 | LETTER IV.
REMESES OF DAMASCUS TO THE KING HIS FATHER. The pillar of fire, or, Israel in bondage |  |
4. LETTER IV.
REMESES OF DAMASCUS TO THE KING HIS FATHER.
I have been two weeks a guest of your venerable
friend, the Hebrew, Moses. My journey across the
desert was agreeable from its novelty, and my sensations
upon the boundless waste, were combined emotions
of solitude and sublimity, similar to those I
experienced on the great sea. Our route, after leaving
the land of Egypt, continued eastward for five
days—most of the time in the Arabian desert, with
the mountains of Etham on our right, far to the south.
Having on the sixth day passed round the western horn
of the Sea of Arabia, we turned southwardly into the
desert of Shur, which terminated at the base of a low
range of hills, of mingled cliff and pasture-land. A
valley opened between, and after three days' journeying,
amid vales filled with herds and Arabian villages, we
entered a mountainous region, the sea being on our
right. Every hour the scenery became more grand and
rugged, until the ridges, constantly rising in altitude,
stretched far southwardly, and terminated in a majestic
or horns of the sea.
“That is Horeb,” said the chief of the caravan. “It
is in the land of Midian, though remote from the town
of the king. In that mountain the royal flocks are
pastured, and there you will find your father's friend,
Moses the Hebrew, either with his shepherds and flocks,
or in the retirement of his cave.”
The same evening we entered the valley of Mount
Horeb, which rose in sublime majesty, with its double
crown, far into the skies above us. We had turned an
angle of the mountain, which rose as abruptly as a
pyramid from the plain, and were entering a gorge
through which a road lay to the city of the king—a
day's journey distant—when I beheld, from my camel,
a shepherd standing upon a rock and leaning upon his
staff—his sheep reclining about him. He was a tall,
venerable man, with dark locks mingled with white,
and a beard, like snow for whiteness, that descended
over his breast. There was a majesty, and yet simplicity,
in his aspect and costume, which impressed me, as
he stood—the evening sun lighting up his kingly visage
—upon a rock, like the statue of the god of the mountain-pass.
My heart instinctively said, “This is Moses!”
“Lo! there stands the son-in-law of Jethro!” said the
merchant.
I immediately caused my camel to kneel, and descended
to the ground with haste and joy. The next
moment I was bending before thy friend, my dear
father, crying, with reverent feelings of emotion—
“I am Remeses, son of Sesostris, thy friend! Venerable
name!”
He regarded me for an instant with surprise, and
then raising me, embraced me and said, a holy radiance
of love and joy illumining his face—
“I see thy father, and hear his voice, in thee! Welcome,
my son! How fares the good king? Hast thou
ventured across the desert to see the exiled Hebrew?”
he asked, with a smile of benignity and pleasure, as he
gazed upon me. “The sight of thee brings up all the
past!”
His voice was disturbed with emotion; though I perceived
it had also a slight natural embarrassment of
speech. I related why I had come, and gave him your
messages of love. He took me to his cave, or grotto,
which is like those of the sacred priests in Lebanon.
The caravan encamped, near by, that night, and I remained
in the company of the wise and virtuous sage.
We conversed, for many hours, of you, of Tyre, of my
grandmother, of Queen Amense, of the Hebrews in
bondage, and his certain hope of their speedy deliverance.
How happy the princely old man was to hear from
you, my dear father! What a venerable and holy
friendship exists between you!—fresh and green at
fourscore, as in the fire and impulse of youth!
The next day, I accompanied him to the chief city of
Midian. There I beheld his matronly wife, Zipporah,
and his two sons, beautiful and ingenuous youth of sixteen
and eighteen. I was also presented to the venerable
Ru-el Jethro, or the King Jethro, now one hundred
and one years old, but retaining the full vigor of manhood.
he first met Moses, forty years ago.
“My seven daughters,” said the patriarchal Prince of
Midian, “were with my shepherds at the well, near the
city, drawing water for the flocks; for the prince of the
mountain having no water, had thrice sent his shepherds
to draw it from this well, when we had but little for our
own herds. I sent my daughters, thinking that they
would reverence their presence; but the mountain shepherds
would have driven them away, when a stranger,
who was seated by the well, rose up, and with great
courage chastised the assailants. Though many in number,
they fled from him in great fear, when he turned
and bade my daughters remain and heed them not; and
he helped them water the flocks.
“When they returned to me earlier than I looked for
them, I inquired the cause, and they replied—
“`An Egyptian, a mighty man of valor, delivered us
out of the hand of the shepherds, and aided us also in
drawing water for our flocks.' `Where is he?' I asked.
`Why is it that ye have left this brave stranger at the
well?' They answered: `He is an Egyptian;' for such
from his dress, and speech, and looks, they believed him
to be. I then sent my daughter Zipporah after him, to
invite him to come and eat bread with me. From that
day we became friends, and when I learned his story,
that he was a Hebrew, and like myself, a descendant of
Abram, I gave him Zipporah to wife, and he was content
to remain in the land, and is now the greatest and
wisest man in it, for God is with him.”
I was much interested in this brief account, my dear
father, and believe that you will be, as it is a connecting
wanting.
The following week, I retired with Moses to the
mountains, and here I pass my days, listening to his sublime
teachings. Not all the wisdom and learning of
Egypt can compare with his sublime knowledge. The
secrets of nature, the mysteries of creation, seem unveiled
to his intellectual vision. It is his habit to pass
an hour or two every night in prayer, upon the mountain,
beneath the silent stars, communing alone with his
God, as if he were the high-priest of the earth, Horeb
his altar, the universe his temple, and his theme the
Hebrew nation in Egypt. Ah! my dear father, if God
is to deliver them from Egypt by the hand of man, my
heart tells me that Moses will be appointed their deliverer;
for who on earth has so at heart their misery, or
supplicates Heaven so earnestly for aid in their behalf?
It is true he is an old man, seven years your senior, but
his step is as firm as mine, his eye clear and brave, his
natural force not abated, and his looks those of a man
in his prime—so healthful is this mountain life, and the
simple routine of his days.
He has written to you. I shall be the bearer of his
letter, as well as of this, which I write in the door of his
grotto, facing the valley, with the sea beyond. There
go the ships of Ezion-geber, and the galleys of Ind.
Far to the west is the blue line of the shores of Arabian
Egypt, and to the east the rocky land of Arabia,
and Eastern Midian. The prospect is sublime, and, at
this hour of sunset, while purple mists are upon the
hills, and a golden light upon the sea, it is beautiful and
serene.
I had almost neglected to inform you, that your
learned and eloquent friend Aaron, the brother of Moses,
was lately in Midian, and was, for a time, an assistant
priest of the sacrifices in the city; but has now returned
to Goshen, where he married many years ago. His
sister Miriam is here with Moses, and is one of the most
majestic women I ever beheld. She is in her ninety-fourth
year, but is as erect and buoyant in her step as
a young and resolute woman. With her snow-white
hair, piercing black eyes, and queenly mien, she looks
like the venerable priestess of the sun at Baal-Phegor.
The mother of Moses also dwells at Midian; but I
think their father died in Arabia Deserta; for thither
they fled from Egypt, before coming finally into
Midian. Aaron is spoken of here as a noble-looking
and stately priest, when, in his flowing robes, he used to
offer sacrifices according to the simple rites of the Midianites,
in the plain temple hewn from the rock, in
which they worship God.
Farewell, my dear father. I am not surprised that
you love Moses. He has won my heart.
| LETTER IV.
REMESES OF DAMASCUS TO THE KING HIS FATHER. The pillar of fire, or, Israel in bondage | |