Moses and the Israelites, from Egypt to Palestine (1)

"But the same children of Israel, got to the point where the great God, sent the permanent curse on them. We see in traditions that the meaning of "Wrathful against them" is against the Jews."
The first Spark of Inspiration
Moses (peace be upon him) on his way back to Egypt, was lost. When he saw a light in the distance, he told his family: "Stay here; I'm going to find some help, and bring a fire to warm you. In the light, he saw a green tree that was burning with fire sparks in the cold season under rain.
When he came close to the fire, he was called: "O Moses, I am your Lord, put off your shoes because now you are in the valley of Toy, and I've chosen you, so listen to what you hear. I am the only God. There is no God but me. So worship me and in order to remember me, pray."
Moses (peace be upon him) who had come close to the tree in order to seek fire, was faced with the divine words. He was waiting for this moment for years, and now, in this desert, his beloved and his gods, had begun to speak with him. He said: "Lord, all my being and prayers and worships are yours, and I have cleansed my heart from the love of others than you."
He was told that: "O Moses put off your shoes, meaning to empty your heart from everything except me, even your wife and children. Thus, God put upon his shoulders a great mission:
"Go to Pharaoh that he has rebelled."
The Signs of Prophecy
A difficult and great mission was given to Moses (peace be upon him), to encounter the contemporary arrogant who claimed that he was God. Moses had escaped from his officers ten years ago, and now today he had to return to him to deliver his prophecy. God empowers His messengers to fight against the deniers, and this shall be the reason to their prophecy from God; otherwise, anyone can make the claim of prophet hood. Moses (peace be upon him) also needed divine tools and powers to encounter this arrogant. He was called by God:
"O Moses, what is that in your right hand?"
Moses (peace be upon him) who was the addressee of the god and his beloved, responded to his God with great enthusiasm:
"This is my rod, I rely upon it and take my sheep from here to there with it. It had other benefits for me too."
The answer to God's question was only one word, but he answered with this much details. He was not the same Moses who entered the Mount Sinai. With only one command of going to Pharaoh, everything was changed. The manifestation of God on him was so pleasurable for him and made him overwhelmed that he forgot about his wife and children and his conversation with God lasted a long while.
When the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) in the Mount Sinai, took the heaviest mission, he was in his ascension. In this case, God recommended that if you want this situation to continue, pray:
After explaining Moses (peace be upon him) God commanded him to throw the rod. He immediately threw aside his rod. The rod turned into a great dragon. Moses (peace be upon him) seeing this, was frightened and fled. God said again: O Moses, come back and do not be afraid that we bring it back to the former state.
He said: "O Moses, throw that rod." Moses did. Suddenly the rod was a snake that ran. [God] said: Take it and have no fear. We will turn it back to its first state. And put your hand under your shoulder, it will come out white without any defect. This is another sign to show you our great signs.
Serpens are very large snakes that move very slowly and they weigh a lot, unlike asp which are fast-moving snakes. Moses’ rod (peace be upon him), turned into a great asp snake, but with the speed of an asp. This scene was so terrible that Moses (peace be upon him) fled. His escape was normal; because any man who encounters a daunting and unprecedented scene, and when they won’t find a way to be saved, they will have no choice but to escape. Especially that the Prophet had no means to defend himself and on the other hand, there was no command of God to stand against such thing. He was only set to throw the rod. Fear is appealing to the basics of avoid the evil and this has nothing to do with courage.
God told him that the world can change, provided that they act with a faith in God. The meaning of "tell him" was that don’t rely on the rod and other material instruments; if God wants all of them will act differently, what shouldn’t walk, will move fast and vice versa, in a fight for Allah, the tool doesn’t work as its appears to be, and when necessary, it will turn to what is needed.
Then God asked Moses (peace be upon him) to put his hand under his shoulder. When Moses (peace be upon him) brought out his hand, it was as if the dark night, has turned to day. The light of his hand overcame the sun in the afternoon. How much light should have this energy source produced to overcome the sun? But this heat did not harm; these were miracles and two signs of prophecy.
Moses (peace be upon him), facing Pharaoh, had other problems that he asked God to resolve them.
Lord, called out Moses: O Moses, Go unto those wicked people, the people of Pharaoh. Do not they want to be righteous? [Moses] said: My Lord, I fear they would call me a liar and my heart be hurt and my tongue won’t speak. Send Aaron with me and they accuse me of a sin that they want to kill me. Said: Never, both of you take my signs unto them. We are with you and we’d listen. So go to Pharaoh and say to him: We are the messengers of the world’s Lord so that you will send the Israelites with us."
Moses (peace be upon him) saw four problems in the path of this great mission which he asked God to solve them: Rejection of the people of Pharaoh, his low rank, his lack of sufficient eloquence, and blood-seeking of Pharaoh.
He had killed one of the Copts and therefore the Pharaoh were trying to murder him. By raising the matter of prophecy, they would bring out the subject of murder and show him as guilty.
God responded to the demands of Moses (peace be upon him): "you proceed confidently and firmly in this path and assure him that hard events will be upon them."
God sent two missions upon Moses (peace be upon him): 1. Pharaoh's invitation to Islam. 2. Saving Israel from the hands of Pharaoh and Moses entered Egypt with these two missions.
Moses’ Mission Start
Fighting began. The first mission of Moses (peace be upon him) was to invite Pharaoh to Islam. Therefore he entered the palace and stood against Pharaoh. His prediction came true and Pharaoh, upon seeing Moses (peace be upon him), began his effort to destroy his personality:
Said: Didn’t we raise you when you were a child and didn’t you spend years of your life among us? And didn’t you do the work that fits you? So you are the pagan to blessing."
Pharaoh had understood the legitimacy of Moses (peace be upon him) and he knew that his invitation will be welcomed, but he persisted on his disbelief. He immediately introduced Moses (peace be upon him) as a disgraceful person. He responded in this regard:
I did that when I was ignorant. So I escaped when I was frightened of you, and my Lord gave me wisdom and made me his prophet, and will you give me the grace, that you have enslaved the Israelites?"
Against the psychological operations of the enemy, the sword is not good, but it must be answered with psychological operations. If you go to the war field with inappropriate tools, you will see no results other than failure. The lock of these psychological operations should be carefully broken by the fragile Moses and the Koran. Moses (peace be upon him) responded very beautifully: Should you confer upon me due to raising me, or shall I complain to you that you have enslaved the Israelites? You killed children and my mother was forced to give me to a river of water, in order to save me from death, and the water brought me to your palace. So you can’t confer upon me. You took Israelites to captivity and shed many bloods in order to prevent the birth of the promised Israelites.
When Moses (peace be upon him) with thorough certainty, answered Pharaoh, and make him helpless, Pharaoh changed the words. This time he started talking about the speech of Moses in which he had said: “I am a messenger of the Lord of the Worlds," and asked about the nature of God, Pharaoh said:
Who is the Lord of the worlds? Said: If they indeed accept, [He] is the Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them."
Pharaoh, for the second time, tried some psychological performances. Tyrants have always accused the prophets of mania, in order to stand against them and in response inviting them to monotheism, so that they might stop the people around them from joining those prophets;
Pharaoh said: “The Prophet who is sent to you is crazy”.
After he threatened others of believing in Moses (peace be upon him), Pharaoh asked Moses for a sign of his prophecy and Moses (peace be upon him) threw down his rod.
There has been three images of the rod of Moses (peace be upon him) brought in the Qur'an: The snake that ran; the true dragon: and the snake that moves. Perhaps all the three images are complementary and not contradictory; the rod of Moses (peace be upon him) to the Lord’s command is as large as a dragon, as fast as the running snake and as frightening as the moving snake. On the other hand, these three images show that the rod changed in form of different snakes. However, the snake moved and went toward Pharaoh. Pharaoh called for help and of Moses (peace be upon him) took his rod. Then that prophet put his hand in his collar and brought out his bright hand. Even the dazzling light of Moses’ hand didn’t influence the darkness of tyrant. Pharaoh, like the previous tyrants, started other psychological performances and accused Moses (peace be upon him) of magic. He told the stablemen around him:
“This man is a clever magician. He wants to expel you from your land with his magic. What is your opinion?”
Pharaoh then told Moses (peace be upon him): Do not assume that we cannot bring magic like yours. We will soon show you a magic like what you brought. He, in order to show more decisiveness, set a determined date.
“We will also bring to you the like of your magic. Assign a meeting between you and us on the flat ground, so that neither you nor we will break the faith.”
The bullying rulers, in order to expel their opponents from the field and to encourage their influenced relatives, they behave with such dignity and they make it a big deal, but in contrast, Moses (peace be upon him) without any fear, calmly said: “I'm ready, now we will set the day and time.
He said: “Your appointment is the day of ornament (Coptic Easter) and all the people shall gather when the sun shines”.
After he left the meeting and got separated from Moses and Aaron (peace be upon him), Pharaoh set some meetings with special advisers and his cruel relatives. Then he called the witches from around the Egypt to the capital and invited them to this decisive challenge with great encouragement.
The Big Scandal
The promised day came and the witches and people from across the country ruled by Pharaoh were gathered. Moses (peace be upon him) first invited Pharaoh and the witches to the truth and warned them of God's punishment. The firm speech of that prophet had no resemblance to the words of the witches and came out from within his innocent heart. His speech affected some hearts, and caused a conflict among the crowd. Some supported severity and some believed in the possibility of Moses (peace be upon him) as the promised Messenger. The shepherd costumes and the simple faces of Moses and his brother also added strength to this possibility. This doubt was whispered and the congregation’s noise rose. However, the tyrants took control of the speech and emphasized the fight with Moses (peace be upon him) and his miracles. A huge and sensitive struggle began among the right and the wrong in front of people’s eyes.
Witches, in order to show their confidence to the people asked Moses (peace be upon him): Will you throw or shall we? Moses (peace be upon him), who believed in his final victory, said: First you throw. The rods and ropes of the witches started moving as small and large and colorful snakes.
[Witches] said: “O Moses, Will you throw or shall we?” He said: “You throw”. Suddenly, of the magic they made, it seemed to him as if those ropes and rods ran in every direction.
The scene of the magic seemed so real that even Moses (peace be upon him) also feared. He feared that the right would fail and his miracles would be destroyed against the witches’ magic. God said:
“Do not be afraid that you are superior, throw what you have in your hand, so that it will swallow everything the witches made, they have magic tricks and magician will never be victorious.”
Victory of Moses (peace be upon him) in a public celebration that all people had come to watch, was very valuable. That prophet threw his rod and the rod turned into big dragons and swallowed all the magic of the witches:
“Suddenly they saw that all of their magic was swallowed.”
What the enemy had brought was illusion and mirage. Mirage cannot fight the truth. Pharaoh had bewitched the eyes of the people and their resources were only illusion and only that. The enemy power of illusion must not be feared.
Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
“O people, lest not be fearful of the small numbers of the followers in the path of guidance.”
All the witches, seeing the miracle of Moses (peace be upon him), realized that his work is something else and human cannot do such a thing without a connection to the divine source. So they trusted him.
The witches were forced to prostrate. They said: “In the Lord of Aaron and Moses (peace be upon him) we trust.”
Pharaoh who was scandalized against the eyes of the people who were ruled by him, in an attempt to reduce the impact of the scandal, by psychological performances, he accused the witches of being the disciples of Moses (peace be upon him), and that their faith was a plotted conspiracy:
Pharaoh said: Do you trust him before I allow you to? He is your chief who has taught you magic.”
The First Organization of Israel
Some people, seeing the victory of Moses (peace be upon him) believed in him and Moses (peace be upon him) commanded them to trust and stability. His second mission was more difficult; because he had to form a government with the Israelites and be careful of their faith and he had to conquered Jerusalem with them; while Israelites under the government of Pharaoh, were some oppressed people who knew nothing.
Moses (peace be upon him) in this period, showed signs and miracles to Pharaoh constantly, but Pharaoh always emphasized his disbelief. These verses, only made him to appease Moses (peace be upon him) and tolerate him and the Israelites Egypt. Moses (peace be upon him) benefited this opportunity to the most and prepared the Israelites.
“We revealed to Moses (peace be upon him) and his brother so that they prepare houses for his people in Egypt, and make their homes places of worship (or build them in front of each other) and give good tidings to the believers.”
First the Israelites should have been organized and lived together. They, up to that period, were scattered, defeated, dependent, parasites and infected and frightened groups; they neither had any house for themselves, nor any community or focus, nor any spiritual creation program, nor any courage for a knocker revolution. Therefore, Moses (peace be upon him) and Aaron (peace be upon him) were commissioned to restore the community of Israel, especially mentally, by implementing the program with a few articles:
1. Housing and removal of their houses from Pharaoh:
They were more interested in defending themselves and that soil and water, when they owned the houses in the land of Egypt. In addition, they came out of the lands of the tyrants the enemy couldn’t figure out their secrets and plans;
2. Building the houses against and close each other:
This work helped the focus and community of the Israelites effectively. They could examine social issues in general, come together for religious festivals and set plans for their freedom;
3. Prayer:
Prayer linked them with worshiping God and cleansed their hearts and souls from pollution and increased their confidence, and by relying on the power of God, they were given a fresh soul and life;
4. Moses (peace be upon him) was commissioned to cleanse the waste of fear and horror, which was the legacy of many years of slavery and humiliation, from the souls of the Israelites and to strengthen their will and raise their courage by giving the promise of final victory and the lord’s blessing.