1,018 myths · Page 33 of 34
Barred from the soil, Moses sees tribe shares, kings, ruin, and judgment. He begs to meet the Messiah and learns the Name so the Shekinah will not burn him.
Jethro brought Zipporah, whom Moses had divorced, and her two sons to a camp the cloud had sealed. He tied his letter to an arrow and shot it inside.
The bush burned and stayed green. Moses named his heavy tongue and asked for another messenger. The priesthood left his line before the fire went out.
Under Pharaoh, Jochebed vanished from hunters. In the wilderness, Moses stood in a court that never ended and finally said he could not lead alone.
An Arabian king trusted a portrait and physiognomists. Moses said every ugly trait they read was his by nature, then showed what will had rewritten.
Moses, who once walked the brick yards urging Israel not to break, draws a circle and refuses to step out until God shortens Miriam's shame.
Moses begged to enter the land. God told him the desert dead needed their captain for the resurrection, so Kadesh became the public reason he stayed outside.
Angels leaned over the Nile and shouted that the baby scheduled to sing at the sea was about to drown in it. God refused to hurry. The basket did not tip.
Moses spoke first to the elders, not the camp. They put their names beside his while Pharaoh's anger was still a live risk.
On the edge of Nebo, Moses scolded Israel harder than Sinai had. The mountain once called sword watched him finish the work.
Every morning Moses took the middle of the path to the Tent. One day he stepped to the right and set Aaron where the camp would have to look.
Moses went back to the mountain that had smoked for him. He asked it to speak. The ridge remembered fire and would not go near God again.
Twelve princes laid gold on the altar for twelve days. Levi brought nothing the camp could watch. God answered with a wick.
Trapped between walls of water, Egyptian soldiers argued whether the storm was weather or war. The sober named God too late to leave the seabed.
He had talked heaven out of destroying Israel twice. On the riverbank he used the softest word in the language, and the answer was still no.
He cut a line in the plaster after every blow. If a plague had a length, he could wait it out and send the overseers back to the bricks.
After the sea fell, Israel saw Egyptian corpses on the water and tried to turn back home, until Moses raised his staff and forced the march toward the mountain.
Young Moses wins a weekly rest for the brickmakers. Years later the Israelite foremen absorb Pharaoh's lashes and meet him with curses at the gate.
Moses names Nissan for redemption. Israel points at Egypt's idol peaks. God leaps the mountains of their sin the way dew lifts a lily from Esau's shadow.
The meat left the plate. The cups emptied without a wet lip. Abraham kept serving men who had no hunger, and the desert later ate from that hand.
Moses built the Mishkan beam by beam as the Lord commanded, then stood outside while the Name filled the house. Heaven refused to leave him at the door.
The boy would not step past the gate. Robbers waited in the hills, pirates on the water. His father sealed an amulet in a stick and pressed it into his palm.
Moses carried the promise into brick-dust streets. A woman turned a small clay figure in her palm until it warmed. A man kept his eyes on the floor.
Chariot dust rose behind them. Water stood in front. Moses told them to keep silent and exalt while horses closed on the shore.
After Moses struck the taskmaster, Pharaohs hunters closed in. God did not kill them. He emptied their mouths, ears, and eyes mid-chase.
A man reached for his brother's wrist in the dark and it did not close. They buried the unwilling before Egypt could see the graves.
At Sinai the camp demanded to hear and see the King, not a messenger. God said yes. The voice then drove them the full length of their camp.
The census came up short. Israel counted 22,273 firstborn sons and only 22,000 Levites, so 273 fathers paid five shekels each and watched the silver go.
The inn doorway filled until the lamp flame bent. Moses hit the boards. Zipporah already had a river stone cold in her hand.
After the shroud is knotted, a righteous soul slips under the purple-blue Throne of Glory and waits for resurrection in the dark of sapphire.
