A Story of God and All of Us Young Reade - By Roma Downey Page 0,11

blue as any he has ever seen, Moses leads his flock into Egypt. He will sell that flock the first chance he gets. For God is about to give him an entirely new kind of flock.

Moses, now an old man, has been given an impossible task: persuade Pharaoh to let those slaves go. They must be set free. "So much suffering,"

Moses mumbles under his breath, gazing upon men and women who have never known freedom. Caked in dust, emaciated, beaten. These are his people. They are wretched and broken and have no idea what freedom actually means. How is Moses, an outsider who has never lived among them, going to persuade Pharaoh to let them go? And if he does, how is Moses supposed to lead them? The task isn't just impossible. It's unthinkable. Moses is afraid, but he was called upon by God. Only the memory of that burning bush helps him fight his urge to turn around.

"Hey, old man," barks an overseer, before jarring Moses back to reality by shoving him. The slave master raises his whip to beat him, but a powerfully 40

built slave named Joshua intervenes on Moses' behalf just in time.

"Don't worry, sir. Don't worry," Joshua assures the overseer. "I think he's a little confused. Let me take care of this. I am so sorry."

The overseer looks at Moses and Joshua as if they were the dirt itself. He spits into the dust and saunters away, cracking his whip as he goes.

Joshua pulls Moses around a corner. When they're out of sight, Joshua confronts this stranger who has suddenly appeared. "Do you want to get us all a beating?" Joshua hisses at Moses.

Moses only stares at him.

"Who are you?" Joshua asks.

"My name is Moses."

A stunned Joshua takes two steps backward. His eyes glaze over in wonder.

"Moses? You are Moses?"

"Yes."

" The Moses?"

A deep breath. A reminder that he has not been forgotten. A call to battle.

"Yes. The Moses."

After meeting with the Israelite slaves, including his siblings, Miriam and Aaron, Moses sends word to 41 the palace that he would like to meet with Rameses. As Moses predicted, the mere mention of his name is enough to produce an audience with the Pharaoh, and soon he and Aaron are escorted up the grand stairway toward Rameses' throne, past ornately carved pillars and statues.

A courtier marches the two Israelites into a large hall. Rameses sits before them on a large golden throne. His son sits by his side in a smaller version of the same regal chair. Moses smiles at the boy, who smiles back.

"You have a son," Moses says to Rameses.

"An heir. My family's dynasty will last forever."

Moses smiles again at the young boy, who shyly looks away. The Pharaoh has a hard look in his eyes. The two men stare at each other, remembering the past.

"Have you come to beg forgiveness?" says an expectant Pharaoh. He has waited years to hear an apology.

The palace guards step forward. If Moses shows disrespect, a simple snap of Pharaoh's finger will see Moses and Aaron thrown to the ground.

"God saved me," Moses explains. "For a purpose."

All around the court, the mood has darkened, for it is clear that Moses is not talking about an Egyptian god but the God of Abraham, whom the Egyptians do not know or worship.

42

"And what purpose would that be?" the Pharaoh says, amused.

"To demand that you release his people from slavery."

"Demand?" Rameses asks. He steps down from his throne and approaches Moses. The two men stand eye to eye, a Pharaoh and a Hebrew. In any other situation, Moses would have been instantly struck down and killed for daring to look in Pharaoh's eyes. But there is a deep history between these

two men, and this is no ordinary moment.

Moses does not back down. "Let my people go."

"You always were a fighter, but you never knew when you were beaten."

Moses weighs his words before responding. "That's because you never beat me. If you defy God, you will receive a punishment more severe than anything I could have ever imagined inflicting upon you."

"I have a good mind to slam my fist hard into your face, Moses," Rameses hisses, "but I will not revisit our childish matches where you always played unfairly. You return, after all these years, to threaten me? Tell me, dear Moses, is it your invisible God who's going to punish me ? The one who abandons his people? The one who runs from his responsibility, his past...

his family?" Rameses beckons to the guards.