Signs and Wonders

by Bernard Evslin

  Moses said: “You complain against me, but you anger the Lord.” He went out alone and cried, “What shall I do with this people? They are ready to stone me.”

  The Lord said: “Take them to the mountain called Horeb, to the place where I first appeared to you. I shall be there again. There is a rock there, before the ascent begins. Take your staff and smite the rock.”

  Moses returned to the encampment and gathered the people. He led them across the wasteland that lies between the Red Sea and the Sinai mountains. It was an enormous plateau they were crossing, a flat place of hot, yellow sand—no waterholes, no grass, no trees. The ground does not rise gradually here. The mountains thrust out of the ground in stark crags. Moses could see them looming in the distance. He led his people toward the mountain. They murmured and grumbled and complained, but he did not let them stop. People were fainting with thirst and falling. Moses harried the others. They lifted the fallen and pressed on.

  They came to the mountain. This was Horeb, where Moses had heard God speak out of the burning bush. Now he heard a mighty wailing from the horde that followed him. “We thirst! We thirst!”

  Moses stepped forward, shaking his staff at the others to make them stay where they were. No man but Moses could lift this staff. It was an entire young tree, uprooted, and trimmed of its branches. He approached the mountain alone, and the people gaped at him in dull wonder. They hated and feared this huge, bearded wizard, who drove them day and night toward an unknown place. Nevertheless, they followed him, and, complaining bitterly, did what he said. Now, as he stood stretching his arms toward the peak of Horeb, it seemed that he was speaking to the mountain, but they could not hear his words.

  “O God,” cried Moses, “I have come to your mountain, and the people thirst!”

  “Take your staff,” said the Lord. “Smite the rock.”

  Moses saw a big rock standing like a footstool at the base of the mountain. He raised his staff high and struck down. The rock split. A stream of pure water gushed out. And the people drank.

  They rested that night in the Horeb valley—but it was no place for strangers to spend the night. The valley belonged to a tribe called Amalek, who pastured their horses on its grassy slopes, and by night rode out to raid caravans. The male children of this tribe rode before they walked, and from their earliest years were trained in the use of sword and spear, noose and dagger. They grew up to be superb horsemen, savage fighters, and a terror to travelers.

  They came now at night and camped in a half circle about the people of Israel.

  Moses watched as the people slept. He did not know what he feared, but he feared something and could not sleep. Now as he prowled among the tents he heard noises upon the hillside—the creak of harness and the clank of arms. Looking up, he seemed to see movement on the slopes, and, sometimes, the watery gleam of moonlight on metal. For the raiders, feeling contempt for the Israelites, scarcely bothered to conceal their movements. And Moses knew that these horsemen of the night would wait through the hours of darkness and attack at the first light.

  “O God,” he whispered, “these are the Amalekites. They are savage and disciplined. They will fall upon us like wolves upon a flock of sheep and eat us alive. What can we do?”

  God answered in a whisper, but the whisper filled the valley with a great rustling sound like the wind. “You must stand and fight.”

  “Will you help us?”

  “When you begin to help yourselves.”

  Moses chose a young man named Joshua to be his captain. Joshua was a stalwart man, brave and stubborn. Out of all that vast throng, he was the only man who bore suffering without complaint, and spoke out against those who reproached Moses and sighed for Egypt.

  Moses said to him: “We are about to be attacked. You are my captain. Choose your men.”

  “There is not much choice,” said Joshua. “None of them has ever fought before.”

  “There is always choice,” said Moses. “Pick the youngest and strongest.”

  Joshua said: “This is a rabble, choose as I may. The Amalekites are trained warriors, without mercy, without fear.”

  “And without God,” said Moses. “Do you think that He who made man from a handful of dust cannot make our young men into warriors?”

  “All I know of God is what you tell me.”

  “Then I tell you this: Pick the youngest and strongest of our men. Lead them out at dawn to fight the Amalekites. I will stand on top of the hill and implore God for victory.”

  Joshua led the men out before dawn, and Moses climbed to the top of the hill. Aaron went with him, also Hur, who was the husband of Miriam. Now red fire touched the sky, and the Israelites saw their enemy for the first time.

  The Amalekites, wise in warfare, knew that the sight of one’s blood gives courage to the enemy—so they wore red robes in battle, and red headcloths so that their blood would not show. Now, riding out of the dawn with the red sky at their back, they seemed cloaked in fire. Joshua had exhorted his men, trying to instill them with courage, and they stood awaiting the charge, making a hedge of spears. But they saw red demons riding out of a bloody sky. They heard the merciless drumming of hoofbeats growing louder and louder; they heard the Amalekite war cry, which was the screaming of eagles multiplied. They saw red light smoking on horses’ manes, red light dripping off curved swords.

  And the Israelites had been slaves for four hundred years. For sixteen generations they had been trained to submit; fear had been drilled into their marrow. They fled. And the horsemen were among them. Curved swords rose and fell. Men fell in their blood. And those who were left kept fleeing, and the horsemen pursued, cutting them down as they ran.

  But there was one who did not flee. Joshua raged about the field, and his great sword was a circle of fire about his head. He ducked under the horses’ bellies, slashed upward at their riders, and where he passed, he left empty saddles and dead bodies. At first, the Amalekites had tried to take him alive, for he was a big, powerful young man, one who would fetch a high price in the slave market at Damascus. But they saw they could not let him live; he was too dangerous. Three picked horsemen began to hunt him across the field, trying to hem him in and butcher him where he stood. But he was racing away across the plain now, on a course that would intercept the nearest group of his fleeing men. He cut across their path and tried to rally them. He shouted at them, implored them, beat at them with the flat of his sword, but they feared the enemy more. They flowed around Joshua as a river parts upon a rock, and kept running.

  Then Joshua, heart bursting with grief and rage, turned to face the horsemen—ready to be killed rather than to survive this shame, but wanting to drag some Amalekites into death as he fell.

  Moses stood on the hilltop and watched what was happening on the field below. Aaron and Hur were with him, watching in horror. Their faces were wet with tears. Moses’ face was like one of the rocks. He stood huge and motionless; only his white beard moved in the wind. He could not understand what he was feeling. He had trusted God, and ordered his men into battle, and now saw the battle becoming a massacre. But Moses felt only love for the God who had broken His promise—puzzled love and utter faith. He looked up at the sky and raised his staff in a kind of final salute to Him who wielded such wonder and terror.

  A hook of blue fire seared the pink sky. It touched the tip of his staff. And Moses felt an awful, scorching power pass through his arm and his rigid body. He saw the fire striking down toward Joshua’s sword.

  The Amalekites had surrounded Joshua, hacking down at him with their curved swords. He was wounded in many places. One sword cut had laid his jaw open, and he was choking on his own blood. He felt his life draining away, and knew that he was about to fall. He cast one last look at Moses on the hilltop, murmuring, “Forgive me, Master. I have done poorly today.” He saw blue fire hook out of the sky, saw the flame pass through Moses and stab down, down, flowing past the horsemen and touching his own sword, which turned radiantly blue.

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nbsp; Suddenly, the blood in his mouth tasted like wine. And the air was scorched and strangely sweet; he drew it deep into his lungs, and felt a gigantic strength flushing through his body. He no longer felt the blades slashing down at him. He reached for a horse, seized it by mane and girth band, and, as the Amalekites gaped in wonder, swung it off its feet, the startled rider still clinging to his saddle. Joshua held horse and rider over his head, then hurled them at the knot of horsemen. Man and animal fell under the hurtling weight, horses kicking and screaming, men tangled in the harness, unable to rise.

  Joshua gave them no time to recover. He leaped into the tangle. His great sword rose and fell, scattering diamond-blue splinters of strange light over the plain, summoning the Israelites like signal fires, drawing them back onto the field, toward the miracle of Joshua restored and the Amalekites fallen, drawing them out of panic, back to manhood. With a savage, joyous shout, they raised their weapons and charged the Amalekites, who had recovered from Joshua’s assault and were surging forward again. The Israelites raced across the field to meet the galloping horsemen. The dismounted men met the cavalry head-on. They flung themselves under the flying hoofs, grasped the riders’ legs and pulled them out of their saddles, then met them sword to sword.

  Only a few moments had passed since the holy fire had touched Joshua, but what had been a shameful stampede was again a battle. And the Israelites were holding their own. The fire from heaven touched each man, lending him power he had never known. They dragged the Amalekites from their saddles and attacked them furiously with their swords. Those who had dropped their weapons in flight fought like animals, flinging themselves at the red-robed ones, wrestling them down, strangling them with their bare hands.

  Moses’ arm grew weary. The staff dipped. Then the Israelites lost their special strength, which was the power of God in them, passing through Moses’ staff. And the Amalekites rallied. They regrouped their horsemen and charged again. The Israelites broke.

  Moses tried to lift his staff again, but his arms were without strength. He called upon Aaron and Hur, and sat upon a stone. Aaron stood on one side, Hur upon the other, and they propped up his arms. His hands were heavy upon the staff and he held it high. Again the men of Israel felt themselves fill with a marvelous, hot, fighting energy. Yelling to his men, Joshua ran toward the line of horsemen. His men followed, running swiftly. And the Amalekites, seeing them come, seeing the wild light on their faces, turned and galloped away. But the men of Israel outran the horses. They cornered the Amalekites in a rocky pass and killed them all. Moses built an altar there. He called it Adonai-nissi, or “the Lord is my banner.”

  The Commandments

  A voice spoke out of the mountain: “Moses! Come near.”

  Moses climbed toward the voice. He had been there before, but not so high. He found himself inside a wild battlement of rocks, mighty towers of stone carved by some vanished water. Black lava, green copper, red, brown, a deeper red, and whites strangely mixed with lilac and black. All in flame tones. The sun, like a golden whip, flogged the very color of blood out of the hills. And the voice of the Lord was the wind among the rocks.

  “I will come to you in three days,” said the voice. “I will show myself to the people. Go to them; let them make themselves clean. I shall appear on the mountain. But set bounds around its base; if they come too near they will die.”

  Moses went back to the tents of Israel and consulted with Aaron. Aaron was fearful, but Moses ignored his fear. Stammering with great intensity he told his brother exactly what to do. And Aaron was incapable of saying no to this huge old man with his blazing eyes and beard like spun sea foam.

  Moses then called the elders together, and Aaron addressed them, speaking for Moses: “We have seen what the Lord did to the Egyptians, how He smote them with storm and pestilence, how He bore us out of bondage on eagle wings. Now He has brought us to this place to hear His commandments. If we obey His law and keep His covenant, then He will treasure us above all people. We shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. O elders of Israel, are you ready to do His will?”

  “We are ready,” answered the elders.

  “Bathe yourselves in clear water,” said Moses. “Wash your clothes. Prepare for the coming of the Lord.”

  The people bathed themselves and washed their clothes and waited. Two days they waited.

  On the morning of the third day they saw a thick, black cloud descend on the mountain. Great hooks of lightning scorched the air; there was enormous thunder, and the terrible blasting voice of a trumpet. Moses led them toward the mountain. They cried out in terror as they saw flame burst from its crest. They fell back then, and Moses did not stop them, for the heat was becoming unbearable. The mountain was a furnace gushing fire and smoke. The crash of falling rock mixed with the thunder and the voice of the great trumpet, and the people were terrified.

  The elders said to Moses : “You speak with Him. If He speaks to us, we shall die. If we go closer we shall die.”

  Moses called out to the Lord, “They are afraid. Will you speak with me?”

  The voice spoke in thunder: “Come to me on the mountain, and receive my commandments.”

  Moses said to the elders: “Wait here.”

  He went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered him. Moses vanished into the cloud. And the glory of the Lord dwelt on that mountain. The sight of that glory was like fire to the children of Israel. The mountaintop burned. Moses was in that smoke and flame. And there he stayed for forty nights, and the Lord spoke to him as He had never spoken to anyone before. And Moses listened as no man had ever listened before. Every word that the Lord uttered, Moses carved on a tablet of stone. For forty days and forty nights he did not eat or drink or sleep, but nourished himself on God’s words. They were like meat and drink to him; they filled him with joyous strength. The days and weeks passed like a flash, for Moses did not wish that voice to stop; he did not wish to leave that presence.

  Now, the first law that God gave to Moses was this: “I am the Lord thy God, and thou shalt have no other gods before me.” And even as God was uttering His first law on the mountain, the people below were preparing to break it.

  For forty days and forty nights the people of Israel waited at the foot of the mountain. And Moses did not come down.

  Now they were afraid with a different fear, and their fear made them forget their vows. Now, without Moses, who was like a father to them, they crouched like children in the dark.

  They remembered the many gods of Egypt—the falcon god, the cow goddess, the cobra god. They remembered the cat gods, whose statues crouched in the desert, guarding the tombs of kings and promising death to any invader. They remembered these undemanding beast gods—to whom many an Israelite had secretly prayed—and they yearned for something to worship that would not utter itself in plague and volcano, strict edicts, and long ordeals. They went to Aaron and said: “Where is Moses?”

  “On the mountain,” said Aaron.

  “He is dead. He has been burned in the fire. He will not return. God has departed and Moses is no more. What shall we do?”

  “Wait for him,” said Aaron.

  “No!” they cried. “We must have gods. The wilderness is huge and we do not know our way. And our enemies wait. We must have gods!”

  “There is only one God,” said Aaron. “He speaks to Moses. And Moses will descend and return to us.”

  “No! Do not deceive us. Moses is dead and God has departed. You must make us gods, gods that will go before us and lead us out of this wilderness.”

  They pressed upon Aaron, gabbling and screaming and waving their fists. Aaron was afraid. He said to them: “Bring me gold, the gold in your coffers and more. Break off the golden earrings that your wives wear, and your daughters. Break all their earrings and bring the gold to me.”

  When the women heard that the gold was to go for a beautiful new god that they could hear and touch and that would not trouble them with ordinances; when they heard that such a
n easy god would be theirs again, they tore the earrings from their ears and gave them to their husbands—not only their earrings, but brooches, armlets, anklets, necklaces, and rings. All that was gold they gave, and rejoiced.

  Aaron took the gold and cast it into a huge pot, which stood on a fire. The gold melted, and he made a golden calf, and cried, “This is your god, O Israel!”

  The people recognized it. They remembered the cow goddess of Egypt, which their masters had worshipped when they were slaves. Aaron made an altar for the calf, and said: “Tonight we feast the golden one. Tonight we worship.”

  They killed goats and roasted them, and placed them upon the altar as burnt offerings. They feasted and drank, and began to dance. Miriam played the timbrel, and danced, and led the women in dance. And they all sang. The dance grew wilder and wilder—until the sound of it rose to the mountaintop.

  The Lord said to Moses: “Go! Go down! Your people are corrupt. They have made a golden calf and are worshipping it, crying, ‘This is your god, O Israel.’ I have seen them, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. Therefore go, and leave me alone, for my wrath grows hot against them. I will consume them. You alone shall be left, Moses, and of you I will make a nation.”

  Moses pleaded with the Lord: “Why does your wrath grow hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand? If you slay them, the Egyptians will say: ‘It was for mischief He brought them out, to slay them in the wilderness and consume them from the face of the earth.’ Oh, my Lord, turn away from your fierce anger and repent of this evil against your people. O God whom I love, remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. You swore to them that you would multiply their seed as the stars of heaven and give them Canaan as an inheritance. I beg you, O Lord, do not destroy Israel.”

  And the Lord changed his intention. He heeded the words of Moses, and withheld His wrath.

  Then Moses went down the mountain. He carried two gigantic tablets of stone. Written on that stone was all that the Lord had told him during those forty days and forty nights. At the foot of the mountain he found his young captain, Joshua, who had been waiting for him all this time, and had been absent from the assembly.