THE EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY OF MOSES: A Prophet tested by Pharaoh and later on by the Israelites

THE EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY

OF

MOSES

A Prophet tested by Pharaoh and later on by the Israelites

M. TARIQUL

First Edition: 2023

ISBN: 979-8-9894801-2-8

Cover photo credit: Munny Aktary

Moses, a prophet admired by the followers of three religions. 

At his birth, he was destined to be killed by the soldiers of Pharaoh but eventually adopted by the family of Pharaoh. 

​Accidentally killed a man at a young age and went into exile for a number of years. 

​One night in the desert, climbed a mountain pursuing a light for guidance but ended up having a direct conversation with God. 

​Confronted the mighty Pharaoh as a messenger of God to rescue the Israelites from the horrific oppression. 

​But, after the exodus, life became more difficult due to the rebellious Israelites.

​Died without realizing his dream of living in the promised land.

It’s a book about the extraordinary life journey of Moses, where you also can know how the Children of Israel, who used to live in Canaan, ended up in Egypt in the first place.

CONTENTS

The Pharaoh

Birth of Moses

Adopted by the Family of Pharaoh

Accidentally killed someone

Exile to the Midian region

Direct conversation with God

Confrontation with Pharaoh

Showdown with the Magicians

End of Pharaoh and his kingdom

Israelites got the freedom

Blessed food and water for the Israelites

Revelation of Torah

Israelites worshiped a golden Calf

Punishment for the idol worshiping

Israelites were continuously disobedient

Moses’s Journey with Khidir

Israelites disobey the command to enter Jerusalem

Death of Prophet Moses

Story of Prophet Joseph

Reflection and Learnings

References

THE PHARAOH

In ancient Egypt, Pharaoh was the title for the ruler of their kingdom, and throughout much of ancient history, Egyptians followed polytheistic religions; they called the sun 'Ra' and worshipped it as their supreme deity. They believed that all Pharaohs were the descendants of the sun god, Ra.

Geographically, the Egyptian civilization developed along the Nile River mainly because the river's annual flooding ensured reliable, rich soil for growing crops.

During the birth and lifetime of Moses, there was a tyrant Pharaoh, who used to rule the kingdom by dividing the people into different classes in society. Among the population, ethnically there were two groups, Copts, the indigenous, and Israelites, who migrated from the Canaan region (present-day Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria) around a century back.

Israelites were the descendants of the Prophet Israel (Jacob), the grandson of the Prophet Abraham. The religion of the Israelites was monotheistic; they believed in one God, as their forefather Prophet Abraham believed and preached.

Throughout history, Divide and rule has been an effective formula for any tyrant to cling to Power. A unified force is the biggest threat to their oppression and corruption. In a divided society, if one group can enjoy some undue benefit by oppressing the other group, they can never form a unified front that favors the tyrant ruler. Pharaoh used the same strategy during his reign.

Israelites were the people oppressed most by the Pharaoh; he enslaved and forced them to do all sorts of mean and hard work for the Coptic people and kingdom. Israelites did not have any human rights, let alone civil rights. They used to live in ghettos; their movements were restricted and monitored by the soldiers.

One day, Pharaoh had a dream in which he saw a fire emerge from the direction of present-day Jerusalem-Syria, which burnt all the Coptic people and their dwellings but did not harm the Israelites.

Pharaoh was deeply upset to have seen such a bizarre dream. He gathered all the priests, soothsayers, and sorcerers asked them to interpret the dream, to which they predicted,

A boy will be born in the Israelites, who will cause the fall of your kingdom.

Upon listening to this, Pharaoh ordered to kill all the baby boys going to be born in the Israelites but spare the girls [1]. 

This utterly barbaric oppression continued for many years. Spies of Pharaoh used to monitor the pregnant women of the Israelites. When the babies were born, soldiers killed them immediately if it was a boy.

But killing all the newborn boy babies alarmed a new problem for the people and kingdom. They complained to the Pharaoh that there would be shortages of laborers in the future for the hard work, which the Coptic people did not or could not do. Hearing that complaint, the Pharaoh decided to kill the newborn boys every alternative year.

Killing thousands of newborn babies just for the fear of losing the kingship was the height of crossing any limit any tyrant could think of. Which just demonstrated what type of evil and oppressive mind the Pharaoh had.

The Coptic population of that time was equally guilty of that barbaric oppression. For their own livelihood and comfortable life, they not only agreed to enslave the Israelites but also supported the killing of the Israelites' babies by the Pharaoh.

And how helpless were the Israelites that they could not even protest against the killing of their newborn babies? Which continued for years.

BIRTH OF MOSES

The mother of Moses was pregnant, but she kept it hidden very carefully, and it was the year of killing. It may be easy to hide the pregnancy, but how can one conceal a newborn child?

So, when the baby Moses was born, God inspired in the mind of Moses’s mother,

Suckle him, but when you fear for him, cast him into the river, and do not fear or grieve. We will certainly return him to you [2].

When a baby suckles and drinks his mother’s milk for the first time, a connection and relation are established immediately between them. The Baby never forgets that taste of milk and the warm feeling of the mother’s lap. Moreover, if the baby was hungry, naturally, it could cry, which might draw the attention of the Pharaoh’s spies and soldiers. So, after suckling him, she did float baby Moses into the river.

A mother had to float her baby into a basket on a river like the Nile! What was her mental state at that time? She might have saved him from the soldiers of the Pharaoh, but his life was still in great danger. He might have drowned in the river or been attacked by crocodiles because, at that time, the Nile was the home of hippos and crocodiles.

With all those fears, she asked her daughter to follow the basket where it was going [3]. And she followed him very diligently, always keeping an eye on the floating basket but not as such that others' attention could be diverted to it, which might have endangered her brother’s life. Quite an intelligent girl she was.

ADOPTED BY THE FAMILY OF PHARAOH

The basket carrying Moses floated all the way to the castle of Pharoh. Pharaoh's wife, Asiya, might be having leisure time near the blank of the river, noticed the basket and asked a slave to bring it to her. Pharaoh and Asiya did not have any babies. So, when she saw the cute baby Moses, she instinctively felt a sudden surge of love for him.

She knew very well what was supposed to happen with this baby, so she took baby Moses to the Pharaoh and said to him.

This baby is a source of joy for me and you. Do not kill him; Perhaps he may be useful to us.

She tried to convince Pharaoh that when this cute baby grew up, he could help them as a slave. When she saw no rejection from her husband, she pushed for more by saying,

We can adopt him as a son [4]. Pharaoh agreed reluctantly.

As the Pharaoh agreed to adopt the baby, the infant Moses became the prince and he needed breastfeeding. Several wet nurses were engaged to breastfeed him, but he did not accept anyone’s milk and kept crying. That caused them to look for new wet nurses.

Moses’s sister was wandering outside the palace to know her brother's status. When some royal maids came out and were looking for wet nurses for a baby, she offered her help to them by suggesting,

Shall I direct you to a family who will bring him up for you and take good care of him? [5].

She directed them to her own house, but the maids did not know that. They took Moses’s mother to the palace, and the baby happily suckled milk from her breast. This is how God fulfilled his promise made to Moses’s mother by reuniting her with the baby [6].

The life of Moses was not only saved from Pharaoh’s killing order but he was even adopted by the Pharaoh.

ACCIDENTALLY KILLED SOMEONE

Moses was a young and mature man then. God blessed him with intelligence and wisdom. He was growing up in the palace of the Pharoh, so naturally was aware of the affairs of the kingdom. As there were some noticeable differences in physical appearance and skin color between the Copts and the Israelites, Moses had the idea by that time to which racial group he belonged.

He used to visit the city and witnessed the cruelty with which the Israelites were treated. His praiseworthy qualities were doing good and helping others in need [7].

One day, he was walking around the city