The chosen people went through great hardships in the land of Egypt until God, in his infinite mercy, sent a man to free his people from the yoke of slavery, Moses, whose memory the Church celebrates on September 4.
Moses Piazza di Spagna, Rome – Photo: Gustavo Kralj
Newsroom (04/09/2024 18:35, Gaudium Press) After the death of Joseph, a new pharaoh ascended the throne of Egypt, enslaving the Israelites and making their lives bitter. This pharaoh, seeing the great growth of the Hebrews, feared that they would join some enemy in the event of war. So he ordered the midwives to kill the children of these people as soon as they were born. When he learned that they were not following his orders out of fear of God, he decreed that all newborn males should be thrown into the River Nile.
Here begins the epic – enchanting and extraordinary – of this child “beautiful in God’s sight” (cf. Acts 7:20), predestined to free the chosen people from oppression in Egypt and lead them to the land of promise, where milk and honey flow.
At that time… Moses was born
The little one’s mother kept him hidden from the authorities for a while. But, unable to hide him any longer, she left him in a basket on the banks of the Nile, near the place where the pharaoh’s daughter used to bathe. One of the boy’s sisters watched from a distance.
The plan was perfect: when the princess heard the child crying, she ordered them to get the basket. When she opened it, she saw the beautiful infant and, overcome with compassion, ordered a nurse to be found for him. Her sister arrived on the scene and managed to get her mother to take on the task of raising the baby… After a while, he was handed over to Pharaoh’s daughter, who considered him her son. She named him Moses, which means “I brought him up out of the water”.
It was the first providential step in the existence of this boy who would become Israel’s deliverer and God’s friend par excellence.
A winding road full of obstacles
Long is the story of the vicissitudes that this providential man went through, “a life of tragedies, with some very sweet episodes, followed soon after by new tragedies”.
A man chosen by God, he made Israel “a people to whom he revealed the name of the Lord, and of this person a religion on the march, arrayed around his law, like an army around a flag”, having to suffer greatly to fulfill his mission.
In the comfort of the courtly life of the Egyptians, Moses did not forget his compatriots, always comparing his happy situation with the suffering of his Hebrew brothers. A delicate circumstance forced him to flee the Pharaoh’s jurisdiction for the steppes of Madian. There he started a family, marrying the daughter of a local shepherd.
While caring for his father-in-law’s flock, the desire to free his Israelite brothers from the cruel yoke to which they were subjected often crossed his mind.
Call and mission on the “mountain of God”
The Holy Scriptures tell us that after the death of Pharaoh, the Israelites, suffering under the yoke of slavery, cried out to God. Hearing their groans, the Lord made himself known to Moses in the burning bush, remembering his Covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
While feeding his flock on Mount Horeb, the “mountain of God”, Moses approached a burning bush that would not be consumed. When the Lord saw that he had come near to see it, he called out to him from the midst of the bush: “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am!” he answered. And God said, ‘Don’t come near here. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. […] Go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring the Israelites, my people, out of Egypt” (Ex 3:4-5, 10).
Thus begins a direct relationship between God himself and his chosen one, his patriarch, his prophet, and his legislator. It’s interesting to note that the Creator communicates the reason for his appearance, first identifying himself as “the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Ex 3:6a), and then revealing that he had heard the cries of the Israelites and was entrusting Moses with the mission of leading them to the promised land. Moses had covered his face because he was afraid to look at the Lord (cf. Ex 3:6b).
“They will not believe me or listen to my voice”
However, Moses is still reluctant, citing his insignificance and the unbelief of his people. Oh, the depths of mercy! Infusing his envoy with encouragement, God himself assures him that he will be with him for the fulfillment of this mission.
Moses even obtains the revelation of the Lord’s name: “Thus you shall speak to the Israelites: ‘It is Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, who is sending me to you. This is my name forever, and this is what you will call me from generation to generation” (Ex 3:15).
Moses didn’t believe that his mission was feasible, which is why he insinuated that wonders were needed to convince the people. As a guarantee, God grants him the powers of a thaumaturge, ordering him to perform wonders unheard of. Here we see the greatness of his calling: to be a prophet, a herald of the Lord.
Despite the signs he had received, Moses didn’t consider himself worthy of the call, and so he continued to object. His attitude, however, allows God to intensify his affection for his chosen one: “Go, I will be with you when you speak, and I will teach you what you must say” (Ex 4:12).
Reluctantly, he persists in his refusal, asking for someone else to be sent in his place. In the face of this new rejection, the Lord’s anger was kindled against Moses, and he ordered his brother Aaron to speak to the people in his place: “He shall be your mouth, and you shall be his God” (Ex 4:16).
Just as the prophets give voice to the words of the Most High, Aaron would be the “mouth” of Moses.
Confrontations with Pharaoh and the first trials
Once the prophet’s obstinacy had been overcome, God ordered him to take his staff, as this would be the instrument with which he would perform wonders.
Finally, with the sacred responsibility of such a great command and armed with the strength of God himself, the Lord’s chosen one obeys and returns to Egypt to fulfill his mission, at the age of eighty.
He presented himself to Pharaoh, who promptly refused to grant his request for freedom for the Hebrew people and, out of hatred, increased the Israelites’ already arduous workload. It was the prelude to many other obstacles that Moses would face on the way to the promised land.
Once again, God promised to intervene with his mighty hand. All he demanded of his chosen people amid their trials was unbreakable faith in his word.
Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened
In his contact with Pharaoh, there were moments of indecision and confrontation. “There was then the well-known struggle between the Angels, who performed miracles at the command of the Most High, and the demons who, through the Egyptian magicians, imitated Moses’ wonders.”
Moses is asked at court to perform some kind of feat, and Aaron throws down his rod, which turns into a serpent. The magicians of Egypt, on Pharaoh’s orders, do the same with their spells, but Moses’ staff devours all the others. However, the heart of the head of the Egyptian nation remained hardened.
Faced with such miracles and wonders, what should the chosen people have done? Not to remain indifferent to their situation, but to wait with a heart full of hope for the intervention of the omnipotent God, who was thus manifesting his power through the prophet.
God’s intervention through Moses
The Book of Exodus tells us that nine plagues struck the country. The waters of the Nile became blood-colored, frogs invaded even the royal bed, flies galore took over their homes and lands, a plague killed their animals, and ulcers appeared on the entire Egyptian population; in addition, a violent hailstorm mixed with fire and three days of darkness increased the Egyptians’ sense of terror. All this was done through the thaumaturgical hand of Moses.
After each of these wonders had taken place, Pharaoh dismissed Moses with an absolute refusal to give his people freedom. Faced with such resistance, the prophet announced a formidable punishment: a tenth plague would come, the most terrible and mysterious of all.
The grave message that God then addressed to the people, through the Prophet, is recounted in the Holy Scriptures in the following terms: “At midnight I will pass through Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who should sit on his throne, to the firstborn of the slave who turns the millstone, and every firstborn of beasts” (Ex 11:4-5).
And there was a great outcry in Egypt because there wasn’t a house in which there wasn’t a dead person. As a result of such a drastic punishment, Pharaoh let the Hebrews go to the destination that God had lovingly reserved for his elect.
Before dawn, the people set out, forming a great multitude.
The resistance of his people
The apparent tranquillity doesn’t last long: regretting having lost those who would serve him freely, Pharaoh sets out after the children of Israel, generating unheard-of fear among them.
As if that weren’t enough, Moses begins to face resistance from his people: “Would that we had been killed by the hand of the Lord in Egypt, when we sat before pots of meat and had bread in abundance! You led us into this desert to starve the whole multitude” (Ex 16:3). With such ingratitude, they forgot the covenant God had made with them.
In the face of such unjust and misplaced criticism, the prophet remained docile and encouraged them to trust in the One who had brought them together. This is also evidence of the work of the chosen men to always lead those who follow their teachings to the Most High.
An abundance of miracles
It is in this context of the chosen nation’s unresponsiveness to grace that the well-known miracle of the passage through the Red Sea takes place.
When the Egyptians cornered the people on the shores of the Red Sea, Moses stretched out his staff over the waters, which parted. The people then crossed it on dry feet, and when the Egyptian soldiers set out in pursuit of the fleeing crowd, the prophet stretched out his hand again and the waters closed, rushing over Pharaoh’s army and submerging it.
God had planned a long pilgrimage that would lead Israel, that stiff-necked people, to be definitively convinced of their election. And to convince them of the covenant established with him, God would multiply the miracles performed through Moses.
Already in the desert, another splendid sign takes place, a pre-figure of the Eucharist: the manna, the bread come down from heaven. The quails that miraculously covered the Israelites’ camp after they complained about the lack of meat, the rock that became a source of water at the touch of Moses’ staff, and the victory over the Amalekites achieved through the prophet’s intercession are also episodes from the desert pilgrimage that testify to the generosity with which Providence surrounded those whom he called to be his people.
Despite the accomplishment of so many marvels, the Hebrews’ lack of faithfulness was repeated.
The power of the prophet’s intercession
Arriving at the foot of Mount Sinai, “a strange place of fantastic grandeur, a worthy stage for the revelation of the God of forces”,7 the Lord, who communicated with Moses as with a friend, spoke to him “face to face” (cf. Deut 34:10).
With his soul pervaded by a faith that transforms him, Moses receives the Tablets of the Law, written by God himself, and with them a whole set of legal, moral, and ritual prescriptions.
However, seeing that Moses was slow to come down from the mountain, the Israelites asked Aaron to make a “god” to march ahead of them. Here we see the ingratitude and perversity of this people who had been treated with such zeal and affection by God and, why not say it, by the prophet.
Yet another perplexity was dawning on the great leader of the chosen nation: because of their unfaithfulness to God and Moses himself, they were returning to idolatry. This was another bend in the “Chinese river” in the life of the providential man…
It was against this tragic backdrop that God asked Moses to allow his holy wrath to fall on the transgressors: “Let my anger be kindled against them, and I will bring them to nothing, but I will make of you a great nation” (Ex 32:10).
The people had materialized a god for themselves, breaking the covenant. That’s why they were no longer chosen souls. Note, however, that God does not forget the commitment made to the righteous: in consideration of Moses, the Creator as it were lowers Himself, asking for “permission” to do justice.
But the Chosen One does not forget his own! And Moses intercedes for them, saying to God: “It is not good for the Egyptians to say that you have taken them with an evil plan, to kill them on the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth! Let your wrath be kindled, and abandon your decision to harm your people” (Ex 32:12).
He had been promised a fruitful posterity, with the constitution of a great nation; however, it was for God’s honor that he interceded for those who did not deserve it: “Moses preferred his mission to his career”.
It is narrated that, with Moses’ intervention, the Lord repents of his threats against Israel and, once the covenant is renewed, promises to perform wonders: “I will do wonders before all your people, such as have never been seen in any other country, in any other nation, so that all the people around you may see how terrible are the works of the Lord which I am doing through you” (Ex 34:10).
Never again in Israel was there a prophet like Moses
To the prophets, men chosen to intervene in the course of history, God gives very special graces to carry out specific missions. This can be seen by following the life of the great leader of the people of Israel, who, according to biblical accounts, surpassed every prophet (cf. Deut 18:15, 19; Num 12:2).
Moses will always represent the Law, the great legislator. Together with Elijah, the symbol of prophecy, at the hour of the Transfiguration, he stands guard in honor of God-made Man, the awaited Messiah.
Therefore, through this specially chosen man, we see the providential work of the prophets, who intercede with God for the people, even if they are sinners. If this happened in the Old Testament, when preparations were being made for the coming of the awaited Messiah, how much more should it not happen in our times when fallen humanity is moving further and further away from the true Church founded by Our Lord?
So, as we wander through the arid lands of unbelief, let us ask Our Lady to make us recognize the men she has chosen to lead her children to the promised land: the splendorous triumph of her Sapiential and Immaculate Heart.
Text taken, with adaptations, from the magazine Heralds of the Gospel no. 218, February 2020. By Fr. Fernando Néstor Gioia Otero, EP.
Compiled by Dominic Joseph
