slave-driver. Ha. We are slaves. But, if we go with this person, we will not be slaves. We shall be free, not cleaning floors and washing for people, but doing things for ourselves. Yes, I have decided. Yes, I shall go.
So I have joined Moses. We are heading toward Mount Sinai, from which we can get to the Promised Land. Moses tells us much about this, and the faith he follows, where there is One God. After listening to him speaking of it so much, and so emphatically, I am convinced. I too shall worship with him, I believe it. They are not just stories, they are the word of the Lord.
We have come to the Sea of Reeds. I do not know how we are to cross it, as it is impossible to swim across, and there is no bridge so we cannot walk. It seems as if we all came here for nothing, and to make matters worse, Pharaoh's soldiers are approaching. We can hear their rhythmical marching, and are sure we are as good as dead. We are wrong. For a moment, Moses looks as if he has also lost faith, but his face clears again and he orders the rivers to part. It is his help from God, I realise that much. Before us there is a huge parting of the waves, and we walk through it. The soldiers try to follow, but the waters have come together again, and they have drowned. It is a Miracle.
We have been walking for days now, and we are all hungry and exhausted. I would do anything to get a drop of water through my lips, but there is no well or river in sight. We talk to Moses, thinking we would have fared better with Pharaoh; imprisoned but fed, rather than being free and starving. Another Miracle is performed, truly unbelievable. He merely has to hit a large rock with his stick, and we have all the water we could want. That night we feasted, as God had provided enough food to feed an army. Manna from Heaven.
We have reached the mountain! It is not long before we can reach the Promised Land, and live as the Lord wants us to live; live for him. But there is something wrong. Moses has been looking subdued, and slightly disappointed. He says he will die before reaching it. When we become indignant, he says it is the word of the Lord, and must be respected. I cannot help feeling it is unjust though, as he brought us all this way.
He died quickly, and suffered no pain. We are in the land that he had talked of so much, it had been his dream to come here. I am happy to worship and live for the Lord here, but I still miss Moses. His words and gestures that gave us the will to keep going, spurred us into faith. It is because of him that we are here now, and I cannot thank him enough for that.
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