CHAPTER XIII

THE STORY OF THE PASSOVER AND THE PILLAR OF FIRE IN THE WILDERNESS.

Quite a number of different versions have been given of the special lessons intended to be conveyed by the Plagues of Egypt. We have already referred to their magical character, and endeavored to show that they present a very clear distinction between white magic and black—i.e., between Occult Power exercised with beneficent intent in the one case, and for the purpose of working injury in the other. There is yet another reason given for the Plagues than that of showing the distinction between wonders wrought to assist in procuring liberty for the enslaved and similar wonders performed for the purpose of keeping serfs still in bondage, a demonstration of Divine power over the Egyptian Idols which the Ten Plagues specifically attacked. Miraculous or magical power was believed by the Egyptians to be in the possession of their idols, which they always regarded as far more than emblems or symbols; believing as they did that their divinities in some mysterious manner communicated with them through the agency of these images, and also in a very particular manner through the various living creatures which they held particularly sacred. Several writers have not hesitated to affirm that the Plagues were sent almost solely for the purpose of destroying faith in the various Egyptian divinities, a proposition to which we can well assent, provided we are convinced that thirty-five centuries ago the worship of these idols was intimately associated with the perpetuation of cruel slavery and many grossly immoral practices. There is no suggestion in the book of Exodus that the magicians of Egypt were devoid of power or that their performances were simply conjurors’ tricks; but the very word conjuror meant originally one who could conjure or evoke certain unseen influences and compel them to do his bidding.

No objection need necessarily have been taken to any form of Nature worship, provided it had not been abused to the ends of human injury; but directly it had become thus perverted there was surely an excellent reason for protesting vigorously against it, and working wonders with the intent to demolish it. We must always keep steadily before us the one idea that whatever was done by Moses and Aaron had this sole object in view—the liberation of oppressed people from servitude. The first wonder destroyed confidence in the power of serpents which were very highly venerated in Egypt and in many other ancient countries, for we are told that Moses and Aaron could perfectly control them and cause them to appear and disappear at will. When man can show conclusively that these reptiles are completely subject to his sway, they can no longer be regarded as proper objects for human adoration, for it is self-evidently absurd to bow before inferior creatures which are subject to our will and cannot protect themselves against any assault we may make upon their alleged superiority. To pollute the waters of the Nile, the sacred river of the Egyptians, was to prove that their river deities were unable to protect the stream against the assaults made upon it by those greatest of wonder-workers, Moses and Aaron, who spoke in the name of a far more powerful Deity. We cannot suppose that any people could be at once led to acknowledge One Only Supreme Being, but they could quite easily be induced to admit through the agency of manifest marvels that the Divinity worshiped by the Hebrews was an altogether superior being to their own local divinities; and for the purpose of the Exodus it was clearly necessary to establish in the mind of Pharoah and his generals that the divinity worshiped by the Israelites had greater power than the many gods and goddesses to whom the Egyptians in general were accustomed to render homage. The plague of frogs was directed against an Egyptian god who was supposed to regard these unclean creatures as peculiarly sacred, and no sooner did frogs become a definite nuisance to the Egyptians than they ceased to venerate them, and were thus rescued from that particular phase of idolatry. No greater mistake could well be made historically or otherwise than to suppose that only Hebrews were liberated at the time of Passover, for the narrative in Exodus distinctly informs us that a mixed multitude went out of Egypt. The Egyptians as a nation were not drowned in the Red Sea, but only Pharoah's pursuing army who had set forth with the one intention of dragging back into slavery those who were just escaping by way of the Red Sea passage. The various plagues, therefore, were intended to enlighten, not to curse, the Egyptians, though it is said to have come to pass that those who refused to give heed to salutary warnings were overthrown in a time of widespread calamity. The presence of various obnoxious insects in sacred temples as well as in secular houses served to desecrate all those places, and it had long been commonly believed that no insect regarded as unclean could possibly invade an Egyptian sanctuary. That old tradition may well have taken its rise in very ancient times when the priesthood was pure and noble, and did actually possess some real ability to consecrate buildings and sacred vessels as well as to sanctify its own religious vestments, but that time had long passed, and the priesthood of the days of Exodus had become, for the most part, so corrupt that no real sanctity could possibly attach to it or to its ministrations. The subject of the power to consecrate is very finely treated by Annie Besant in “The Changing World,” particularly in the section headed “The Sacramental Life,” in which she furnishes a large amount of information concerning “Words of Power,” to which she attributes the very results in these days which have been claimed for them from time immemorial. So very much, according to this view depends upon the consecrator that no object can be consecrated simply by the celebration of a rite or the employment of a formula; it takes a holy man or woman to perform a holy act; the simple fact of one’s being a nominal priest or priestess confers no genuine grace or power. Just as in India a mantra can only be successfully used by a holy person who speaks the right syllables in exactly the right manner, so can we readily discover by observing contemporary mental therapeutic practice that while nothing is easier than to learn a set of formulas and repeat them by rote, the actual efficacy of this mode of treatment depends far more upon the man or woman who makes use of it than upon the formula itself, though it may also be fairly claimed that there is a suggestive value in certain formulated sentences quite apart from the special condition of the individual who employs them. Again and again we are told in Exodus that Moses and Aaron gave credentials of their divine commission by healing the afflicted, a work which Pharoah’s magicians utterly failed in accomplishing whenever they undertook it; it was not therefore the production of the Plagues, but their removal, which proved that Moses and Aaron were on the righteous side while their opponents were the servants of unrighteousness. Nothing could well be more odious than to believe that anybody at any time displayed delegated divine authority by producing plagues or causing pestilence, but when we have learned that though that work can be quite successfully performed by black magicians, the power to remove plagues testifies some degree of divine authority the case is entirely different, and by no means irrational or incredible. We are told that the magicians, when they witnessed the power of Moses and Aaron accomplishing wonders far beyond their own power to duplicate, exclaimed, “This is indeed the finger of God,” an expression which clearly shows that they were amenable to reasonable conviction and did not hesitate to confess their inferiority when such was clearly demonstrated. There was in Egypt at that time a singular belief in a divinity who presided over flies, and indeed every creature mentioned in the story of the Plagues was in some way connected with prevailing idolatry. It was, however, only after the slaying of the first-born sons that Pharoah is said to have become so terrified that he not only let the people go, but urged the captives to depart with utmost haste, lest even greater calamities should fall upon him and his subjects. This terrible ordeal through which the Egyptians had to pass suggests the outworking of the Law of Karma, which metes out exact justice in the long run to every individual and to every nation. This slaying of the first-born of the Egyptians may be regarded as the fruitage of the previous slaying of the male children of the Hebrews by command of an earlier Pharoah. What we do to others we often unknowingly and unwittingly do to ourselves; for all evil thoughts, words and deeds directed against others are like boomerangs: they strike back the individual who throws them out. Herein lies the open secret of the much-maligned but ever true law of retaliation, expressed in the famous sentence, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” This is the law of the universe, and no one can ever evade its operation; but it is a beneficent law, and when rightly interpreted impresses us deeply with a sense of divine equity, but conveys no thought of vengeance, for we need the discipline of suffering ourselves if we have caused others to suffer. There is something actually sublime in that great phrase of Emerson's, “No one can do me an injury but myself,” which clearly means that we are never really hurt by any opposition from without, but only by deterioration from within. Knowing that a great many Christians entirely misconceive the law of retaliation and believe that the New Testament condemns it, we hope they will soon come to understand it rightly, and they will when they see that it is at no point in conflict with the Golden Rule which beautifully advises us to do unto others only and exactly what we wish others to do unto us. No great teacher ever instructed his disciples to knock out their neighbors’ teeth and pluck out their eyes, but all great teachers have urged upon their students the necessity for just and kindly conduct in all the relationships of life; consequently, if Christians obey the Golden Rule they will not find the Jewish law working against them in any particular, even though it be carried out in its minutest detail. We do not mean to say that all Jewish legislation, any more than all Christian legislation, has been either just or merciful, but we are not now endeavoring to deal with the particular acts of certain individuals, but only with the broad outlines of a code of morals set forth in the Pentateuch. In the literal enforcement of equitable law we must always be compelled to make the utmost compensation or restitution in our power for all injuries we have inflicted on others; but this certainly does not mean that others are to perform upon us the same ferocious acts that we have performed on our neighbors, for no good end would probably be served by that kind of savage retaliation. There can be no real justification for inflicting any penalty on anyone except with some benevolent end in view; but as different people are reached by different methods, adapted to their varying stages of moral and mental development, seemingly harsh measures are often kind in reality, while very lenient ones are frequently ineffective. We must, however, be very careful, if ever we feel disposed to take the law into our own hands, for we are wisely told in the Bible that retribution belongs to God, and all matters will be adjusted equitably through the outworking of an unchanging universal law with which we must simply endeavor to place ourselves in harmony. We should do all in our power to discourage any form of gloating over the discomfiture of our personal antagonists, and if we celebrate the Passover in any helpful manner, we must rejoice only in a commemoration of human liberation from slavery and think of the means provided to accomplish this noble end merely as those best suited to a bygone age in a distant country. The lesson of the Passover itself is universal and perpetually enduring, even in the case of curious ceremonial details, such as the eating of bitter herbs and unleavened bread, which have a far deeper significance when viewed esoterically than any mere remembrance of a hurried flight from Egypt on a certain eventful night between three and four thousand years ago.

Even the curious traditional songs sung in Jewish homes on Pesach Eve are replete with deep interior meaning, though such curious specimens as “One Only Kid” may well be classed with fables and folk-songs in general. Children always love songs, fables, parables and all kinds of object lessons, and they grasp what there are intended to teach far more readily than they learn by the less attractive methods employed by teachers who exclude symbols from their curriculum. “One Only Kid” is a fair specimen of ancient combinations of allegory and anecdote. The main object of the song is to demonstrate the instability of all mortal things and the sole permanence of Deity and of God’s unchanging law. The child sings at time of Passover celebration of his father’s buying a kid, which was eaten by a cat (originally some large member of the feline family was indicated). Now the cat was a very sacred animal in ancient Egypt; so sacred was it held that cats mummied thousands of years ago are yet in a good state of preservation in the British Museum. But after the cat had slain the kid, a dog came and bit the cat. Now the dog was held sacred in Babylonia and Assyria, to which power Egypt was rendered tributary after the Israelitish exodus. History is therefore taught in the quaint old melody as well as religion. The dog in turn is beaten with a stick, which is emblematical of Persia, where it was a type of the strictest possible administration of justice, as we learn from the Zend-Avesta. Then a fire burns the stick, and this is said to represent the conquest of Persia by Alexander of Macedonia, who rushed forth like a devouring flame, and in less than seven years completely overthrew Persian supremacy. The fire now is quenched by water, which typifies the Roman power which swept like a flood over the major portion of the then known world. Eventually an ox appears, and drinks up the water which had quenched the fire, and this is looked upon as an emblem of Moslem rule. But the ox meets its fate at the hands of a butcher, who is said to signify the Crusaders who as relentlessly attacked the Mohammedans as they had attacked those whom they had previously conquered. But there comes a time when the butcher must fall before the sword of the Angel of Death, who will ultimately remove all strife from the earth and usher in the glorious age of universal peace foretold by all the greatest of the prophets of all climes and ages. The Holy One (Blessed be He) slays the Angel of Death who has removed the butcher who slew the ox which drank the water that quenched the fire that burnt the stick which beat the dog that bit the cat that ate the kid. Finally the prophets assure us all wars will cease and this planet will reach the zenith of its perfection and become the abode of only holy and happy multitudes. Such is the predicted end of the world, for by end is meant object in view. To what end are you working? is a familiar inquiry. Wisely indeed does John Uri Lloyd, in his wonderful romance, “Etidorhpa” (Aphrodite spelled backward), represent a radiant maiden appearing to a venerable man who had undergone the weirdest imaginable experiences, and saying to him, “I am the end of the world,” a highly significant sentence, meaning that the object of all terrestrial experience is to bring forth perfected humanity, which must be the only sane and satisfactory solution of our planet's tragic history.

The Pillar of Fire which went before the children of Israel during their forty years’ march through the wilderness between Egypt and Palestine, has been accounted for literally by some modern students on the basis of discoveries in the vicinity of Mount Sinai in Arabia, pointing to the volcanic character of the district. A simply materialistic version of the fire by night and cloud by day is that the crater of the volcano furnished exactly such phenomena. Be this as it may, and the suggestion is quite credible, the esoteric meaning of the narrative is in no way impaired by any physical discoveries. Natural facts have all a spiritual origin, and they are always made use of illustratively in all the sacred literature of the entire world. The inner meaning of all spiritual allegories must have reference to continuous human experiences, therefore let us be ready to endorse whatever material science may reveal concerning outward phenomena, and at the same time search diligently for those deeper truths of human experience which relate us with the usually unseen, but by no means permanently unknowable spiritual universe.

We should have to write volumes, not chapters, did we attempt, even in outline, to review and comment upon the many thrilling incidents we have left untouched in this brief mention of the Book of Exodus. Among the most powerfully suggestive are the stories of Quails and Manna and the fashioning and destroying of the Golden Calf. The story of food supplies is an intensely profitable topic on which to meditate, for the heaven-sent manna suggests an explanation of the nature of evil so lucid and comprehensive that he who runs may clearly read. Provision for human necessities comes sweet and wholesome from heaven to earth, typifying all human faculties and all natural and proper means for sustaining our exterior existence; but if we do not make a right use of faculties and opportunities, and moreover if we do not use these at the proper time as well as in the right way, they become perverted, unwholesome and offensive. If we are gluttonous and over-eat of the good food provided, we are made seriously ill by “quail,” when we could be healthily sustained by “manna.” All things are good in their right place and time; perversion, excess and misappropriation are the sole causes of the many miseries we bemoan. In the absence of Moses (who denotes intuition and spiritual guidance in general), and when only Aaron (who signifies unillumined intellect) is leading us, we are sorely apt to revert instead of to advance, and to require a material idol, like an image of the Egyptian Apis, to adore instead of trusting in the true spiritual Divinity. The nations to be exterminated before we can enter our Land of Promise figuratively denote all dispositions and practices which are called in the New Testament “fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” We must all accomplish our own individual as well as our collective exodus, which is naught else, in its last analysis, than complete freedom attained from all kinds of servitude, through strict adhesion to the voice of the Divine within, obedience to which can alone secure complete emancipation from every phase of thraldom which yet embarrasses the human race.