Rocky Mountain Baha’i

God sends Moses to free the Israelites Then a man and a woman from the tribe of Levi had a son. For three months they managed to hide him from the Egyptians who were sent to cast the Hebrews’ sons into the Nile. When they could no longer hide him, they made a basket and put the child in the basket and hid the basket in the reeds at the river’s bank: “Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked beside the river; she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to fetch it. When she opened it she saw the child; and 1o, the babe was crying. She took pity on him and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrew’s children.’ Then his [Moses’] sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’ And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Go.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed him. And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son; and she named him Moses, for she said, ‘Because I drew him out of the water.’” (Exodus 2:5) As Moses grew up, he saw the oppressed condition of his people, the Israelites. One day he saw an Egyptian beating one of his people. He struck the Egyptian and accidentally killed him. Moses became afraid that it would be discovered that he was an Israelite who had just killed an Egyptian, so he hid the body in the sand. When the Pharaoh heard of this, he sought to kill Moses. Moses fled to the land of the Midian. When he arrived, he helped some women at a well, and their father invited him to stay. Moses then married one of that man’s daughters and she and Moses had children. Eventually, the oppressive Pharaoh in Egypt died: “And the people of Israel groaned under their bondage, and cried out for help, and their cry under bondage came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God saw the people of Israel, and God knew their condition.” (Exodus 2:23-25) Meanwhile, in Midian, Moses kept flocks for his father-in-law and he lead the flock to Horeb, the “mountain of God:” “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, ‘I will turn aside and not see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.’ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here am I.’ Then he said, ‘Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ And he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’” (Exodus 3:2-6) 

God then told Moses that he had heard the cry of the Israelites, and that he had come to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians. God told Moses He wanted to bring the Israelites to a land flowing with milk and honey, a good and broad land: the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. God told Moses to and deliver the Israelites from the hands of the Egyptian Pharaoh. Then God said: “I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all the wonders I will do in it; after that he will let you go.” (Exodus 3:19-20) Moses stuttered, so God allowed Moses’ brother, Aaron, to be Moses’ spokesman. They repeatedly asked the Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go. The Pharaoh’s heart was hardened again and again and he refused, so God sent many plagues to the land of Egypt. During the first of these plagues the Nile turned red, the fish in the Nile died, and the water in the Nile became foul. Then God sent a plague of frogs, a plague of gnats, and a plague on the Egyptians’ cattle, horses, asses, camels, herds and flocks. Then He caused a fine dust to come over the land which caused boils to break out upon man and beast, and then He caused a heavy hail with “fire flashing continuously in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation” (Exodus 9:24). Finally there came a plague of locusts and a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days (Exodus 8, 9 & 10). God then sent one last plague. This plague destroyed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh, to the firstborn of the maidservant, to the firstborn cows. But the Israelites were instructed how to avoid suffering under this plague. They were instructed to kill their lambs and spread the blood from the lambs on their doorposts and above their doors. Thus when the plague on the firstborn came to Egypt it passed over the houses of the people of Israel (Exodus 12). This was later referred to as the night of the Passover. After the night of the Passover there was not one Egyptian household where someone was not dead. A great cry rose from among the Egyptians. The Pharaoh thus arose in the night and woke Moses and Aaron and instructed them to leave with their people and their flocks and herds. God had not only promised that the Egyptians would let the Israelites go, but he had also promised that they would go with the jewelry, clothing and respect of the Egyptians. So Moses instructed the Israelites to ask the Egyptians for their jewelry and clothing: “…And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked despoiled the Egyptians.” (Exodus 12:36) Later, however, the Pharaoh changed his mind about what he had done, and he and servants said: “’What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?’ So he made ready his chariots and took his army with him, and took six hundred picked chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.” (Exodus 14:5-7) 

When the Israelites saw the Pharaoh and his army and chariots pursuing them they became afraid, and Moses cried out to the Lord for the people. God answered: “’Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go on dry ground through the sea. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.’”(Exodus 14:15-18) “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. And Israel saw the great work which the Lord did against the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord; and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.” (Exodus 14:30-31) Moses then led the people of Israel through the wilderness for forty years. God provided for them in many ways. Following are some examples of what was provided. At one time when the Israelites first set out they could find no water in the wilderness. They asked Moses what they should drink and Moses cried to the Lord: “…And the Lord showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. “There the Lord made for them a statute and an ordinance and there he proved them, saying, ‘If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give heed to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon you which I put upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord, your healer.’” “Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they encamped there by the water.” (Exodus 15:25-27) 

After being in Elim for a time they set out toward Mount Sinai. They came to Sin, and they were starving: “Then the Lord said, to Moses, ‘Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.’ So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, ‘At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord….’” (Exodus 16:4-7) In the morning Aaron gathered the people into an assembly. As he spoke, the glory of the Lord appeared to the Israelites in a cloud, and the Lord promised them bread. On the following morning, after the dew had evaporated, the wilderness lay covered with a fine, flake-like thing. The people asked Moses what it was. He told them it was their bread, and they should gather it. Any of it that they didn’t gather became foul and bred worms. So every morning thereafter the Israelites gathered the flake-like dust that lay in the wilderness, and any that wasn’t gathered by the time the sun grew hot, melted. Every sixth day there was twice as much to gather, and on the seventh day there was none. Therefore the Israelites could rest and celebrate a Sabbath on the seventh day. “Now the house of Israel called its name manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey….And the people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land; they ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.” (Exodus 16:31 & 35) The people moved on from the wilderness of Sin in stages as the Lord commanded them, and once again they ran out of water. Moses was then commanded to strike a rock at Horëb, and water came out for the Israelites to drink. 

After a time Moses’ father-in-law heard about Moses and his success in bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. He therefore brought Moses’ wife and children from Midian and they believed in the One True God. Moses’ father-in-law then counseled Moses to set up leaders among the people, so Moses could teach them the laws and the decisions, so they would “know the way in which they must walk and what they must do” (Exodus 18:20). Moses did as his father-in-law said and these leaders led the twelve tribes of Israel and judged the people.
 
Finally all of Israel was at Mount Sinai, and the Lord told Moses that in three days he would come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people: “On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightning, and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought all the people out of the camp to meet God; and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. And Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai….” (Exodus 19:16-20) “Then Moses took Aaron up on the mount with him, and the Lord spoke the Ten Commandments and numerous ordinances by which the Israelites were to be governed. The Ten Commandments were basically as follows (Exodus 20:2-8 & 12-17): “’I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.’ You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God…. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. “Honor your father and your mother. 

“You shall not kill. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against you neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house… or anything that is your neighbor’s.” When all the people saw the thunderings and lightnings and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, they were afraid, and they said to Moses: “You speak to us, and we will hear; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.” (Exodus 20:19) Then God commanded Moses to come up on the mountain so he could give Moses the tablets of stone that he had used to write down the Ten Commandments and all the statutes. So Moses took his servant Joshua and went up on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights. 

While Moses was on Mount Sinai the Israelites became restless and doubtful of the Lord: “When the people saw that Moses was delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, ‘Up, make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’” (Exodus 32:1) So Aaron and the people took off their jewelry and melted it and built a golden calf to worship as a god, and they offered it burnt offerings and peace offerings. When God saw this He said to Moses on the mount: “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people; now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; but of you I will make a great nation.” (Exodus 32:9-10) Moses then asked God to remember the promise he had given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the promise that their descendants would multiply and inherit the Promised Land: “And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do to his people.” (Exodus 32:14) God makes a Three-Part Covenant with the People of Israel 

While Moses was on Mount Sinai he received the stone tablets. God also gave Moses a three-part covenant. The three parts were the blessing, the curse, and the regathering. The first part of the covenant was the blessing. If the Israelites would be true to God’s commandments and statutes, and if they refused to go after other gods to serve them (Deut. 28:1-15), God would make them a great nation. The second part of the covenant was the curse. If the Israelites refused to obey the commandments and statutes, if they went after other gods and served them, they would be cursed (Deut. 28:15-68). This curse would include a nation coming from afar whose people spoke a difficult language, and then a scattering of the Israelites in lands where the people worshipping foreign gods (Deut. 28:49 & 64). The third part of the covenant was the regathering. After the curse, He said, the people of Israel should once again remember the Lord their God, and once again obey His voice and His commandments. Then He would regather the people of Israel:  “Then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes, and have compassion upon you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will fetch you; and the Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, that you may posses it; and he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your father. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” (Deut. 30:3-6) “Ever since the time of Abraham, God had required his chosen people to be circumcised of the flesh, as a sign of the covenant between God and his people.” (Gen. 17:11 & 22-27)  But here God says that after the regathering the people would be circumcised of heart, which symbolizes spiritual purity.