Moses, Man of the Mountain (20 page)

“We would have a better chance, Moses, if you led us. You’re a great fighting man of experience.”

“Joshua, I done laid down the sword altogether. It wouldn’t do for me to be seen with a sword in my hand. I am the man of God. But I’m going to fight them just the same, and I don’t aim to touch a sword. You’ll get help from me.”

“How you going to do it, then?”

“I’m going to mount that hill yonder with my rod in my hand and fight ’em with powers. I’m going to be there with the rod of God in my right hand and, Joshua, they can’t win. Otherwise they would whip our raw fighting men before noontime. I got to be there with my rod.”

The next morning Moses took Aaron and Hur with him and climbed the hill before dawn. The Israelites and the Amalekites were on opposite sides of another hill close by. The Amalekites hustled around getting ready to attack the Hebrews as soon as the former got enough men, not dreaming that the desperate Hebrews were ready to fight. Moses had instructed Joshua to have his men drawn up and ready before daylight. When he reached the top of the hill with Aaron and Hur, he would wave a torch of fire just once. Then Joshua must rush down the hillside and fall upon the enemy with fury. At that moment, Moses would lift his hands against the Amalekites and Israel must win that day or be Israel no more.

Joshua went among his six hundred thousand poorly armed fighting men and encouraged them as he woke up the camp. Then all was ready. He looked to his sword, balanced his heavy-handled spear and stood poised on the hilltop above the sleeping Amalekites and waited. The fiery signal came and Joshua charged down the hillside and began to crowd the enemy camp. The Amalekites were pushed back and back. And Moses stood with outstretched arms, fighting for Israel with his powers. He was calling on the invisible powers from Mount Sinai to fight and they fought for him. The untrained ex-slaves fought like old veterans and drove the hard-pressed Amalekites from point to point.

Then Moses began to feel the weight of his arms. Against his will they began to sink a little.

“Aaron,” he said tensely, “my arms are falling. Our men will lose and they just can’t lose now.”

“Don’t let ’em fall, Moses!” Hur and Aaron begged.

“You think I want ’em to fall?” Moses asked. “Trouble is they done got too heavy for me.” With dismay, they saw his
arms slowly sinking to his sides. But they saw something more. They saw the tide of battle turn. The Amalekites suddenly made a stand. They took the impact of the on-rushing Hebrews and hurled them back. Messengers came running to Moses from Joshua to ask him what to do. Moses sent back word what to do. Then his strength came back in his arms and he lifted and pointed his rod and strength flowed back into Israel again. The old men and women crowded hilltops and looked down on the battlefield and chanted. When the arms of Moses were up a high bragging chant filled the valley of strife. Then Moses’ arms sank again and Israel was pressed hard, the nation of Israel muttered like sleeping thunder in the dark. And that was the way the fighting went all day. And Moses’ strength was almost gone. He sat on the ground too tired to lift his head.

“Look and tell me, Aaron, how is Israel making out down there?”

“Pretty poorly, Moses. As far as I can make out from here, it looks like it’s a big retreat.”

“We can’t lose, Aaron. We just can’t lose. I keep on telling you. It’ll be the breaking up of everything. We got to win. You all help me to my feet. I got to get my hands up as high as my head if it kills me. Help me up, you all!”

They got Moses up. The nation round about the fight was moaning low. Moses got up and his hands went high above his head and the Hebrews went to winning again, but they had lost a lot of blood. Then Moses felt his arms settling down and he looked through a dark cloud and saw the future of Israel. Beaten, dishanded and what was left of it, slaves again. The star of Israel sank with his hands. Suddenly he cried out to Aaron and said, “Come here, Aaron! Come here you two! Here, shove that big high rock under me so I can sit down. I just can’t stand up no more. Now, Aaron, you stand here at my right hand and Hur you come stand at my left. Hold up my hands and I’ll send the powers to fight our battle.”

Moses managed to stay on his tired feet until Hur and Aaron rolled the rock up behind him for a seat. “Now you all,
prop me up on every leaning side. Don’t let my hands fall. Aaron, you and Hur. We’re holding up the world with these hands.”

So the almost beaten and discouraged Israel staged a desperate rally to gain ground they had lost time and time again. Joshua stormed positions that seemed too strong to take and took them. He was thinking to himself, “I got to win for us else we won’t be nobody. What’s left of us will be less than we was in Egypt. There won’t be no new God and no new nation if I don’t win. I got to win for Moses. He done give all his life and his powers to us. Him and me got to win.” So he led desperately and furiously and at darkfall stood master of a truly bloody battleground. And the surrounding chant of Israel was high and hoarse. Joshua surveyed the field and called his weary men to him and complimented them. “Rest yourselves the best way you can right where you are while I go up the hill and hear what else Moses wants us to do.” So he climbed the hill to where Moses stood with his tired arms and shining eyes. Joshua took off his blood-soaked shoes when he stood before Moses and bowed his head.

“Nothing for you to hang your head about, Joshua,” Moses told him. “You had a fight today that was a fight. Egypt’s best general could not have beaten you today, not the way you fought and led.”

“Thank you for your compliments, Moses. But if you hadn’t of lifted up your arms—you whipped them Amalekites, Moses. All I did was to carry your sword for you.” The two men stood face to face and embraced each other with eye-looks. Then they shook hands with a tight grip. “We brought them out from under Pharaoh with a high hand, Joshua. We crossed the sea on dry land. We have fought and conquered a nation today. So now we are ready for the mountain of God. Let’s march to Sinai.”

M
oses spent the whole next day counting up and dividing the spoils taken from the Amalekites. Horses, cows, mules, camels, women, wine and jewelry, and household vessels of gold and silver. So Moses was tired when night fell and went to bed early. He sent word for everybody to get plenty of rest in the next three days because in that time the sick and wounded from the battle ought to be up and around again. Then they would once more be on the march. The next camp would be the wilderness of Sinai, at the foot of the shiny mountain, whose mists veiled the presence of God.

Soon one morning they broke camp and set out on the road to Sinai. Miriam and Aaron came knocking at Moses’ door just before he stepped out to see about the line of march. They stood still and waited for him to say something first.

“Good morning, folks, you’re around sort of early this morning.”

“It’s time we was around some place,” Miriam said and flung her head and gave a sort of wink to her hips. “The way things is going round here we ought to done been round your tent door.”

Moses looked at both of them very hard and let them talk.

Aaron saw Miriam looking at him right hard so he tightened
his face up and said, “We ain’t being treated right, Miriam and me. Ain’t no ifs and ands about it. We just done had the hog run over us, that’s all.”

“I’m not surprised at either one of you talking like you do, but I wish
you
would tell me why you do.”

“Don’t try to make out you’re dumb now, Moses. You ain’t nobody’s fool. And we ain’t neither. Here we done whipped old Pharaoh down and took this nation of people away from him and brought ’em safe across the Red Sea and done I don’t know what all in these three months, let alone whipping them Amalekites and here you don’t give us no credit at all. You and Joshua is everything and me and Aaron ain’t nothing. And we’re the very ones that got this thing together and kept it together all down the line.”

“You done just fine down in Egypt, both of you.”

“We’re mighty glad to hear you own up to it,” Aaron said in an ugly tone of voice. “Well, all right now, if we been all that help to you how come you don’t show by giving us more offices and honors? Looks like we could have a badge of some kind and some regalia to wear in front of the people so they could know we’re the three head bosses of Israel.”

“And another thing, Aaron forgot to mention, is this Joshua who got his mouth stuck in everything. You got to put that young rooster in his place and make him stay in it. He’s getting too biggity and sassy for any good use. Him giving orders to men with whiskers just like he was some priest and prophet.”

“Don’t worry,” Moses said calmly, “that Joshua is going to be put in his place and I’ll see to it myself that he stays in it. Now down in Egypt I promised both of you places of preference and you are going to get just what I promised as soon as things can be organized. That will be after we get to Mount Sinai. Now what else you got to say, say it quick so we can go.”

“Well,” Aaron said, “you know back in Egypt, Miriam was a big prophet and people come to find out things from her. But since we been out here, she don’t get no recognition no more.”

“You can’t hold me responsible for that, can you?”

“Looks like you could stand her up before the people and tell ’em that you back her up as a prophet and look on her as a great one on—er—on equality with the best. It would mean a whole lot to her.”

“Well, I tell you all, it’s like this. You will get all I promised you back in Egypt. I recognize that you need rich regalia to dress in to keep you from feeling like slaves again, and I will see to it in a lavish way. But don’t look for too much else. The Lord usually gives a man what he is worth. The question before the house is, how much are you going to be worth to the people on this journey, not how much the people are going to be worth to you. And leaders have to be people who give up things. They ain’t made out of people who grab things. Well, goodbye, see you after Sinai.”

Three days later Israel was camped at the foot of Mount Sinai. And Moses pitched his tent exactly at the foot of the eminence with all of Israel behind him. They looked towards Moses and Moses looked towards the mountain.

Joshua asked Moses, “Will you go up this evening, Moses?”

“No, Joshua. The shiny mountain is there in front of me and there are the people behind me that the Voice from the mountain told me to bring. But I can’t go up there till I get a sign.”

So Israel camped in the wilderness before Sinai and waited for the Lord to speak. Way into the night as Moses sat in the door of his tent watching the top of the mountain, he said out loud, “Well, Lord, here is Israel.” But the mountain was dark and silent. It seemed as if the first man had never been on earth, so far as the mountain knew.

The next day there was great excitement. The people saw a retinue coming mounted on camels, donkeys and horses. There were outriders and glimpses of glittering metal as the sun touched here and there on the caravan as it came in sight around the mountain. The people, fresh from one battle, wanted to know who the travelers were and what they wanted. Some rushed back after swords and spears when they saw the armed outriders and the splendor of the equipment. Joshua, lounging outside the tent, saw them and called Moses to come
and look. “Must I choose out some fighting men and go challenge ’em before they get here and challenge us?” he wanted to know.

As soon as Moses could make out the white stallion at the head of the procession he knew who it was. Jethro had gotten his message and was coming to meet him. He could tell that was old Jethro on the racing camel right behind the white horse. He climbed up on a high rock and waved his hand in a certain way and Jethro broke out of the procession and came galloping up to Moses at top speed. Jethro put on a fierce scowl and came up looking every inch the stern patriarch, which was what he intended to do. He really wanted to grin from ear to ear when he caught sight of Moses but he thought that wouldn’t do under the circumstances. And Moses had his company manners on, too. He jumped down off the rock and ran forward to the door of his tent. He had Joshua to help Jethro to dismount, then he himself ran and knelt down so low before Jethro that his head touched the ground. That made Jethro feel big for Moses to kneel before him like that before all the people. But in a second he touched Moses on the shoulder and whispered, “Get up out of that dirt, Moses. I know that I’m your father-in-law and all that, but me and you don’t have to put on all these airs with one another, do we? Not after all these years, do we?” The formality of it made Jethro feel cold and distant from his friend.

Moses got on up. “Of course we don’t need no airs for each other, Jethro. I just didn’t want these folks to think I didn’t give my father-in-law the right respect.”

“Oh, is that the way it was?” Jethro asked and laughed with relief. “Both of us putting on outside show to the world. Now let’s be ourselves.”

“Well, Jethro, I see you got my message and come. That makes me as happy as two men. How’s my wife and children?”

“Just as fine as silk. I brought ’em all along because they wouldn’t let me leave ’em behind.”

“I’m mighty glad of that. I’m just dying to see my wife.”

“Oh, she’ll be glad to see you again, too. She all dressed up
so till it would take a doctor to tell her how near she is dressed to death.”

Moses laughed heartily, and Jethro went on. “Zipporah always was sort of queeny-like in her ways. Just give her the least excuse and she’ll put her trunk on her back and the lid on her head.”

“I brought her some more jewelry out of Egypt and a few Amalekite pieces I saved for her from the stuff after the battle.”

“I don’t know where she’s going to put it. She ain’t got a finger nor a toe left uncovered. If all them necklaces she got on don’t choke her to death I’d sure like to know the reason why. All her life, my daughter’s been going around looking for a throne to sit on.”

“Let me go greet her and make her welcome and get you all camped and everything. Then you and me can sit and talk like we used to, only I got plenty to tell you this time.”

“Well, don’t let Zipporah tie you up the way she always does. This is the greatest day we ever spent together and we got to talk.”

Moses hurried off to where Zipporah and her attendants were gathered. The male attendants had dismounted and were standing by their mounts as rigid as ramrods. But Zipporah still sat her racing camel with its splendid accoutrements. Moses made a low bow before her and helped her to dismount.

“You look very beautiful, Zipporah,” he told her.

“Still?” she asked him with great happiness in her voice.

“Still and always, Zipporah. Come on into my tent while your own is being set up.”

He took her hand and they started towards his tent.

“But where did you get all the retainers and guards and what not?” he asked with a sly smile. “You are as elegant as Pharaoh.”

“Oh, you know those are papa’s servants with a few extra Kenites for show. But I wasn’t coming here before all these
people looking cheap. I’m the wife of Moses and Jethro’s daughter.”

She saw his face looking solemn and asked timidly, “You aren’t mad with me, are you?”

“Oh, no, Zipporah, not at all.”

“Well, what are you so frowned up about then?”

“You have come upon me in a solemn moment in my life. It’s solemn for me, and for Jethro and for the people, and in a way for you too, Zipporah.”

“Why? Oh, are you going to be King?”

“Oh, no, nothing like that. But you see, personally, my carefree days are over for a long, long time. I’m a leader now. It is a great hour for Jethro because his wish of a lifetime is fulfilled in part at least. For the people, an unsettled new life, and now they are here to meet a new God, and for the God to see them and pass on them. I don’t suppose this ever happened before in the world and it might never happen again. And so far as you are concerned, you have lost the husband you used to have. I’m a leader now, and you’ll have to suffer for it along with me.”

“I’m still loving you, Moses. You see that I’m marching into your tent behind you just like that night—the night we got married, don’t you? It’s not all pride that keeps my bosom thrust out. There’s some love there, too, Moses.”

“That makes me real happy, Zipporah. We can talk about other things now. You can tell me about the children, and how Jethro is feeling about the great undertaking and everything tonight. Are these some of the clothes you bought recently? You wear your clothes better than Pharaoh’s daughter. The womenfolks are admiring you too. Look all around you.”

“I see them. Isn’t that Miriam—that bitter-looking old woman over there?”

“That’s right. She looks as if her face had fallen into disuse years ago.”

“Oh, she just has the look of never having been loved. She has that terrible look of never having been nuded by a man.
I don’t want her near me if I can help it. What on earth is all that she’s got on?”

“Don’t take it too seriously. It’s her idea of what a leading woman ought to look like. She’s the leader of the women of Israel, you know.”

“Oh, is she?”

“And she feels she should be Leader-in-Chief. She has more brains and more courage, too, than Aaron, but no talent for leadership. Too spiteful and bitter. Life has been cruel to her. Don’t judge her.”

“She looks as if she’s already judging
me
. She’s the one you ought to speak to, not me. Go tell her to take that look off of her face. She doesn’t look like she’s expecting to meet God at all.” She laughed and pinched Moses to make him laugh too. But he was solemn.

“Well, here we are at my tent. I’m sorry it can’t be the jovial informal place that our tent is back home. This is the tent of the leader, with messengers and others running in and out all the time. But your own tent will be private.”

At the door of the tent Zipporah looked back and saw that a great crowd, mostly women and children, were following them at a respectful distance. They had seen her come and watched her in growing numbers as she sat on her camel waiting for Moses to welcome her. More had seen her dismount, and that was when Miriam elbowed her way through the crowd to glare at her.

When Miriam showed herself through the growing crowd of awe-struck women, it was her intention herself to welcome Zipporah and as the leader of Israel’s womanhood, impress herself and her office upon the wife of Moses. But the glitter and glamour of Zipporah’s entourage and the poise and elegance of Zipporah herself had balked Miriam. She burst through the crowd and just stood there staring and glaring. The sight of the daughter of Jethro in her finery carried Miriam back to that morning long ago when she had seen the daughter of Pharaoh bathing in the Nile.

Miriam was very unhappy at sight of Zipporah. She knew
that all the feminine eyes of Israel saw the wife of Moses just as she did. They were bound to be impressed and to fall in behind her if she but beckoned. Miriam looked at her own rough clothing which was hung with jewelry that had been taken in battle, then turned her eyes away from the fine raiment of the woman on the camel. She looked again and saw well-cared-for hands and feet of Zipporah, and looked at her own gnarled fists and her square feet all twisted and coarsened by slavery, and almost snarled out loud. She, Miriam, had had so little in her life and now this place she had won by hard work and chance was being taken from her by the looks of a Prince’s daughter who hadn’t done anything but deck herself to come here and bewitch the eyes of foolish women! Miriam boiled with anger and a sense of injustice. So she snarled and said things to the women about her.

“Look at the hussy! Look what is getting down off that camel, will you! Somebody to come queen it over us poor people and rob us. Look at her trying to look like Mrs. Pharaoh! That Moses and his tricks. Fooling me and Aaron to do all the hard work for him down in Egypt and telling us all he meant to do for us as soon as he got to Sinai. Then soon as he got here, before he can talk to God, he got to send for that woman to put her over me! I’ll show him. I’ll show her too. I don’t aim to be robbed out of my labor like that. Just look at her—the way she walks.”