University of Virginia Library

7. LETTER VII.
AARON TO KING SESOSTRIS.

Pardon, O king, thy servant, for addressing an
epistle to thee; but when thou art informed of the reason
which has led me to take this liberty, thou wilt, I
feel, acquit me of too great boldness.

Know, O King Sesostris, that my brother, thy beloved
friend, who wrote the letter which I send to thee with
this epistle (and which he himself would have forwarded,
but for what I am about to relate), has fled from Egypt,
pursued by the vindictive power of Pharaoh. I will, as
briefly as I can, make known to thee the painful circumstances
which led to this result.

The morning after he had completed his letter to thee,
O king, he said to me, “I will go forth and see my
brethren who are at work on Lake Mœris, that I may
talk also with the old and young men, and inspire their
heavy hearts with hope.” So he departed, and, crossing
the river, disguised as an Egyptian,—for no Hebrew
dare now be seen walking alone for fear of being challenged
by the soldiers, who garrison all the country,
and stand guard at every corner, and at every gate,—

he came to the shores of Lake Amense, the beauty of
which, with its garden and palace-lined shores, so much
pleased thee, O king, when, five years ago, thou wast in
Egypt. There he saw King Mœris clothed in scarlet,
a chain of gold across his breast, standing in his chariot,
as he slowly drove around the lake, giving directions to
the chief captains over the works. My brother was
not recognized by him, however, and went on his way,
observing the severe labors of his brethren. In the two
hours that he was there, he saw three strong men lie
down in the foul water and die! At length, coming to
a place where several young and old men were working
together, he beheld such cruelty exercised upon them,
that he groaned in spirit, and prayed the Almighty to
shorten the days of the four hundred years, and come to
their deliverance. Unable longer to behold sufferings
that he could not relieve, he walked sadly away, deeply
meditating upon the mysterious providence of the Almighty,
in His dealings with the seed of His servant
Abraham. After a little time he found himself in a
narrow, sand-drifted lane, between two walls, when he
was suddenly aroused from his reflections by a cry of
pain, accompanied by sharp blows with a stick. He
looked up, and spied an Egyptian taskmaster dragging
by the hair Izhur, a youth whom he greatly loved.
The Egyptian had pursued him, as he fled up the lane
from his blows, and was now plainly intent, in his great
wrath, upon putting him to death.

My brother, indignant and grieved, commanded him
in a tone of authority to release him; whereupon the
Egyptian, cursing him by his gods, drew his knife from
its sheath, and would in revenge have driven it into the

heart of Izhur, when Moses caught his arm, and bade
the young man fly. The Egyptian, thereupon, would
have slain my brother, who, looking this way and that,
and seeing they were alone, struck him to the earth
with one blow of his hand, in the name of the God of
Abraham, the Avenger of his people, so that he died on
the spot! He then hid the body in the sand, and returned
home, where he made known to me what he
had done.

“Surely,” I said, in amazement, “thou art the first
Hebrew, my brother, who hath slain an Egyptian. A
divine motion must have moved thee! Peradventure it
is by thy arm that he will yet deliver his people!”

Thereupon my brother, with his characteristic modesty,
said—

“Not mine! not mine, my brother! Breathe into
my heart no such ambitious pride! Yet I felt moved
and animated by God to do this. Therefore do I justify
the act to man and my own conscience.”

The next day, my brother visited the lake again, intending
to make its circuit, and see certain elders to
whom he wished to make himself known,—men wise
and good, who were superintending the work of others
of their own people. On his way he perceived two
Hebrews striving together, and as he came up, one of
them struck the other with his working tool, so that he
staggered from the blow.

“Sirs, ye are brethren,” he said; “why do ye strive
together, seeing ye are brethren?”—and then added,
sternly and sorrowfully, to the one who had struck the
blow—

“Friend, why hast thou done this wrong? He whom

thou hast stricken is a Hebrew. Do not your taskmasters
beat you enough, that you must strike each other?”

Whereupon the man who did the injury to his fellow,
said fiercely, looking narrowly upon my brother—

“Thou art Remeses, the Hebrew `son of Pharaoh's
daughter!' I remember thee. Dost thou think that
thou art still a Prince of Egypt? Mœris is now our
king. Who hath made thee prince and judge over us?
Thou forgettest that thou art now a slave, like the rest of
us. Intendest thou to kill me as thou killedst the Egyptian
yesterday?”

No sooner had the man thus spoken, than Moses,
alarmed, perceived that the thing was known, and beholding
the eyes of the Egyptian officers, and many of
the Hebrews fastened upon him, he hastened to escape,
for he beheld several men run to a high officer of the
king, as if with the news, who at once drove rapidly
away in his chariot, probably seeking Mœris, whom my
brother knew to be not far off, superintending the
placing of a statue of Horus upon a new terrace. Several
Hebrews would have interposed to arrest Moses,
when they heard who he was, for they look upon him
more as an Egyptian than as one of their brethren. But
he succeeded in retiring unharmed, and at once hastened
to recross the Nile. When he had told us that what he
had done to the Egyptian was known, and that he was
recognized, and that Mœris would surely hear of it, his
mother and I advised his immediate flight.

He said that he had no doubt the king would seek his
destruction, and that he ought to be cautious and consult
his own preservation. “But,” he added, “I do not fear
the wrath of Pharaoh so far that, were I in his power, I

would either deny, excuse, or ask pardon for my act
What I have done I will justify. The oppressor deserved
to die! And so, one day, will God, by the hand
of a Hebrew, slay Pharaoh and all his hosts!” This
was spoken with the light of prophecy in his noble face,
as if his words were inspiration. When Amram, his
father, came in, and heard all, he said—

“The God of Jacob be glorified! There is one man
in Israel to whom He has given courage to smite the
oppressor of his people! Fly, my son! Fly not for
fear, for thou art a brave man and hast been a tried
soldier; but fly to preserve a life which my spirit tells
me will yet be dear to our people!”

“My father,” said Moses sorrowfully, “I believed
that my brethren would understand that God was with
me, and would acknowledge me as sent to be their
friend, instead of joining the Egyptians against me! I
will fly! Mœris would rejoice to hold me in his power!
But with the hope, that even in a foreign land I may
serve my people, at least by prayer and supplication
to God for them, I will keep my life out of Pharaoh's
hand.”

In the garb of an Egyptian, with a store of provisions,
and taking gold in his purse, my brother embraced us
all, and departed from the house, my mother weeping
and saying—

“A second time have I given up my son from the
sword of Pharaoh,—once to the waters and now to the
desert sands!”

“And the waters, O woman,” said my father, “gave
him to be a prince of Egypt, and from the sands of the
desert God can call him to be king over Israel!”

I looked into my venerable father's face, for often of
late years he is gifted with prophetic inspirations, and I
saw that his aged eyes shone with a supernatural lustre.
My brother returned a few steps, again embraced his
mother, bowed his head before his father for his blessing,
arose, and went on his way eastward. I accompanied
him for an hour, when tenderly embracing we parted—
he taking the way towards Midian. Ru-el Jethro, the
lord of that country, O king, which was settled by
Midian, son of Abram, by Keturah, thou didst meet at
the table of thy friend “Remeses,” when thou wast in
Egypt, at which time, thou mayst remember, he invited
my brother to visit his kingdom in Arabia.

It was well for Moses that he so thoroughly knew
the character of King Mœris; for when I returned, I
learned from my mother, that a party of soldiers had
been sent by Pharaoh to seize him. Another hour, and
he would have fallen into his hand.

At my mother's request, O king, I have written the
foregoing, and now inclose his letter to you. I had no
sooner entered my house, than I saw my parents and
sister preparing to fly from the king, fearing his vengeance
when he should learn of the escape of Moses!
Not that Pharaon cared for the life of the slain Egyptian,
but he would gladly seize upon the occasion, as a
pretext to destroy his former rival.

May God long preserve thy life, O king,