Thursday, February 12, 2015

Portraits: The Saga of Moses (part 1)

"You did what!?!" Miriam asked.

"He was hurting one of our brothers!" Moses reacted.

"What did you think you were doing? Have you lost your mind?" Miriam began to pace, speaking more to herself than to her brother. "We'll have to move again. We'll have to hide. I don't know what we'll do. Did you never stop to consider the consequences?"

"Consider the consequences if I had done nothing, Miriam. Consider the consequences if we do nothing. We let these Egyptians walk all over us and treat us like dirt--"

Miriam interjected. "And that justifies killing one of them?"

"For justice, yes."

Miriam stepped forward, coming nose to nose with Moses. "Who made you the judge over the people? Who made you the arbiter of justice?"

Moses fired back, "If we don't do something, than who will? If not now, then when? Miriam, our people are wasting away. Not just physically, but spiritually." As Miriam shrank back, Moses softened his tone. "It won't be long now before not a soul remembers our forefathers or the promise. Only Egyptian idols and sand."

Miriam came to the verge of tears. "This is not your battle, Moses. It's not."

"But it is my battle. And yours. And every Hebrew's. We need to rally our people. Stage a rebellion. We have the numbers. We have the strength. We can do it."

Miriam only shook her head. "No, Moses. We can't. You can't. I know you want to save your people. I know you see the urgency of our situation. But, it's not your fight. The battle belongs to the Lord."

Dozens of footsteps began to echo down the alleyway. Miriam's and Moses' faces lit up with alarm. "Run," Miriam whispered.

"I--"

"Run!" Miriam was pleading now.

Gripped by panic, Moses turned to leave. As he stole out the back door, Miriam's last words echoed in his mind. It's not your fight. The battle belongs to the Lord.


See also: Part 2

2 comments:

  1. Awesome--glad you're going to keep the column going even outside of HarvestMag!

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  2. The portraits are back! This one is particularly exciting and thought-provoking.

    ReplyDelete