By Way of the Wilderness (18 page)

The people were ecstatic over their deliverance. There was still plenty of food in the packs on their backs and in the carts that they pulled, and every night the camp was filled with singing and rejoicing. Moses was in a continual state of excitement, seeing the hand of God at work. Many Hebrew children were safely born, and the people marveled to see this miracle occur many times. Moses was also aware of the foreigners who had joined them and who had come to be called the “mixed multitude.” He himself had no doubt that this was God's will.

When he spoke to Joshua about it, the young man remarked that some of them had gone back to Egypt, but many had passed through the sea with them.

Moses was as adamant as he had been when he spoke to Aaron. “Those who have thrown in their lot with the children of Abraham, no matter what their nationality, shall live under the one law with us.”

Joshua nodded solemnly. He accepted whatever Moses said without question. He did wonder about one thing, though. “Sooner or later we are going to run out of food, my lord Moses. What then?”

Moses had thought about this. “How much is left?”

“Some are already out of food. Quite a few of the people have a good supply—mostly vegetables, eggs, and honey. There's a little hunger in the camp but not much.” Joshua hesitated, then said, “What I'm most worried about is water. We can do without food for a time, but not without water. There's already some complaining against you.”

Moses did not reply, but all that day and late into that night he pondered the situation. The lack of water had become the most pressing issue for the people, for they had consumed what they had brought and had not found any more in the desert.

He waited for the word of God to come to Him, begging God to speak so that he might know how to act. He had led an army at one time and knew well how much thought and effort went into providing for a multitude of men through a hard journey. He remembered clearly how months of preparation had been necessary for such a journey, and now here he was with barely any preparation at all!

“Oh, God, I cannot do this alone! Please speak to my heart. Tell me what to do.”

God was totally silent on this question, but Moses did not complain. He was confident that whatever happened, God would come through, and late at night he would cry out his praises to God.

****

“Moses, we have found water!”

Moses' heart leaped at his sister's cry, and he looked up to see her running toward him, her face radiant.

“Water!” Moses said, leaping to his feet. “I knew God would provide.”

Aaron suddenly appeared, his face long and filled with tension. “Come quickly, brother. There's trouble.”

“Trouble? I thought we found water.”

As Moses followed Aaron and Miriam out of his tent through the crowd of people, he trembled at how the people had been crying for water for days. Their animals had been crying piteously out of dried mouths.

Finally he reached the edge of the crowd, and he heard his name being called, “Moses … Moses, what shall we drink?”

Moses moved quickly to where the water had been found, and he saw several wells. Korah was there, dipping a gold cup into the water. He took a gulp of it, then spat it out, and thrust the cup at Moses, scowling. “Drink it, Moses! This is not fit for animals. What will you do to feed this multitude?”

Moses took the cup and tasted it; then he too spat it on the parched ground. The water was undrinkable! He stood there while the cries of the people went on about him, but in his heart he too was crying out to God. As the noise of the crowd seemed to fade away, there came an impulse from inside his spirit. “Is this you speaking, O God?”

There was no answer, but Moses suddenly knew what to do. He looked around and saw a laurel tree, and with one swift motion he leaped toward it. He pulled off a few of the laurel twigs and thrust them into the well. There was an immediate stirring of the water, and Moses commanded Joshua, “Put the laurel leaves into all the wells.”

Joshua leaped to obey, and as soon as it was done, Moses, without even tasting the water himself, knew that God had worked another miracle. “Now, take and drink. God has provided, as He always will.”

Cries of doubt were soon transformed into cries of joy. Like any good shepherd, Moses stood back and waited until everyone else had drunk. Finally Joshua brought him a cup and his face was alight with joy as he said, “Taste, master. It's the best water I've ever had. Almost like wine.”

Moses took the cup that Joshua handed him and drank from it. When he lowered it, he smiled and put his hand on the young man's shoulder. “That which God provides is always good, Joshua.”

****

As the three men came to stand before him, Moses felt a great weariness descend upon him. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, the self-constituted spokesmen for the rest of the assembly, stood before Moses with a resolute stance. Korah said, “We have to talk to you, Moses.”

“What is it this time, Korah?” Moses knew that the assembly would have to be reorganized as soon as they had met with God at Sinai. The tribes would all have to be represented, not just a few powerful men who had found their place by devious means. He prepared his mind to listen, although he knew that whatever they had to say to him would not be good.

“We have come to ask what you intend to do,” Korah said. “We can't go on like this forever.”

“Why can't we?”

“Why, it's obvious!” Korah said with astonishment. “We move from disaster to disaster.”

“God has always provided, hasn't He?”

“Well, yes, up till now, but we can't live day by day waiting for God to give us a miracle.”

Moses smiled. “Why not?” he asked gently. “You think it's hard for the Lord to perform a miracle?”

“That's not the problem, Moses, and you know it!” Dathan said hotly.

Korah agreed, nodding vigorously. “We left Egypt prepared only for a three-day festival, and now who knows how long we may be in this wilderness?”

“You knew all the time we weren't going back to Egypt. I made that clear,” Moses said mildly.

Korah was angered by the meekness of Moses. “How are you going to provide for all the needs of the people?”

“I have no intention of providing for the needs of the people.”

“You see,” Abiram cried. “I told you! He has no plan at all.”

“It is the Lord our God who will provide for our needs. He will send water. He will provide food. He is the God of all power. Have you forgotten already how He delivered us from bondage in Egypt? He is all-sufficient.”

“Well enough to talk like that, but we must be practical!” Korah snapped, his eyes sharp and hard as stone. “We have the right to know what you intend to do.”

“God has given me a promise,” Moses said calmly, “that He would take us out of Egypt and bring us to a land flowing with milk and honey. He has promised me that we would be His holy people. He has given us the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, and we will follow it faithfully.”

“Until we die,” Korah said. “When we leave these wells, who knows where the next water will be?”

“It will be wherever God leads us. He will not let His people starve or die of thirst.”

The three knew they were dismissed when Moses turned abruptly away.

“As soon as the people grow thirsty again,” Korah muttered to his two cohorts, “then we will see what this fellow will do.”

****

The worry of water running out was in the minds of many people, but God led the people to Elim, only a half-day's march ahead from Marah, where the water had been bitter. There, they were ecstatic to find twelve springs of fresh, pure, sweet water and a beautiful oasis of green growing things and palm trees.

Aaron was almost crying with joy as the people drank and enjoyed the greenery in the middle of the burning desert.

“Let us stay here, Moses. This is a good place.”

“This is not the land that our God has promised us,” Moses said.

“But we are here, and we could have a good life.”

“No. We could not have a good life here, because we would not be obedient to God.”

Aaron angrily waved at the burning desert that lay outside of the oasis. “We do not know what lies out there.”

“No, but God knows, and He is also able to supply all our needs in the wilderness, my dear brother.”

Moses left Aaron, knowing he had not pacified him. He listened to the people singing and the happy voices as they enjoyed the fresh water and soothing beauty of the oasis, but he knew they would soon turn angry when they had to move on into hardship.

Moses walked as far away from the camp as he could, until the babble of voices grew dim. There, he threw himself down on his face and began to pray.

“Almighty God, I cannot bear the weight of this people. Only you are strong enough for that, but I beg you, God, speak to me. Let me know that I am in your will.”

Moses prayed until he grew faint, but there was not a single word from God.

Finally he got up and stretched out his arms toward heaven. “I have not heard your voice, almighty Lord, but even if you never speak to me again, I will still love you!”

As Moses made his way back toward the camp, he found himself filled with amazement.
How is it that I love God? I have never heard of people loving God before. The Egyptians are terrified of their gods. If you asked one of them to love Ammon-ra, they'd think you were crazy
.

He looked up into the endless blue sky and an indescribable joy filled him. “I love you, O my God, and I always will. If we all die in the desert, I will love you anyway. I pray that your people will learn to love you like this.”

As Moses hurried back to the camp, he was filled with joy, yet he knew that his people were still slaves at heart, that they had neither his courage nor his confidence in the God he had heard speaking to him from a burning bush. Again he cried out in prayer. “God, speak to them and help them to love you as I love you!”

“I knew it was a mistake to leave Elim. We should have stayed there. There was plenty of water and feed for the cattle.”

Bezalel glanced over at Oholiab, who was trudging along beside him. They were out looking for a spring and a little grass for the cattle of Aaron and Miriam.

“You sound like the mixed multitude, Oholiab—always complaining.”

“Well, I have a right to complain. We had everything we wanted there in Elim, and we should have stayed.”

“Aaron says that Moses forbade it.”

“Moses is always forbidding something,” Oholiab said grumpily. “He's a great forbidder.”

“If you can't do anything but complain, go somewhere else.”

“Go where? I can't go back to Egypt. We've been traipsing around for a month now in this desert, and you've got to admit, Bezalel, it doesn't look good.”

Although Bezalel never complained in front of Aaron and Miriam, he felt pretty much the same way that his friend did. During the past several days, the Hebrews had consumed every bit of the food they had brought with them out of Egypt. All was gone now, including the honey, the wine, and the cakes. Some, he knew, had already in desperation begun killing their flocks. This Moses had strictly forbidden, knowing that the flocks were the only source of nourishment for their small children.

The two young men trudged along and finally found a bit of grass that had been missed by other herdsmen.

“We'd better get back and bring our flocks over here before someone else finds it,” Bezalel said.

“Why don't you go do that? I have business.”

“You're not still chasing after that girl from the tribe of Dan, are you?”

“I'm not chasing her,” Oholiab said with indignation. “She's chasing
me
.”

“All right. Go on. I'll take care of this.”

“I'll see if she has a sister for you.”

“Never mind that. Just go.”

Bezalel trudged along under the burning sun. He was weary to the point of exhaustion. The land of milk and honey seemed very far away, and the greatest desire of Bezalel's heart was to return to Egypt. Yet he knew there was nothing for him there. The pharaoh was dead, and in all probability the nation was in an uproar. He was well aware that the enemies of Egypt knew that the army had been decimated and would very likely be surging over the borders to take advantage of Egypt's weakness. The new pharaoh would have his hands full.

“Well,” Bezalel said, “sooner or later we're going to have to turn back. We're all going to starve out here in this desolate place!”

****

Moses' heart was heavily burdened by the plight of his people. He saw himself as the shepherd of the flock, and in desperation he had prayed day after day and night after night for God to give him clear direction. God did not speak directly to Moses, but the pillar of cloud and fire continued to move before the people, leading the way. There was nothing for them to do but wearily pick up their belongings each day and follow the cloud.

All night long Moses tried to pray, but he could hear the people crying, “Give us food, Moses!” At first Moses had been indignant. “Who am I that I could provide food for this multitude? Don't they know that it's the Lord who is the provider, not me?” But his indignation soon passed, and he realized more every day that turning a nation of slaves into a nation of free men and women was not a task that could be accomplished in a month.

Late one afternoon Aaron came rushing into Moses' tent, crying out, “Moses, you've got to do something!”

“Do what?” Moses asked wearily. “What can I do?”

“The people are getting restless. I'm …” Aaron hesitated. “I'm really afraid of what they might do.”

“What can they do—kill us?”

Aaron swallowed hard. “I think you're going to have to talk to them.”