 | The Poetical Works of (Richard Monckton Milnes) Lord Houghton |  |
III. MOSES ON MOUNT SINAI.
There is a Hebrew tradition that the Israelites asked two things of God, —to hear his voice and see his glory: these were granted them, and in consequence they fell down dead: but the Law (which is here a personality) addressed God, saying, “Shall a king give his daughter in marriage and destroy his own household? Thou hast given me to the world which rejoices in me, and shall the Israelites, thy children, perish?” Upon this, the dead were restored to life; for “the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” Ps. xix. 7. The Kuràn limits the vision of God to Moses. The leading events of that Prophet's life are there given with little variation from the Jewish scriptures: the events connected with the departure of the Jews from Egypt have, of course, afforded much scope to traditions of the marvellous. One miracle ascribed to him, as being exhibited for the terror of Pharaoh, is very picturesque, viz., that he was a most swarthy man, but when he placed his hand in his bosom, and drew it forth again, it became extremely white and splendid, surpassing the brightness of the sun.
From Sinai's sandy ridges rose aloft,
Osarsiph, priest of Hieropolis,
Now Moses named, ascending reverently
To meet and hear the bidding of the Lord.
But, though he knew that all his ancient lore
Traditionary from the birth of Time,
And all that power which waited on his hand,
Even from the day his just instinctive wrath
Had smote th' Egyptian ravisher, and all
Were nothing in the presence of his God;
Yet was there left a certain seed of pride,
Vague consciousness of some self-centred strength,
That made him cry, “Why, Lord, com'st thou to me,
Only a voice, a motion of the air,
A thing invisible, impalpable,
Leaving a void, an unreality,
Within my heart? I would, with every sense,
Know thou wert there—I would be all in Thee!
Let me at least behold Thee as Thou art;
Disperse this corporal darkness by thy light;
Hallow my vision by thy glorious form,
So that my sense be blest for evermore!”
As in low thunders over distant seas:—
A hollow trench divides the cliffs of sand,
Widen'd by rains and deepened every year.
Gaze straight across it, for there opposite
To where thou standest, I will place myself,
And then, if such remain thy fixed desire,
I will descend to side by side with thee.”
And the air darkened, and a lordly bird
Poised in the midst of its long-journeying flight,
And touched his feet with limp and fluttering wings
And all the air around, above, below,
That separate tones were undistinguishable,
And Moses fell upon his face, as dead.
Yet life and consciousness of life returned;
And, when he raised his head, he saw no more
The deep ravine and mountain opposite,
But one large level of distracted rocks,
With the wide desert quaking all around.
And prayed—“O! pardon the presumptuous thought,
That I could look upon thy face and live:
Wonder of wonders! that mine ear has heard
Thy voice unpalsied, and let such great grace
Excuse the audacious blindness that o'erleaps
Nature's just bounds and thy discerning will!”
| The Poetical Works of (Richard Monckton Milnes) Lord Houghton | |