EXODUS : In search of the Promised Land

EXODUS  :   In search of the Promised Land

     

From the mountain top of Pisgah Moses had a glimpse of the Promised Land before he died at the age of 120 years.  Moses was an Egyptian Prince and Prophet. Moses is an important figure in both Jewish and Christian history.  God spoke to him in Mount Sinai.  Moses received the Ten Commandments from God which he delivered to the masses.  This was the first constitution and penal code of laws to abide by the human race for a better community or society.   In major religions that originated from the Middle-East have a reference of Moses the Prophet.

In the Old Testament prophet Moses was chosen to lead Israel out of Egyptian slavery. He created Israel's nationhood and delivered the Ten Commandments.

Ten Commandments

Written by God on two stone tablets, the Ten Commandments, given to Moses, list the religious and moral imperative for people to follow.

• You shall have no other gods before me.
• You shall not make for yourself a carved image--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 misuse 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 murder.
• You shall not commit adultery.
• You shall not steal.
• You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
• You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's. 

Moses led the Israelites to flee Egypt through the red sea to safety in search of the Promised Land.   The sea parted and the water became like walls to enable Moses and his people (6,00,000 in numbers) to escape from the chasing Egyptian Army with an intention to kill them.

Moses also did a miracle to save the starving Israelites in the desert by raining birds and bread (Manna) from the sky with the divine intervention.

According to the Hebrew Bible, he was a former Egyptian prince who later in life became a religious leader and lawgiver, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed.

The Birth of Moses - (1393-1273 BCE)

Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.  But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the bulrushes along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

“Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother.  Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him.  When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”

 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock.  Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.

When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”

They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

“And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”

 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.  Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”

 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.  God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. ^\So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

 Moses in US House


Moses encountered the God of Israel speaking to him from within a "burning bush which was not consumed by the fire" on Mount Horeb (which he regarded as the Mountain of God).

God sent Moses back to Egypt to demand the release of the Israelites from slavery. Moses said that he could not speak with assurance or eloquence, so God allowed Aaron, his brother, to become his spokesperson. After the Ten Plagues, Moses led the Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, after which they based themselves at Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments. After 40 years of wandering in the desert, Moses died within sight of the Promised Land, Canaan from the peak of mount Pisgah to the north east of the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea – bordering Israel, the West Bank and Jordan – is a salt lake whose banks are more than 400m below sea level, the lowest point on dry land. Its famously hyper-saline water makes floating easy, and its mineral-rich black mud is used for therapeutic and cosmetic treatments at area resorts. The surrounding desert offers many oases and historic sites.

It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. It was one of the world's first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from asphalt for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics and herbal sachets.

                    

                                                               
                                                                  A panaromic view of Dead Sea

The sea is called "dead" because its high salinity prevents macroscopic aquatic organisms, such as fish and aquatic plants, from living in it, though minuscule quantities of bacteria and microbial fungi are present.

Many animal species live in the mountains surrounding the Dead Sea. Hikers can see ibex, hares, hyraxes, jackals, foxes, and even leopards. Hundreds of bird species inhabit the zone as well. Both Jordan and Israel have established nature reserves around the Dead Sea.

EXODUS – GODS & KINGS – 2014 MOVIE

 

                                          

 Director : Ridley Scott    -    Duration :  150 mins.

20th Century Fox release.

   

                   

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
	Christian Bale	...	Moses
	Joel Edgerton	...	Ramses
	John Turturro	...	Seti
	Aaron Paul	...	Joshua
	Ben Mendelsohn	...	Viceroy Hegep
	María Valverde	...	Zipporah
	Sigourney Weaver	...	Tuya
	Ben Kingsley	...	Nun
	Isaac Andrews	...	Malak
	Hiam Abbass	...	Bithia
	Indira Varma	...	High Priestess
	Ewen Bremner	...	Expert
	Golshifteh Farahani	...	Nefertari
	Ghassan Massoud	...	Ramses' Grand Vizier
	Tara Fitzgerald	...	Miriam

Ancient Egypt 1,300 B.C.

The Hebrews have been slaves to Egypt for over 400 years. They have shaped and built the city under the rule of a series of Pharaohs. They have not forgotten their homeland or their one God, and 'He' has not forgotten them.

In the Pharaoh's temple in the holy city of Memphis, Moses (Christian Bale) and his adoptive brother Ramses (Joel Edgerton) learn that the Hittite army is near the city. The Pharaoh Seti (John Turturro) hears from the High Priestess (Indira Varma) of a prophecy that states that one will become a leader. Together, the two brothers ride their chariots into battle. With their own army, they confront the Hittites and take them down. Ramses is nearly killed when his chariot breaks down and he is nearly trampled, but Moses hurls a spear that breaks the Hittite chariot. 

Seti later thanks Moses for saving Ramses.

                                                      













 Image of RAMSES


 Moses is sent to meet with Viceroy Hegep (Ben Mendelsohn), who oversees the slaves in the city. While they are walking, Moses sees one slave, Joshua (Aaron Paul), being whipped. This image horrifies him.

Moses also meets a tribe of Hebrews led by Joshua's father Nun (Ben Kingsley). Here, Moses learns that he is also a Hebrew and was sent to Egypt as a baby. Moses is upset by this revelation. Two Hebrews hear the story and report it to Hegep.

Some time later, Seti dies and Ramses is made the new Pharaoh. He learns of Moses' lineage from Hegep. A servant named Miriam (Tara Fitzgerald) is brought before him for interrogation at the behest of Queen Tuya (Sigourney Weaver). Ramses questions if she is Moses' sister. He nearly cuts off her arm until Moses intervenes and says she is his sister. Tuya wants Moses to be executed, but Ramses sends him into exile. Before leaving, Moses meets Miriam and their birth mother, who tell him his birth name is Moishe.

Moses travels through the desert and comes across Midian and settles there. He meets Jethro (Kevork Malikyan) and his daughter Zipporah (Maria Valverde). Over time, Moses becomes a shepherd and comes to know Zipporah and they eventually fall in love and marry.

                               

             

 
 Image of Maria Valverde- 1 & 2

     

       

Nine years later, Ramses continues to rule over Egypt with power. He has married Nefertari (Golshifeth Farahani) and has an infant son. Moses has also stayed in Midian and had a son with Zipporah named Gershom (Hal Hewetson). Moses has not shared the same faith in God that his wife and child had, which upsets Zipporah.

Moses takes a trip up a mountain during a storm. A rock slide occurs in which he gets knocked unconscious and has his leg broken. He awakens nearly completely submerged in mud. He hears a voice and sees a burning bush. A child named Malak (Isaac Andrews) comes before him. He is a representation of God sent to speak with Moses. The boy takes some stones and stacks them together to form a pyramid to remind Moses of what he must do and who his people are.

Moses returns to the village and has his leg treated. He tells Zipporah what he saw and what he heard. She doesn't believe that God would have come to him as a child. Moses knows he has a task to do, but Zipporah doesn't want him to leave his family behind.

Moses returns to Egypt and reunites with Nun and Joshua. He also meets his brother Aaron (Andrew Tarbet) for the first time, along with Aaron's own son. Moses returns to the temple and confronts Ramses with a sword to the neck. Ramses is shocked to see Moses still alive. Moses tells Ramses of his mission from God. Afterwards, Ramses decides he wants Moses dead, and so he hunts down the Hebrews in the city and begins to publicly execute them until Moses turns himself in.

Moses gathers the Hebrews and trains them in combat against Ramses' forces. Together with the tribesmen, they learn how to utilize bows and arrows as well as defenses against the Egyptians. Meanwhile, Moses continues to communicate with Malak, who warns him of something to come.

The chaos begins when a group of crocodiles attacks a boat of fishermen. The beasts rip them apart (as well as each other), leaving the sea red with blood. The Ten Plagues then hit Egypt, beginning with all the water in the city turning to blood, with dead sea creatures surfacing. From the water come hundreds and hundreds of frogs all over the city. This is followed by a massive swarm of lice going all across the land. The Egyptians, including Ramses and his family, get rashes and boils on their skin. Ramses consults his grand vizier and the High Priestess for help, but when they provide him with no results, he has them executed.

Moses confronts Ramses again about releasing the Hebrews. Ramses argues that there is no reason to change this after 400 years, as it would also be bad for Egypt economically as the country relies heavily on slave labor. Thus, the plagues continue with pestilence overtaking the livestock. They cough up blood before dying all over the place. Then a huge swarm of locusts overtakes the city, destroying much of the crops. A powerful hail storm follows, also causing much destruction in the city.

Joshua comes across Moses talking to Malak, though Joshua cannot see the boy. Moses is horrified to learn of what the final plague is to be. He tells the Hebrews to slaughter a lamb and cover their doors with blood. That night, a darkness sweeps over the city. The first born child in each Egyptian home that is not marked with blood dies, including the son of Ramses. He finds his dead child and wails. After this, Ramses angrily tells Moses to leave with the Hebrews for Canaan.

 

  

           

Moses leads the Hebrews into their exodus from the city. They walk for days until coming across the Red Sea. Fearing they have no way of going further, a frustrated Moses throws his sword into the ocean. Later, the waters begin to recede, allowing the people to go through. When the water recedes, the sword is visible vertically positioned on the seabed. One Hebrew objects to Moses' leadership, but Moses convinces everyone to continue following him as he vows to take them home. They begin to walk through the sea.

     

Back in Egypt, Ramses is still mourning the loss of his son. He decides to go after the Hebrews. His men ride through the mountains without stopping to rest the men or horses. On their journey, a large portion of Ramses' soldiers are killed when the mountains break down and take the soldiers down with it. The surviving Egyptians catch up to the Hebrews, who are almost through the Red Sea. The waters then begin to reform, forcing everyone to run for it. Moses rides toward Ramses, while Joshua, Aaron, and others follow him. As the waters get higher and closer, Moses orders the Hebrews to run back to land, while most of Ramses' soldiers retreat, even as Ramses continues riding toward Moses. The waves then crash down, killing Ramses' men before hitting both Moses and Ramses. Moses survives and rejoins the Hebrews, while Ramses also survives but is left alone amongst his dead soldiers, all of whom are being feasted on by the birds.

Moses leads the Hebrews through Midian so that he may reunite with Zipporah and Gershom. Moses tells her that her faith should be stronger than ever now. They embrace and kiss.

Later on, Moses is carving out the Ten Commandments onto a slab of stone. He talks to Malak again, who tells him that if he truly believes in what he's writing, that he ought to continue.

The Hebrews make their way through Mount Sinai. A significantly older Moses rides with the Ten Commandments close to him. He looks out and sees Malak amongst the crowd before he seems to disappear. The Hebrews then continue making their way to the promised land.

Image of Christian Bale

Moses was a magnanimous persona who could not have been missed out while searching for a BLOG topic.  He was one of those my pick of 100 Greatest men who lived in this world since the inception of the universe.