A PRINCE OF EGYPT ADVENTURE BOOK 2-RANI

THE RETURN TO EGYPT

One morning, after I had kissed my wife Tzipporah, and told her I loved her, I headed out into the first rays of morning light, to the pasture, thinking that today was going to be an ordinary day of tending to the sheep.

I was wrong. One sheep wandered away to a high point of a mountain, and into a cave. I followed it, sighing good-naturedly. "It's too early for this." I muttered.

Suddenly I saw an ethereal light coming from inside the cave. I climbed down to see, and to my shock and surprise, it was a burning bush. Curious, I poked my staff into the ethereal flame, and out. To my surprise, my staff didn't burn. I curiously put my hand in the flame, and yet, it didn't burn.

"Moses. Moses."

Someone whispered my name in the wind. I looked around. I didn't see anyone.

"Here I am," I answered nervously.

"Take the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is Holy Ground." The voice said gently.

"Who are you?" I asked after a brief silence.

"I am that I am." The voice said. It was coming from the burning bush which flickered gently.

"I don't understand." I shook my head.

"I am the God of your ancestors--Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." The voice said.

"You were born of my mother, Yocheved! You are our brother!" I heard Miriam's voice.

"Sure, you were raised a Prince, but you are so much more than that. You're the son of a Hebrew slave through and through, and I think it's time you start embracing your roots." I heard what Joshua had said to me those years ago when I first settled in Midian.

I immediately took my sandals off after dropping my staff.

"What do you want with me?" I trembled.

"I have seen the oppression of My people in Egypt, and have heard their cry." The God of the Hebrews explained.

"Stop it! Leave that man alone!"

I immediately remembered that poor man who had almost been whipped to death, and I had killed that guard. I hung my head in shame. I hid while they suffered.

"So I have come down to deliver them out of slavery, and bring them to a good land...a land flowing with milk and honey. And so unto Pharaoh...I shall send...you." God explained further.

"Me?!" My eyes widened in shock, and perhaps fear. "Who am I to lead these people? They'll never believe me. They won't even listen."

"I shall teach you what to say." God said.

"Let my people go!" I heard my voice say.

"But I was their enemy," I pointed out. "I was the Prince of Egypt, the son of the man who slaughtered their children. You...you've chosen the wrong messenger. How-how can I even speak to these people?!"

"WHO MADE MAN'S MOUTH?!"

I reared back, and braced myself in fear. The flames from the bush violently flickered.

"WHO MADE THE DEAF, THE MUTE, THE SEEING OR THE BLIND? DID NOT I?! NOW GO!!!" God roared at me.

I trembled on the floor of the cave. And then I felt a gentle touch and a loving breeze swirl around me.

"Oh, Moses...I shall be with you when you go to the King of Egypt, but Pharaoh will not listen." God explained further, this time he was gentle, and forgiving. "So I will stretch out My hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders. Take the staff in your hand, Moses. With it, you shall do My wonders. I shall be with you, Moses."

The flames and the breeze disappeared, and I was on the ground of the cave, overwhelmed by the love that this God had for me, and for my people.

For the first time in a very long time, I felt at peace with my past. I picked up the staff, and saw that the bush was now in bloom.

Once I got out of the cave, I ran back to the village, and told Tzipporah about all that I had seen when I was in that cave. I had also told her that God had granted me a mission--that I had to go back to Egypt and free my people from slavery.

"But Moses, you're just one man." Tzipporah looked worried.

"Tzipporah, please," I quietly begged.

Tzipporah looked ready to listen.

"Look at your family. They are free. They have a future. They have hopes and dreams, and the promise of a life with dignity. That is what I want for my people, and that is why I must do the task that God has given me." I looked towards Jethro and her younger sisters, and explained why I had to go back.

"I'm coming with you." Tzipporah hugged me, after a few moments of silence.

After telling Jethro about what had happened, he gave me a blessing to go, and so we went by camel, back to Egypt.

The sights of things were so different from when I had last seen it. I saw slaves with brutal whip marks on their backs. I saw a poor boy get pulled by his hair after tripping from exhaustion. I saw an old man making mud, looking so exhausted.

My eyes blazed with fury. It was time to pay a visit to the Pharaoh, and deliver my people from this brutal oppression.

The doors opened, via Egyptian Guards, and I looked around as the people of Egypt stared at me. There was lively music going on and dancers, and I got closer to the throne, the man there held his hand up and stopped the music, his eyes on me, perhaps not believing at first who he saw.

I stared a long time as well, instantly recognizing the man wearing Seti's crown.

"Rameses?!"