When Moses had fulfilled his term, and was traveling with his family, he perceived a fire on the slope of Mount Sinai. So he said to his family: “Wait here, for I perceive a fire. Perhaps I may bring you from there some information, or a burning brand from the fire so that you may warm yourselves.” (The Story, Al-Qasas: 28: 29)
The ten years agreed between the Moses and his father-in-law have passed, which brings us into the third episode of the story. We see Moses on the road again, backtracking the route he took alone ten years earlier. Now he is traveling back with his family. The atmosphere on this second journey is totally different. He is about to receive, on the way, what he could have never imagined. His Lord will call him and speak to him, assigning to him the mission for which He has prepared him. He is to deliver God’s message to Pharaoh and his noble men, asking them to release the Children of Israel so that they could worship God alone, associating no partners with Him, and taking possession of the land God has promised them. He would thus be an enemy and a source of grief to Pharaoh, Haman and their hosts, bringing about their downfall.
Before we discuss the two scenes included in this episode, we need to reflect a little about what God intended for Moses in these ten years, and in his journey from Egypt and back. We note that it was God’s hand that planned the way Moses’ life should follow, step-by-step, right from the time when he was a suckling newborn up to this point. It ensured that he was cast in the river so that Pharaoh’s household should pick him up. It endeared him to Pharaoh’s wife so that he could be brought up in his enemy’s own home and under his supervision. It then made him enter the city at a time when its people were unaware of him, only to kill one of its people. It then sent him a believer from among Pharaoh’s own household to warn him and advise him to leave the city. It then took care of him along the desert road from Egypt to Madyan when he traveled suddenly, alone and ill prepared. It brought him to the old man so as to serve him for ten years before going back to receive his mission.
It is a long line of care, instruction and gaining experience before being called and assigned a mission. His experience included being loved and pampered, spontaneous retaliation as a result of prolonged pressure, regret and repentance, being in fear for his life and chased, finding himself a lonely and hungry stranger, serving others as a shepherd after having lived in a palace, along with a multitude of small experiences, varied feelings, thoughts and understanding in addition to what God bestowed on him of knowledge and wisdom on reaching his prime.
To be entrusted with a divine message is a hard and multifaceted task. The one assigned such a task needs a wealth of experience, understanding, knowledge and refinement in practical matters, in addition to God’s special favors, His revelations and directives.
Apart from the message of Islam given to Muhammad (peace be upon him), Moses’ message is perhaps the hardest assigned to a human being. He was sent to Pharaoh, the most tyrannical ruler on earth at the time, who occupied the oldest throne in the longest established monarchy, and the most advanced civilization. Furthermore, he was the ruler who required to be worshipped by all his subjects.
Moses was sent to rescue a community that has long been humiliated, and long accepted humiliation as their lot. Humiliation corrupts human nature, obliterating its good, beautiful aspects so as to make it accept what is rotten, filthy and decadent. To rescue such a community is a hard task indeed.
Moreover, the people to be addressed by his message had deviated from their old faith and went so far away from it as to put them in a strange position. Their hearts are neither free to accept the new faith readily with ease, nor conforming to their original faith. Addressing such hearts is a difficult mission, made even more so by the numerous deviations and innovations they have made over several generations.
In short, Moses has been given the mission of rebuilding a nation, or indeed to start its building from scratch. With his message, the Children of Israel became for the first time a separate community, with a special way of life, implementing a message. Building a nation is no easy task.
Perhaps this is the reason for which the Qur’an attaches such importance to this story, because it provides a complete example of building a nation on the basis of faith. We see all the internal and external difficulties, deviation and other impediments that stand in its way.
The ten years Moses spent in Madyan served as a gap and a learning period, separating the palace life Moses got used to in his childhood, and the hard life awaiting him as he advocates his message. Palace life has its own atmosphere and traditions. It has its clear influence on the people enjoying its comforts, even though they may be exemplary in their understanding, awareness and knowledge. Delivering a message from God requires that the messenger should deal with all people, rich and poor, affluent and deprived, clean and dirty, refined and rough, good-natured and evil, strong and weak, patient in adversity and impulsive, etc. Poor people have their own habits in their food, clothing, walking, concept of life, understanding of events, vision in life, talking and expression of their emotions. Such habits cannot be easily accepted by those who have been brought up in palaces. They can hardly tolerate to look at them, let alone experience and deal with them. Some poor people may be full of goodness, ready to accept the faith and implement it, but those who belong to palaces may find it very difficult to deal with the poor because they cannot accept the physical appearance and the habits of the poor.
A divine message imposes certain standards of dedication and hard life. Palace people may be prepared to sacrifice the life of ease, comfort and plenty they are used to, but they are rarely able to withstand hard life and deprivation for a long while. Therefore, God willed to reduce the standard of plentiful life he was used to, place him in a community of shepherds so as to feel God’s grace when he is a shepherd working for his food and shelter after he had experienced fear and hunger, and remove from him the feelings of revulsion toward the poor and their habits, manners and naivety, and the sense of superiority to their position, appearance and habits. Just as he was thrown to the waves when a baby, now he is thrown into the sea of life in order to equip him for shouldering his task before it is assigned to him.
When Moses had completed his training with this last experience in a foreign land, God’s hand directed his movement anew to return him to the land of his birth, where his community lived. It is there that he will have to start delivering his message. He is now taking the same route he traveled on his flight from Egypt. Why should it be the same? In fact, his training includes knowledge of the desert routes, because he will be leading his people along the same route in obedience to his Lord’s orders. Thus, he will not need to depend on others, not even a road guide. His people needed such a leader to show them which way to go at every turn, after they had lost their ability to think for themselves as a result of their long humiliation and subjugation.
Thus we realize how Moses was reared under God’s watchful eye, and how he received his life education to be ready to shoulder the burden of delivering His message.
