The Bible Story Part 140

V.

Shouted in pride the turbaned peers, Upclashed to heaven the golden spears..

"King! thou and thine are doomed!--Behold!'

The prophet spoke,--the thunder rolled!

Along the pathway of the sun Sailed vapory mountains, wild and dun.

"Yet there is time," the prophet said: He raised his staff,--the storm was stayed: "King! be the word of freedom given: What art thou, man, to war with Heaven?"

VI.

There came no word.--The thunder broke!-- Like a huge city's final smoke, Thick, lurid, stifling, mixed with flame, Through court and hall the vapors came.

Loose as the stubble in the field, {164} Wide flew the men of spear and shield; Scattered like foam along the wave, Flew the proud pageant, prince and slave; Or in the chains of terror bound, Lay, corpse-like, on the smouldering ground.

"Speak, king!--the wrath is but begun!-- Still dumb?--then, Heaven, thy will be done!"

VII.

Echoed from earth a hollow roar Like ocean on the midnight sh.o.r.e!

A sheet of lightning o'er them wheeled, The solid ground beneath them reeled; In dust sank roof and battlement; Like webs the giant walls were rent; Red, broad, before his startled gaze The monarch saw his Egypt blaze.

Still swelled the plague,--the flame grew pale, Burst from the clouds the charge of hail: With arrowy keenness, iron weight, Down poured the ministers of fate; Till man and cattle, crushed, congealed, Covered with death the boundless field.

VIII.

Still swelled the plague,--uprose the blast, The avenger, fit to be the last: On ocean, river, forest, vale, Thundered at once the mighty gale.

Before the whirlwind flew the tree, Beneath the whirlwind roared the sea; A thousand ships were on the wave-- Where are they?--ask that foaming grave!

Down go the hope, the pride of years, Down go the myriad mariners; The riches of earth's richest zone, Gone! like a flash of lightning, gone!

{165}

IX.

And, lo! that first fierce triumph o'er, Swells ocean on the shrinking sh.o.r.e; Still onward, onward, dark and wide, Engulfs the land the furious tide..

Then bowed thy spirit, stubborn king, Thou serpent, reft of fang and sting; Humbled before the prophet's knee, He groaned, "Be injured Israel free!"

X.

To heaven the sage upraised his hand; Back rolled the deluge from the land; Back to its caverns sank the gale; Fled from the moon the vapors pale; Broad burned again the joyous sun: The hour of wrath and death was done.

--_Croly_.

{166}

7. THE PLAGUE OF HAIL.

And the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt."

And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning; and the Lord sent hail upon the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and lightning mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail. And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Intreat the Lord; for there hath been enough of these mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer."

And Moses said unto him, "As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands to the Lord; the thunders shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know that the earth is the Lord's. But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord G.o.d."

And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and {167} spread abroad his hands unto the Lord: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth. And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the children of Israel go; as the Lord had spoken by Moses.

And the Lord said unto Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs in the midst of them: and that thou mayest tell to thy son, and to thy son's son, what things I have wrought upon Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know that I am the Lord."

And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and said to him, "Thus saith the Lord, the G.o.d of the Hebrews, 'How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to-morrow will I bring locusts into thy border: and they shall cover the face of the earth, that one shall not be able to see the earth: and they shall eat what remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field: and thy houses shall be filled, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; as neither thy fathers nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth to this day.'" And he turned, and went out from Pharaoh.

And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, "How long {168} shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their G.o.d: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?"

And Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh: and he said unto them, "Go, serve the Lord your G.o.d: but who are they that shall go?"

And Moses said, "We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the Lord."

And he said unto them, "No, I will not let you go with your little ones. Not so. But go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord; for that is what ye desire."

And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.

8. THE PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS.

And the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left."

And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all the night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borders of Egypt; very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

{169}{170}

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CLIFFS NEAR LUXOR. TEMPLE OF DAR EL BAHARI From a photograph belonging to Miss Clara L. Bodman and used by her kind permission.

[End ill.u.s.tration]

{171}

Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, "I have sinned against the Lord your G.o.d, and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat the Lord your G.o.d, that he may take away from me this death only."

And he went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the Lord. And the Lord turned an exceeding strong west wind, which took up the locusts, and drove them into the Red Sea; there remained not one locust in all the border of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go.

9. THE PLAGUE OF DARKNESS.

And the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt."

And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days; they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

And Pharaoh called to Moses, and said, "Go ye, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you."

And Moses said, "Thou must also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our G.o.d. Our cattle also shall go with us; there {172} shall not an hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our G.o.d; and we know not with what we must serve the Lord, until we come thither."

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go.

And Pharaoh said to him, "Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in the day thou seest my face thou shalt die."

And Moses said, "Thou hast spoken well; I will see thy face again no more."