(AN:/)
Found Out
Moses stood outside the camp one night. The moon was hidden, and the only light that illuminated the camp was that of the Pillar of Fire coming from the Tabernacle. There was a lot on this leader's mind.
It had been a simple enough task: daunting and seemingly impossible, but quite simple. Lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt, follow the LORD's instructions, and come to the Land of Promise. Pharaoh never stood a chance.
But it suddenly became more complicated that day after the Red Sea. The Children of Israel seemed determined to disobey God at every turn. Even worse, no matter what punishments were rained down upon them or how many people died by reason of their disobedience, they retained their stiff-lipped defiance of the LORD God.
He had remained steadfast through the whole ordeal, even begging God to blot him out rather than to destroy all the people. But here, at the plain of Kadesh, just south of Paran, where they had just recently been rejected and damned to wander in the wilderness for forty years, Moses' resolve was weakening.
He had served the LORD faithfully, yet no exemption from the punishment, which, as of yet, only Caleb and Joshua would be escaping, had been made for him.
Just then, he heard a voice calling out his name. Turning around, he saw Elishebah running up to meet him.
"W-What is it?" he asked.
"It's Miriam!" she panted. Moses' face blanched. His sister had collapsed during the heat of the day and spent the rest of the day in her tent. Had something worse happened to her?
Without another word, he picked up his staff and followed his sister-in-law to Miriam's tent. There he saw Aaron, looking particularly old and feeble, and the young Eleazar and his younger brother Ithamar. They were waiting outside the tent. Elishebah then took Moses and her husband Aaron inside, where they knelt down on either side of their sister.
"Moses?" she sighed, seeing the swathed face of her brother. "I...I'm sorry, brother. Sorry for everything."
"Miriam, p-p-please," he stammered. "Don't exhaust yourself."
"No," she shook her head. "I know my time has come."
"Don't say things like that!" Aaron added.
"I know now," she said, turning to Moses, her hand reaching up to rest on his shoulder. "I know now why the LORD did not allow me...to enter the Promised Land. He saw my weakness, my age, my frailty, and looked upon me with compassion."
"B-B-But..."
"No, it's true. Better that I die here in peace than wear my old bones out for forty years!" she chuckled, then covered her mouth with her sleeve as she coughed.
"I need you, Miriam!" Moses whispered. "We n-n-need you!"
Miriam simply sighed and rested her head on the roll. Aaron tried to stir her, but she did not move. Moses did not have to ask, for he knew.
She was dead.
Kadesh seemed like any other place they had visited. Dry and arid. The people, typically, were back and about complaining. The news of Miriam's death soon spread through the camp and concerned whispers about where they would find water were suddenly echoing through the camp.
Moses and Aaron, the last two of the sons of Amram, the leading members of the Children of Israel, stood outside the Tabernacle.
"What sh-sh-shall we do?" Moses asked. "The p-p-people, they grow impatient for the lack of w-w-water!"
"Assemble the congregation," the voice of the LORD spoke. "Then take your staff and Aaron and stand before the rock that I shall show you. Speak unto the rock before the congregation and it shall bring forth water for them all to drink."
Moses nodded, then stood up, staff in hand and Aaron at his side. They passed through the doors of the tent and walked through the midst of the angry mob of the people.
"Why have you led us to this place to die?"
"This is no land of milk and honey!"
"Better that we had died with our brethren!"
"Murderers! Traitors!"
Moses had quite enough. They were getting to be too much to bear. Almost a million people all on his shoulders, and, to all appearances, the LORD had left him at the fickle mercies of the people of Israel.
There was the rock, a tall thing standing before the people. Moses stood to one side, his eyes brimming with anger beneath his veil. Next to him stood Aaron, waiting for orders.
Just then, a stone, thrown from the crowds, struck Moses' feet.
"Hear now, rebels!" Moses shouted. "Must we fetch water for you from this rock?"
"Who led us out here to die?" one bit back.
"You're the leader, save us!"
"You led us into the desert to starve to death, you should get us out of this!"
Aaron said nothing, no rebukes, nothing to vindicate the name of the LORD or His place as their leader. It seemed he had no problem letting his brother take all the credit for leading them, when he knew, just as Moses knew, and just as Caleb and Joshua knew...
It was YHWH who was leading them.
"You want water?" Moses shouted at the people.
"No, we'd rather die of thirst out here!" one sarcastically returned. "You promised us a land of plenty: a land of seed, vines, figs and pomegranates. And what have you given us? Death and starvation out here in this wasteland!"
He had had enough. With a loud shout, he rose his staff and broke it upon the rock.
The complaining stopped when the water burst forth from the body of the rock. Now they were clawing over themselves to be the first one to drink from the newly formed pool of water.
Moses, however, was looking out towards the Tabernacle.
"I AM most displeased with what you have done." the LORD said to him.
"B-But I did what You asked!" Moses said. "I gave them water..."
"I told you to speak to the rock, not break it!" the Creator stated. "By your disobedience, you cast your lot in with the people."
"B-But..."
"Moreover, by your words and actions, you have deceived the people into believing that it was by your power, not Mine, that the people of Israel were delivered out of Egypt and brought through the wilderness. By your example, you have led the people into even greater sin."
Moses placed his hands upon his face and fell to the ground.
"Please, my LORD! Have mercy on Your humble servant!"
Silence...
"I forgive you," the LORD said. "But the damage is done, and because you have misled the people, I will not allow you to lead them into the Land of Promise. Nor your brother Aaron."
"Aaron?" Moses asked. "B-But why not he?"
"By his silence, he gave credence to your lies, and therefore is as much to blame as you are."
Moses did not feel much better, but at least he knew now that the LORD had not abandoned him. He never had. In Moses' mind, he reasoned that, as the LORD had seen fit to call Miriam into her rest by reason of her advanced age, so He had seen that Moses would do this and therefore did not leave him out of the curse made at Paran.
One way or another, he thought, thinking of a certain story. Your sins will find you out.
"Where is he?"
"Who?"
"Your brother."
"How should I know? Am I my brother's keeper?"
Silence.
"What have you done?" the LORD asked, horror in His voice.
"What do you mean?"
"Your brother's blood cries out to Me from the earth. Verily, you shall now be cursed among all those of the earth. When you till the ground, it will not yield up its increase to you: throughout the world you shall be a fugitive and a vagabond!"
"No, LORD!" he cried out, falling to his knees. "It's too much! I'll be driven out and anyone who finds me will surely kill me."
Silence, then a sudden roar of sound.
"I have marked you, that none may kill you. For surely, whosoever slayeth Cain the son of Adam, vengeance shall be taken upon him sevenfold!"
Was there hope, even for him, after all that had happened?
(AN: A little flash-back to the story of Cain, and a reference to the band Avenged Sevenfold. Just like with Joshua, there will be references where approrpriate. So far, they've just been Ten Commandments or Prince of Egypt ones. There may be more if I can think of them.)
(The reference to Cain ties in with what happened before, in the prologues. Also, it allows Moses to carry on in the hope that, if JEHOVAH showed mercy even to Cain, then there is mercy enough even for him. This helps him to carry on for the next several years.)
