A Little Look Back

�A Little Look Back

Some will say what good is this look back so many thousand years to us today. Well for one thing if one does not know history then they cannot know what is to come. This article is an attempt to give you a history to pass on to your children and grand children, about the history of our Race, The White Race. It is a history that they will certainly not get from the cowardly, traitorous, deceiving, perverted, degenerate, Judaized, Judeo-Christian clergy of today.

�� A Backward Look

Everyone who drives an automobile knows that safety depends upon the backward look as well as the forward look. Disaster ma result quite as often from not knowing what is behind as from not looking ahead. And so it is in guiding the course of our Israel people and their nations.

An illustration how much the news; is the Palestine situation. Only a few people, comparatively speaking, realize how quickly the flame smoldering in that region may explode in the face of the world. And our current administration seems hell bent on causing that explosion. Involving our country in the second deadliest war of all time.

The deadliest is of course the war the Jews are waging against our Israel people; a war that has been going on since the beginning of time. The danger is all the more imminent because our leaders of State, uninformed and even misinformed by the Judeo-Christian leaders of the church, do not know the background of the issues involved. They boldly move to portion out the land of sacred history to Jews, who have no claim over the land at all, and Arabs because they have never looked back to determine the real ownership of the land, and the origin of the conflicting participants in the Palestine struggle.

Speaking to His servant nations of Israel, after their redemption by Yahshua and their lapse into forgetfulness of their very origin, god said through the Prophet Isaiah:

�Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth. Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen.� (Isaiah 43:8-10)

Who indeed can �shew us former things,� and bring forth witnesses able to declare the truth and justify their words? In Isaiah 51:1-2, YAHWEH COMMAND US TO WAKE UP AND TAKE A BACKWARD LOOK IN ORDER TO FIND OUT WHO WE ARE, AND FROM WHENCE WE CAME:

�Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.�

This message is clearly addressed to Israelites of the Abrahamic covenant:

�Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old.� (Isaiah 51:9)

However, they are a very different people from the Jews, who are now generally regarded as Israel by most Christians. The Israel people addressed in this chapter are ignorant alike of their past and their future; consequently, they had lost direction both as to their origin and their destiny. Just as our Israel people of today. They are urged to study their beginning and trace their ancestry to Abraham and Sarah, because they no longer remember their genealogy or their ancient history.

Now what Jew ever forgot his lineage; or permitted anyone else to forget it? Although usually maintaining silence on the subject, orthodox Jews are aware of the fact that many present day Jews ARE NOT OF ISRAEL/JUDAH STOCK.

They are Jews only by religious or political affiliation with Judaism; yet these proselytes, in company with the posterity of those Jews whom Christ condemned for unbelief, claim descent from Abraham and Jacob, and clamor for all the special privileges divinely promised to a redeemed and regenerated Israel. The only way Jews can claim any descendency from Abraham is through Esau who was the son of Isaac, who was the son, the only son as the scriptures attest, but who despised his heritage and God hated him for it.

�And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.� (Malachi 1:3)

�As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.� (Romans 9:13)

Mr. Benjamin Freedman, a Jewish industrialist born in New York, wrote in the Economic Council Letter published there of October 15 1947:

"These Eastern European Jews have neither a racial nor a historic connection with Palestine. Their ancestors were not inhabitants of the Promised Land. They are the direct descendants of the people of the Khazar Kingdom.. The Khazars were a non‑Semitic, Turko‑Mongolian tribe.."

Mr. Freedman was challenged, unwisely, by a Zionist objector...he invited his challenger to go with him to the Jewish room of the New York Public Library. There they could together examine the Jewish Encyclopedia volume I pp. 1‑12, and the published works of Graetz, Dubnow, Friedlander, Raisin and many other noted Jewish historians, which, as well as other non‑Jewish authorities, "establish the fact beyond all possible doubt." (Somewhere South of Suez (1950) pp349‑350)."

"Thus, at this juncture of time the Edomites 'were incorporated with the Jewish nation, and their country was called by the Greeks and Romans 'Idumea' (Mark 3:8; Ptolemy, 'Geography,' v. 16)." (The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. V. (1904), p. 41).

There is Edom [Esau is called Edom in Genesis 36:8. And Edom is in 'Modern Jewry' Jewish Encyclopedia, 1925 edition, Vol. 5, p. 41.

Let us look further into the characteristics of these latter day Israelites of Bible prophecy. They are people �that follow after righteousness. That seek the Lord.� Thus they have already been the recipients of the Gospel, as stated in Isaiah 51:5:

�My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth.�

They are not a scattered people without a country; they are Christian nations, some of them dwelling in the Isles, who recognize and employ; through imperfectly at the preset time, the principles of Divine law as the foundation of stable government;

�Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation...The isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust...Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law.� (Isaiah 51:4-7)

In the fourth chapter of Romans it is explained about the relation existing between redeemed Israel and Abraham. In part it says:

�For what saith the scripture? Abraham believe God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness...For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith...Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace; to the end of the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all; (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations), before him whom he believe, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be... Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised agin for our justification.� (Romans 4:3-25)

Hebrews 11:11-12 confirms the faith of Sarah also as a vital part of our Israel/Christian heritage:

�Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.�

Now it is this faith and righteousness of Abraham and Sarah which distinguishes the latter day redeemed Israelites of Isaiah�s prophecies FROM FAITHLESS, UNBELIEVING JEWS. The numerical expansion of Israel in the Christian era is also not applicable to Jewry. The prophets visioned Israel as being a nation and company of nations forever, with Yahweh�s throne in their midst, occupied in every generation by a regent from the line of David, until the return of Yahshua as King. Bible prophets, including Yahshua saw the Jews cast out of the Kingdom and continuing as a scattered remnant, few in number, without a nation or a throne, until about 700 A.D., when they formed the Jewish Khazar nation.

Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, a well known Jew, when writing in the Jewish publication, Liberal Judaism, January, 1949, about the newly created state of Israel declared:

"For the curse of Cain, the curse of being an outcast and a wanderer over the face of the earth has� been removed..."

Jeremiah saw latter day Jewry as �evil figs, which cannot be eaten,� that is assimilated. He describes them exactly as the world has known them for almost two thousand years, in this remarkable prophecy:

�And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a cure, in all places whither I shall drive them.� (Jeremiah 24:9)

These are the people who are laying claim to Palestine, presumably on scriptural grounds. It is in their interest; and because of their domineering pressure, that our government officials have foolishly intervened to effect the partitioning of the eland to Jews and Arabs. The twofold results of this folly are clearly stated by the prophets. First, the Jews will not succeed in establishing a Jewish State and homeland in Palestine. Their failure is written in Jeremiah 24:10, which concludes his fission of the �evil figs�:

�I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.�

This fate was pronounced against Jews who once held an inheritance in the land. How much more severely will it apply to usurpers who �say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.� (Revelation 2:9, also see 3:9)

A second result of meddling in Palestinian affairs concerning the United States; is the course our politicians have taken and will be the direct cause of untold distress and tragedy for our own people. Writing of catastrophic events immediately preceding the return of Christ, Zechariah states that Jerusalem will be the storm center of contention and confusion. Then, in the following declaration, he warns the nations to refrain from interference in the dangerous situation:

�The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel...Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. Ad in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, through all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.� (Zechariah 12:103)

Though Isaiah God points out that Israel�s leaders are responsible for the consequences. They betray the people into the hands of treacherous conspirators. The Prophet writes:

�His watchman are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping lying down, loving to slumber.� (Isaiah 56:10)

Blind, ignorant, dumb, asleep! What a charge against the national and spiritual leaders of God�s Israel whom He redeemed by the blood of His Son on the stake. No wonder the Prophet calls us to wake up and look back; to our origin in Abraham and Sarah, to our birthright in Joseph. (See Genesis 48 and 1 Chronicles 5:1-2)

Nothing would do more at this moment to clear the atmosphere of mental fog than for citizens of this county to take a look into the past and find out the actual meaning of anti-Semitism. What a bugaboo it has become through deceptive use.

When all the camouflage is removed, the term �anti-Semitism� simply means �against Semites.� Who, the, are Semites? Semites are the descendants of Noah�s son Shem. Therefore, anti-Semitism, meaning literally antagonism toward all the descendants of Shem, cannot be applied honestly to a small segment of people called Jews, many of whom are not even of Semitic origin, as we shall see. It is true that Abraham was a Semite, being in the direct line of Shem; but there were ten generations from Shem to Abraham, all of them Semites.

Anti-Semitism: The word anti-Semitism was an invention; H.H. Beamish, in a New York address, October 30 ‑ November 1, 1937:

"In 1848 the word �anti‑Semitic� was INVENTED by the Jews to prevent the use of the word �Jew.� The right word for them is �Jew�"

We are told by Jewish authorities the same thing:

"It was (is) the instinctive policy with the mass of the Jewish nation, a deliberate policy with most of its leaders, not only to use ridicule against anti-Semitism but to label as 'anti-Semitic' any discussion of the Jewish problem at all, or, for that matter, any information even on the Jewish problem...If a man alluded to the presence of a Jewish financial power in any region, for instance, in India, he was an anti-Semite.

�If he interested himself in the peculiar character of Jewish philosophical discussions, especially in matters concerning religion, he was an anti-Semite. If the emigrations of the Jewish masses from country to country, the vast modern invasion of the United States, for instance (which has been organized and controlled like an army on the march), interested him as an historian, he could not speak of it under pain of being called an anti-Semite.

�If he exposed a financial swindler who was a Jew, he was an anti-Semite. If he exposed a group of Parliamentarians taking money from the Jews, he was called an anti-Semite. If he did no more than call a Jew a Jew, he was an anti-Semite. You cannot long confuse interest with hatred, the statement of plain and important truths with mania, the discussion of fundamental questions with silly enthusiasm, for the same reason that you cannot long confuse truth with falsehood.

�Sooner or later people are bound to remark that the defendant seems curiously anxious to avoid all investigation of his case...I say it was a fatal policy; but it was deliberately undertaken by the Jews. Christians must face them in this country (America). The Jew should be satisfied here. I was here forty‑seven years ago; your doors were thrown open to the Jews and they were free. No he has got you absolutely by the throat;� that is your reward." (Hilaire Belloc, The Jews, pp. 160-161)

Furthermore, Abraham was the progenitor of several distinct racial strains besides the Israelites. First, there was Ishmael, son of Abraham by Sarah�s maid Hagar, whose descendants have been identified as the Arabs of today. Next, there was Esau, Jacob�s twin bother, who became the father of the Edomites, know also as Idumeans.

Then another separate line resulted from Abraham�s six sons by Keturah. All these Abrahamic peoples and their descendants to this day are Semites, although they are not Israelites. THUS, IN WAGING THEIR CAMPAIGN OF HATE AGAINST THE ARABS, THE JEWS THEMSELVES ARE REALLY ANTI-SEMITIC IN A BIG WAY.

Arabs know about their Semitic background and claim Abraham as their father. They are taught in the Koran that Abraham built the city of Mecca for Ishmael. This seems credible when we consider Abraham�s deep concern for Ishmael�s welfare.

Actually, Arab leaders are amazed by Anglo-Saxon stupidity on the subject. Jewish leaders, too, are much better informed on these racial origins than Christians; but the success of their plans for world domination depends upon keeping Christendom blindfolded and sympathetic toward their aims, by sending out a steady stream of unholy propaganda regarding the Holy Land.

As a matter of fact, neither Jews nor Arabs hold an exclusive right to Palestine. To whom, then, does Palestine belong? We shall not take time to quote all of the terms of God�s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as stated in such passages as Genesis 12:1-3; 13:14-17; 17:1-8, 15-21; 22: 15-18; 26:1-5; 28:1-4; 35:9-12; however, anyone not familiar with these passages should study them carefully.

This perpetual, unconditional covenant guaranteed that Abraham would father many nations and kings through Sarah�s son Isaac, and that �all the eland of Canaan� would be included �for an everlasting possession.� But we must also remember that Palestine was simply a stopover for Israel, for that land would never hold a people who number as the sand of the sea or stars in the heavens. Their posterity would also become an innumerable multitude and possess the gates of their enemies. In confirming the covenant to Jacob at Bethel. God changed his name to Israel, and added this significant decree:

�A nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.� (Genesis 35:11-12)

It is just at this point in the progress of God� covenant with Israel that both Christians need particularly to take a studious and unprejudiced backward look. This is the spot where we lose the key to Israel�s history, especially in its relation to the greatest nations of our own day.

For more information on the development of the �nation and a company of nations� promised to Jacob/Israel in Genesis 35, we must turn to Genesis 48. In that important document the king Jacob confers his Israel name and birthright upon the two sons of Joseph, declaring that Manasseh would become a �great people� and Ephraim would become �a multitude of nations.� Furthermore, Jacob states (v. 16) that the future nation and company of nations of Manasseh and Ephraim will carry the name Isaac in fulfillment of Genesis 21:12, �for in Isaac shall thy seed be called,� which they do at the present time in calling themselves Saxon: i.e., sons of �Saac.

Two points stand out clearly in studying the terms of god�s covenant with Israel:

a). The birthright included a title deed to all the land granted to Abraham in the original charter, which comprised Palestine and probably a considerable portion of land east of the Jordan;

b). At the end of Jacob/Israel�s life the birthright was conferred exclusively upon the House of Joseph. This tremendously important fact is established not only in Genesis 48, but in Genesis 49:22-26, and in 1 Chronicles 5:1-2. The latter leaves no room for doubt in this declaration:

�For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph�s.�

Thus the land of Palestine was mandated by Yahweh Himself to the nation (great people). And company of nations, to issue from Joseph�s two sons. To them also was committed a sacred trust and responsibility, namely, the administration of God�s laws for Israel, that through their obedience and righteousness all the nations of the earth might be guided and blessed.

Ephraim is destined to take the lead in administration, but Manasseh must share the responsibility under God�s plan and direction. (Genesis 48:20) An unbiased review of history will show that the United States and Great Britain are the only nations the meet all the specifications for the House of Joseph mentioned by Moses and the prophets.

The question now arises, if the foregoing statements are true, do the Arabs have any claim to Palestine as a homeland? While Arabs hold no covenant deed to the land, they have two valid claims to live in it: one is the right of conquest and continuous residence for 1300 y ears; the other is a right based on the promise made to their forefather Ishmael that he should be permitted to �dwell in the presence of all his brethren� of Israel, since he, too, was Abraham�s son. (Genesis 16:12)

Yahweh said to Abraham:

�As for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. BUT MY COVENANT WILL I ESTABLISH WITH ISAAC.� (Genesis 17:18-21; 25:16)

Arabs, therefore, are not to be deprived of their right to live in the Holy Land. In fact, they have a much, much stronger claim to that privilege than these Internationalists; now calling themselves Zionists and claiming to represent the whole House of Jacob/Israel, who are responsible for the present upheaval in Palestine?

Lest we should be accused of prejudice, we shall let a Jewish industrialist answer the question; his name is Benjamin Freedman; and his answer needs wide publicity and constant repetition until the truth begins to take root in Christian thought. The following paragraphs are quoted from a letter originally written to the National Economic Council, Inc., and reprinted in Destiny Magazine for January 1948:

�Popular ignorance of the real basis of political Zionism is beyond calculation. Vaguely most Christians Americans have the idea that the Jews claim to Palestine because it is the �Promised Land� in which they lived for a period of a few centuries that ended 2,000 years ago. And the thought of a people returning to its �homeland� seems emotionally satisfying and good.

�But here are facts most Americans do not know: Political Zionism is almost exclusively a movement of the Jews of Europe. BUT THESE EASTERN EUROPEAN JEWS HAVE NEITHER RACIAL NOR AN HISTORIC CONNECTION WITH PALESTINE. Their ancestors were not inhabitants of the �Promised Land.� They are the direct descendants of the people of the Khazar Kingdom, which existed until the 12^th century.

�The Khazar were a non-Semitic, Turko-Finn, Mongolian tribal people who, about the 1^st century A.D., emigrated from Middle Asia to Eastern Europe. There they created one of the largest kingdoms of their time. At its greatest extent it covered an area of about 800,000 square miles. About the 7^th century A.D., the King of the Khazar adopted Judaism as the state religion, and the majority of inhabitants joined him in the new allegiance. BEFORE THAT DATE THERE WAS NO SUCH THING AS A KHAZAR WHO WAS A JEW. NEITHER THEN NOR SINCE WAS THERE SUCH A THING AS A KHAZAR WHOSE ANCESTORS CAME FROM THE HOLY LAND...

�In view of this fact, what becomes of the cry for �repatriation� to the �homeland?� these Eastern European, Yiddish-speaking Jews HAVE NO HISTORIC OR RACIAL� CONNECTION WITH PALESTINE, OR, FOR THAT MATER, WITH THE OTHER JEWS WHO EXISTED IN OTHER COUNTRIES FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS PRIOR TO THE KHAZAR CONVERSION.

�At best, the cry of truly Palestinian; descended Jews for a return to the �homeland� should be highly dubious...And if the claim of Palestinian, descended Jews is so dubious, what of the claim of Khazar descended Jews? Would a single Christian support their treak back to the �homeland or want to oblige them by expelling the Arabs, if it were known that these Eastern European Yiddish-speaking Jews who form the Zionist group practically IN TOTO, have neither a geographic, historic nor ethnic connection with either the Jews of Old Testament or the land known today as Palestine?

�If the Jewish claim to Palestine is stated on the only other remaining ground, the religious, it may be summarily and finally replied that RELIGIOUSLY BOTH CHRISTIANS AND MOSLEMS ALSO HAVE RELIGIOUS ROOTS THERE. The reason it is called the �Holy Land� today is because Jesus of Nazareth lived and died there. To Christians He is the Son of God and Savior and Redeemer. To Mohammedans He is a great prophet. To official Jewry, He is an executed blasphemer.�

There were other non-Israel infiltrations into Jewry besides the Khazars of European Russia; among them were the black Jews of Malabar and Abyssinia, and the Mongoloid Jews of China. Perhaps the most important of these infiltrations, from the standpoint of influence, is the intrusion of Esau�s descendants into Jewry. As David Davidson says in a lecture titled �Palestine: Esau Claims Possession:

�The people of Jacob exist today in the English-speaking peoples. Today, the race of Esau survives and persists, absorbed in that remnant of the Jews; as the latter fact of history is disclosed by the Encyclopedia Biblica, and is acknowledge by the Jewish Encyclopedia...

�The race of Esau were the Edomites of Old Testament history and the Idumeans of New Testament times, and included the marauding Sinaitic tribe of Amalek. The dominant physiognomy and aggressively intrusive characteristics of the race were derived from the native stock of North Syria through the �Hittite� wives of Easu, and by subsequent intermarriage between the Edomites and �Hittites.� After the Edomites (or Idumeans) were absorbed into the remnant of the Jews and lived in the land of Judah, after 130 B.C., but mainly in the dispersion following the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the Edom-�Hittite� physiognomy eventually emerged as the European Jewish type of physiognomy; falsely called �Semitic.�...

�Herod the Great was an Edomite and became the first Idumean �King of the Jews.� As such he sought to destroy our Lord at birth. At that time the Idumeans had been comprised in the Jewish state and had been Jews in religion for over a century. They dominated the whole of Jewish life and our Lord, in revealing the nature of the Herodian or Idumean domination, refers to the �leaven of Herod� as the antithesis of the �leaven of the Kingdom of God.� In the Revelation of Jesus Christ� (Revelation 1:1) the effect of the intrusion is referred to as �the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.� (Revelation 2:9; 3:9)

�The Idumean intrusion...Behind the mask of Idumean physiognomy neither Jew nor Christian can discern what is true and what is false in Jewry, except by their respective works...Josephus, in describing the conditions internal to the Roman siege of Jerusalem, reveals how the race of Esau (as the Idumeans) were mainly instrumental in inflaming the hatred of the three internal factions of disintegration which three factions have their counterparts in the three politico-economic world factions today.�

From such reliable evidence we may safely conclude that Zionists, for the most part, are a nondescript mixture of races masquerading as Israel. THEY DID NOT ORIGINATE IN THE TRIBE OF JUDAH AND THEIR ANCESTORS DID NOT BELONG TO THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH WHICH DISINTEGRATED AT THE TIME OF BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY.��

Zionists are denounced as impostors by such prominent orthodox Jews as Benjamin H. Freedman and Dr. I.M. Rabinowich, who see in political Zionism a false, alien element working towards the destruction of everything stable, decent and spiritual in human society. It is this contradictory element in Jewish history which is so confusing to Christians. C.F. Parker calls attention to it in a recent article in which, after referring to modern Idumean-Hittites and their claim to be the seed of Israel, he says:

�It is remarkable that pogroms against the Jews have constituted seeming contradictions. If the first Jesuits were Jews, as indicated, why should they persecute their own people? If, however, they were Edomites masquerading as Jews, their desire to eliminate them is easily understood...

�Central Europe has been a prolific source of contradictory elements in Jewry, and this can only be explained through a duality within that people: the false seeking to destroy that cherished by the other. Communism, the product of Marx, and allied teachings, promulgated and supported by numbers of Jews, are odious to the Orthodox...The two elements are quite incompatible; and it is only with the pious, religious element of Jewry...as distinct from a Herodian, Messiah.� (The National Message, London, England January 3, 1948)

The Jews, Zionists or otherwise, therefore, HAVE NO CLAIM; SCRIPTURAL OR OTHERWISE, TO THE LAND OF PALESTINE. Arabs have no ownership in the land, but they do hold a scriptural right to live there in peace, as we have seen. Even orthodox Jews, hold no scriptural mandate over Palestine. Far from being the whole of Israel, they are a mixed breed bunch; and mixed breeds are in violation of God�s Laws of kind after kind, and therefore are rejected.

Furthermore, the birthright; carrying with it the Israel-Saxon name and mandate over the covenant land, did not go to Judah, but to Joseph�s two sons. But after the Israelites left in the Assyrian and Babylonian captivity, they never returned and the way was hedged up so that they would not know their way back.

"Therefore, behold, I WILL HEDGE UP THY WAY WITH THORNS, AND MAKE A WALL, THAT SHE [Israel] SHALL NOT FIND HER PATHS [In other words GOD IS SAYING THAT HE WILL NOT ALLOW ISRAEL TO RETURN TO PALESTINE!]...For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, AND THEY [Israel] SHALL NO MORE BE REMEMBERED BY THEIR NAME." (Hosea 2:6, 17)

"For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that BLINDNESS IN PART IS HAPPENED TO ISRAEL, until the fullness of the Gentiles [Nations] be come in." (Romans 11:25)

The tragedy now arising out of the situation lies in the fact that Christians in Britain and America do not realize that the mandate belongs to them. We cannot escape divinely imposed responsibility, however, nor will we escape the tribulation which is sure to follow willful disobedience.

We accept erroneous ideas with alacrity because we do not take the time or trouble to find out the truth. A case in point is the Balfour Declaration. Most of our Israel people have been convinced by the Jews, and even by Judeo-Christian leaders, that its terms was violated by the British government. But have they read it to find out? Anyone who investigates for himself will know that the Archbishop of York declared the truth when he said:

�No pledge was ever given by the British government that Palestine should be handed over to the Jews. The pledge of the Balfour Declaration was that within it there should be established a national home for the Jewish people without prejudice to the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities. This promise has been faithfully observed.

�Palestine today is the home of over 600,000 (at that time, but now there are more than 4 million) Jews... Without the good will and the active protection of the British government, it would have been impossible for the jews to have made this home...

�When I visited our Forces in Palestine last March (1946), the country was like an armed camp in which everyone was incessantly on the alert. By unscrupulous and violent propaganda many of the jews, especially the younger men and women, have been worked up to such a condition of hysterical fanaticism that they have been brought to believe that Great Britain was responsible for the awful sufferings of their race in Europe.� (From report of the Anglo-American Committee of Enquiry, in York Diocesan Leaflet)

In like manner many high government officials have been sold on the partition plan for Palestine. Perhaps we should say that some of them are not convinced that the plan is necessary, fair of feasible, but they are consenting to it under the pressure of political expediency. Will they be tricked and pushed into sending U.S. troops to Palestine? It looks as if they are, for the current administration has demonized Iraq so much that America is ready to go to war against it; and now the administration and the Jewsmedia is lying and building a case for an attack against Saudi Arabia because they will no longer support the killing of their brother and sister Arabs.

Informed people in all nations wait with apprehension to see the outcome of United States participation in a war against the Arabs. If the Judeo-Christian church leaders had been teaching this generation the truth about God�s plans for modern Israel; and how all the Jews worldwide will eventually be totally destroyed, we would have enlightened and courageous statesmen guiding the nation toward peace instead of war.

We now begin to see why it is so important for Christian Israel nations to know their origin. No wonder Yahweh commanded us to examine our racial beginning in Abraham and Sarah. Today our very existence as free peoples is jeopardized by wholesale ignorance on this vital subject. If Anglo-Saxons and kindred peoples should suddenly come to a realization of their Israel/Joseph origin, the vehement flame of Zionism and the power the Jews have over our government would be snuffed out overnight by a mighty wave of righteous indignation.

�� The Call of Moses

Genesis deals with the beginning of things. This book speaks of the creation of the heaven and the earth and of man, setting forth the origin of peoples and races. It also declares that God did Choose Abraham AND SET HIM APART FROM ALL THE REST OF THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH. It then proceeds to outline the history of Abraham�s posterity from the time he was called to leave Ur of the Chaldees until Jacob and his sons went down to sojourn in Egypt.

Following the record given in Genesis Moses proceeds to tell of the events after the death of Joseph and his brethren leading to the Egyptian oppression of Israel. The importance of the story of the oppression in Egypt lies in the results which followed, for from Egypt Israel was led into the wilderness and to the foot of Mount Sinai where they were organized into a kingdom. This event cannot be over stressed for ACTUALLY THIS WAS THE ORGANIZATION OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD UPON EARTH.

It is this people, the House of Jacob (and not the God hating Jews), who became unto Yahweh a kingdom; the very kingdom that the Angel in the annunciation to Mary declared will be the kingdom over which Yahshua will reign forever:

�And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.� (Luke1:23)

As we outline the story of Israel�s bondage and final deliverance from Egypt, following them in their wilderness journey to their arrival at the foot of Mount Sinai, let us not fail to recognize the tremendous significance of the organization of this people into His Kingdom. Just as an understanding of Genesis, the book of beginnings, provides a comprehension of their origin, so, too, a study of the Exodus of Israel from Egypt and the significance of the subservient organization of Yahweh�s Kingdom upon earth at Mount Sinai reveals the purposes and plans of Yahweh for the establishment of ultimate righteousness throughout all the earth.

�� Israel in Bondage

Joseph and his brothers so that all of that generation was gone. But the children of Israel were fruitful and multiplied and became mighty so that the land of Egypt was filled with them. Now Israel departed from Yahweh and turned to the idolatry of Egypt. Ezekiel records the fact of this apostasy, for Yahweh, speaking through the prophet, said:

�But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me...neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.� (Ezekiel 20:8)

Thus, Ezekiel declared Israel suffered in Egypt because of their apostasy, when they turned to idols instead of to Yahweh. Spiritual decadency is always followed by physical trouble and hardship; there is no exception to this rule. Israel came into a period of trouble and suffering because they had turned away from Yahweh.

There arose a new king over Egypt who was not acquainted with Joseph, nor with his deeds in behalf of the Egyptian people (The non-teaching of history is not a new thing). He told the Egyptians that the children of Israel were more numerous and mightier than they, and that they must deal wisely with them, lest in case of war they might join with the enemy. Taskmasters were placed over the Israelites and they were afflicted with heavy burdens. Men of Israel were compelled to build the cities of Pithom and Raamses for Pharaoh. But the more the Egyptians afflicted them the more Israel multiplied and grew in strength, even though their taskmasters became more and more exacting in the work and services required of them. Every means was used by the Egyptians for the purpose of cursing the children of Israel:

�And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein thy made them serve, was with rigor.� (Exodus 1:14)

Pharaoh called the midwives and told them that if a son was born he was to be killed, but if it was a daughter she might live. But the midwives feared Yahweh and would not do as the king commanded. Then the king of Egypt again called the midwives to him and said, �Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men-children alive?� The midwives replied that the Hebrew women were not like the Egyptians, for the children were born before they arrived. Yahweh showed kindness to the midwives because they were faithful to Him. The children of Israel continued to increase and grow strong in spite of the oppression. Then Pharaoh commanded that every son who was born should be cast into the river, but the daughters were to be saved.

Yahweh allowed this trouble to come upon Israel because they had turned away from Him. The story the bible tells clearly demonstrates that punishment is often visited upon individuals and nations when they turn away from righteousness. Israel, as a people, had turned from righteousness, so all the nation suffered because of their national sins. Those who were good, as well as those who were evil, suffered hardship because the nation, as a whole, was doing wrong.

�� The Birth of Moses

Moses� father and mother were both of the tribe of Levi. When Moses was born his mother saw that he was a sturdy child, so she hid him for three months lest Pharaoh hear of him and order him killed. The time came when she could no longer hide him so she made an ark of bulrushes and covered it with pitch. She put the baby in the ark and hid it among the flags (reeds) along the bank of the river. His sister Miriam stood at a distance to see what happened to him.

Pharaoh�s daughter came down to the river to bathe, while her maidens walked along the bank. When she noticed the ark among the reeds she sent a maid to bring it to her. Upon opening the cover she saw the child, and he cried. She felt sorry for the baby and immediately surmised it was one of the children of the Hebrews. Miriam asked if she could call a nurse of the Hebrew women that she might nurse the child for her. Pharaoh�s daughter told her to do this so Miriam called the child�s mother. The baby was given to her to nurse and Moses� mother was informed that she would be paid wages for caring for the babe.

The child grew and was brought to Pharaoh�s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, for she said �I drew him out of the water.� As the son of Pharaoh�s daughter, Moses was educated in all the wisdom of Egypt. He was a member of Pharaoh�s household and was brought up as a prince. In that schooling Yahweh was preparing him for the work he was to do. But Moses� experience in Egypt was only a part of that lesson. He was also to be trained in the wilderness so that later he would be prepared to lead Israel from Egypt and across the wilderness to the foot of Mount Sinai. All this training took time.

�� Moses� Flight From Egypt

When Moses was grown he went out to see the conditions under which his brethren labored in Egypt and he saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew. Looking about him and being assured there was no one around he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he saw to Hebrews fighting and asked the one who did the wrong why he did so. The man replied by asking Moses, �Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian?� Moses then knew that what he had done the day before was known. When Pharaoh heard that Moses had slain an Egyptian and hid him in the sand, he gave orders for the execution of Moses. But Moses fled and lived in the land of Midian by a well, This was in the Arabian peninsula.

Moses could have enjoyed a place of honor and power in Egypt, but we are told:

�By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh�s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of Yahweh, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.� (Hebrews 11:24-25)

�� The Burning Bush

The priest of Midian had seven daughters and they came to the well near which Moses was dwelling in order to water their father�s flocks. They filled the troughs with water from the well and were about to water the flocks when the shepherds came and drove them away. Then Moses stood up for them and assisted them in the watering of the flocks. When they returned to their father�s house he asked them how it was that they were home so soon. They told him, �An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and also drew water enough for us and watered the flock.� Their father asked where the man was and why they had not brought him with them? He then told his daughters to invite him to their home that he might eat bread with them.

Moses was content to remain with Jethro, the priest of Midian, and married his daughter Zipporah. A son was born to them and was named Gershom, for he said, �I have been a stranger in a strange land.�

In the course of time the king of Egypt died. The children of Israel were still oppressed and in bondage. Yahweh heard their groanings and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Even though Israel had turned from Him and a state of spiritual decadency afflicted the people (Just as our people have done today), Yahweh could not forsake them because of His covenant. In their trouble they cried to Yahweh and He heard them and began to act to save His people from the evil, oppressive bondage of enslavement to the Egyptians.

Moses had charge of the flocks of his father-in-law, Jethro. He led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to the mountain of Yahweh. It was through this very territory that Moses was to later lead Israel to the same Mount Sinai. The Angel of Yahweh appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. The bush was burning with fire, yet it was not consumed. Moses� curiosity was aroused and he turned aside to watch this sight. Skeptics have tried to discredit this account, but if they had spent as much time in the study of Yahweh�s laws as they spent trying to discredit His revelation, they would have known the way to truth and would have arrived at an understanding of the phenomenon which could produce the results described by Moses.

The Bible, in giving evidence of the manifestations of Yahweh in power and glory, clearly indicates that electricity plays an important part in revelation. Yahweh revealed Himself to Israel at Mount Sinai and that revelation was accompanied by thunder and lightning so that the very ground trembled. The precautions which Yahweh commanded Moses to take at Mount Sinai for protecting the people, and the minute requirements of tabernacle and temple worship, indicate the presence of tremendous electrical power accompanying the manifestation of the glory of Yahweh. We are told that the throne of Yahweh there are lightenings and thunder.

In the day of His indignation the nations are to be punished by tempest and by storm. The tempest thus described is accompanied by hail, fire and brimstone; that is, the display of electrical power and its destructive forces in release of terrific energy locked in the atom. The triumphant return of Yahshua is described as: �The lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west.� (Matthew 24:27) The prophet Ezekiel witnessed in vision the brightness of His coming, for he said, �And the earth shined with his glory.� (Ezekiel 43:2)

Electrical potentialities of extremely high voltage would readily produce the phenomenon which Moses witnessed as fire burning in the bush without consuming it. This does not detract one iota fro this miracle; it but demonstrates that the presence of the Angel of Yahweh was accompanied by the electrical phenomena surrounding Deity.

�� God�s Call to Moses

Moses turned aside to examine the burning bush; to see why it was not consumed. Then Yahweh called to him out of the midst of the bush and Moses answered, �Here am I.� Yahweh commanded him not to come near but to take off his shoes, because the ground upon which he stood was holy ground. It would have been very dangerous for Moses to have approached this bush charged with high electrical potentiality while his shoes insulated him from ground. The removal of his shoes �grounded� his body and prevented high inductive currents, generated by the presence of the Glory of Yahweh in the bush, from harming him.

Electricity is everywhere. It permeates all matter and is the very heart of the atom itself and, while man has succeeded in harnessing electricity and in releasing the tremendous energy stored in the atom, he does not understand it. Science is as ignorant today of what electricity really is as Moses was mystified by what he saw displayed as a burning bush. That electricity is present whenever Yahweh manifests Himself in power and glory to man is very evident from the Bible story. Until science can demonstrate Yahweh, the mystery surrounding life and electricity will remain beyond its full comprehension.

Yahweh told Moses that He is the God of his father, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob and Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon Yahweh. Yahweh continued to speak and told Moses that He had seen the affliction of Israel in Egypt because of their taskmasters and that He had come down to deliver them from their bondage and to bring them unto a land flowing with milk and honey. Moses was told that he was the one to go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt but Moses remonstrated, and said:

�Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt.� (Exodus 3:11)

But Yahweh promised to be with him and as a sign He declared that the children of Israel would serve Him upon that mountain. Moses asked who he should say sent him. Yahweh answered:

�I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.� Exodus 3:14)

I AM: Strong�s Concordance: #1961 hayah (haw‑yaw); a primitive root [compare OT:1933]; to exist, i.e. be or become, COME TO PASS (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary): KJV ‑ beacon, X altogether, be (‑come), accomplished, committed, like), break, cause, come (to pass), do, faint, fall, + follow, happen, X have, last, pertain, quit (oneself‑), require, X use.

The Divine title I AM used here was also used by Yahshua when speaking of Himself. The very mention by Him of the I AM as applicable to Himself produced a startling effect upon Judas and the band of men and officers who, for the purpose of arresting Yahshua, accompanied Judas to the garden where they found Him with His disciples:

�As soon then as he had said unto them, I AM he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.� (John 18:6)

When Yahshua was talking to the Jews He declared Himself to be the I AM when He said to them:

�Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.� (John 8:58)

For this the Jews took up stones to cast at Him for He had identified Himself with Yahweh. As the Angel of the Lord He appeared in the burning bush and talked with Moses:

�Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you.� (Exodus 3:15)

Moses was instructed to call together the elders and tell them of Yahweh�s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that He would bring them back to Canaan; that is, Palestine. Moses and the elders were to go before Pharaoh and ask him to let the people go three days� journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to Yahweh.

He was informed that Pharaoh would not let the children of Israel go and, because of his refusal, they would be brought out with great power, and Yahweh would smite the Egyptians. Israel was to have favor with the Egyptians and they would not leave the land empty handed. The Egyptians had used them and their labor many years and now the children of Israel were to receive jewels of silver and gold and raiment which they would put on their sons and their daughters.

�� Moses� Refusal

Moses objected to going to Egypt to deliver Israel from bondage. He said Israel would say Yahweh had not appeared to him, nor commissioned him to such a task. Then Yahweh asked Moses, �What is that in thine hand?� Moses replied that it was a rod. He was told to cast it on the ground and did so and it became a serpent. Moses fled from the serpent. Then Yahweh told Moses to take the serpent by the tail and when he did as he was told the serpent became a rod again.

Next Yahweh told Moses to put his hand in his bosom. He did so and when he withdrew his hand it was white with leprosy. He put his hand in his bosom the second time and when he took it out it was again as his other flesh. Yahweh said if the children of Israel did not believe the first sign they would believe the second and listen to him. But if they did not, then he was to take water from the river and pour it upon the land. This water would become blood on the dry land.

�And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.� (Exodus 4:1-9)

Moses continued to object, complaining that he was not eloquent but had always been slow of speech. Yahweh said to Moses:

�Who hath made man�s mouth...have not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.� (Exodus 4:11-12)

Moses still objected. He asked Yahweh to send someone else in his place. Yahweh then became very angry with Moses. It is interesting here to note how patient Yahweh was with Moses as He talked and reasoned with him. But after the double witness had been given and Moses refused to accept this evidence, Yahweh became angry with him. The double witness had been given to Moses when the rod became a serpent and when his hand became leprous and he should have accepted this evidence. The Law of Yahweh requires that in the mouth of two witnesses, or in the mouth of three witness, every word is established.

Yahweh asked Moses:

�Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.� (Exodus 4:14)

Yahweh informed Moses that he was to put the words into Aaron�s mouth and that Aaron would be Moses� spokesman. Yahweh also promised Moses that He would teach him what to do and that He would be with both men to guide them. Moses was to take his rod with him, with which he would perform wonders.

Moses, as a son of Pharaoh and a prince of Egypt, had previously undertaken in his own strength to deliver Israel from bondage and in so doing had slain an Egyptian, making it necessary for him to flee to the wilderness. But Yahweh could not use Moses, the prince. Moses had to become a shepherd and was schooled for forty years in the wilderness in the shepherd�s life. When he returned to Egypt, it was not as a prince clothed in the robes of royalty, but it was as a humble shepherd, wearing the shepherd�s garb and carrying the shepherd�s staff in his hand. (See �The Ancient Order of Master Shepherds)

Thus Moses, by his initiation in the wilderness, became a member of the Ancient Order of Master Shepherds to which all the prophets, and Yahshua Himself, belonged.

Equipped with his shepherd�s rod, the insignia of his office, Moses had been prepared for the task which lay before him. Yet, all this preparation had brought to him an acute sense of his unworthiness. This, however, was just what Yahweh wanted to accomplish for Moses had developed a meek spirit and was humble and teachable so that Yahweh could use him to accomplish the work ahead.

�� Moses Goes to Egypt

Moses went to his father-in-law, Jethro, and told him that he wished to return to Egypt. He wanted to know, he said, if his brethren were still alive. Jethro told him to go in peace. Moses was forty years old when he fled from Egypt; he had been in Cush and with Jethro for forty years and was eighty years old when he returned to the land of his birth. The next and final 40-year period of Moses� life was to be the most important for he had been selected, first in Egypt and afterwards in the wilderness, for this very time.

During this coming forty years he was destined to lead Israel through the wilderness and Yahweh was calling him `2to return to Egypt to take up this part of his destiny.

Yahweh told Moses that all the men in Egypt who sought his life were dead. Moses took his wife and sons, also the shepherd�s rod in his hand, and started upon the journey toward Egypt. He was to perform wonders before Pharaoh whose heart would be hardened so that he would not let the people go. Moses was instructed to say to Pharaoh:

�Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my first-born; And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me.� (Exodus 4:22-23)

If Pharaoh refused to let Israel go Moses was to inform him that Yahweh would slay even his first born.

On the way to Egypt Yahweh met Moses. His life was in danger because he had not kept the Abrahamic covenant of circumcision for his son. Here, on the way, the terms of the covenant were complied with. As a result of this Moses� life was saved. Here also his household came under the covenant blessings.

Evidently there was trouble in Moses� household involving his authority as head of the family and, through Zipporah, his wife, performed the rite of circumcision upon her son, she did so under strong protest, but evidently fully aware that both Moses� life and her son�s were in danger.

Because of this domestic situation, and so that Moss might be fee to act in full accord with whatever commands God Yahweh would issue, Moses sent his wife and two sons, Gershom and Eleazar, back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and went on to Egypt alone. This was necessary in order that he devote his undivided attention to the work that lay ahead of him.

Aaron came out of Egypt to meet Moses in the wilderness for Yahweh had told Aaron to go out and meet Moses. Moses told Aaron all that Yahweh had told him. He also spoke of the signs which Yahweh had commanded him to do. Moses and Aaron came into Egypt and there they gathered the Elders of Israel together. Aaron told them the words which Yahweh had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. The people believed, bowed their heads and worshiped Yahweh. Their affection and troubles made them ready spiritually to heed the Divine message.

In the brief space of twenty-five days after Moses� arrival in Egypt, and twenty-three days after his official appearance before Pharaoh, he led Yahweh�s people out of bondage. At each demand that Moses made upon Pharaoh we find that his heart was hardened and he would not let the people go. The account says, �And God hardened Pharaoh�s heart.� That statement has led some to reason that Yahweh was unjust to punish one whose heart He had hardened.

The truth is, however, that if Yahweh had made no demand upon Pharaoh his heart wold not have been hardened. Until that demand was made Pharaoh cold not make a decision, but when Yahweh made the demand that he let His people go He compelled Pharaoh to make a decision and his heart was hardened against complying with the command. That is the meaning of the Scripture�s phraseology describing Pharaoh�s reaction to Yahweh�s orders.

Thus, in placing before Pharaoh the alternative of obeying or disobeying, Yahweh opened the way for his heart to be hardened. He could not refuse Yahweh until the demand was made. If Yahweh had made no demand there would have been no hardening of the heart. But Yahweh required that Pharaoh do something he did not want to do. In this sense only was Yahweh responsible for the hardening of Pharaoh�s heart.

�� Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh

Moses and Aaron appeared before Pharaoh and said:

�Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.� (Exodus 5:1)

Pharaoh answered them saying:

�Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.� (Exodus 5:2)

Up to this time Pharaoh had given the matter no consideration. Now, when the demand was made, he refused to let the people go whose labor had been so profitable to him.

Moses and Aaron told Pharaoh that Yahweh the God of the Hebrews had met with them. They informed the King that if he did not let Israel go Yahweh would visit the Egyptians with pestilence and with the sword. Pharaoh demanded to know why they were keeping the people from their tasks. He ordered both Moses and Aaron to also go to work with the people. At the same time Pharaoh told the taskmasters of the people and their officers that the people were not to be given straw anymore. They were to gather it for themselves. However, they were to make the required number of brick as before.

The orders of the King were carried out. The people scattered throughout all Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw, but they were unable to turn out the required number of bricks. The officers, chosen from among the Israelites, whom Pharaoh�s taskmasters had placed over the people, were beaten. This was because the people under their charge had not made the required number of brick. The officers went to Pharaoh and complained but he told them they were idle because they wanted to go and sacrifice to Yahweh. He informed them no straw would be given them but that they must make the required number of brick daily.

The officers now realized that they were in a very difficult position. Returning from the interview with Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron and in bitterness of their hearts because of the way Pharaoh had treated them they told both Moses and Aaron to let Yahweh judge between them for in their demands upon Pharaoh they had put a sword in the hand of Pharaoh to slay them. Moses appealed to Yahweh and wanted to know why He had caused this evil to come upon the people. He said:

�For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.� (Exodus 5:23)

Yahweh answered saying:

�Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh.� (Exodus 6:1)

In order to strengthen Moses for the task ahead Yahweh spoke of His appearance to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as God Almighty. He said that He was not known to them by the name Yahweh. While there are many different names for Yahweh in the Bible, these names are not those of tribal gods as some would have us believe. That is not the story the Bible tells. Each name signifies Yahweh�s special relationship to the particular task in hand. In the beginning His name reveals Him as the Creator of all things, but in His relationship to Israel He becomes the Most High God. The different names He bears indicate His relationship to the family, to Israel and to redemption and salvation through His Son. The Son declares Yahweh as the Father and promises the coming of the Comforter, or the Holy Spirit, after His ascension. Then Yahweh is revealed as King of kings and Lord of lords who will return at the close of the present age to establish righteousness and peace upon earth.

The very names of Yahweh, and their meaning, tell the story of His dealings with Israel. The scholarship which fails to recognize this fact is lacking in that wisdom which gives knowledge and understanding.

�� Rod Turned Into a Serpent

Yahweh reminded Moses of the fact that He had established His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and promised He would give them the land of Canaan. Therefore, He intended to bring the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt and they would know Him as their God.

Moses spoke to the children of Israel and told them what Yahweh had said to him. But they would not listen to him because of their anguish of spirit and because of the cruel bondage. Here is a demonstration of the futility of trying to bring spiritual enlightenment to a people who are in physical suffering. Israel suffered from Economic slavery and bondage, much as America is doing today, and Moses� words made no impression upon them. Just as the Identity Message is not making an impression among the masses today. It was first necessary to give them relief from suffering, then equity and justice must be assured before the people would listen. Yahweh well knew this.

He told Moses to go and speak to Pharaoh, asking that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. Moses replied by asking Yahweh:

�Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me?� (Exodus 6:12)

Nevertheless, Yahweh told Moses to go to Pharaoh and deliver the message He would give him. Yahweh saw to it that Pharaoh was made to fear and respect Moses and Aaron became Moses� spokesman.

Yahweh told Moses that Pharaoh did not intend to abide by what he and Aaron said but that He would deliver His people Israel. Great judgments were to be visited upon Egypt in that deliverance. Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh as Yahweh had commanded them. Moses was 80 years old and Aaron, his bother, was 83 years old when they stood before Pharaoh.

Yahweh knew that Pharaoh would demand evidence, so he told Moses and Aaron to take the rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and it would become a serpent. This they did. Then Pharaoh called for his wise men and magicians. The magicians cast down their rods and they became serpents. Then the rod that Aaron had cast down swallowed up their rods. Still Pharaoh�s heart remained hardened and he refused to let the people go.

The fact that the magicians duplicated many of the signs and plagues which Moses and Aaron wrought before Pharaoh contributed to harden the king�s heart. Many have wondered how it was possible for the magicians to perform those miracles. The Bible is not only a revelation of Yahweh and His activities, but also records the power of evil forces as well. The teaching of the Bible is very clear concerning the malignant activities of a personality apart from Yahweh and His Israel people. It also shows that this evil personality has tremendous power and authority. From the time of the temptation of Adam and Eve to our Lord�s first coming, when evil spirits were very active, Satan demonstrated his ability to counterfeit, deceive and harm humanity. Man has been disobedient to warnings from Yahweh to have nothing to do with this evil power.

Let it be noted that in no instance were the servants of Pharaoh able to bring relief. They were merely able to increase the plagues upon the Egyptians. Pharaoh had to appeal to Moses and Aaron in every instance to intercede for him with their God. This has always been the case with those who have turned to evil. No power apart from Yahweh can bring relief in the day of trouble regardless of the source of that trouble.

�� The Plagues Upon Egypt

The Bible story records the plagues visited upon Egypt as the result of the refusal of Pharaoh to let Israel go. Moses and Aaron performed miracles before Pharaoh and the question which naturally arises as we begin this account is, Were these miracles possible? The man who has accepted the Bible knows the power of Yahweh and His Spirit has no difficulty here. However, for those who, like Pharaoh, need a sign that the truth may be demonstrated, a sign is given.

Yahweh declared that these miracles were performed to show His power, and �that My name may be declared throughout all the earth.� (Exodus 9:16) This statement was made 3,500 years ago and since that time, wherever the Bible story has been told, the deliverance of Israel from bondage has been recounted as a manifestation of Yahweh�s power. Except in recent times in America and the Judeo-Christian clergy will not tell the truth about this wonderful story.

By repeating the story of these miracles, the name of Yahweh and His mighty power are being declared. According to Yahweh�s statement to Pharaoh, made hundreds of years ago, the retelling of this story fulfills His word because it is a miracle of continuous performance.

Ten plagues in all were visited upon Egypt during the time Pharaoh refused to release the children of Israel from their economic bondage. Following is a list of the plagues in their order:

1). The river turned to blood;

2). The land filled with frogs;

3). The dust became lice;

4). The swarms of flies;

5). The cattle died;

6). The affliction of boils;

7). The great hailstorm;

8). The plague of locusts;

9). The three days of darkness; and

�� 10). The death of the first-born.

Pharaoh�s action and reaction to each plague visited upon his land is the story of the wavering moods of an unregenerated man. When the plagues were present Pharaoh repented and asked for relief. When relief came he hardened his heart and continued in his evil way. His attitude of mind would be difficult to understand except for the fact that it is the attitude of humanity today. When men are in trouble they will promise anything, as long as it is possible to secure relief. When delivered men straightway forget their promises. Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, was no exception.

�� Calendar of Events

In order that we may more clearly understand the plagues and their effect upon Egypt, and the chronology involved in their duration, let us follow the events day by day as Moses and Aaron tried to reason with Pharaoh. We know the day of deliverance when Israel left Egypt and we can therefore establish the calendar of events from the call of Moses to the Exodus.

The Exodus from Egypt occurred on the 15^th day of the seventh month, which became the first month of the year on the Hebrew Sacred Calendar. The year was 2513 A.M., or 1483 B.C., and e find that the 15^th day of Nisan (the seventh month) according to the calendar for that years was the 3^rd day of the week, therefore corresponding with our Tuesday.

With this information we work backward and we find that Moses and Aaron arrived in Egypt on Friday, the 19^th day of the preceding month (the 6^th month or Adar), in time to call the Elders of Israel into a conference before the Sabbath day which began at sunset that evening. The signs Yahweh had given them were performed before the Elders and the people, and all Israel believed.

Sunday, the 21^st of Adar, was the first day of the week and on this day Moses and Aaron made the first demand upon Pharaoh and his court that they let Yahweh�s people go. This was the first official act of Israel in the move for freedom and Moses and Aaron were the spokesmen. The result brought increased pressure upon the people and the next day, Monday, the 22^nd, the officers were beaten because the people failed to perform the tasks assigned to them.

Tuesday, the 23^rd of Adar, the Elders of Israel appealed to pharaoh, but without meeting any success, so Moses made his appeal to Yahweh. Because of Pharaoh�s refusal Yahweh replied to Moses:

�Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.� (Exodus 6:1)

Yahweh said to Moses:

�Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning (this would be Wednesday, the 24^th); lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river�s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand...Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their pools of water that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the eland of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.� (Exodus 7:15, 19)

�� The River Turned to Blood

The River Nile was smitten with Moses� rod and the waters, which they considered sacred, were turned to blood. Not only did the river turn to blood, but also the water in the vessels in the houses.

All the fish in the river died, and the odor of the river became extremely offensive. The Egyptians could not drink the water of the river and they dug wells all around it in their frantic search for water. This plague lasted seven days. Monday, the 29^th, ended the sixth month and the plague of blood continued into the seventh month. On Tuesday, the first day of the month, Yahweh gave instructions to Moses and Aaron, saying:

�This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.� (Exodus 12:1)

On Wednesday, the second day of the month, the seventh day of the plague had come and Yahweh instructed Moses to go to Pharaoh and say that if he still refused to let His people go the whole land would be plagued with frogs.

�� Land Filled With Frogs

Pharaoh hardened his heart as the first plague came to an end. Then the land was filled with frogs as Aaron stretched forth the rod over the waters of Egypt. The frogs came into the house, unto the bedchambers and upon the beds of the Egyptians. They were even found in the ovens, in the bread dough and in their kneading troughs. Then the King called for Moses and Aaron and said:

�Entreat the Lord, that he may take away the frogs form me, and from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord.� (Exodus 8:8)

The very creatures which the Egyptians worshiped had become an abomination to them. Moses asked Pharaoh when he should ask for the frogs to be removed and Pharaoh implored him to have the frogs depart by the next day and remain only in the river.

�� Dust Become Lice

Moses and Aaron went and entreated Yahweh to save Egypt from her gods. That night was dismal one for the Egyptians as Thursday, the 3^rd, began with the slimy creatures infesting even the bedchambers of the Egyptians. By morning the frogs had died and they were found in great heaps throughout the land. In the houses their bread dough and kneading troughs were filled with them. But Pharaoh again hardened his heart and Yahweh told Moses to proceed with the third plague. Moses instructed Aaron to stretch out his rod and smite the dust in the land. It became lie upon man and upon beast. The magicians of Egypt attempted to duplicate this plague but they could not do so. They were compelled to admit to Pharaoh, �This is the finger of God.� They recognized Yahweh�s superiority over the authority of the evil power through whom they worked miracles.

�� The Swarms of Flies

On Friday, the 4^th, Moses and Aaron warned Pharaoh that if he continued to refuse to let Israel go the land would be filled with swarms of flies. Yahweh, they said, would p ut a division between the land of Egypt and the land of Goshen would be free of them. On Saturday, the 5^th, this grievous swarm of flies came over the land in fulfillment of the warning.

During the Sabbath day Moses evidently took the opportunity to instruct Israel concerning the coming Exodus. This month had become the first month of the year on their new calendar (Exodus 12:2). The people were instructed regarding the selection of the lamb upon the tenth day of the month, keeping it until the 14^th day when it was to be sacrificed. While Egypt was suffering under successive plagues, the people of Israel in the land of Goshen were preparing for flight. They were being trained in marching, organizing, and all the things that is necessary for a vast amount of people to know and do.

Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and told them that the people could sacrifice to their God, but they must do it in Egypt. He was not yet willing to let his cheap labor escape from his control. Moses informed the King that this could not be done. The bull was sacred to the Egyptians and if they sacrificed this animal in the land the Egyptians might stone them.

Moses demanded that they be allowed to go a three-days� journey into the wilderness but Pharaoh told them that they might go a little way into the wilderness to sacrifice to their God. Nevertheless, he said, the flies must be removed from the land. Moses warned the King not to deal deceitfully with them again and the plague of flies was removed. However, Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also and would not let the people go.

This account of Pharaoh�s stubbornness gives an interesting picture of the attitude of men toward Yahweh�s demands when the demands affect their labor and profit. In spite of all the suffering, the thought uppermost in Pharaoh�s apparently was to retain the cheap labor of the Israelites. His desire was to continue to exploit them to his economic advantage. Yahweh�s demands interfered with his plans; hence his continue refusal to let the people go when each plague passed.

�� The Cattle Die

Yahweh told Moses and Aaron to go before Pharaoh and inform him if he still refused to let the people go, all the cattle and animals in the fields would die. The very animals sacred to the Egyptians, whose sacrifice by Israel would have infuriated the Egyptians, were destroyed in this plague. However, none of the animals belonging to Israel died. This all came about the next day (Sunday, the 6^th) as Yahweh had said. Pharaoh investigated and found that all the Egyptian cattle which were in the fields had died but the cattle of Israel did not die. Then his heart was hardened again and he would not let the people go.

�� The Affliction of Boils

Yahweh next instructed Moses and Aaron to take ashes form the furnace and throw them into the air before Pharaoh. They did so and boils broke out on both man and beast (this was a different race of people, usually meaning blacks, as they are recorded in the Scriptures as best of the fields, or beast of the earth) throughout Egypt. This was after sunset on Sunday and was, therefore, Monday, the 7^th day. The magicians could not stand before Moses because the boils were upon them also, but Pharaoh�s heart was unchanged and he refused to let Israel go.

�� The Great Hailstorm

Yahweh told Moses to rise early in the morning (still Monday, the 7^th) and inform Pharaoh that the thing He was about to do would show His power and be the means of declaring His name throughout all the earth. Moreover, Pharaoh was informed that he was raised up for this very purpose. The next day (Tuesday, the 8^th) Egypt was visited by a great tempest. There was thunder, hail and fire. All the cattle that escaped the other plagues, because they were not in the fields, now died. The flax and barley were destroyed but the wheat had not yet grown so it scalped destruction. Al the trees were broken and great damage was done throughout all Egypt. But in the land of Goshen there was no hail.

Moses said that as soon as he left the city he would lift up his hands to Yahweh and the thunder would cease and there would be no more hail. When the storm passed Pharaoh still hardened his heart and would not let Israel go.

�� The Plague of Locusts

Moses and Aaron asked Pharaoh how long he was going to continue to refuse to let Israel go. A plague of locusts was next threatened. Pharaoh�s ministers wanted to know also how long this was to continue. They advised Pharaoh to let the people go for they said, �Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?� Pharaoh said the men could go but the women must be left behind. He knew the men would be sure to return under such an arrangement. Moses and Aaron were then driven from Pharaoh�s presence.

Yahweh caused an east wind to blow all that day (Wednesday) and all that night (Thursday) and the next day (Thursday, the 10^th) great swarms of locusts came upon the land and destroyed all the vegetation that escaped the other plagues. They cover the face of the earth so that the land was darkened. Pharaoh sent in hast for Moses and Aaron. He asked that his sins be forgiven, only, he did, remove this death from him. Yahweh sent a mighty west wind which blew the locusts into the Red Sea. Then Pharaoh hardened his heart.

NOTICE THAT ALL OF THESE PLAGUES HIT THE KING IN THE POCKETBOOK. ALL OF THEM CAUSE ECONOMIC HARDSHIP.

�� The Plague of Darkness

Moses stretched forth his hands towards heaven and thick darkness came over all Egypt for three days; a darkness so dense it could be felt. This darkness began on Friday, the 11^th, and continued until Monday, the 14^th. But in the land of Israel there was light.

During this period of darkness Israel prepared for the Exodus. While all activity in Egypt was paralyzed due to the plague of darkness there was great activity going on in Goshen as preparation was being made for the coming Passover and Exodus which would take place on the following Tuesday, the 15^th of the month.

�� Israel Instructed

Israel was instructed further and prepared for their flight during the time Egypt was suffering due to the terrible darkness. Yahweh told Moses He would bring one more plague upon Egypt. After that Pharaoh would be willing to let Israel go.

Moses instructed the people to ask the Egyptians for jewels of silver and gold. Yahweh saw to it that the Egyptians looked upon the Israelites with respect and the people gave them what they asked. Moses� prestige in the land increased greatly and Pharaoh�s ministers learned to fear him, and the Egyptian people as well.

Because the King James version uses the word �borrow� in connection with the instruction to obtain jewels and other gifts form the Egyptians, many have questioned the honesty of the people in this instance. However, the Hebrew word �shaal� literally means �to ask for� so Israel was not instructed to borrow in the meaning of the word today.

Actually, as Ferrar Fenton points out in his translation, they were to demand jewels of gold and silver from the Egyptians and the Egyptians were glad to give them what they asked, for the people of the land had become very afraid of the dwellers in Goshen and would not be sorry to see them leave the land. Israel had been furnishing slave labor to the Egyptians for years and they were finally demanding something in return for services rendered.

Darkness was still upon the land of Egypt and pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron to come before him on Monday morning the 14^th. He informed them that they and their families could go into the wilderness to worship, but their flocks must be left behind. The King desired their flocks to be left so he would be assured of the return of his laborers. Moses replied they would not leave a hoof behind. They needed their cattle to sacrifice to Yahweh. As Moses talked with Pharaoh the light began to dawn and as the plague of darkness passed away Pharaoh once more hardened his heart and refuse to let the people go. Pharaoh waned Moses if he saw his face again Moses would die. Moses said, �It is well; I will see thy face again no more.�

�� Moses in Great Anger

Before leaving Pharaoh�s presence Moses said:

�Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: And all the first born of the land of Egypt shall die.� (Exodus 11:4-5)

As a result of this visitation Moses informed Pharaoh that there would be great sorrow in the land. But against Israel Moses said, �Not a dog shall move his tongue.� Pharaoh would then know that Yahweh made a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.

This answers the question of those who say Yahweh makes no distinction between nations. In dealing with nations and governments, Yahweh has said of Israel:

�� I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Sheba for thee, Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.� (Isaiah 43:3-4)

It is the failure to recognize Yahweh�s dealings with nations, as distinct from His call to individuals, which has caused so much confusion and misunderstanding of the story the Bible tells.

Pharaoh was told (Monday, the 14^th) that due to the death of the first-born in Egypt his ministers would come to Moses, bow down to him and say, �Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee!� Moses informed Pharaoh that he and his people would promptly obey that command. The Egyptian monarch�s treachery made Moses� responsibilities as the leader of his people extremely heavy and he left the presence of Pharaoh in great anger. Even with the acknowledge that the death of the first-born threatened, Pharaoh still refused to let Israel go.

�� Institution of the Passover

The month of Israel�s exodus from Egypt was made the first month of the year to them. Prior to this time the calendar year began in the fall, near the September Equinox. Now Yahweh instituted the calendar of the sacred year; so-called in modern times because, following the Exodus, all Bible dates are on this calendar. The seventh civil month became the first month of this sacred year. From this time on the events recorded in the Scriptures will be found to be written in conformity with the requirements of this new calendar.

While Egypt was suffering from the plague of darkness Israel was instructed to take the Passover lamb which was to be selected on the tenth day of the first month. It was to be kept until the fourteenth day and then slain in the evening.

After this bunch of hyssop was to be dipped in the blood, and the blood was to be sprinkled on the lintel and door posts of each house. No one was to go out of the door of his house on the night the first-born of Egypt were to be slain. When the blood upon the lintel and on the two side posts of the door was seen, that dwelling would be passed by and no one would die there.

The flesh of the lamb was roasted with fire, not boiled. In modern terms we would say it was barbequed. It was to be eaten that night with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. No bones in the body were to be broken. Nothing must remain until morning; what was left must be burned with fire. The lamb was to be eaten in haste, for the people were to be fully dressed and ready for flight, their staves in their hands. All orders were to be carried out to the letter and the announcement was made, �It is the Lord�s Passover.� From these facts concerning the event we know Yahweh�s supper with His disciples was not the actual Passover, for He and His disciples were reclining at the table as they supped

�I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.� (Exodus 12:13)

This ordinance was established in Israel as a memorial forever. Yahshua fulfilled this memorial in His death for His sacrifice is a continual fulfillment of the Passover. The lamb was selected on the tenth day of the month and Yahshua rode into Jerusalem on the tenth day of the month, which was the first Palm Sunday. He cleansed the Temple of the money-changers and denounced the scribes and Pharisees.

Because of that act, and His denunciation of their activities, He was selected for death by the High Priest. On the fourteenth day of the month the lamb was slain. On the same date and day of the month Yahshua was crucified. The blood of the lamb on the lintel and side posts of the houses of Israel in Goshen brought salvation to each house. The Passover itself was celebrate after sunset of the 14^th and hence on the 15^th day of the month. Yahshua made atonement for all those who rely upon His blood, shed for the remission of sins, and as a result the second death will have no power over those who are thus protected.

Those in Israel who failed to comply with the Passover requirements suffered. Those in Egypt who by faith complied with the requirements of the Passover, in accordance with the instructions given to Israel, escaped and the first-born in those families were spared. The fact that an individual happened to be an Israelite did not free him from the fate of the Egyptians if he refused to meet the requirements of the Passover. The same is true today. Because one happens to be of the seed of Abraham does not free him from the need of accepting for himself the atoning work of Yahweh if he desires to secure the blessings of eternal life.

Yahweh was working to deliver Israel, as a nation, from Egypt, but the individual in the nation could not be careless in this matter of the Passover. If he was, he and his household paid the penalty. Yahweh is working today to deliver both Israel and Judah from the trouble. But though the deliverance of the Israel nations is assured, the individuals within who refuse to accept Yahweh�s sacrifice in their behalf will suffer.

�� Death of the First-Born

With the approach of the fatal night, as sunset ended Monday, the 14^th, the children of Israel did as Yahweh commanded them:

�And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; all the firstborn of cattle.� (Exodus 12:29)

Pharaoh and his ministers arose in the night, as well as all the people of Egypt. There was not a house in Egypt where there was not one dead. A mighty One; the Angel of Yahweh, had visited Egypt that night and the land was filled with mourning.

The King sent word to Moses and Aaron that same night (Tuesday, the 15^th) and told them and their people to leave Egypt. He also told them to take their flocks and herds with them and them and go and sacrifice to their God. The Egyptians all died. The Israelites went in such haste that they had to take their dough before it was leavened, carrying it rolled up in knapsacks upon their shoulders.

The children of Israel did as Moses had commanded them and they obtained a substantial quantity of jewels of silver and gold, and raiment from the Egyptians. The people of Egypt the Egyptians. The people of Egypt were willing to give them almost anything they asked for, provided they would leave the country at once.

Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, the company comprising about 600,000 men besides women and children and the aged. With them also went many strangers who joined Israel at that time. They also had flocks and herds and very many cattle. They encamped to bake unleavened cakes of the dough they brought out of Egypt with them since the Egyptians had not given them time to prepare food, but hurried them out of the land.

�� Self-Same Day

Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees on the day of the week corresponding to our Tuesday. This was 2083 years after Adam, or 1916 B.C. On the self-same day, 430 years later, also a Tuesday, 2513 years after Adam, or 1886 B.C., Israel left Egypt.

The ordinance of the Passover was confirmed. No stranger could partake of it; in order to have a part in the Passover with Israel he must be circumcised. The parallel is absolutely mandatory today. In order to have a part in the restored Kingdom, all must have a changed or circumcised heart.

Moses took the bones of Joseph with them according to the oath which Joseph took of his brethren?

�God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.� (Exodus 13:19)

�� The High Critics of the Bible

Toward the end of the eighteenth century there arose within the professional class which staffed certain German universities a group of men, Jews, who formed a spearhead of revolt against the Divine inspiration of the Bible. They even went so far as to declare the Bible itself was not the Word of Yahweh.

Because of the accepted scholarly attainment of these Jewish professors, and because of the actions of the Learned Elders from behind the scenes, their teachings spread beyond the confines of the Universities and the opinions and ideas they formulated concerning the Scriptures were accepted by Judeo-Christian theologians and found their way into the text books of the libraries of many Judeo-Christian preachers.

Out of this background arose a generation of Judeo-Christian preachers who delighted in the appellation of the term �higher critic.� They attacked the Bible account and discounted many facts of Scripture as untrue. Gradually the idea spread that much of the written Word was little more than the work of minds influenced by superstition and therefore an unreliable source on which to depend.

With this idea a demand went out for expurgation from the Scriptures many portions which, to the hither critic, seemed to far-fetched under their analysis to warrant further consideration as having any place in the Word. Instead of seeking the truth, which is impossible for Jews, the Judeo-Christian preachers who accepted the findings of the higher critics as advanced scholarship, entitling them to criticize inspiration, lost an opportunity to project into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries a renewed and invigorated faith in God and the truth that the Bible is His word written. This has brought them under Yahweh�s condemnation recorded in Jeremiah:

�Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! Saith the Lord. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people: Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: Behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord.� (Jeremiah 23:1-2)

One of the miracles which has been under attack and held up to derision by the (sic) higher critic is the account of the passage of the waters which barred the way of Israel�s escape from the Army of Pharaoh on the night of the Exodus from Egypt. It is easy to demonstrate through the application of the laws which govern hydrodynamics inherent in great masses of water the flaws in the many misconceptions regarding the means by which this event was accomplished. The exodus of Israel was accomplished without violating the existing laws of the natural order; the true miracle was in the timing of the meteorological changes.

Because the popular conception concerning the way in which the crossing was accomplished, by the massing of the waters into great walls on either side of the fleeing Israelites, is in conflict with known physical laws, the higher critic proceeded to tear the account of the event from the pages of Scripture.

But the higher critic, attacking the record thus, whether Judeo-Christian cleric or layman, demonstrates his lack of true scholarship or he would detect the false premise on which modern conceptions of the crossing of the sea rest. If he had possessed even a slight knowledge of hydrodynamics and had diligently searched for the exact means by which the waters were overcome, he would have discovered the account is not in error as man�s conception would lead one to assume. The mystery which surrounds the Exodus and the crossing of the waters is dispelled when the proper relation is recognized between the Exodus account and other passages, which confirms the means used to convert the waters from their liquid state to a solid.

The higher critic and the Judeo-Christian preachers who have failed to accept the truth of the account, reduce the number of people involved from the stated number of six hundred thousand men only; excluding all the women and children and the �mixed multitude� which accompanied Israel in her flight; to a few thousand. They ignore the fact that great herds of thousands of sheep and cattle also went with them. (Exodus 12:37-38)

They also assume that the actual waters crossed were at a ford, but the narrator of the account enlarged this into a miraculous displacement of the waters to convey the thought of Yahweh�s protection to the descendants of Jacob.

The account contains within itself a completely satisfactory explanation of the means used by Israel to effect a safe crossing of the waters. The use of the word �CONGEALED� indicates the means by which the waters were overcome. With the restoration of the knowledge of the actual means used to enable Israel to escape, faith in the accuracy of the Bible record should be restored to many.

This much is made clear. As the time of the Exodus Israel was trapped by the Army of Pharaoh in a cul-de-sac from which they were unable to escape. We believe that this was deliberate on Yahweh�s part to show His great power to the Israelites. Pharaoh had determined to take vengeance upon them for the terrible experiences suffered by the Egyptian nation prior to the Exodus. They were barred by the waters from making an escape; in fact the waters were as much a menace to their flight as were the troops of Pharaoh. This is shown by the following account:

�For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.� (Exodus 13:3)

Israel did not move over the route which would have led them through the country of the Philistines. The chosen route is clearly indicated and has much to do with the actual analysis of the events leading to their escape:

�And it came to pass, when Pharaoh let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the Philistines, although that was meant; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.� (Exodus 13:17-18)

The route followed was from Rameses to Succoth (Exodus 12:37) and thence to the wilderness of the Red Sea. It should be carefully noted that the account does not say the throng was led to the Red Sea and the crossing took place over that body of water. It only states they were led to the wilderness of the Red Sea. Thus the location of the actual waters they crossed was contiguous to the Red Sea in an area or region known only as the wilderness of that sea.

This was known as �the Sea of Reads� or the extension of the Red Sea system, northward into what we now call the Bitter Lakes. But the movement of the host took place from Succoth toward the south as indicated.

�...Mastema was not put to shame because he took courage and cried to the Egyptians to pursue after thee with all the powers of the Egyptians, with their chariots, and with their horses, and with all the hosts of the peoples of Egypt. And I stood between the Egyptians and Israel, and we delivered Israel out of his hand, and out of the hand of his people, and the Lord brought them through the midst of the sea as if it were dry land. And all the peoples whom he brought to pursue after Israel, the Lord our God cast them into the midst of the sea, into the depths of the abyss beneath the children of Israel, even as the people of Egypt had cast their children into the river He took vengeance on 1,000,000 of them, and one thousand strong and energetic men WERE DESTROYED ON ACCOUNT OF ONE SUCKLING OF THE CHILDREN OF THY PEOPLE WHICH THEY HAD THROWN INTO THE RIVER....And he hardened their hearts and made them stubborn, and the device was devised by the Lord our God that He might smite the Egyptians and cast them into the sea. And on the fourteenth we bound him that he might not accuse the children of Israel on the day when they asked the Egyptians for vessels and garments, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of bronze, in order to despoil the Egyptians in return for the bondage in which they had forced them to serve. And we did not lead forth the children of Israel from Egypt empty handed.� (Book of Jubilees 49:13-19)

The Great Pyramid of Gizeh, through the exhaustive investigations of many great scholars, is revealed as a witness to the truth of the Bible to which Isaiah testifies:

�In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt...� (Isaiah 19:19-20)

Through the mathematical calculations and the idiomatic expression of the internal passage system, Mr. David Davidson of Leeds, England, was able to state the following:

�The Great Pyramid�s chronological representation depends upon the angle of slope of the passage system. The angle of slope, when taken as a true baring north of true east, defines, from the Great Pyramid, a direct route that passes successively over Israel�s crossing of the �sea of reads,� through the locality of our Lord�s birth, and over Israel�s crossing of the Jordan. The two crossings define the beginning and ending of Israel�s �wanderings� after coming out of Egypt...� (The Exodus of Israel: Its Date and Historical Setting, p. 19)

While the angle of the slope in the passage system indicates the �sea of reeds� as the actual place of crossing, the true meaning of the use of the term �wilderness of the Red Sea� includes the whole region west of all the waters of the Bitter Lakes. If the angle of the slope indicates the �sea of reads� at one point only; that is, the channel which connects Lake Timsah with the Bitter Lakes, and it is erroneously believed the actual crossing took place between the two lakes, the correction comes when the east-west base line of the south face of the Great Pyramid is also projected out into the desert which lies east of the Nile River.

The peculiarity mentioned takes in the projected line arrived at by the extension of the angle of the slope between the two lakes as mentioned, but the extension of the east-west base line of the south face of the Pyramid forms great triangle which crosses the channel between the Bitter Lakes and the Gulf of Suez. Thus the whole of that water body falls within the triangle which the projected lines form, with its point of origin at the Pyramid and the base line extending northward to meet the side of the triangle which passes through the �Sea of Reeds,� Bethlehem, and the crossing of the Jordan.

Without attempting to include other matters in this account which the above may raise, we are warned that the channel between the Bitter Lakes and the Gulf of Suez is included in the scene of the Exodus. This places upon us the necessity of determining why the lower cannel was marked out just as clearly as the upper between Lake Timsah and the Bitter Lakes. The writer submits that the reason the lower channel was indicated was to enlarge the scene of the crossing of the waters to include the whole shoreline of the Bitter Lakes from north to south on its west side.

Thus the matter of the crossing is enlarged from the former conception that only a narrow portion of the waters was used, perhaps just between Lake Timsah and the Bitter Lakes. As the scene develops, with comprehension of the forces which were involved, that is, in the realm of the elements which prepared the waters for Israel�s passage, it is seen that the escape was made over the whole surface of the Bitter Lakes.

In order to grasp the significance of the Bible narrator�s account of the crossing, we will have to pause here and determine the quality of the water of the Bitter Lakes. The elemental forces used were in exact accord with the requirements of the Law of Yahweh. The laws of Yahweh are not only those setting forth the moral and other laws recorded in the Bible, but, in the broader sense, include all the laws governing the universe and its physical manifestations.

Inherent within all matter are certain properties which never change, but react in accordance with the laws of action and reaction. One of these reactions is the effect of cold and heat upon water, for water will solidify into ice when subjected to low temperatures. If the water has no saline content, it will freeze at a much higher temperature than that which is impregnated with salt. Also, fresh water heated to temperatures above normal will freeze much faster than water which is closer to the freezing point.

Thus we are compelled to determine if the waters of the Bitter Lakes were fresh or salt. From investigations carried out by Sir Hanbury Brown, Inspector General of Irrigation in lower Egypt, in his book titled �Land of Goshen� it was found that at some time in the past a branch of the Nile River turned off from the main course of that river at about where the city of Cairo now stands.

Unlike the other branches which flow through the great Delta of the Nile River and empty into the Mediterranean Sea, this branch flowed north-northeast and east following the Wadi Tumilat, or a depression between two long bluffs which gradually narrowed until they began to fall away at the northwest end of Lake Timsah.

Because the waters of the Bitter Lakes were fed by this branch of the Nine, they would be fresh and in addition, from the currents created by the inflow of the moving water, the waters of the lake might also be said to be �flowing.� This is not pure fancy, for there is at this time a canal which follows the same route, proving the gradient was there for the former river to have followed the same course.

But though the waters were fresh and flowing, the actual depth of the Bitter Lakes was not great, though a body of water of sufficient depth and width to have properly been called a lake rather than a river.

This was established by the above author from indications which set the shorelines of the lakes even farther inland than they are at the present time. The lake bottoms would inevitably be �sandy� because of the constant settlement of wind-driven sand from the deserts to the west and east. The reaction of the solar rays of the sun would raise the temperature of the water at the surface to a higher than normal level than would be true if the same body of water had not been so peculiarly situated.

Turning from the examination of the waters over which the hosts of Israel were compelled to pass to the air above them, we step into the realm of instability. Yet there are air currents which, though invisible to the eye, are nevertheless established through the use of accurate recording instruments developed over the past hundred years and greatly refined during and after World War I and World War II. A well known fact, established as the result of the coming of the airplane, is that the temperature of the air decreases as height is attained until at 20,000 feet above the surface of the earth the occupants of the plane would not be able to resist the effects of the low temperatures for any length of time unless protected against the cold. This variation in temperature is a �constant� within the instability of the atmosphere surrounding the earth, the cold increasing as greater heights are attained.

At about ten or twelve miles above the area of the Exodus a constant freezing agent existed which could convert the heated surface waters of the Bitter Lakes into a solid mass in a space of a few hours and for a depth giving sufficient strength to form a causeway for the passage of Israel, and over which the Egyptians could follow.

The exodus of Israel from Egypt and the crossing of the sea were accomplished by the freezing of the waters of the Bitter Lakes and its northern neighbor, Lake Timsah. Israel, using the iced surface of these waters as the bridge provided them for their flight, were saved by the dire t intervention of Yahweh who alone commanded the forces of nature which caused the waters, the winds, the cold and heat to react in accordance with His laws.

But to make the statement does not prove the case. The Bible narrator who wrote the account of the Exodus makes statements of facts evidently wholly unaware of the constant low temperature above the earth, or the knowledge of the elemental reaction of great masses of water at higher than normal temperature to sudden changes in the temperature immediately at their surface. In the face of such realities, what happens to the conceit of the higher critic when he declares the bible was not written by men inspired by the Creator of the wind, the water and the earth?

The account of the Exodus reveals a natural miracle which was so timed that when the need was present the way was opened for the host of Israel to flee from the vengeance of Pharaoh. Metaphorically, Israel was swallowed by the surroundings where the action took place, so the Egyptians �came not near them all that night� and they, using the same means as Israel to corner the melting ice to their doom. This word defined means: to convert or be converted from a liquid to a solid by freezing. Thus we are informed that the action which took place, affecting the water, was accomplished by freezing.

Now let us proceed with the examination of the account:

�And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.� (Exodus 15:8)

Just recently the wind jets which surround the earth at very high altitude dropped down and did a tremendous amount of damage with winds in excess of 150 miles per hour. Yahweh could have caused the jet stream to drop down and at 150 miles an hour the wind would blow the water in the lake into upright heaps, and at the same time dry the ground at the bottom of the lake, and freeze the water also. Thus causing the writer to state �the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed (frozen) in the heart of the sea.�

�But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SHALL GO ON DRY GROUND THROUGH THE MIDST OF THE SEA.� (Exodus 14:16)

�And THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WENT INTO THE MIDST OF THE SEA UPON THE DRY GROUND: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.� (Exodus 14:22)

Now in order to further establish the fact, the phrase �and with a blast of thy nostrils� reveals the movement in the atmosphere which occurred a few hours before the actual crossing of the Bitter Lakes. Turning to Job we read:

�By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened.� (Job 37:10)

And to complete the whole matter, that there may be no misunderstanding concerning the hard surface over which Israel passed in the night of the Exodus, Job declares:

�The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.� (Job 38:20)��

�� The Way Prepared

Yahweh told Moses to speak to the children of Israel and commanded them to go forward. They began moving Sunday and with the approach of sunset, Monday, the 21^st, Moses was told to stretch out his hand over the sea, and divide it and the children of Israel were to pass through the midst of the sea on dry ground. Pharaoh and his army would follow them and be overthrow in the midst of the sea.

What happened to the waters? In the song of Moses commemorating the destruction of the hosts of Pharaoh this statement appears:

�And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.� (Exodus 15:8)

The Hebrew word translated �congealed� is �gapha� and means to be congealed or hardened and this is in conformity with the statement by Job who says:

�By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened.� (Job 37:10)

The statement in Exodus 15:8 �with the blast of thy nostrils� is identical with the statement from Job that �by the breath of God frost is given.� The reactions occurs in the straightening of the waters, i.e., making them lie flat and even, or that they were �gathered together� in the only sense that water may be described when frost is applied to form the solid mass we term ice.

It is a law in hydrodynamics that, unless other forces are exerted, water will not rise above the common level and remain in a fixed position, nor will it permit a depression to remain below the common level of the mass. Let it be remembered that these laws were not the result of man�s experience of experiments. Their origin is Divine and the work of the law of Yahweh.

Through the use of the word �congealed� we comprehend the fact that by sudden downward current of air which carried with it the lower temperature of the upper stratosphere to the immediate area above the waters, which were solidified, or gathered together, �the face of the deep was frozen.�

The statement is the above quotation from Exodus is scientifically correct. It does not say the waters �stood upright �in� a heap,� but in the description of the reaction the narrator of the Exodus account likes the manner in which the waters became hardened, �the floods stood upright �as� an heap.� There is no distortion here. The narrator desired to convey the thought that as a heap is solid, so the water became solid.

The destruction of Pharaoh�s Army is then described:

�Thou didst blow with they wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.� (Exodus 15:10)

Again we are warned that the activity of Yahweh was demonstrated through the elemental nature of the wind. Job shows this to be so:

�Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north.� (Job 37:9)

Here we have indicated the direction of the wind which started the relaxation of the frigidity of the ice-surfaced Bitter Lakes. A warm wind sprang up in place of �the east wind which blew all that night� and began melting the ice. This is borne out by the following:

�He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold? He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters to flow.� (Psalm 147:17-18)

We turn now to the narrative itself as it was written by the person who was inspired to make the record. What follows is based upon the factors involved to reconstruct the event in its broad aspect, excluding minor details which must have been prodigious, considering the vast masses of Israelites and Egyptians included in the whole movement.

We are not taking into account any of the factors which led to the Exodus, but are concerned only with the last afternoon and night the Israelites were in Egypt. The descendants of Jacob�s twelve sons increased while in Egypt to more than 2 million people, not counting the mixed multitude. This is computed from the number of men given in the account who left Egypt at the time of the Exodus.

The reigning Pharaoh was in the course of carrying out the policy which had made the Israelites the slaves of the Egyptians. Only after the plagues were loosed on the Egyptian nation did Pharaoh consent to let Israel go.

Israel prepared for immediate exit and was moving toward the wilderness of the Red Sea when Pharaoh changed his mind. The Egyptian ruler ordered his personal body guard of six hundred chariots and the men who dove them to prepare for action and accompany the chariots of the army of the Egyptians in pursuit of the fleeing people.

�� Israel at Succoth

There was a opening through the center of the wall at Shur which was directly east of Succoth, while the third opening was a forced day�s march south near the Red Sea. Moses had rallied his hosts at an important strategic point in the selection of Succoth. In the morning beginning the second day�s march he evidently intended to go by the way of Shur, selecting the central opening through the wall as the quickest way of escape from Egypt.

There was no question concerning the expert generalship of Moses thus far. After a brief rest that night they departed in the morning of the same day headed for Shur. Sunset that night began Thursday, the 17^th, and Israel pitched their tents at Etham (the wall) which is by the edge of the wilderness (Numbers 33:; Exodus 13:17-22) of Shur (the wall). Resting that night (Thursday, the 17^th) they took up their third day�s march in the morning. Leaving Etham, they turned toward Pi-hahiroth, which was on the way to Baal-zephon.

The marching hosts of Israel camped at Succoth at the end of the first day of the Exodus from Egypt. This day, which saw their departure from Goshen, ended at the sunset beginning of Wednesday, the 16^th of Nisan, the first month of the new calendar. Israel was still in the land of Egypt and on the Egyptian side of the great wall of Egypt which stretched from Port Said (Pelusium, or Sin) to Suez on the Red Sea.

This wall was equally well known by the names of Shur and Etham. There were three opening through it, one of them at the far north. If Israel had taken that route it would have led them through the land of the Philistines and directly to the land of Canaan. Though this was the shortest route to Palestine, Yahweh did not allow Israel to travel that way because the Philistines would have opposed them. War at the beginning of their Exodus from Egypt would have been too much for the people to encounter in their unprepared condition and would have cause Israel to turn back.

�� Moses Turns South

By doing that Moses rejected the way of Shur when his marching hosts were right at the gate through which Israel could have escaped. This departure from the logical line of march astonished the Israelites as well as Pharaoh and his generals. The move to the south made many in Israel feel that Moses was recklessly jeopardizing their chances to escape from Egypt and they criticized him and began to murmur against him.

Moses led Israel out of Egypt in marching order and all his knowledge of military tactics was against this southern move, but he was acting under a higher command than that furnished by human wisdom and understanding. In face of sharp criticism he gave the order to turn south, for Yahweh had said to him:

�Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.� (Exodus 14:2)

Yahweh then informed Moses what the effect of this move upon Pharaoh would be:

�For pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.� (Exodus 14:2-3)

�� Pharaoh�s Reaction

This is exactly what happened. Pharaoh and his leaders had acquired great respect for Moses due to the happenings in Egypt during the days of the plagues, but this present manifestation of apparently poor generalship on the part of Israel�s leader brought a rapid change in attitude. It was evident to Pharaoh and his generals that the God of Israel had forsaken His people and Moses was no longer able to call upon Him for help, for how else could they account for such a tactical blunder? Yahweh had informed Moses that Pharaoh�s heart would be hardened b ut that he would be honored in the things which would be done to Pharaoh and his army.

�And it was told the King of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?� (Exodus 14:5)

Pharaoh once more regretted his decision to let the people go since Israel seemed to be placed in a hopeless position by what appeared to be a stupid move on the part of Moses. He decided to overtake them and crush the people with the wall on one side of them and his army on the other.

�And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him: and he took six hundred chosen chariots (his personal bodyguard), and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.� (Exodus 14:6-7)

Thus the host of the Egyptians may have been as high as one third of the total number of the Israelites, or approximately six hundred thousand troops.

�� Moses Calms the People

Moses told the people not to fear but to stand still and see the salvation of Yahweh:

�And Moses said unto the people, fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever.� (Exodus 14:13)

From this verse it is self-evident that Moses had no inkling of what was to occur. His command was that they were to stand still. Knowing Yahweh was Israel�s protector and He would not fail in any promise given, Moses may have expected some occurrence similar to one of the plagues loosed upon the Egyptians prior to the beginning of the Exodus. He evidently expected the Army of Egypt to be destroyed in full sight of the Israel hose.

�The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.� (Exodus 14:14)

Moses was not wring in stating the Yahweh would fight for Israel. But the manner of the battle Yahweh would wage was totally unexpected:

�And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divided it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry �ground� though the midst of the sea. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.� (Exodus 14:15-17)

In the above strategy of the coming action was taken out of Moses� hands. He was to make the gesture which would signal the commencement of the action. The signal he was to give appears to be no more than an indication of the direction in which the Israelites were to move by the command that they �go forward.�

The division of the sea was to be accomplished by the direct intervention of Yahweh, and by His command the waters ahead would be made ineffective to act as a bar to Israel�s escape from the pursuing Egyptians. This assurance is sustained in the phrase that the Israelites would go on dry �ground� through the midst of the sea. The word �ground� is shown in italics in the bible, indicating that the translators questioned the original meaning, inserting the word in the text to make the verse intelligible. Some have taken it to mean �dry-shod;� that is, the movement over the barrier was to be accomplished with �dry feet.� The main thought conveyed was that Israel would pass through the midst of the sea �dry� or without being hurt by the waters.

There is no ambiguity in the statement that Yahweh was taking over complete direction of the forces which would render the waters harmless for the Israelites, and in so doing bring about the defeat of Pharaoh and the armed forces of Egypt.

�And the angel of god, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went before their face, and stood behind them; and it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.� (Exodus 14:19-20)

The pillar of the cloud as conceived in the minds of ancient artists and portrayed in paintings was a cumulus mass standing still in the sky. This is a concept impressed upon the minds of many but there is another surer source of information concerning this pillar of cloud. Job declares:

�Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud: And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth. He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy. Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. Dost thou know when God disposed of them, and caused the light of his cloud to shine? Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge.� (Job 37:11-16)

Any person who has witnessed the grandeur of a desert sandstorm, the appalling height the sand cloud attains and the density of the approaching blackness has doubtless viewed the scene with awe. Like some enormous curtain suspended on invisible rods, it slowly enfolds within it all things living or inanimate, moving not swiftly but with crushing certainty, swallowing everything in its path as inexorably as death blots out life.

These storms seem like the very wrath of Yahweh as they move across the sandy wastes. They carry within them the power to generate terrifically high electric voltages, with flashes of lightening ripping and tearing through their vitals. This was the �pillar of the cloud� the narrator of the Exodus account described and the reference from the Book of Job confirms this. Job was commanded to stand still and view the wonder of Yahweh in the storm and it was such a cloud which came between Israel and the Egyptians.

The dark face of the cloud was toward the Egyptians and should have been a warning to them of what the consequence would be of their pursuit of Israel. But they did no perceive the warning. They continued their pursuit, braving the storm to execute the commands of Pharaoh. If the dark face of the cloud was toward the Egyptians, the farther side, to the east, was behind Israel in flight and the unending electric flashes were a light which guided them as they crossed the waters.

�And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go �back� by a strong east wind all that night, and he made the sea dry �land� and the waters were divided.� (Exodus 14:21)

This is a description of the action at its inception. But the beginning of the action was far greater in its conception than the above verse can possibly convey. The two words which are of doubtful meaning, added by the translators, are �back� and �land� and convey the thought that the sea was removed to expose the sea floor. Actually the waters were caused to become dry and hard through freezing, as some say. The sea lost its strength as a liquid and, through the metamorphosis accomplished by the frost which descended upon it, became a solid substance.

Thus the distortion which the assumptions of men have attached to the narrator�s account is erased and the seeming contravention of the law of hydrodynamics is no longer a tenable position. That the waters were literally divided there can be no doubt. But the division was not into walls of water, it was between qualities, both of which are inherent in water itself.

�� Crossing the Sea

It was still Monday night, the 21^st of Nisan, when Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and a strong east wind blew all night. This brought about the �dry� condition of the waters; that is, the surface of the sea congealed, or froze. The waters on both sides of Israel were a wall of protection to them. The expression �wall� could readily refer to the open expanses of water beyond the frozen section over which Israel passed to safety. The open water would prevent the Egyptians from moving upon either flank of the Israel columns as they moved across the frozen surface.

�And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry �ground�: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and their left.� (Exodus 14:22)

Here again the translators have added the word �ground.� The Israelites went into �the midst (or middle) of the sea on the dry (water, i.e., ice).� In all probability there was a very thin layer of sand upon the ice, carried to it by the �east wind which blew all that night.� This east wind was not the cause of the changed condition of the waters but was a secondary effect of the original blast from the upper strata of the atmosphere.

Thus the narrator may have made use of the same thought expressed in Job 38: 30 that �the face of the deep was hidden as with a stone.� Or, the expression a �wall� meaning �of the strength of stone,� for the surface of the water became hard as far to the right as to the left for Israel�s passage thereupon.

It is also very likely that under the pressure of the wind and water the ice on the edges of the frozen section of the sea would break into large cakes and slide upon the solid ice, piling up on the congealed of frozen surface of the sea. We have witnessed such action many times in the spring as the edges of an ice field were broken up under similar pressures. In this way the waters would indeed be a wall of defense on each side.

The cloud acted as a rearguard to the Israelites while it brought darkness upon the Egyptians it gave light to Israel as they passed, dry-shod, over the hardened surface of the sea. The army of Pharaoh followed them into the midst of the sea.

When Moses signaled the Israelites to begin moving toward the east, suddenly billowing downward from the stratosphere, or even the ionosphere, a jet stream of frigid air moving with violence but perfectly controlled so that it moved the ten or twelve miles in a few minutes, freezing the surface of these. But Israel was still several miles to the west of the shore line, for this is certain, they could not have survived the terrific temperature change which took place while the jet stream was in full force.

Now the movement from Rameses had to have reason behind it, because there was a river which the branch of the Nile formed to the south, it would appear this was the reason for the move, that a ford where the throng could cross the river existed near Succoth. That multitude could not ford the river in a single day and it may have taken as much as three days to complete the whole transfer.

As those who pressed on behind the first group across the ford added pressure upon the head of the column it moved farther and farther to the south. For a matter of two, or even three, days the column grew longer and longer until it was twenty-five or thirty miles south of Succoth and from ten to twenty miles west of the shore line of the Bitter Lakes and the channels at the north end into Lake Timsah at the southern end into the Gulf of Suez, the distance west of the lakes varying according to the conformation of the shore line.

The column itself would be form a half mile to a mile in width for the entire length. Moses, as the leader, would be at the head of the column and as the discovery of the Egyptian pursuit was reported to him at once this would put Moses� position at the time of the discovery at least twenty-five to thirty miles south of Succoth. Thus Israel was in position for the passage of the waters, although the manner in which they would be enable to accomplish the seemingly impossible feat was not yet made clear.

As stated in verse thirteen, Moses as to signal the beginning of the movement to the east and it may be that the presence of the Egyptians was given away by a distant dust cloud which could not be seen by those at the head of the column, for let it be remembered that the Angel of the Lord had moved form His position before Israel and placed Himself between the host of Israel and the Army of Egypt.

Moses gave the signal for Israel�s advance toward the east and the plodding march began which had to be kept up all through the night ahead, and finished by dawn of the next morning. Israel did not move as a long single column but turning where they stood, the host moved forward in a long frontal advance across the Bitter Lakes. There must have been shouts, the bleating of the sheep, the lowing of cattle as the Israelites advanced toward the lake front.

The whole host was not in motion along the vast front of twenty-five miles or more. This was not mere chance; it fell within the foreknowledge of Yahweh as the supreme Commander of the host. For thus spread out, the vast weight which would sweep out upon the ice surface of the Bitter Lakes would increase the load tit had to bear to an enormous tonnage which would strain its supporting power to the limit. But the �ground� they walked upon was no longer the clinging sands of the desert; it suddenly seemed to have the quality of stone pavement and they moved more rapidly because of the change.

�� Egyptians Pursue

The evening of Friday, the 18^th, Israel encamped before Migdol and they spent Friday preparing for the first Sabbath after the flight from Goshen. Meantime the Egyptians were preparing to pursue Israel:

�But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariot of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the seal, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon.� (Exodus 14:9)

It must have been difficult for many in Israel to understand why Moses had consumed so much time, first marching them toward a gate through which he refused to lead them, now delaying in a camp beside Pi-hahiroth. By the end of the Sabbath day, Saturday, the 19^th, Israel became aware that the Egyptians were pursuing them. Sunset that night began Sunday, the 20^th, when the Angel of Yahweh and the pillar of cloud moved between the camps.

The stage was set for the events which were to follow. Moses had suddenly refused to lead Israel through the middle gate in the Egyptian wall and his move south had temporarily shaken the confidence in the wisdom of his leadership. When Israel saw the army of Pharaoh coming in the distance, they were terribly afraid and cried out to Yahweh. They asked Moses why he had brought them out into the wilderness to die, when they could have died in peace in Egypt.

They reminded Moses that they had told him to let them alone that they might serve the Egyptians. That would have been better than to die as they now expected to at the hands of Pharaoh�s cruel army.

Truly the waters had become a �wall unto them� as far to the right as to the left, for �the face of the waters were hid as with a stone.� The open waters on the flanks of the frozen sea were a protection, becoming a wall of defense against a flank attack by the Egyptian Army which was forced to follow from the rear:

�And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh�s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.� (Exodus 14:23)

The Commander of the Army of Egypt would very definitely be a skilled strategist and accomplished in desert warfare. It is improbable that he would move in the wake of the receding Israel column to attack from the rear. The movement of his forces would raise great columns of dust in the air which would act as beacons to Israel that they were in danger.

It is within the realm of possibility that there was another ford over the branch of the Nile at, or just west of, Rameses and the Egyptians would cross at that point. It is certain the Egyptian Commander would either have scouts who were making constant observations of the route of the Israelites and reporting back to him or he would have spies accompanying the host itself.

The Commander of the Egyptian forces would undertake to outflank the Israel column and perhaps strike at its head. In order to complete such a maneuver the Egyptians, crossing the ford at Rameses, would begin a forced march over the desert far to the west of the Israel column, paralleling it but with a separation of twenty or thirty miles between the Egyptians and the Israelites.

The dust storm which is called �the pillar of the cloud� began to form at the northen end of the whole area of action, and moved south, occupying the space between the two hosts. This prevented the Egyptians from learning of the later movement of Israel as it moved on toward the east. The storm actually forced the Egyptian forces slightly to the south of the actual point where the head of the Israel column came to rest and in all probability prepared their camp for the night.

There was a break in the storm which the Egyptian Commander would at once make use of. Wheeling his forces toward the east he fell in behind the Israelites who discovered they were pursued. Moses, at the head of the Israel column, was informed of the danger and give the signal for Israel to begin moving to the east. The storm was nearly spent in its initial fury, but it billowed over the break into which the Egyptian Army was pressing as the dust laden air settled back to earth.

The Egyptian Commander, familiar with such storms, knew that it was safe to proceed because the settlement would only take another two or three hours and he would require that much time to complete the movement to bring him in contact with the prey. But the darkness of night began to cover the earth. The Egyptian column moved on toward the east, intent upon making the kill even though darkness was upon them.

They reached the area of the settling sand of the storm; the clatter of their horses and chariots and the jingling of the harness and their hoarsely shouted commands filled the night. But the Egyptian commander overshot the position where he should have made contact with Israel moving many miles east, due to miscalculation resulting from the dust storm. Realizing his error he ordered his command to make a turn toward the north and began a drive into the center of the Bitter Lakes. This was some time before midnight.

�And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians.� (Exodus 14:24)

Two things stand out in this verse. The Egyptians were now on the same side of the storm as Israel. This may seem a contradiction, but at the time the Lord looked out over the scene it was then past the �night� and was in the first watch of the morning. Israel was nearing the end of her night long march and also the eastern shoreline of the lakes. Pharaoh�s Army was unaware of their escape and considered them either north of where they were at the time, or they had traveled to the east of Israel and were moving in the area between Israel and the lakes to make their attack from the east.

But there was something else which troubled the Egyptians, and it had nothing to do with the pillar of the loud or the lightening. Near midnight there had occurred a change in the direction of the wind, which began to blow inland form the south; that is, from the direction of the Red Sea. At first it was hardly perceptible, but it increased by the hour and the Egyptians welcomed it because it warmed their chilled bodies.

But it also warmed the ice under them and its effect was not long delayed �and took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily.� Also, the tremendous pounding of the Israelites as they crossed the straight put additional stress helping the south wind in its goal.

�� Egyptians Confused

In the morning, Monday, the 21^st, Yahweh looked upon the Egyptians and brought confusion to their ranks and took off the wheels of their chariots.

The chariots seemed to be traveling in �mud� and the horses were straining to move them. Suddenly the whole plan of attack seemed to have misfired and the seed of doubt grew swiftly into fear. Revolt was growing for, with the memory of the plagues still burned into their consciousness, there was an increasing comprehension of their dangerous position and it was not long before fear began to grow into panic. The wheels, dragging heavily in the softening ice, broke off the chariots, adding to the confusion of the charioteers and the Egyptians exclaimed;

�Let us flee form the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.� (Exodus 14:25)

Precious time was lost. Far to the east the first streak of the coming dawn lightened the sky. Israel had not made the farther shore but had not yet ceased their march, moving on till they were slightly inland from the waters. Here indeed was a paradox; here was a situation which held within it a derision which only Yahweh Himself could fashion. Israel was fleeing form an enemy rendered impotent to pursue. The Egyptians were trying to flee form an enemy impotent to harm them because they had no weapons for attack. Between them was a Power of which neither had full conception, with perhaps the exception of Moses. Yahweh was using weapons which the Israelites could not wield nor the Egyptians combat.

Moses was then told to stretch forth his hand over the sea and the waters returned to their full strength; that is, to the regular flow of liquid condition again. The army of Pharaoh that pursued Israel into the sea was covered and not one of them survived.

�And 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 horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it: and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.� (Exodus 14:26-17)

There was no thunderous crashing roar of mighty walls of water suddenly released upon the raising of Moses� hand. There were no screaming, terror stricken Egyptians throwing the arms upward to war off the inevitable. In face, nothing at all happened for some little time thereafter. The chattering voices of the Israelites announced their delight to feel the soft sands of the desert once more under their aching feet. There were perhaps groans as the exhausted fell to the ground, thankful that Moses had at last called a halt to the driving of that nights long march.

But west of them there was no relief for the Egyptians. The chariots were hopelessly mired down in the soft surface ice. The light of the sun revealed to them, from landmarks which rose high enough above the surrounding desert to be recognized, that they were in about the middle of the place where the waters of the Bitter Lakes should be. Startled by this, the panic which had been brewing for several hours became pandemonium. With the coming of the power of the sun another step toward their destruction was assured. Thought the ice in their immediate vicinity, where they and their horses had churned the surface, was not so quickly affected, to the east and west of their position something was happening which the Egyptians could not understand.

Anyone familiar with the reaction of ice to heat would know that every moment they delayed they were approaching a time when the ice, through appearing solid, would not have the strength of paper. The decision to abandon the chariots came too late and when the Egyptians mounted their horses and started to make a headlong dash for the western shore they left the only safe part of the whole ice-surfaced waters.

The undisturbed sand on the surface of the ice heated by the sun hastened its melting and the first horses and their riders hit a honeycombed solidity and went through it into the cold water. The thousands behind them, not seeing what had happened to the front ranks, drove on forcing the ones closest to the open break into the water. Horses screamed as they kicked and fought each other in the struggling mass.

Men among the horses were rendered unconscious by sudden blows from their fellows being thrown on top of them. The remaining ranks, cognizant of the disaster ahead were not on ice that had been weakened by the passage of the first horde so that it began to split and crack around them from the weight upon it. For a few moments the terrible confusion went on. The frigidity which had first formed the ice was still in the water and this numbing agent took the strength from the strongest, who might otherwise have escaped by swimming ashore. The result was that they sank like lead at the deepest part of the Bitter Lakes.

�And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.� (Exodus 14:28)

Slowly the agitated waters cleared until not a horse or a man could be seen and the waters carried only the broken ice-floes on their surface. The sea had returned to its strength again.

The whole activity which prepared the way for Israel�s passage over the waters of the Bitter Lakes falls in with the normal use of wind, frost, heat and cold. There may be those who refuse to see the Hand of God directing the wind, the frost and the formation of the ice, saying: �There was nothing to the event other than fortuitous circumstances which Moses exploited to the full.�

Let them explain, then, why the �fortuitous circumstances� occurred exactly on the afternoon and evening of one day out of all the ages the Bitter Lakes had existed when there was a pressing need for two or more million human beings to escape the wrath of Pharaoh! But for this means of escape, uncountable thousands of them would have perished at the hands of a foe inflamed with hate and under orders from Pharaoh to wreak a terrible vengeance on a helpless people.

When the children of Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the shore, and realized how they had been delivered, they believed Yahweh and His servant Moses. Then they sang a song to celebrate their deliverance.

�And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.� (Exodus 14:31)

As the shadows of the night are dissipated before the coming of the dawn, so the mystery and doubt of the truth of the Exodus account of the flight of Israel from the host of Pharaoh flees before the truth that Yahweh moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. Yahweh never made a mystery of the means by which He removed the barrier to Israel�s flight.

Nor did the man who was inspired by Yahweh to set down the record of the means by which the waters were overcome err by a jot or tittle from the truth, though it is within the realm of possibility that he had only an incomplete knowledge of the science connecting the facts he set down in the few short sentences and phrases which he used to convey the story of the event to future ages.

This was Tuesday, the 22^nd of Nisan, as they continued their journey into the wilderness, the second day after crossing the Red Sea. Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, took a timbrel and all the women went out after her with timbrels and danced.

Summing up all the tremendous happenings by which Yahweh had accomplished the deliverance of His people, Moses declared that the destruction of the Egyptians would be told in Palestine and that the inhabitants of Canaan would be afraid.

�� The Bitter Waters

Israel continue their march, leaving the Red Sea behind them, and they came into the wilderness of Shur. They had journeyed for three days without finding water (from Monday, the 21^st of Nisan until Wednesday, the 23^rd).

When they came to Marah (Thursday, the 24^th), where they encamped for about a week, they could not drink the water there for it was bitter. The people complained to Moses and said, �What shall we drink?�

Then Moses appealed to Yahweh and he was shown a tree which, when cast into the water, made the water sweet so they could drink it.

�� A Statute and an Ordinance

Thereupon Yahweh established a statute and ordinance in Israel in these words:

�If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: FOR I AM THE LORD WHICH HEALETH THEE.� (Exodus 15:26)

As a statue it was a national law to be administered by the government in Israel; as an ordinance it was also an ecclesiastical law of the church and would operate for the healing of the people when the conditions for healing were complied with. In this twofold manner healing was made a part of the law of Yahweh and God made it clear that bodily health would depend upon keeping of all His commandments. If Israel obeyed His voice, there would be no sickness among them.

The institution of this law as both a statue for the nation and an ordinance in the church was a merciful provision on the part of Yahweh who knew the day would come many generations later when the nation would fail to administer the Law of Yahweh. At that time the people would still be able to seek healing by appealing to the church for the operation of the ordinance in their behalf when the conditions were complied with.

This statue and ordinance, given to Israel at Marah, has never been abrogated and failure to keep its requirements is responsible for sickness in our midst today.

�� Removal of Sickness

The Bible has much to say about physical healing and freedom from sickness. Moses declared later that if these laws were kept:

�The Lord will take away from thee all sickness.� (Deuteronomy 7:15)

Yahweh also said that if they refused to keep, or administer, His Laws, then He would bring upon them all manner of sickness and plague. (Deuteronomy 28:21-22) If His people would keep the commandments, they would be free from the diseases resulting from immorality; if they would keep the statutes, the laws of hygienic living and diet would bring about continued health. In general, the keeping of all His laws would be rewarded by the removal of all sickness form among His people.

�� Forgiveness of Sins

The church recognizes that in order that one may have forgiveness of sins, certain conditions must be met. In order that sickness may be removed from His people, Yahweh�s commandments and statutes must be kept. It is not Yahweh will that His people should suffer. It is their failure to comply with the requirements for health, both nationally and individually, that is responsible for the sickness in their midst. The message of the Bible amply bears out the truth of the statement by the Psalmist who, with reference to Yahweh�s prerogative to heal, purposely linked two statements in the same context: �Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases.� (Psalm 103:3)

The Prophet Isaiah says of the citizens of the Kingdom:

�And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.� (Isaiah 33:24)

This will be because those dwelling in the Kingdom of Yahweh will be keeping His laws.

�� Manna in the Wilderness

Israel left Marah on Wednesday, the 30^th, and came to Elim where they camped about a week. There they found twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees. From there they journeyed to the wilderness of Sin, which was between their last camping place and Mt. Sinai. They arrived there Thursday, the 15^th day of the second month. (Exodus 16:1)

The people complained to Moses because they were hungry. They said that they had bread enough when they were in Egypt; furthermore, they said that they wished they had died in Egypt where they had plenty to eat. As it was they would die of hunger in the wilderness. Yahweh told Moses that He would rain bread from heaven and prove them to see whether they would obey Him or not.

When the children of Israel went out in the morning the dew lay on the camp grounds. When the dew evaporated fro the surface of the ground, grains, like frost, covered the ground. The people exclaimed, �Man Hoa?�; that is, �What is this?� They did not know what it was.

�� Bread from Heaven

Moses told the people that this was the bread Yahweh had given them. They were told to gather it, each according to his needs, for when the sun became hot it would disappear. It was to be gathered by measure, and open was to be left, but all they gathered must be eaten each day. However, some of the people gathered more than was sufficient for the day and the next day it bred worms. Moses was angry with them because they failed to obey the command to gather only enough for each day. However, there was an exception, for on the sixth day they gathered enough for two days so that they might have food for the Sabbath. This did not spoil.

Moses instructed the people to gather for six days only and on the seventh day they were to remain in their tents. Nevertheless, some of them went out on the seventh day, though they were unable to find any manna. Yahweh said to Moses:

�How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?� (Exodus 16:28)

�� Sabbath Observance Required

Yahweh is very particular that His people observe on day in seven as holy to Him. The story the Bible tells declares that failure in this respect is responsible for much of our suffering and trouble today. Yahweh refuses to bless a people who fail to honor Him in this way.

The children of Israel called the bread manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like cakes made with honey.

Yahweh commanded that a measure of manna be gathered and kept and that portion of manna, though kept from generation to generation, would not spoil. This was done and Aaron pit it in a pot and laid it up before Yahweh. When the Ark of the Covenant was built this pot of manna was kept with the Ark. Thus Yahweh is not unmindful of the need of preserving evidence yet to be revealed to confound the unbelief of those who doubt His word.

Archaeological and other discoveries of the last fifty years have demonstrated the truth of many of the Bible�s declarations. We believe we are yet to see even more marked revelation of evidence of its truth, as new and greater discoveries are destined to occur in the future, throwing light upon the Bible record.

The people ate manna for forty years; Yahweh gave it to them until they came into Canaan. When they ate of the fruit of the land of Palestine, the manna ceased. The Psalmist said that Yahweh:

�Rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. Man did eat angels� food.� (Psalm 78:24-25)

�� War With Amalek

Israel journeyed from the Wilderness of Sin and came to Rephidim (Sunday, the 25^th day of the second Sacred month). Upon their arrival there it was discovered that there was no water for the people to drink. Exhausted and discouraged, the people found fault with Moses though Yahweh had commanded him to bring Israel to that place. Moses asked the people why they mutinied against him for they were tempting Yahweh. But lacking water to quench their thirst, the people complained that Moses had brought them out of Egypt to kill them, their children and cattle in the wilderness.

�CAN YOU IMAGINE WITH ALL THAT YAHWEH HAD DONE FOR THEM IN THE LAST FORTY YEARS, THE PEOPLE STILL LACKED THE FAITH TO BELIEVE THAT HE WOULD PROVIDE YET FOR THEM. BUT WE CAN SEE IN THE SCRIPTURES THAT IT WAS THE MIXED MULTITUDE, THE FOREFATHERS OF THE JEWS WHO STIRRED THEM UP AND FED THEIR UNBELIEF. So it is today.

�� People Threaten Moses

Moses appealed to Yahweh and asked what he should do with the people, for they were ready to stone him. Here we have a demonstration of the emptiness of popular acclaim. Only a few weeks before Moses was a hero; now the people were ready to kill him. Under pressure of their immediate requirements the people failed to remember the plagues visited upon Egypt and they forgot their miraculous deliverance from death in the crossing of the sea.

The spirit of the mob ruled because the people lacked faith and were unwilling to trust Yahweh. Moses became the object of their hatred and the personification of the cause of their present plight so they determined to take his life. Moses was directed to go before the people, taking with him the Elders of Israel and the rod with which he struck the waters of the river. He announced the instructions he had received from Yahweh:

�Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink.� (Exodus 17:6)

�� Water From the Rock

Moses did as he was instructed and water poured from the rock before the eyes of the people and the Elders of Israel. Moses called the name Massah and Meribah because the people asked if Yahweh was among them or not. Their immediate physical needs caused the people to question the presence of Yahweh among them. They should have known Yahweh was present with them for the Rock so explicitly mentioned here was �Jacob�s Stone� and its very presence in their camp should have forbidden them to ask if Yahweh was in their midst. Paul refers to this rock which went with them, likening it to Christ when he said:

�And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: that Rock was Christ.� (1 Corinthians 10:4)

While Israel was encamped at Rephidim, Yahweh calls the location Horeb. As a matter of fact, they were now in the region where Jethro dwelt and it was territory with which Moses was already personally familiar. The entire district was called the Wilderness of Sin, the mountainous region was called Horeb and its chief peak Sinai.

�� The Stone of History

The history and movements of Jacob�s stone are a fascinating story. The rock which Moses struck, and from which waters came forth, was this very stone, as confirmed by Paul. It was there in Horeb that Moses first struck the rock and it first gave forth water.

�� Artist�s Conception

Artists have pictured Moses standing by a great cliff from which water is pouring, showing the people drinking from the stream. This conception of the artist does not picture the actual scene, however, as described in the record. This same rock was smitten at two different locations, geographically many miles removed from each other.

The first place was there at Rephidim and the second place was at Kadesh, where Miriam died and was buried. Kadesh is just south of Palestine and upon its border. It is certain that Israel did not transport a cliff with them, but they did carry the stone. The Psalmist tells of the rocks in the wilderness being split and giving forth water, but he also declares:

�He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.� (Psalm 78:16)

�� Builder�s Rejection

This rock was a type of Christ, who would bring forth living waters, welling up into eternal life. This is also the stone rejected by the builders of Solomon�s Temple in which fact Yahshua referred when He said:

�The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord�s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.� (Matthew 21:42)

Though rejected for building purposes, it became the headstone in the Temple, for upon it all the kings of Israel were crowned. The Psalmist refers to the rejection and later elevation of this stone (Psalm 118:22) and it was that verse which Yahshua quoted.

�� A Proclamation

Zechariah prophesied of a day coming when this headstone will be acclaimed worthy of honor:

�And he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shouting crying, Grace, grace, unto it.� (Zechariah 4:7)

And Yahshua will take the throne of His Father David and reign over the House of Jacob forever as the Angel promised Mary. (Luke 1:33)

�� Amalek Attacks Israel

Amalek, grandson of Esau, came out and fought against Israel while they were encamped at Rephidim. Moses told Joshua, Captain of the armies of Israel, to choose men and go out to resist Amalek�s attack. He in turn would stand on the top of the hill with the rod of Yahweh in his hand. Joshua did as Moses commanded him and fought against the Amalekites while Moses, taking Aaron and Hur with him, went up to the top of the hill. While Moses held up his hands toward heaven Israel prevailed in battle, but when he lowered them the tide of battle turned in favor of Amalek. Presently Moses� arms became weary so they placed a boulder for him to sit upon and Aaron and Hur took stations on each side of him, supporting his arms. They did until the sun went down and Joshua completely defeated Amalek, giving no quarter.

Yahweh said:

�Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utter put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heave.� (Exodus 17:14)

This is another place where Yahweh has said that He will exterminate the Jews; for Esau is in modern Jewry, according to the Jewish Encyclopedia.

�� A Curse Upon Amalek

Because the hand of Amalek had been raised against the Throne of Yahweh, He declared He would have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

Later, when Balak hired Balaam to curse Israel, Balaam blessed the people instead. At that time he pointed out the fact that Amalek headed the first of the nations tow are against Israel, but in the latter days his posterity would perish forever.

When Moses gave his final instructions to Israel he said:

�Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast fain and weary\; and he feared not God.� (Deuteronomy 25:17-18)

Moses gave the people instructions, to apply when they were at rest from their enemies in the land, in these words:

�Thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.� (Deuteronomy 25:19)

Men have condemned Moses for giving these instructions to Israel but they forget that this was not a matter of individual conduct, but of national policy against a nation seeking Israel�s annihilation. The Bible record shows that the hordes of Amalek invaded the land of Israel again and again and this warfare was carried on throughout the time of the judges and period of the kings. Moreover, that warfare has continued down through the centuries, and is even now coming to a climax in the present period of the consummation of the age as the hordes of Gog prepare to contest modern Israel�s right to world leadership.

�� The Laughter of God

David was speaking of an actual happening to come when he said:

�The kings of the earth let themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed.� (Psalm 2:2)

Then he spoke of laughter which will be far from pleasant to the enemies of Yahweh and His Kingdom:

�He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision.� (Psalm 2:4)

Later David prayed a most remarkable prayer in which he asked Yahweh�s protection against a confederacy of nations. (Psalm 83) He named Amalek among those confederated against Israel and exclaimed: �For they hate thee and are confederated against thee.�

�� A Call for Judgment

He then asked Yahweh to persecute them in that day with His tempest and make them afraid with His storm. David was calling upon Yahweh to use His fire (many believe atomic destruction), His thunder, lightening and hail against them. He pleaded with Yahweh to so confound them and their ungodly confederacy that these evil men would know His name is Yahweh, and that He is the Most High God over all the earth.

Today the modern descendants of those ancient nations are gathering for the coming conflict under their modern names. Of this modern combination Yahweh was speaking when He said:

�Art thou he of whom I have spoken in �old time� by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?� (Ezekiel 38:17)

�� The Conflict and Its Climax

It is essential that we recognize the modern development of Israel and of her ancient enemies if we would understand the full significance of this conflict which Yahweh pronounced would continue from generation to generation until its prophesied climax at the end of the age. To try to tell the story in any detail would be to write the history of world events and modern current happenings. Joel tells of tremendous preparations for war as the nations of this latter time beat their implements of industry into weapons of warfare. He describes the tremendous activity on the part of a northern nation as it prepares for war and of the movements of nations from the south as they are forced to march against the United States; the New JerUSAlem. Isaiah describes the turning of the Nile far away into the desert, causing Egypt to become a desolation. He also describes the destruction of a connecting waterway between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

�� The Prayer Answered

Ezekiel gives Yahweh�s answer to David�s prayer and repeats the list of nations David declared to be confederated against Israel but for the most part he gives them as they are known in modern times. Ezekiel declares they have made war against God and prophesies:

�And thou shalt come from they place out of the north parts.� (Ezekiel 38:15)

This Prophet speaks of a great company of horsemen and a mighty army. He declares the people against whom they are confederated to be �the merchants of Tarshish (England)� and their colonies are designated as �the young lions thereof.� An ancient map in the British Museum shows the Isles of Great Britain were anciently known as the Isles of Tarshish. The capitol of the northern forces is called Meshech, which was the ancient name of Moscow.

�� Prophet�s Contribution

Each of the prophets contributes some of the details of the story of the coming conflict. For instance, Zechariah tells of the taking of Jerusalem (the United States, and this has certainly taken place, for the Jews control our government; unknown to our Israel people) and of great seismic disturbances which will split the Mount of Olives (many believe to be the Mississippi valley), making a valley through that mountain from east to west. Ezekiel also testifies to these coming geographical changes and declares that the Dead Sea will be healed by the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. But the principle result of it will be to make Yahweh known to all nations, while the house of Israel will awaken to a knowledge of their identity and responsibility and Judah will be delivered.

The Bible speaks of the dawn of a new and better era when nations will never again resort to war; when the age-long controversy will have ended in victory for Israel. Amalek made the first unprovoked attack upon Israel and Israel is to finally triumph over Amalek in the final war of the ages when Gog and his forces are utterly defeated upon the battle field.

�� Jethro�s Advice to Moses

The battle with Amalek ended at the close of Monday, the 26^th, and the next day Jethro, Moses� father-in-law, came to meet him. The account states that when Jethro heard about all Yahweh had done for Moses and Israel he took Moses� wife and two sons, whom Moses had sent back when he went to Egypt, and brought them to Moses in the wilderness of Horeb.

Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and invited him into his tent, where he recounted all Yahweh had done. Jethro rejoiced at the deliverance of Israel and in the destruction of the Egyptians. He said:

�Now I know the Lord is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them.� (Exodus 18:11)

Ferrar Fenton renders this:

�Now you can perceive how much greater the Ever-Living is, than all their gods, by the events with which He overwhelmed them.�

It is of interest here to note that by the plagues visited upon the Egyptians God made that which was sacred to them in their worship loathsome to them. The sacred River Nile was turned to blood; the frogs, one emblem of deity, became a stench to their nostrils, and even the sacred bulls died in the plagues. The very gods of Egypt were defeated in Yahweh�s judgments were visited upon the land. Jethro recognized all this as Moses gave a detailed account of what had happened in the land of Egypt, ending in the destruction of Pharaoh�s army.

Moses� father-in-law thereupon offered a sacrifice to Yahweh. Then Aaron and all the Elders of Israel came and ate bread with Moses and Jethro. The day was terminated with a great sacrifice and feast in which all the principal men of Israel took part.

�� Moses Administers Justice

When morning came (Wednesday, the 28^th) Moses sat in the place of judgment to judge the people. The people waited all day long for a hearing, each in his turn. Jethro asked Moses about this procedure and Moses informed him that the people came to him to inquire of Yahweh and he also sat in judgment on matters of controversy between the people. His decision were rendered in accordance with the statutes and laws of Yahweh. Moses referred in this way to the statutes and commandments of Yahweh before they were given to Israel, the nation, as her constitution. These laws have always been known and Moses� statement confirms the fact of the continuous existence of these laws prior to their promulgation at Mt. Sinai. Israel was soon to receive them as her constitution and it would then be her duty as a nation to administer those laws.

�� Jethro�s Advice

Jethro, watching the procedure, advised Moses that it was not an adequate method by which to carry on court procedure. He said:

�Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.� (Exodus 18:18)

Jethro then gave Moses some good counsel. He advised Moses to let the people still bring their affairs to Yahweh and be instructed in His laws. But he also counseled Moses to choose other God-fearing men from among the people:

�Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God: And thou shalt tach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work they must do. Moreover thou shalt precede out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, and rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: And let them judge the people at all season: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and God commanded thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure and all this people shall also go to their place in peace.� (Exodus 18:19-23)

�� Judges Appointed

Moses consequently listened to the suggestion of his father-in-law and put his advice into practice. He chose strong men from among the people and placed them as heads over specified groups and they judged the people at all times, bringing only the difficult matters to Moses.

Ferrar Fenton says in a footnote:

�It is evident from the record that the exile of Moses in Arabia had been a period of spiritual education under Jethro, and that the Arabs had preserved the faith of Abraham in greater purity than the Egyptised Hebrews.�

In Moses� appointment of judges to function under him we have the beginning of the civil organization or institution of the period of the judges.

Thursday, the 29^th and last day of the second Sacred month, Moses� father-in-law departed for his own land, while Israel broke camp and took up their journey, arriving in the wilderness of Sinai the next day (Friday, the first day of the third Sacred month):

�In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day same they into the wilderness of Sinai. For they were debated from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.� (Exodus 19:1-2)

The time had arrived when Israel was to be formed into a Kingdom and become the nucleus of the Kingdom of God on earth.