ALIVE: Chapter 49, To Kill for Straw

God called Perambula and Gracefeld for a meeting. Gracefeld arrived first because it took Perambula a while to leave the touching scene of the family reunion in Miriam's home.

"Be prepared to see for yourselves your advantage over humankind. Your timelessness and your spiritual sight shield you from much grief that humans suffer because of their short sightedness." God said to His angels. "I want you to stay near them. Gracefeld, you are assigned to Pharaoh. Don't ever leave him. Keep him determined, no matter what he suffers, to hold on to the Hebrews. It won't be very hard for Pharaoh to cling to free labor and to power over the slaves, but the plagues that I will send will be serious and dreadful. The plagues will be designed to tear the Hebrews away from this Egyptian prison, by showing them My Will and My Power." God looked into their angel eyes and saw the kind of support and determination that were the reasons that He chose these two out of all the host of heaven.

"Lord, what is my assignment?" chirped Perambula enthusiastically.

"You will remain with Moses and Aaron, don't let them buckle. I will help you by speaking to Moses when it is necessary. Don't allow them to argue with each other.

You will be sent throngs of angels to assist you with the people, but your job to lead and to manage them will be most demanding."

"Yes, my Lord." replied Perambula dutifully while wondering if Gracefeld had the better role. After all, Gracefeld had only one person to manage.

"Stop that!" bellowed the Lord after reading Perambula's thoughts. "Now let's all get to work! This will be the most significant scene in My story, perhaps since Creation. Unlike in Creation, what happens here, the relatively peaceful exodus of the captives will be taught, remembered and celebrated by every generation until the end of time for the lessons that I will convey to humanity, but to My people first, now be off!"

God and His angels appreciate the nights when people must sleep for the time it gives for planning. The concept of time can be as useful as it is blinding. Sunrise marked their dispersal to their assignments.

...

Aaron woke up first. The truth is that his anticipation of going to the palace with Moses terrified him and kept him from sleeping soundly all night long. Never had a slave simply walked into the palace. What if he was arrested? Yet, he marveled at the Lord's wisdom that Moses would not be a lone leader of this extraordinary mission. One man alone would be taken less seriously, would be easily dismissed. In his musings Aaron wondered exactly when God had initiated this plan. Was it even before he was born? Was this the reason for Moses' speech impediment? How patient must God be to allow decades to pass for His will to be done? Why?

Before Aaron could carry his thoughts to any conclusion Miriam entered the room. "Aaron, breakfast will be ready soon. Sepphora is preparing it. Time to get dressed."

"Thank you Miriam. I am coming."

...

Aaron and Moses walked in a strong determined fashion without speaking to each other or to any of the curious onlookers they passed through the winding neighborhoods to the palace.

The palace guards watched them approach becoming more alert as they drew near. Several of them banded together to create a barrage in front of the outer gate.

When they were within range, Aaron shouted. "We come in peace. I bring Moses, brother of Pharaoh returned from Midian. He wishes to speak to Pharaoh."

To the strong young guards the name of Moses was a legend. Mothers and fathers told their children the tale about the traitor who killed an Egyptian guard. The shame the story evoked warned them never to sympathize with the slaves. If even the grandson of Pharaoh would have to run from Pharaoh's wrath, what would become of lesser sympathizers?

"Tell Pharaoh that Moses has returned and wants to see him." explained Aaron with as much sound of authority as this 83 year old slave could muster, even when speaking to men less than half his age.

Pharaoh was young when Moses ran away, so he was curious to see him again after all these years. 'Moses has returned has he? Has he come to usurp my throne?' thought Pharaoh. "Let him in, but guard him closely and make sure he carries no weapons. Let's see what he wants." ordered Pharaoh.

The guards went back to the entrance to retrieve the motley visitors. Moses and Aaron were escorted to the throne room, surrounded by four burley armed guards.

As he walked through the palace memories flooded Moses' mind. The familiar aromas of perfume and cooking brought back many memories of his childhood. He didn't need an escort to find his grandfather's throne. Little had changed within the massive halls of the grandest and largest building in the world.

"Master Moses! It's so good to see you again!" A handshake greeted Moses as an elderly version of his young playmate approached him enthusiastically. After several moments of chatter, Moses' recognition of this person gradually came into focus.

"What brings you home after all these years Master?"

"Ahh Rafa, you know this is not my home. I have come to ask the new pharaoh to release the Jews for three days that they may go into the wilderness and worship their God together, as free men."

"Oh Master, who can be free for three days? Do the Jews even know who is this god of theirs?"

"I cannot answer that Rafa. I do what I am told. How have you been? Has this pharaoh treated you well?"

"I cannot, I dare not complain master." replied Rafa before stepping back so the entourage could continue their journey to the throne room.

"Let's go," barked the lead guard while nudging Aaron's arm.

Moses and Aaron flanked by guards stepped quickly through the massive palace and into the throne room.

Moses was alarmed to see the pharaoh as such a strong and virile man. The pharaoh who was Moses's grandfather and this man's elderly father, had grown into a decrepit old man since the days he ordered the midwives to kill all male babies. Before him stood a rock wall of a man.

Pharaoh was sizing up Moses as well. There were no pleasant greetings as one would expect from a long separated brother. Nothing in his expression or in his eyes revealed even a wisp of the common memory of their family life in the palace.

"Why have you come?" bellowed Pharaoh, in the same tone that Perambula often heard from God.

Although Pharaoh was looking straight at Moses, Aaron replied, surprising Pharaoh who turned to look at Aaron. "The Lord, the God of Israel, sent us to say to you, 'Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to Me in the wilderness."

"Who is the Lord, that I should heed him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go!"

Aaron conferred with Moses and then repeated, "The God of the Hebrews has revealed Himself to us; let us go a three days journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord our God, or He will fall upon us with pestilence or sword." Moses watched Pharaoh's face closely for reaction. Perambula thought it wise to start by asking for only three days, when all along the intention was complete freedom.

"How dare you ask to remove the people from their work? Aaron, get to your labors!" Pharaoh continued. "Moses, you know that the Hebrews are more numerous than we are and yet you want them to stop working? Don't be absurd! Now get out!"

At the nod of Pharaoh the guards closed in on Moses and Aaron and grabbed each man's arm to escort him out. Neither man turned to look back at Pharaoh, but rather jerked his arm out of the clutches of the young guards and with slightly regained dignity walked out.

Gracefeld whispered in Pharaoh's mind, 'You must be firm with these men. Moses looked too comfortable before you. You need the sons of Israel more than they need you, and they are greater than you. Consider this Pharaoh: You must be stronger than the wind and sharper than the night's freeze to prevail over a force so much greater than you, God or no God.'

When the footsteps of Aaron and Moses could no longer be heard Pharaoh shouted, "Rafa! Call the taskmasters and the supervisors of the Hebrew people to come to me at once!"

"Yes," whispered mischievous Gracefeld to the pharaoh's heart, "we will show them who is king!" While waiting for the taskmasters, Pharaoh went back to his inner chamber to change his clothes and wash his hands.

"The taskmasters and supervisors have arrived sire." announced Rafa.

Back on his throne Pharaoh spoke to his taskmasters, all brutes that they were and said, "You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But you shall require of them the same quantity of bricks as they have made previously; do not diminish it, for they are lazy; that is why they cry, 'Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.' Let heavier work be laid on them; then they will labor at it and pay no attention to deceptive words. Now go and do as you are commanded!"

The taskmasters and the supervisors of the people went out, each to his neighborhood and proclaimed, "Thus says Pharaoh, 'You will no longer be given straw, but must get straw for yourselves, wherever you can find it; but you must produce the same number of bricks each day."

The people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw, attempting to comply with this impossible demand. Day after day the brick makers had to venture farther and farther out to gather the straw for their bricks. When the sun went down, it was impossible to continue their work. As each day went by, fewer and fewer bricks were being made. Meanwhile, the Egyptian straw gatherers had nothing to do, and irritated their wives and children all day long.

When the Egyptian taskmasters saw that indeed the Hebrews were not producing the required number of bricks, they beat the Hebrew supervisors. The bruised and frustrated supervisors who had been accustomed to respect gathered in force and presented themselves to Pharaoh who received them.

In a pitiful tone the leader of the supervisors cried and said, "Why do you treat your servants like this? No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, 'Make bricks!' Look how your servants are beaten! You are unjust to your own people."

Pharaoh answered this whining man by saying, "You are lazy, lazy; that is why you sent Moses and Aaron to request that you go and sacrifice to your god. Get back to work, get your own straw and deliver the same number of bricks."

The discouraged supervisors turn and walked away from Pharaoh with their heads and shoulders low and their bruises throbbing.

Moses and Aaron waited for them outside the perimeter of the palace. When they saw the band of bruised supervisors appear they could see immediately how disheartened they were.

Perambula whispered to Moses', "Surely you expected this!"

Moses brushed that inner message off as a fly that landed on his shoulder.

The band of supervisors in a cacophony of chatter each in his own voice and his own words but united with one message growled in viscous anger at Moses and Aaron saying, "The Lord look upon you and judge! You have brought us into bad odor with Pharaoh and his officials, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us!"

Moses and Aaron were frightened by the hostility of these men with murder in their hearts. Fortunately, they had to get back to work.

When they were at a safe distance, Moses looked up into the heavens and said, "O Lord, why have you mistreated these people? Why did you ever send me? Since I first came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has mistreated this people, and you have done nothing at all to deliver your people."

Gracefeld rolled angel eyes thinking how easily the will of Moses was dissipated by the slightest breeze and looked fiercely over at Perambula whose job it was to keep Moses and Aaron on track.

ALIVE: Chapter 48, Israel's Wet Toe

While Aaron was out Miriam was filled with joy that her long lost brother and his family were actually in her humble home. Miriam saw her father in Gersam's eyes, and her mother in Eliazer's high cheek bones; she felt as if her beloved parents were in the room with them. Sepphora was a lovely woman, and even though she spoke a different language, they chattered away together in broken words with hands fluttering. Miriam was shocked when Sepphora told her about the emergency circumcision. She decided to ponder later what that event said about her God. Moses sat quietly gazing at the cozy domestic scene and then asked for a place to take a nap. Miriam ushered him into their parent's old room where he soon fell into a deep and restful slumber.

Aaron burst through the door quite agitated.

Miriam looked up, "What did they say Aaron? Who did you go see? When will the meeting be, and where?"

Still jittery, Aaron replied, "I began with Judah. The elder of Judah is the oldest and carries more weight than the others. Of course he was astonished, but also skeptical. He agreed that we should all meet. He was most anxious to see Moses, and said that he didn't believe that this man was our Moses."

Sepphora did not understand a word of the exchange, but sat curiously looking on.

"He will see and know." said Miriam. "And what of the others? You have been gone a long time."

"Judah and I decided there wasn't a moment to waste. They will gather here tomorrow at sunset. Where is Moses? I must go and prepare him."

"Wait, Moses sleeps. Who else did you see?"

"Judah and I divided the tribes. He went to tell the elders of Reuben, Dan and Simeon, and Issachar. And I visited the elders of Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad and Asher. I will let him sleep."

But Perambula did not. The busy guardian angel went into the sleeping room, and into the dream of Moses where he was fending off viscous wolves."Moses, wake up; it is day, you are in Egypt, in the city, in the home of your birth. Aaron is back. There is much to do."

Aaron quietly entered the room to find his brother's eyes open. "Are you awake brother?"

"Yyyyes I am. Whwhwhwhwh...en do we meet with the elders?"

"Tomorrow night. They will come here. I don't think you should go out yet, lest the guards see you. It was fortunate enough to have gotten you and your family in here without being noticed.

The boys were anxious to go into the city for they had never seen such a place before. But for the same reason, strangers would be apprehended immediately, they needed to stay inside. Gersam and Eliezer were not accustomed to the restricted life of a slave. The boys felt imprisoned in this strange home surrounded by foreign people. Gersam longed for the open desert. Eliezer wanted to return to the sea.

The following evening, by ones and twos the elders arrived at Miriam's home to see and hear Moses. Miriam managed to find and borrow enough chairs which the boys helped her fit into the main room. Moses and Aaron would have to stand as would Miriam and Sepphora. The boys sat on the floor in front. Perambula hovered.

Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and performed the signs in the sight of the people. Once again the staff of Moses became a serpent and then he seized it by the tail and it became a hard staff in his hand again. Moses' tucked his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, as white as snow. He held it high for everyone to see. Then Perambula told him in his mind when to put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out again, it was restored like the rest of his body. The elders and Miriam gasped in unison.

Aaron proclaimed to the elders, "God has observed the misery of us, His people; and heard our cries on account of our taskmasters. He knows our sufferings. He has come down to deliver us from the Egyptians, and to bring us up out of this land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

We will tell Pharaoh that if he will not let us go, our God will stretch out His hand and strike Egypt with all His wonders that he will perform in it; after that he will let us go. The Lord God will bring us into such favor with the Egyptians that when we go, we will not go empty-handed; each woman shall ask her neighbor and any woman living in the neighbor's house for jewelry of silver and gold, and clothing, and we shall put them on our sons and daughters; and so shall we plunder the Egyptians."

There was murmuring and sighs, and gasps from the elders. "Who is this God?!" shouted the elder of Reuben. "What is his name?"

Aaron looked at Moses inquisitively.

Moses stammered, "I am. I am who I am has sent me to you. I am is the Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is His name forever and this is His title for all generations."

Perambula reminded Moses to warn the elders that they must be strong and faithful and patient while their God strikes Eqypt. They will all suffer the signs and wonders, until the last day, when Pharaoh will release them. They must be stoic in the face of the devastation of the land, knowing that the horrors they will see are meant for their good, for their release from the chains that have linked them to the diabolical power of Pharaoh's greed.

The elders believed; and when they heard that the Lord had given heed to the Israelites and that he had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

Sepphora, Miriam, Gersam and Eliezer looked on this scene with wonderment and curiosity. What was happening in that room was new, they had no frame of reference for it. It was the work of God, to introduce Himself to this generation of the children of Abraham who had finally matured in size into a nation, powerless without Him.

The seed that was God's word to Moses from the burning bush had taken hold, and was presented as a young tree with small tight buds, unfamiliar buds, strange swollen nodules that would someday feed the world. Each of the women, and each of the boys perceived the scene differently. For Moses' family who had known neither the travail of the Hebrew people, nor of the royal life of Moses, this was a vacation, an adventure. For Miriam, it was the echo of her nightly howling at the moon.

Men fell to their knees. Sensitive men, who sensed the power of the moment became teary-eyed, their faces touched the floor where feet delivered the dirt of fields and street, bearded faces hid themselves from the unknown, overwhelming, much longed for, but never imagined possibility of a free world.

The more coarse elders wondered which idol heard their cry. Then there were among them men of doubt who allowed themselves to be carried by the emotions of the faithful.

On this auspicious night Israel took its first step out of Egypt.

ALIVE: Chapter 47, The Invisible Egyptian Door

The reunited brothers each sensed in his spirit the magnitude of what was to happen, of their mission to yank from the clutches of the height of human power the lowly slaves, people of a unique, albeit latent, covenant with God. A tornado being stopped in its vicious tracks by a candle light could not have shocked demonic powers more. For it was not only the power of Pharaoh that was to be dissolved, but the tails of it in the hubris of every guard, and of the more arrogant wives and children who embodied the spirit of domination that was to be utterly extinguished by the power of the Creator of heaven and earth and of everything visible and invisible.

Moses and Aaron and the family set up camp at the foot of Mt. Horeb where Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had sent him to that place, and all the signs with which he had charged him. Aaron learned why he had felt compelled to find Moses and he was amazed by how God directed him in his subconscious. This revelation for Aaron not only impressed him, it also prevented Aaron from thinking that his brother Moses was a madman with an impossible quest. The hard and real fact that he was sitting at the foot of this mountain with his long lost brother was proof enough to Aaron that Moses was an instrument of God, and so was he.

"I ah ah h h h heard God spppppeak to mmmme fffff ffff fff from a bbbbur burnnnnn ing bush!"

It didn't take Aaron long to discover why he was needed.

"Wwweee mmmust ffffirst gagagather the elders and inform them and the people of our Exodus."

"Can you make your staff turn into a serpent whenever you want?" inquired Aaron.

"No. God is in control of everything. He will tell me and I will tell you, and you will tell the people. I have no power on my own. I am nothing but a shepherd, the immigrant husband of the daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian, and so I have been for these forty years. My sons know nothing of my royal life in Egypt."

"Moses, is it enough that you and I believe? God will have to convince the elders."

"Aaron, what we are about to witness is no less than the indisputable power of God over nature. The seed of hope that we will plant in these men will grow into a mighty bridge to span the canyon between the deep despair they have been accustomed to feeling and faith. At least, I hope so."

"Slavery, my brother, has made our people stiff-necked. We are a proud and noble clan that has not worn well the costume of fools these many generations."

"Yes, brother. I have considered that we have not only to convince Pharaoh, but our mission includes the need to change the mindset of people who have, even in their complaining, acclimated well to the wretched balance of power they have known all their lives." replied Moses. "Let's not dwell on obstacles, but on our mission. We will head out tomorrow. We can continue our conversation on the road. Now, let's sleep."

Tucked between the layers of blankets in his bedroll to shield him from the cold desert nights, Aaron's thoughts turned to Miriam and how surprised she would be to see him back so soon. He was glad to be returning to her and their cozy home. How happy she would be to see Moses again. Since she saved his life as an infant she had no contact with him. Then it occurred to Aaron that God had chosen Moses from birth for this purpose, and that Miriam too had been used as an instrument of a very patient God who had waited these eighty years for the right moment to act. A deep and sound sleep slowly consumed Aaron's consciousness before he could ponder any more of God's Wisdom.

At daybreak in a syncopated rhythm that amused Perambula, the eyes of Eliezer, Sepphora, Moses, Aaron, and last of all, Gersam opened, then in a different order shut and opened, until each was vertical and packing bedrolls and noshing on crusts of bread.

By the third hour the family with their new Uncle Aaron and the one well-rested re-burdened ass were headed northwest to Egypt together.

Moses and Aaron lead their little auspicious parade to fetch God's people out of their enslavement. Repeating much of what he had told Aaron already to let the miracle gel in their minds, Moses again conveyed to Aaron all that the Lord has said and done to him. This time, Aaron was less flabbergasted and could begin to think about the scope of their mission. He would first gather the elders to prepare them, so they could in turn prepare the people. Aaron mentally made a list of who to tell, and considered where they would meet. The Egyptians frowned upon assemblies, so they would have to be discreet. To keep Moses from talking and disturbing his planning, Aaron started to think aloud. Moses surely needed Aaron for more than public speaking, as Moses would have no idea of how to prepare the people. And Aaron had no idea of how to reach Pharaoh's ears.

The following days of walking, and resting, talking, and thinking gradually brought them to the river. There was less for Gracefeld and Perambula to do on the return journey as Aaron had just made the trip and remembered every landmark; although forty years had passed, the time-lapse seemed to Moses to be as nothing. Moses felt that he was walking back into his true self, the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He did not fear Pharaoh as others would, even this new Pharaoh.

Looking around the busy dock Aaron soon recognized the fisherman who had recently brought him across the sea and gave him the fish for his journey. This fisherman, in character, offered to transport the family the back to the other side. He laughed when Aaron told him why he was returning so soon, sure that Aaron was joking with him.

The sea air felt so good on their swarthy skin. The boys relished in the experience, having never been on a boat before. Sepphora covered her head closely so her hair wouldn't become knotted. Their hearts felt as free and light as the breeze that swept over them.

On the other side of the sea an unfamiliar sense of awe came over Moses who had been unusually quiet for most of the boat ride. As he disembarked he looked around at the bustling port with fisherman and buyers exchanging with each other and vying with other members of their own species. Moses looked in the distance towards the home of his youth, where he saw not the hard physical landscape, but rather visions of illusive memories as a collage of his life. He experienced a visceral entrance into a new chapter, but more than that. For Moses, it was as if he was about to walk into a new body and a new life. Behind him were Sepphora and his sons, and Jethro his kind and wise father and the herd of sheep. Ahead he had to prepare for spiritual warfare, where through him the power of God would confound nature and natural man. Moses sensed that his mission was impossible unless he changed, unless he yielded himself to something much greater than himself. He would have to be simultaneously strong and powerful, and all surrendered to the Voice of the burning bush.

"Come brother," said Aaron, "follow me. We should arrive by tomorrow. I will take you home to Miriam, while I assemble the elders to tell them the good news. What do you want me to say to them? How will we convince them?"

Meanwhile God, Perambula and Gracefeld had their own conference. "Perambula, I want you to prepare the Hebrew people for what is about to occur. For it will be no less cataclysmic for them than the flood was for those in the days of Noah. A very new and different world, a new and different sense of life and purpose will overcome these tribes. The plagues will prepare them for this transformation of their existence, but even before that, I want you to go to these people and wake them up from their enslaved mental stupor."

The angel not quite sure how to respond to this demand agreed that it was necessary. Perambula would need legions of angels to explore every household to familiarize themselves with these creatures and determine the transformation in their souls that needed to occur.

"Yes, my Lord. I will need an army of angels to assist. Will you send them, or should I go to retrieve them?" replied Perambula.

"You will find them waiting for you, now be off. There is much to be done." With that Perambula disappeared leaving God with Gracefeld hovering nearby awaiting his own assignment.

"And I, my Lord, what is it that you should have Me do?"

"Gracefeld, your mission will be to harden the heart of Pharaoh. Whereas the Hebrews must become more aware, more perceptive of the depth my Creation, Pharaoh must be blinded to anything but his own power and comfort. He must become as a world unto himself."

"From what I have seen of this despot, he is already such a fool."

"Gracefeld, Pharaoh will have to maintain that strong ego through many severe tastings. Your job is to make sure he doesn't waver. Let there be no doubt in his mind that he can survive the plagues to come. Your job is harder than you think. Use whatever means you need to, now be off. I have my own work to do."

"Yes, Sir!" said Gracefeld humbly before shooting off to the castle while wondering what God planned to do for himself.

Moses and his family and the donkey and Aaron arrived in the city on the biweekly day of rest.

Aaron asked Moses and the family to wait nearby while he went inside the home to prepare Mariam for the shock of her life.

Aaron found Miriam kneading bread when he casually entered as if he had just returned from work.

Miriam looked up to see who entered. As soon as she grasped that it was her beloved brother she ran over to him with her glutenous sticky hands and hugged him too long.

"Oh Aaron, you have returned! You changed your mind and have come back to your home and your bed! Sit, and tell me what happened."

"My dear Miriam, we must both sit, for I have an even greater surprise for you; Moses and his wife and two sons are outside this very door. The Lord God, whom Moses heard speak to him, is preparing to free us from Egypt. The time is coming and now is when the sons and daughters of Abraham will enjoy freedom in a land of our own as the covenant decreed!"

Miriam wasn't sure whether to believe her brother or ask him to lie down to return to his dream and wake up again. Instead, she was speechless. Aaron seized the silence to retrieve Moses who was waiting outside the door.

"Come, Moses, see your sister who has longed for this moment her entire life without being conscious it was not indeed a fantasy."

Moses smiled as he had to lower his head to enter the home he last saw on the day he was weaned.

Although the elderly siblings would not have recognized each other walking down a busy street, their hearts instantly locked in each other's long embrace.

ALIVE: Chapter 46 The Reunion

Aaron woke up at dawn that spring morning feeling energized and optimistic. It was the slave's day off. Pharaoh thought himself generous for giving the Hebrews one day free every fortnight to rest, when actually their restfulness benefited him tenfold. The Hebrews had not yet been told that God demanded Sabbath rest and this ignorance made their toil less tragic than it really was.

Thoughts of his younger brother, Moses, swirled through Aaron's mind that morning washed clean of its black night. He hadn't thought about Moses in years, but lately he could think of nothing else. He had been reminiscing about how Pharaoh's soldiers had searched for Moses for days, but never found him. They eventually gave up. After all, who really cared if he killed a Hebrew?

Aaron had been proud of his younger brother. Surely, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had blessed him by delivering Moses from death and the bonds of slavery directly into Pharaoh's closest orbit. Aaron often pondered what it must have been like to live in the palace with all those clean beautiful women, and all that sumptuous food and music!

Forty years had gone by since Moses escaped. How strange to be thinking of him now. "If Moses can escape, so can I." said Aaron to himself while becoming infused with a spirt of courage. "I could go today! Perhaps I will find Moses in Midian. Do I remember an Egyptian mention that Moses was alive in Midian, or did I dream that? I will go to Midian to find out for myself. Even if I don't find Moses, it is still better than this life in chains!"

Emboldened by his resolve to escape, Aaron began to fill a sack with food.

Miriam, his sister, walked into the room still numb from her deep sleep. "What are you doing Aaron?" she said.

"I am leaving; I am going away from Egypt to look for Moses."

"Aaron, are you mad?! You can't just walk away. If you could, we all would do that. Besides, you are 83 years old! How far could you go on your own? Come to your senses Aaron. Start the stove for me while I make you breakfast. I made bread dough last night. It will be ready soon enough. Come, let's talk."

"Miriam, no!"

She knew it would be senseless to force him to stay, that escape was a yearning Aaron had been nurturing for years.

"And what will I tell them tomorrow when they come looking for you?" she said.

"Tell them that I went into the desert to die. I am an old man and no longer so useful. Miriam, tell them anything you want. I can't stay here another day. I must find Moses."

While pleading his case, Aaron noticed how lovely Miriam looked for such a mature woman. Wisps of gray hair produced an aura around her leathered olive face with its high cheek bones and large wise green eyes. Aaron and Miriam had always been close. Even as a young girl, she was more like a motherly confidant than a big sister. He knew he would miss her terribly.

"Let me make you bread to take, and then you can go."

Aaron emerged from the house their family had inhabited for an hundred years as if for the first time. The familiar city took on a glow as if he was walking into the past, into a memory. Brimming with resolve and with fear he wanted to capture the scenes of the city that he would never see again.

Aaron carefully slithered through the most populated Hebrew neighborhoods and arrived at the very fringe of the city. He managed to make himself invisible as he passed guard after guard.

"Give me some credit for this!" exclaimed Perambula who indeed was fully responsible for Aaron's escape by blinding the guards which the angel carefully placed within the trajectory of the low morning sunbeam, and bringing to their minds gossip to spread while facing each other. Thus renegade Aaron managed to drift farther and farther from their clutches until he was well within the protective isolation of the wilderness.

Days later, the last ounce of nostalgia spent, Aaron faced his new challenge of how to cross the Gulf of Acaba. Once on the other side, he knew he would be completely free of Pharaoh's tight grip on him. When he arrived at the shore, he found a busy port with fishing boats unloading their catch. He chose one, and asked if he could be taken to the other side. Once on the boat, Aaron marveled at how easy it had been to escape. He had never seen such a large body of water before and was astounded by the vastness of the sea, and the smell and feel of the silky salty air on his rough face. Having arrived, Aaron thanked his generous host who gave him some fish to take on his journey to Midian.

Once on the other side, the challenge was how to find Moses in this vast territory. Aaron prayed to the God of Abraham to help him, ignorant that God cared more than he did that they meet. Every thought of Moses and of fleeing were planted in his mind by God himself. Had he known, Aaron would not have been so frightened, or so cautious.

"Gracefeld, go help Perambula." said God. "Lead this man to Horeb (Sinai)."

"Yes, my Lord." replied Gracefeld.

Perambula picked up the signal that Gracefeld was on the way and was glad for the assistance. Aaron had been meandering from tree to tree sinking into the deepest part of the wilderness. It was difficult to be both protector and pathfinder.

"Where have you been Gracefeld? This man obviously hasn't a clue of where to go. I can either guide him or ward off the animals, but I can't do both!"

"I have been with Moses. Poor sore boys. I kept the predators away to give them peace in their healing. They are resting safely."

"God wants them to meet at Mount Horeb." added Perambula.

"Of course." replied Gracefeld, "The Mountain of God, where else? Aaron can travel faster without the family, but his journey is so much longer. I know Moses will want to stop there to show his sons the burning bush. Does Aaron know anything of Mt. Horeb? What will make him stop there?" Perambula flashed Gracefeld an expression of disbelief, that the angel could ask such an absurd question.

"Okay, so who will guide the family if we are on Aaron-duty? said Perambula.

"Firstoff," replied Perambula, "this week of rest gives Aaron time to reach Horeb. He is the one who needs our guidance most now. Moses will see Horeb in the distance, and is familiar enough with the place. They will be fine. Come Gracefeld, let's see if we can rush this man along. Did he bring water?"

While the angels were discussing their mission, Moses and his family were still reeling.

"Father, it has been three days and I still hurt so bad!" whined Gersam. Sepphora told Moses that they must stay put while Gersam was recuperating, and she was recuperating too. Sepphora, the daughter of a priest of Midian had never met God before. But after He nearly killed her husband, she had a newfound fear of this God, and a newfound concern over the what they would find in Egypt. She did not dare share her worries with Moses, only wondered if they should circumcise Eliezer too, or rather, when?

"I know my son. Forgive me." confessed Moses, "Had we done this when you were eight days old, you would not be suffering now, and I would not have angered God. When I left my people and Egypt, I believed that I was leaving everything behind me, not just Pharaoh. I never lived as a Hebrew," and then Moses paused reflectively and added, "except by the covenant stamped on my own penis, which I never understood. Why would I care, why would anyone care that Abraham would be the father of nations? More unbelievable still, that his children would possess these lands. Those poor slaves could barely possess the mats they slept on. Forgive me my son, for my ignorance."

"Father, when will you circumcise Eliezer?" said Gersam with a pinch of bitter malice folded into the sweet buttercream of desire for his protection, and of their own. Eliezer tried to hide because he knew that it must be his turn to meet the flint. Moses and Sepphora had already decided that they should circumcise Eliezer right away.

Sepphora hollered, "Eliezer, come here, right now!"

Trembling, Eliezer succumbed to his mother, and screamed as his brother had. The circumstance being very different, the reaction was too. Eliezer bore his pain nobly, proud to be accepted into the tribe of the people of the covenant about whom he knew so little.

A week later Moses announced, "Tomorrow, we will set off again. Do you see that mountain over there? That is Horeb, the mountain where God spoke to me from the flaming bush. We will go there to show you my bush. Perhaps God will return and speak to me again. For now, let's pack up."

That evening, as Moses laid down to sleep, thoughts of Aaron flooded his mind. How would he find Aaron? Would he even recognize him? Where could he go to to look for Aaron in this vast wilderness? As a mental exercise to help him fall asleep Moses tried to remember every time he had ever seen Aaron. Moses knew his family of birth, his parents and brother and sister, but he rarely saw them, certainly not in the last forty years in exile. How would he recognize him?

The next morning the donkey was fully burdened again, and took it well as any decent donkey would. It was Gersam's turn to hold the donkey's rope. Fully recovered from his operation, Gersom grabbed the rope and lead the ass on the well-trodden path to Egypt. He held his head as high as the donkey's head was lowered to bear the weight, trusting his man-child.

Moses walked alone ahead of the others, thinking and listening for God. He had walked this path many times while shepherding the flock to find green pastures, sometimes being gone from home many days, but it never took so long to reach Horeb as it had with his family in tow.

Eliezer who was still sore, walked side by side with his mother in silence.The sons and Sepphora saw that they were walking towards a mountain, and wondered if Moses meant to take them over it or around it, but they didn't ask. Moses walked too far ahead for conversation clutching his staff and contemplating the whole concept of speaking with God.

Perambula and Gracefeld used every means in their angelic powers to speed Aaron along so the brothers would arrive at the mountain at roughly the same time. As they grew nearer, the moment became imminent.

Aaron was intrigued by one particular mountain before him and used that as his goal for days focusing on it as over time it grew from the size of his thumb to the size of a dog, and then a house, a pyramid, and finally there he was before its massive vertical rise.

As he looked around him, Aaron was the first to spot a cluster of fellow travelers. He hadn't seen another human for days. Sitting on a boulder at the foot of the great mountain, Aaron wondered if he should run over to them, or wait to see if they would come towards him. The scorching heat from the noonday sun forced him to stay and wait.

Perambula and Gracefeld were proud of their accomplishment. Bringing these two tiny flecks in this vast terrain together took angelic skill of the highest magnitude. God knew who He could trust to do the job and he was right. Perambula wondered if there would be a reward and what it could be. Gracefeld looked forward to the next challenge, which would be to guide the entire Hebrew population on its Exodus from Egypt.

For Aaron, the image of the travelers became more clear. He could see a large man followed by a boy and a donkey, and then a woman and a boy. 'It must be a family on a journey to Egypt' thought Aaron.

Moses saw the isolated man in the distance staring at him and his family. He instinctively knew the man was no threat to them by the way he sat still and open, curious.

Gracefeld flew up and whispered into Moses' heart, "That man is your brother Aaron. God has sent him to you. Go to greet him."Moses was astonished at this revelation. He stood still for several moments staring at this figure in the distance. The distance that would soon close until the two brothers became as one instrument of God.

Perambula echoed the introduction to Aaron who didn't stop for a moment to think, but instead rushed over to the Moses of all his hopes, his idol of a brother.

Because Moses was more aware of God's need for this meeting than Aaron, who all along thought that his escape was self initiated, no human being on earth or in heaven or above the heavens was more flabbergasted to see the subject of his trek running towards him. If he hadn't been breathing so hard, Aaron surely would have been shouting.

Instead, he heard the man Moses calling him as they got within earshot of each other. "Aaron! Aaron! My Aaron!" The two octogenarian brothers started to run as fast as any healthy old man could run, and as awkwardly .

When finally the elderly brothers met, Moses hugged and kissed Aaron, who by then was reduced to tears. His sentiment was infectious causing Moses to grow teary eyed too. The embrace lasted only for a moment because both men wanted to take a good long look at each other. They peered deep into each other's faces for evidence of familiarity. Aaron saw hints of his father and of Miriam in Moses. Moses noticed his son Eliazer's dimple in Aaron's chin.

While the brothers explored each other, the rest of the family caught up.

"Sepphora, this is my brother. And Aaron, these are my sons Gersam and Eliezer."

ALIVE: Chapter 45 The Dangerous Road to Pharaoh

Jethro, the priest, allowed his precious daughter Sepphorah and his two feisty grandsons, Gersam and Eliezer, to venture out into the wilderness, not knowing when he would ever see them again. The man Moses had been a good husband, and a helpful son to Jethro, strong and always willing. He accepted the reason that Moses wanted to go home to see his family. Forty years had gone by and surely those who wanted to take his life were dead. The young man had been so practical and down to earth. His story of escape from Egypt and Pharaoh was remarkable, but as young as he was at the time, Moses introduced himself in a strong and noble manner, giving credence to a very unusual tale.

Jethro knew that he had no choice but to let them go, so he gave his permission. Sepphora insisted on staying close to her husband, so Jethro wished his beloved family farewell after loading their asses with food and camping supplies.

The way to Heliopolis in Egypt would take them through dangerous territory, bandits and animals vied with each other to satisfy their greed and hunger by preying on the vulnerable.

Perambula and Gracefeld hovered over the family in their silent but effective way. Perambula kept the beasts away from the path of the family, while Gracefeld guided them on the most direct route.

Moses and his wife Sepphora, and their two sons and their donkey walked in steady lockstep over dusty ground, on rocks and thorns past silent bramble bushes. The small troupe threaded themselves through crevices between mountains. Fortunately, one evening at dusk, those mountains, not much larger than hills, protected the family from a fierce wind storm.

Step by step took them closer to the mission that Moses both feared and relished. He couldn't tell Jethro about the burning bush, or the mission to free the Hebrews for fear he would be ridiculed. Little did he speak, much did he ponder as his staff, an extension of his arm, propelled him forward legs in tow. The snake of a scepter in his grip, would be used to shepherd men, women and even children away from subjection to the will of fierce and arrogant men.

Every evening the family stopped at dusk to set up camp; Sepphora reached deep into the saddle bags to pull out the evening meal to energize them for the next day's journey. The boys ran around chasing little lizards and chasing each other oblivious that this family trek was the tiniest mustard seed that would become an enormous tree.

The massive mustard tree that covers the earth and spans time is known as the Pentateuch, the Passover, the Ten Commandments and the Law. So was this family trek from Midian to Egypt the holy spark that ignited a roaring blaze to illuminate and thus expose the Creator to humankind. Before this spark, God spoke to one person here and there, Adam, Noah, Abraham. Now the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had become a nation for God to mould into His image and likeness by telling them outright Who He was and what He liked. But first He had to give them back their free will.

This nation, the twelve tribes of the children of Jacob, were not just the children of childless young Abraham, the promise-fulfilled of his covenant with God, they were God's people, a nation of His very own, who would voluntarily surrender to His authority. From one command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil grew Ten Commandments and then thousands of laws designed to recreate the divine creature God made on the sixth day.

No longer would humanity have to wander generation after generation, subservient only to their appetites and passion for power. There would be a formation process into children of God, for those who were willing. God was about to form humans into icons of Himself, by the merging of their human wills with His divine Will, one nation at a time, one person at a time, each generation producing a fraction of such sincerely and holy children of God from the multitude. The two oblivious boys had no inkling that they were carousing in the birth of this sacred mission to re-unite mankind with its Maker.

One particularly sunny afternoon the family spotted a lake. With irrepressible delight the boys took off like jackrabbits racing each other for the prize of being the first to feel the cool water. Both Moses and Sepphora reveled as much in watching their strong young bodies move so swiftly and so freely.

When the parents and the beast of burden arrived at the shore, Sepphora beseeched Moses to allow her to bathe before setting up camp. Moses was happy to comply as he sensed that he was being called. So he tied up the donkey to a tree and wondered off to hide behind a small boulder where in stillness he could hear the Voice speak to him.

God gave Moses a few minutes to settle himself and let his heart rate synchronize to the rhythm of vibrations of all that lived and breathed around him from lizards to ants to bushes and trees, all the life of that place which had a heart beat, became the percussion section, and each thing in whose veins flowed life, its melody. Into this silent symphony did Moses unconsciously join himself as he rested under the umbrella of the tamarisk tree.

While listening for the Lord, and being exhausted from the day's journey, Moses slipped into a deep sleep wherein God could speak to him away from the spectacle of the bush.

In his sleep state, the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: Israel is my firstborn son. I said to you, “Let My son go that he may worship Me.” But you refused to let him go; now I will kill your firstborn son.’” Effectively saying, Give My son the freedom to unite as one body to speak to Me, or you shall know what it means to never hear your son speak to you. Never.

Perambula and Gracefeld entered Moses's dream state. Perambula gasped in astonishment, "First Abraham is asked to slay his long-awaited promised son, Isaac, then Pharaoh has all Hebrew sons slain, now God will kill the firstborn son of Pharaoh. What is the meaning of this?"

Gracefeld replied, "My dear Perambula, stuck in time, as you are captive in this small chamber of a dream. Remember Isaac lived. Killing the Hebrew sons was merely Pharaoh's vain attempt to suppress God's will. To God's son, Israel, Pharaoh's son is the key to unlock the gates of Hades on earth.

But first, the hardness of Pharaoh's heart must reach its fullness like the waxing moon in the starless sky. The Hebrews must witness the power of their God in miracles to empower them to endure the hardships ahead. Our God is about to transition them from slaves to free men."

Moses could not hear Perambula and Gracefeld speaking in his dream state. Instead, again he heard God tell him to say to Pharaoh, “Let My son go that he may worship Me.” But you refused to let him go; now I will kill your firstborn son.’”

In his dream, there was no fear, no shock. His purpose was clear and matter-of-fact. In his dream Moses readily accepted his mission.

Moses' eyes opened after he gently surfaced out of the sleep state. Unlike any other dream he ever had, Moses remembered every word God spoke to him. Hearing the boys arguing, he remembered that he had to go and help Sepphora set up camp and go to bed or else they would all be miserable with fatigue the next day.

The next morning the family felt more refreshed than they had since they left Midian. The lake, like a loving grandmother, opened her arms wide and gave of herself everything she could offer, and it was plenty. And the family rejoiced. Even the ass rejoiced. They splashed and floated, they cleaned all of their cooking utensils and plates; they drank until their bellies bulged, sadly knowing that they had to part and she would be no more. So they filled every flask they had with the refreshing lake-water and she was glad and they were glad. Soon, Moses and Sepphora had repacked everything and it was time to walk again.

As he walked ahead of his family, Moses was deep in thought. He gradually became obsessed with his duty to force Pharaoh to release the Hebrew people. The memory welled up of 40 years earlier when he, as one man alone, escaped the other pharaoh's grip. With each step Moses walked, the vision increasingly came into focus of himself as a man stepping out of his skin, and into a new body, a new magical body. Clutching his serpant-staff tightly as he walked, Moses contemplated the phases of his life and how different each had been from the others and how each phase was more like a different life than different periods of one life, his birth and years with his own family, the years in Pharaoh's court, fleeing to Midian and his life with Jethro and the birth of his own family, and now his return as a common man, a stranger to Egypt and the new pharaoh. The only link that connected these different worlds was his flesh.

The boys rushed up to their father, one on each side. Two steps for every one they marched to keep up with him. After an hour or so, the youngest cried,"Father, may we stop now, I'm hungry."

Moses looked down at his boy with compassion, as if looking into the black eyes of Pharaoh's son, the innocent victim and replied,"Yes, go tell your mother that we will stop early today. You too! I will walk up ahead to find a good spot to set up."

"Thank you father!" Shouted the boys in unison and raced each other back to be the first to tell Sepphorah. Meanwhile, Moses' lofty thoughts dropped to the most practical level as he surveyed the plain before him for another lake or a clear flat place to park.

Moses was pulled as by a magnetic force to the place Gracefeld selected for him to stop.

This was not a joyous place as the lake had been; in fact, there was a heavy gloom in the air that Moses sensed immediately, but he felt paralyzed to leave. The pressure from his sons to stop, and his own fatigue compelled Moses to try with all his mental might and with all his will to reject the sense of foreboding, casting it away as misperceptions, something he knew he had experienced many times before.

"Come Gersam, Sepphora, here I am!" shouted Moses.

By following the sound of his call, the family with their donkey found Moses who rushed over to meet them. Soon, they were busy setting up camp again. Sepphora prepared her supper as she had every evening. Nothing was different and everything was different.

At sunset, suddenly Moses gasped loudly as if he was choking, as if he was being strangled. His eyes bulged and streams of sweat trickled down from his brow. "God, no! Help me!" Sounds like those words gushed from his heart and but couldn't come out of his mouth. "God, no! Help me!" screamed his mind even louder to no effect.

Sepphora instinctively looked over at her husband and immediately sensed the danger. God sought to kill him. She called her firstborn son, "Gersam come quickly and fetch my satchel over there! She reached deep into her satchel from where Sepphora usually extracted their nourishing food. Her hand searched feverishly for the piece of flint she used to cut with. "No, not that, no, quickly quickly. Is that it? No! Yes!" Her trembling hand emerged with the suddenly sacred tool, the piece of flint that Jethro sharpened for her before they left. "Gersam, come closer and remove your garment, quickly!"

"What are you asking mother!" exclaimed Gersam stunned and bewildered.

"Don't ask questions, just remove your cloth NOW!" screamed the desperate mother.

Moses was still gasping for air. He appeared to be losing consciousness.

Gersam was too afraid to do anything but comply as he exposed his naked loin to his mad mother. His brother, Eliezer, held their father, helpless to do anything but hold him as if he could share his own life's breath with his father.

Sepphora grabbed her son's penis, and with the sharp knife sliced off the foreskin. Gersam ejaculated a scream that could be heard by every beast and fowl from the desert to the Nile as blood poorer from his member.

She immediately ran over to Moses who was still gasping for air in fits and spurts. Then, she quickly reached into the folds of his loincloth and with the same hand that found the flint, she grabbed his soft member and with the other hand yanked Gersam's foreskin to it, the son's bloody foreskin kissing his father's own penis.

Perambula had never since the beginning of time witnessed such a bizarre event. He who witnessed the briss of Ishmael, and the burning bushes was agape as the sight of Sepphora and Moses at that moment. Perambula had to look away.

At the moment that the flesh of father and son touched Sepphora cried out, "“The blood of the circumcision of my son." Immediately, Moses's breathing regained its normal rhythm. The blood rushed back into his face. The streams of sweat in the blazing heat of the desert hardened into dried up rivulets of salt.

Never before and never since has the symbol of the covenant between God and His people been so evident, so powerful. Never before and never since, and never again will the blood of the covenant between the Lord and Abraham save a life that God meant to kill.

Perambula looked at Gracefeld, too embarrassed to look at God, for what he had just witnessed was beyond comprehension, beyond cynicism, beyond wonder. To Gracefeld the angel inquired, "What just happened? How did she know to do that? Why did it work? Why did he want to slay Moses, the instrument of salvation to His people?"

Gracefeld who had always been the wiser angel, the all-knowing one, responded with silence.

Perambula then dared to look to God's face for the answers, but He was gone. God had let go of Moses throat and departed the moment Sepphora said, “The blood of the circumcision of my son."

Not having God to look to for answers, the angel gave up and looked back to Moses and Sepphora who by then were sitting in a warm embrace wrapped in the arms of their sons, a trembling mass of life, and of love, and of relief manifested.

Gracefeld quietly murmured, "Perambula, you should instead ask why there was still a foreskin to cut? The servant of God had not Himself obeyed the commandment to circumcise his son. It was about obedience. Sepphora knew that her son should have been circumcised. She would not allow Moses to do this on his 8th day. Both she and Moses thought it didn't matter. God just demonstrated that it mattered."

Then Perambula, seeing only a glimmer of the far reaching meaning of that scene, was nevertheless satisfied. The angel flew away from the family for relief. Gracefeld flew away also, to find God Who was already in Egypt speaking to Aaron.

*Note: to understand the passages in Exodus best, I went back to the Septuagint and read that the name was Sepphora rather than Zipporah. I like the name better, I think it fits the woman I have in my mind.

ALIVE: Chapter 44 Moses' Midlife Miracle

Overwhelmed, Moses had only imagined running away from the extinguished burning bush when he fainted. God was far from finished speaking to him.

"Gracefeld, Perambula, wake up this man that I may continue to instruct him!" ordered God.

Perambula spoke up. "Lord, I'm afraid that speaking with You was too much for him. He needs a moment to absorb the magnitude of Your presence. Let's be patient and let his subconscious process."

"I must agree my Lord." added Gracefeld in uncharacteristic defiance of God's command.

The two angels and God looked down at Moses laying barefoot and fast asleep in a fetal position.

"He looks so peaceful doesn't he?" said Gracefeld.

"Please wake him up Perambula; there is much to do and I am ready to get started."

"How can You be in a hurry after waiting so many centuries?" replied Perambula and quickly added, "my Lord!"

Without any help, or at least any perceived help from either angel Moses gradually opened his eyes to find himself still in front of the flaming bush. He quickly closed them again refusing to accept such a phenomenal reality and wishing only to flee back into his increasingly illusive dream.

"Moses!" bellowed God. "Stay with Me. This conversation is only the beginning of the wonders you will see and perform as My right hand."

Moses awkwardly propped himself to his feet while saying, "Lord God. I am a simple shepherd. Let me go and tend my flock. I know Pharaoh. He will never release the Hebrews."

Without responding to Moses' request God continued, "I know, however, that the king of Egypt will not let My people go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders that I will perform in it; after that he will let you go. I will bring this people into such favor with the Egyptians that, when you go, you will not go empty-handed; each woman shall ask her neighbor and any woman living in the neighbor’s house for jewelry of silver and of gold, and clothing, and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters; and so you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

Perambula looked over at Gracefeld and said, "That will be the day! How can those spoiled Egyptians survive without their slaves?"

Then Moses, at the pace of cool honey, accepted the fantastic situation he was in, and said, “But suppose they do not believe me or listen to me, but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’”

The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

He said, “A staff.”

And He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So Moses threw the staff on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses drew back from it.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand, and seize it by the tail”—so he reached out his hand and grasped it, and it became a staff in his hand— “so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

Moses looked at his staff and chuckled. He was amazed by what God did with his own staff. He looked up at the burning bush with a huge grin on his face, and then looked back at his wooden staff and tapped it on the ground twice. Indeed it was as hard as ever.

Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.”

With the grin still frozen on his face, Moses put his hand into his cloak; and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, as white as snow. Moses gasped in horror and quickly looked up at the flaming bush for an explanation.

Then God said, “Put your hand back into your cloak”—so he put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored like the rest of his body— “If they will not believe you or heed the first sign, they may believe the second sign. If they will not believe even these two signs or heed you, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”

Perambula turned to Gracefeld and said, "Have you ever, since the creation of man, known God to speak so much to a person... who can hear Him? I confess Gracefeld, this alone is more astonishing to me than any of these magic tricks."

"Maybe so, maybe since Eden, but then neither you nor I went to Eden, so we wouldn't know. What God is about to do is probably important enough to defy the laws of nature." replied Gracefeld who was both irritated and offended by Perambula's use of the word magic.

"Freeing a few slaves?" questioned Perambula.

"Remember Perambula, these people that He wants to free, don't really know Him. God is about to introduce Himself to His children!" Tears welled up in Gracefeld' angel eyes to match Perambula's emotions. "You take knowing God for granted Perambula. Soon you will witness a facet of God that you have never seen."

While the angels chatted with each other Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

Then the Lord said to him, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.”

But he said, “O my Lord, please send someone else.”

Perambula whispered, "This isn't going very well. This man doesn't even want to help God answer the prayers of his own people, of the mothers and fathers of abused children! What a coward of a man, what laziness, what a worm!"

Then the anger of the Lord was also kindled against Moses and he said, “What of your brother Aaron the Levite?"

Perambula surprised that God would offer to appease this coward rather than destroy him and find someone else, also wondered how Moses could have a brother since all the baby boys had been killed when Moses was a baby. Gracefeld heard Perambula's thoughts and shrugged. He assumed that this brother was in-fact a cousin, since God called him a Levite, a cousin who had been born in a remote village, closer to Midian where he first met the refugee Moses, a distance from the grasp of Pharoah's henchmen. Besides, the identity of this co-worker did not matter, neither to Gracefeld, nor to God who must have known this would happen and prepared for it.

Annoyed by the angels' side conversation, but aware that Moses could not hear them God continued, "I know that he can speak fluently; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. He indeed shall speak for you to the people; he shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him. Take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs. Go.”

This time the flame of the burning bush sputtered until it was thoroughly extinguished. The bush rapidly returned to its facelessness. After several moments used to collect himself Moses tightly gripped his magical staff, turned his back on the bush and walked down the mountain gradually shedding the person he had been, a man of fear and doubt.

Perambula and Gracefeld helped Moses round-up his sheep and goats. Nevertheless, Moses didn't have time to ponder his new mission until he was back home. When he arrived his wife and sons greeted him cheerfully, but Moses was not ready to tell them about his conversation with the Voice in the burning bush. He needed time to ponder his brand new role as savior, as God's ambassador to the mighty king of his world. After supper, Moses announced to his wife that he would return in the morning, and grabbed a bedroll, and walked out of his boisterous home and into the still and silent desert, to a spot where he often went to think. Under the stars Moses looked back on his life, his extraordinary life from the earliest time he could remember, when he had to leave his loving mother and sister and go to live in the palace as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He had cried for weeks, but she was patient and kind, often trying to distract him from his grief with marvelous objects, including his first puppy, his childhood companion.

Early the next morning, fortified with newfound courage, Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me go back to my kindred in Egypt and see whether they are still living.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

A few days later, the familiar Voice of the Lord called out to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt; for all those who were seeking your life are dead.” So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt; and Moses carried the staff of God in his hand.

And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.

Hearing that Perambula flew over to where Gracefeld was to say, "Why is God hardening Pharaoh's heart to do the opposite of what God wants him to do? This doesn't make sense!"

Gracefeld often marveled at Perambula's stupidity, but being an angel Gracefeld knew that tolerance and patience were essential and replied, "He knows that the journey from slavery to freedom will be long and difficult, requiring much faith and perseverance. The people will be tested over and over again to build their strength and endurance. They will need the memory of marvels to cling to, to remind them that God, their God and Father, is with them guiding them, not only on the physical journey, but on a psychological and spiritual aspects of the journey to a promised land, that only you and I know is lightyears into the future.

ALIVE: Chapter 43 Deologue

God arrived first. The condition of the Hebrews was worse than when He saw them last. Men walked through the streets with welts on their naked backs that hurt so badly shirts would have sent echoes of the pain throughout their bodies. The taskmasters liked it that way for the sight of red puss-filled stripes kept other men and even haughty women in line.

"I found you Lord!" exclaimed Perambula as the angel glided into the place where God stood observing His people Israel.

Perambula looked down and gasped at the sight of a young man, no more than fifteen years old, being whipped and screaming out while the others and his father watched.

A loud cacophony of prayerful cries as a tidal wave blew past Perambula and God from slave hearts begging for relief. The angel looked over at God's face for reaction and then down at boys bent over transporting stones half their weight while muddy sweat trickled down their brows.

Screaming hearts that only God and Perambula heard wounded the dense dusty air. Words broke through shrill sound. "Lord deliver us from these evil men! Come Lord, quickly before we perish in despair!" "Help me! Save me! Take me! Let me die!"

Invisible God and Perambula watched as three young boys walked by them together in short steps; the boys were no older than ten and they each had their ankles tied together to prevent them from running. Expressions of sadness and fear on their beautiful faces cast dark shadows on their path.

Perambula shot God a look of fury and shouted, "How can You allow this! Listen to these cries! You call these Your people! Look at this misery in every house; men and women fight with their brothers and sisters; the more humble men and their miserable wives don't dare speak to each other to find relief in silence. I have never seen such injustice! How cruel men can be! How demonic; worse! The demons are only shrewd, not violent. DO something! Now!"

A temperate breeze was God's initial response. "I allow the sun to circle the earth, I allow avalanches to destroy, lions to kill. I planned every moment of gestation down to the formation of minuscule neonatal hair follicles; I allow you to question Me. Oh my dear Perambula, when will you learn the value of suffering? But then how could you ever know this from your ethereal existence? Wait before you judge Me.

I am testing them in the furnace of adversity, for My own sake. For My own sake, I do it* (Isaiah 48:10). The horror that you see are seeds of a lesson that will rival the Flood. The metamorphosis of a slave into a free man is even more significant than the evolution of humanity after the devastation of the Flood. Can anyone appreciate light without suffering darkness and death? Can I know which hearts are pure unless tested by fire?

Israel is my first born son (Exodus 4:22). It is not good enough for Me to know this; Israel must know Me and want Me, and acknowledge Me as his Father. Moses is My mid-wife who will deliver My son into My hands."

"Speaking of Moses, where is he? Did he go to jail for killing the Egyptian?"

Without acknowledging the question, God departed and Perambula followed close behind. They arrived at Horeb, the mountain of God where Perambula instantly recognized a friend in a most unusual situation.

"What are you doing here Gracefeld?! Don't you see the flames surrounding you? Get out from there!" exclaimed Perambula.

"Shhhh!!" Replied the angel, "Be quiet and watch!"

Indeed Gracefeld had created a most spectacular sight. The angel managed to reside within a flame. The bush that surrounded the angel burned brightly and yet did not turn to ashes.

Perambula looked over in the distance and recognized an older and more tattered Moses approaching the spectacle in curiosity with his flock following closely. Gracefeld stood patiently waiting for Moses to arrive.

"Okay Gracefeld, stand back with Perambula. I'll take over now." said God as He entered the center of the flames. Gracefeld respectfully hovered over to Perambula and together they watched the bewildered Moses approach.

"Moses, Moses" God called from the bush.

Moses was at first drawn by the curious blazing bush and then shocked by The Voice that emanated from it. His flock of sheep neighed loudly in fear. Moses drew closer to the flames and replied, "Here I am."

God warned, "Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." God paused to give Moses time to comply which he did very clumsily while unlacing his sandals.

When Moses finished, he looked up at the bush again and heard, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Moses, being raised in Pharaoh's court and having no intimate contact with the Hebrew people, did not know of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob, but he was aware that there was a God of the Hebrews.

Moses turned away in fear. He would have run, but either because he was without shoes and the ground was sharp with rocks and pebbles, or because his thighs were paralyzed with fear, Moses fell to his knees and covered his face with his long muscular arms.

Gracefeld looked over at Perambula to see how the angel was reacting to this conversation between God and a human being. Perambula's face was expressionless and deep blue angel eyes were fixed on Moses. Gracefeld wondered whether Perambula was shocked or deeply curious.

God bellowed loud enough for Moses to hear through the spectacle of the flames, "I have observed the misery of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed I know their suffering."

Perambula leaned over to Gracefeld and whispered, "Of course He has, for centuries!"

Moses was amazed and confused. The Voice had called Himself God. Never had Moses known God to speak to a man. In fact Moses, like all the Egyptians and most of the Hebrews, had no knowledge of God at all. His heart started to beat rapidly, his hands became numb with fear, but his eyes having escape the refuge of his arms became fixed on the burning bush.

As Moses listened to the Voice of God, it occurred to him how he and God had this in common, that they were of the Hebrew people without living among them. They both cared deeply about the injustice of their slavery from their positions removed from the actual plight of the people. "How odd, how surreal," thought Moses, "that a flesh and blood human being could have something in common with an invisible, yet supremely powerful intelligence, such a mysterious and awesome Being is 'God'." Moses wondered if he was dreaming as he listened to the Voice of God as the sound of thunder from the heavens.

Ignoring the tumult within Moses, God continued speaking nonchalantly as if there was nothing unusual in their conversation. God, for the first time since creation, overrode His own laws of nature to initiate a most unique relationship with Moses. Surely God spoke to Noah and to Abraham before, but never to the extent that He intended to speak to, and to use Moses. "I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians," continued God, "and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites."

Perambula leaned over to Gracefeld and whispered,"There He goes again with the same promise of land that He strung Abraham along with for so long. I wonder if He will actually deliver it this time."

While God listened to Himself mention the Canaanites, a flash of the man Ham entered His Holy Mind. Ham, the father of Canaan who shamefully looked upon his naked father Noah and was cursed for it, then God went on, "the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to Me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."

Perambula whispered, "We'll see!" The two angels looked over at Moses whose eyes were as big as swollen summer figs. Perambula was still amazed that Moses could hear God speak. Gracefeld was much more calm as if God spoke to humans every day. Gracefeld knew that God chose Moses from the womb, for this purpose. Only could a Hebrew raised in Pharaoh's court have the presence and personality to defy Pharaoh to the extent that only God knew would be necessary. But first Moses had to be humbled and removed and that phase, accomplished in Midian, had run its full course.

Moses composed himself enough to reply to God as if he was speaking to his father-in-law, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"

God answered, "I will be with you; and this shall be a sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain."

Perambula said to Gracefeld, "What kind of a sign is that? What proof to the humans?"

"Shh, be quiet!" replied Gracefeld.

Instead Moses inquired, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, "The God of your ancestors has sent me to you, and they ask me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?"

God said, "I am who I am. You shall say to the Israelites, I Am has sent me to you. Tell them that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My title for all generations.

Go and assemble the elders of Israel, and say to them, "The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me saying: 'I have given heed to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt. I declare that I will bring you up out of the misery of Egypt, to the land of the Cananites, the Hittites the Amorites, the Perezzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.

They will listen to your voice; and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; let us now go a three days journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God."

Suddenly God vanished from within the burning bush as a light-switch clicked off, darkness ensued as the moment after a bolt of lightening rips through the night sky. Moses suddenly found himself standing before and staring at an ordinary bush in silence.

Moses' knees buckled and he fell to the ground still wondering if he was in a dream or whether it was possible for a person to hear the voice of God speaking directly to him. The flock began neighing in the background drawing Moses's attention back to his job. There was no time to think anymore as he realized he needed to round them up. So Moses quickly tied his sandals back on his feet and ran away from the Holy Ground.

ALIVE: Chapter 42 Never Forget

Perambula and God left the Jordan River and John with a crowd waiting to undergo the mock flood they called baptism. The curious angel figured that John demanded their repentance to qualify them to be in the imaginary ark of salvation which explained to the angel how baptism worked and why.

God broke into the angel's musings, "Wrong." He said. "The baptized are those outside the ark. They are the resurrected who drowned in the Flood, but were reborn purified. Some events are so important that I can't let time bury them. The Flood is that. My people must be baptized." God looked deep into Perambula's angel eyes for signs of understanding, then added:

"It is one thing for me to grieve all the death and destruction the Flood caused, but for the catastrophe to have purpose equal to its horror, it must be useful throughout time. No one must ever forget that the world was annihilated for the wickedness of humankind, their hateful self-centered ways. Every generation must be reminded that the reward of wickedness is death, because I meet-out Justice!"

"Awareness is pretty important to You, isn't it Sir?" said Perambula.

"Wisdom and knowledge separate man from animal. The dawn of awareness is the divide between death and life, sleep and wakefulness, darkness and light. I made light to initiate life and awareness. I want to make a world with no ignorance, with no darkness, with no death whatsoever."

"A world without death." echoed Perambula wistfully and added, "You know Lord, that You already have such a world with us angels. And if the people turn into spirits after their bodies die, what do we need with human beings? They're such a nuisance!"

"Don't be absurd Perambula!" bellowed God causing tidal waves through the heavens.

Perambula recoiled.

It was that moment that Perambula learned how sensitive God could be, and that God learned how ignorant Perambula could be.

God continued as if nothing happened. Perambula re-inflated. "I am proud of matter. Humans pride themselves in their discoveries of the complexity of My masterpiece. Why oh why would I ever want to go back to living in a spirit world! NO! NEVER; no matter how difficult the battle of Wills, I will prevail, even if it takes seven millennia instead of seven days to make the new immortal earth.

I WILL make a new earth and fill it with tangible human replicas of Me, who by their own will and with their own intelligence, overcome the temptations of the evil one. That spoiler will be in prison for a thousand years. No Perambula, there will be earth and skies and seas, but no flood and no corruption. There will be life without death, awareness without sleep, joy without sorrow, health without illness, faith without doubt, peace without conflict, truth without lies."

Perambula's eyes swelled, and the angel looked back down upon the earth with its thousand colors and textures, viscosity, and purposes and looked upon the people there talking and working, and for the first time the angel knew jealousy. For the first time the angel understood the word 'reality'. Perambula knew that what was seen was only a sliver of reality, and that material beings could only relate to that sliver, which Perambula contentedly viewed as a flaw.

Then, as if God was changing the subject, He said,"Just as you rightly feel the full weight of the event of Abraham about to slay Isaac on Mount Moriah, for yielding his will to Mine in trust, there was a similarly powerful event that they must repeat every year through time for the benefit of its lesson on life and death. You should know of the contrast between slavery and freedom."

"What is slavery my Lord?"

How could I explain slavery to an angel? thought God. One person forcing his will on another, when even I as God would not force My will on Satan? God stood quietly pensive for a while. Perambula was quiet too, hollow, and patient until God said,

"Oh my dear Perambula, of course you don't understand slavery. Allow Me to explain. Those humans, made in My image and likeness each have an inborn sense of self. This sense is called the ego, or the "I". The ego operates through something they call the "will" of the person. The will is the engine of the ego driving the person hither and yon. Do you understand?"

Perambula tried to visualize a mechanical will driving a shell of an ego and said, "Lord, it seems to me that Satan has an ego too."

"Satan and his demons have less power than humans. In fact, that was what I was about to say. The ego of most humans drives their will to become powerful. Power that can be used to build and power that can be used to destroy. But that is overly simplistic.

Some humans consistently compare one with another, one group with another. They are being hierarchical, looking always for their advantages. They squirm, push and shove, elbow to climb over others. Some are more subtle but for many of those, it is to reach a lofty position from which to yield power over the others. Gold, knowledge, beauty are their tools like mountain climbers use spikes and ropes.

Nature is their nemesis. Time corrupts, disease distorts and steals back the power."

Perambula broke in, "Slavery Lord? You were going to tell me about slavery?"

"Ah, yes. Thank you. Humans can be very useful to each other. They help each other and they use each other. A person's labor, if with little cost, enriches the most powerful. To enslave, to force groups of people has throughout history been a most beneficial practice. My own people fell into slavery, and I allowed that to teach them about the Will."

"Did they learn? Where was I when all this was happening my Lord?"

"It was after Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac and long before John started baptizing. My people were lead into Egypt because of famine in the land."

"Did you have something to do with that Lord?"

Ignoring the question God continued,"As I promised, Abraham's offspring grew in numbers and in strength, but not yet with land and kings of their own."

"Lord," interrupted Perambula, "why are you withholding the promise of land for so long?"

"I used their desire for the land to drive and to teach, and to test them. Back to the story, as the years went by and new kings ruled over them, kings felt threatened and had to suppress the Hebrews, fearful that they would conquer Egypt and take the fertile land and enslave the Egyptians.

The Egyptian king told the midwives to kill every baby boy at birth but the midwives knew that the Hebrews were God's people and they feared God's revenge if they did, so they let the boys live. Pharaoh then commanded all his people to throw every Hebrew baby boy into the river Nile to drown."

"How awful!"exclaimed Perambula. "How did I not know this?"

God replied, "All of my angels cannot be assigned to earth. Nevertheless, a certain baby boy was placed by his parents in a basket and floated on the river. Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe in the river and spotted the baby in the basket. The baby was crying and she took pity on him. The baby's sister looked on and when she saw that her brother touched the heart of Pharaoh's daughter, she asked if Pharaoh's daughter would like her to get a nurse to feed the baby. That was so agreeable that Pharaoh's daughter said she would pay the nurse to feed her baby. So the sister took her baby brother to his very own mother to be fed and grow in safety."

"Ahh, what a nice ending." sighed Perambula.

God smiled and continued.

"The baby grew strong and when he was weaned the sister took him to Pharaoh's daughter as her son. She named the baby Moses which means to be taken from the water."

"Gee," said Perambula, this is familiar! Being rescued from drowning in the water; sounds like the baby was given its own ark!"

God smiled again at His angel's quickness and continued. "This was not the end of the story, but just the beginning.
For hundreds of years Abraham's offspring served the Egyptians against their will in slavery."

"And You allowed that my Lord?!"

"Yes." and He continued, "The child Moses grew as Pharaoh's privileged grandson. On the surface he was Egyptian royalty, while deep inside he was a lucky Hebrew. One day Moses witnessed an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave. The inner Hebrew Moses became irate, looked around for witnesses and saw none, so he killed the cruel Egyptian and buried him in the sand."

"Oh my!!!"

"Weeks later Moses saw two Hebrews fighting and tried to break it up, when one of them said to him, "Do you mean to kill me as you did the Egyptian?" That shocked Moses, and the word of it got back to Pharaoh. Before Moses could be arrested he fled into the desert."

Perambula said, "Were You not angry too that Moses killed the Egyptian?"

God replied, "He knew it was wrong. To Moses it was an act of justice for which he duly suffered punishment by exile loss of power, position, and comforts. Moses became a refugee, lest he become a prisoner."

Perambula stood agape. The angel was fascinated by the story which wiped away any jealousy he had felt over humans moments before.

During those terrible years of slavery, My people, Abraham's offspring, recipients of the covenant, experienced slavery to understand the value of a free will. To appreciate freedom, they had to experience bondage. There is also a bondage to wickedness, to anger and hatred that is as powerful as the subjugation of one person to another.

My dear angel, would that you could see how Satan's defiance of My Will and My Power will forever limit that fallen angel's free will. Satan believes that an army of souls are gathering behind the veil of darkness, but without precious bodies and without light, they will forever be hostage to each other."

"The lesson is so dark My Lord! Will Abraham's children ever ever receive the land and power of your promise? Will they ever learn?" cried the angel.

God grew frustrated over telling Perambula about Moses. Although in the description He could provide commentary, it was time to take the angel to Egypt.

"Perambula, let us go to Egypt so you may witness for yourself the conditions Abraham's children fell into as they struggled with slavery."

"Are you forcing me to go with You, or am I allowed to refuse my lord?"teased the angel.

Without answering God quickly started the journey back in time, but not very far in space.

Perambula raced to keep up.

ALIVE: Chapter 41 The New Flood

Once upon a time, about four hundred years after Abraham had first fallen asleep in Sheol, and that dark place was brimming with sleeping-dead captives, upon the face of the living earth one of Abraham's great grandsons, John the Baptist, appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey.

Perambula looked on in awe. "What is going on here Lord? Look at all of these people enter the river as if they want to drown. Have they all gone mad?"

God smiled and replied, "I am renewing world again, but in a quiet, more subtle way than ever before."

More perplexed than before God's answer, nevertheless, Perambula shrugged and said, "I heard that 3's a charm! What are You going to do this time?"

"I have sent this man, John, to earth to remind the world of the days of Noah when I was so repulsed by evil that I drowned everything but a human remnant of creation."

"I remember." said Perambula.

"Do you remember when the dove presented the olive branch?" added God proudly. "It was My primal definition of mercy. That olive branch told the family that their difficult days of confinement were finally over. That the purified earth was ready to receive them. That their suffering would turn to joy. And it did."

This time Perambula was the one to smile as he fondly recollected the day when the eight survivors hobbled out of the ark of their salvation, baptized and meek, prepared to inherit the new earth. "Now THAT was a baptism!" exclaimed Perambula and added, "It was a rebirth for humankind."

God added, "Those days must never be forgotten, but rather should be reenacted over and over again. Each person one by one must go through what Noah and his family did, if only symbolically, to be purified as Noah was, to inherit the world as he did, to understand the mercy of the olive branch as they did."

"Well, at least they don't have to really drown. I don't think I could take watching that again." muttered Perambula who went back to watching the scene.

Perambula witnessed crowds, like those that banged on the doors of the ark for admittance, flock to John. They seemed almost as desperate because they too didn't want to die, or suffer. Only this time it was as if the doors of the ark opened and as many as came to be rescued were saved. Or was it more than that, wondered Perambula who suddenly heard John shout?

"You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" John seem to have a whip in one hand and a life preserver in the other. The people he was shouting at could only imagine the wrath he was talking about.

Perambula read in the mind of John that he was preparing the people to receive the Spirit of God! Perambula did not expect this. The angel could not understand why God so often kept His plans a secret.

Perambula saw that the people were filled with expectation, and were questioning in their hearts whether John might be the Messiah they were waiting for to deliver them from their Roman oppressors. John replied to all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear the threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

Perambula looked at God and said, "Baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire? How are You going to do that?!"

"Something is about to happen in Sheol that will shock the underworld. Keep watching Perambula." said God.

"Why don't You just tell me?"

"Sh. Here He comes."

Perambula looked on in awe as he saw Jesus coming to John who announced, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

Perambula was shocked, "They heard you! They all heard you! How did you do that? Who is this Son of yours? What is going on here?!" Perambula was more alarmed than ever. The world seemed to be transforming in ways the angel never expected to see.

Then Perambula heard this man, this so called Son of God, say, "He who has believed in Me and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned."

"Saved from what?! What is He talking about?!" Perambula looked at God with outrage because whenever the angel seemed to have a good grip on what was going on down on earth, things changed, and sometimes in big ways that were completely unexpected. That just happened.

ALIVE: Chapter 40 - Every Body Dies

"Perambula, why do you sulk?" questioned the Lord with compassion over the angel's fallen countenance.

"I am going to miss Abraham." replied the angel.

"So, you finally forgave his adulteries? You weren't always so generous." inquired God.

"Yes, but that scene on Mount Moriah. How could a man who didn't trust You to protect his wife from Pharaoh, or to give her a son, be willing to give back to You his greatest blessing, the seed of Your covenant promise of nations of offspring?"

Without hesitation God replied, "Abraham learned to trust Me. He learned from his bad judgment. Don't fret Perambula, Abraham won't be locked in Sheol forever. I have a plan."

"Forever? Lord, You are God! Just shine on Sheol and wake him up! Let his soul live with us."

God was a little surprised to hear Perambula speak this way. He assumed that the angel understood the laws by which He had made heaven and earth, and the underworld, laws that govern life and death. After all, Perambula was in Eden. The angel heard God warn about the effect of eating the forbidden tree when He said, "ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ ξύλου τοῦ γινώσκειν καλὸν καὶ πονηρόν, οὐ φάγεσθε ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ· ᾗ δ᾿ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ φάγητε ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ, θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖσθε.

(Literal translation: away from the wood of coming to know, of perception [of] the good and oppressive toil, whoever of you eat from them, or in the day [you] eat from them, [you shall] die by death.)

θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖσθε. 'You shall die by death'. Adam and Eve were doomed to die when they ate of the wood.

Puzzled Perambula pouted. The angel could not comprehend how awareness could cause death.

Reading the angel's thoughts God explained, "Imagine that the sudden awareness of good and suffering created a surge of electricity in mankind's soul that triggered a short, a shut-down, death."

Perambula, said with meekness, "Lord, they didn't die right away. They were expelled from the garden. What does this have to do with Abraham anyway?"

"Perambula, there is a place in the center of the earth, or rather it is a state of being, that you are not capable of experiencing, which is death. It is said that the place is deep inside the earth and that they fell into it. That is why the experience of death is called The fall of man. There is no light there, no awareness, no sound. That place, that void, happened on the day that Adam and Eve became aware of the contrast of good and oppressive toil (sometimes considered to be evil.) On that day death, the effect of that awareness, became their destiny. That is where they went, their state of being, when their bodies died, and that is where Abraham is now."

"Lord, do you mean that their awareness while in the body, triggered an equal and opposite response, the absence of awareness when out of the body? How interesting! Genius!"

Perambula's enthusiasm suddenly collapsed in confusion. "Lord..."

"Yes, dear one?"

"Abraham didn't eat it. Why did he have to die too?"

The patient Lord of all allowed silence to introduce His response. Perambula waited.

"The perception of good and oppressive toil, once discovered, could no longer recede from human consciousness. Adam and Eve took it with them when they left paradise and they conveyed it to their children. Through the generations the perception of good and suffering, which each man surmises on his or her own, which may be separate from My perception, have existed. Thus by perceiving good and suffering separated them from Me.

Humankind continues to feed from this wood, and thereby continues every day to feed the need to die. It is a cycle that will not cease. But I planted the antidote in the garden from which I expelled the miscreants, the wood of life; on the day they eat from the wood of life they will no longer die."

"Wonderful!" exclaimed Perambula relieved. Quick, where is it so I can awaken Abraham and feed it to him!"

"No." replied God. "I have removed all access to that tree, flames surround it and besides the humans have been evicted from the garden where the life-giving tree is planted."

Perambula's face grew contorted and darkened into a deep purplish gray color, streaky and gloomy. "Abraham is doomed forever" thought the angel.

"Trust me Perambula. The annihilation of death is not to be so easily achieved. Their perception, once gained, should not be erased. In due time..."

Perambula blurted out, "How awful for Abraham, for all the others! But Lord, You despise death. Why did you make it?"

"Death was not made any more than darkness and void were, which pre-existed creation. Death and darkness, even evil don't exist of themselves. These are the absence of life, of light, of good. They are parasites, or the exact opposites of what I made."

"I have an idea!"

"What is it?" replied God skeptically. "You made light! Look towards Sheol and Your light will blind the demons and the souls will wake up. Do it Lord!"

"Good try angel." I cannot enter Sheol, because it is not a place but a state of being. Only humans may go there in death, and only to be captive to its darkness and its stillness."

God disappeared before Perambula could ask about His plan."

Abraham died. At the age of 175, his spirit vaporized and pulled away from his frail flesh and bones. He watched as his sons Isaac and Ishmael carried his empty body to the cave where he had carried Sarah years before. The men whom his boys Ishmael and Isaac became, carefully laid him as close to Sarah as they could. Servant boys held oil lamps to help them find their way through the dark silent cave in the earth. Isaac wondered if the God of his father had foreseen the destiny of this hollowed hallowed earth as it slowly formed these hundreds of years to perfectly fit and caress the bodies of the Patriarch and his queen.

After setting their father down, Isaac and Ishmael stood in silence staring at the wrapped lifeless figure of Abraham, remembering the days they had spent together loving and laughing, learning and living.

Ishmael thought about the day of circumcision, when he obediently surrendered his penis to his father and to God. His memory was painless. Isaac remembered being tied up and laying on the fire wood. Both sons of Abraham survived their sacrifice. Neither son was quick to walk away from this giant of a man whose blood ran through their veins.

The younger and closer Isaac was the first to turn and walk out after reaching his hand over to touch Abraham for the last time reciting the words he had heard so often from the parched lips of Father Abraham. "Barukh ata adonai eloheinu melekh ha-olam." A short while later the young light-bearers followed teary-eyed Ishmael out of the cave, together the sons rolled the stone back over the mouth of the cave and secured it with reverence and fear. They hugged each other; finally free from the rancor of Sarah and Hagar; then the brothers went their separate ways.

Abraham, in spirit observed the private ceremony with sadness and nostalgia. So many similar separations salted his long life, but that was when he was on the side of the living. Abraham was grateful for the chance to witness his burial before sinking into the silent depths of darkest Sheol where he was to sleep the empty sleep of death. When he arrived in Sheol, Abraham was not aware of being dead. He lost consciousness, and yet God knew exactly where to find him.

Abraham was neither aware of his condition nor that he was surrounded by thousands, that Noah and Adam were in the same area of darkness, that Melchizedek was on his left and Cain and Abel side by side again. In Sheol there was nothingness, no time, no light, no fear or illness or greed. No land to own. No love.

Abraham wasn't aware when Isaac arrived and then Ishmael, he never met Moses. In darkness, in stillness, in silence, the souls of Saul, David, and Joel, Samuel and Elisha along with millions of unknown, even all who perished in the Flood, fell deep into the earth. No one suffered, no one rejoiced. No one worshipped God, no one cursed Him. No demons bothered them, no angels encouraged them.

No one expected to wake up. No one was aware of how close the demons and Satan were.

Meanwhile, revolutions transpired on top of the earth. Kings were born and kings died. Countries were started and countries died away or were overthrown. Empire upon empire waxed and waned like the moon China, Greece, Rome while the deep darkness of death continued to receive and consume one life after another, century after century. A sliver of life in time for a world of death.

ALIVE: Chapter 39 Abraham the Great

Abraham suppressed the logical thought that shouted to him in his heart that his love for Isaac was good, and that to kill Isaac, to obliterate the son of his promise, would not only be evil, but nearly
suicidal. To kill his precious son, because God asked him to, was to defy all knowledge of good and evil.

When he set aside his knowledge of good and evil, Abraham entered the mysterious realm of faith and trust. In that realm Abraham was given a foretaste of immortality, of being alive in an incorruptible way because he had chosen to replace his will with that of his immortal God. It was only a test.

After he descended Mt. Moriah with his son Isaac in hand, Abraham's life resumed its ordinary texture and tone as an old wanderer and squatter. Slow steady rotations of sun and moon watched dizzying cycles of eating and sleeping, working and resting.

Not many moons later, Abraham's precious Sarah passed away in Kiriath-arba (Hebron). Sarah fell into a deep sleep, into darkness and then plunged into a deeper place of shadows from which she could not return. She looked down upon her lifeless old body with nostalgia and then wafted over to Abraham and hovered near him while he wept.

Filled with alarm and grief, Abraham asked the Hittites for a patch of land to bury her in. He asked for the cave of Machpelah owned by Ephron the son of Zohar. The Hittites regarded Abraham as a mighty prince among them, so Ephron offered to give Abraham the cave, but Abraham insisted on paying for it. Four hundred shekels of silver passed from Abraham's treasure chest to Ephron's.

More than sixty years after God first told Abraham that he and his offspring would possess all the land he could see, Abraham owned a cave in which to lay his sister and wife Sarai - Sarah.

God picked out Abraham from a field of ordinary men, as He had Noah centuries before, and then lured him repeatedly with the same promise of land and a royal lineage. By withholding and then promising land and children from Sarah and Abraham, God fed a yearning with which He kept Abraham alert to His presence.

Starting with Abraham, God marked a body of people to be His control group. He had created humankind in His glorious, intelligent and loving image and likeness for companionship. He longed to live in a world teaming with love and invention, with discourse and beauty. God loved nature and was proud of it, but His human gods had to master nature, not be subservient victims of it as they had become. God wanted to restore His image and likeness, and immortality, to humankind using their own free will day by day battling with and conquering the corrosive power of the blinding knowledge of good and evil.

The trusting moment Abraham raised his arm to stab precious Isaac began the process of reversing the distrusting moment when Eve took a bite of the forbidden fruit. God knew the process would take centuries, but He had time.

The mark of the covenant, circumcision, was a genius way in which a nation of people could be identified as Abrahamic, particularly before they formed a distinct tribe with the temple and the law.

To be the son or daughter of the great I AM, is to have a strong ego. Unless that ego uses its equally strong will to unite itself to the will of God, then it is subject to death. It is enslaved by the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. To oppose or ignore the Source of Life, is to descend the chain of life below innocent animals, and like them to be victims of nature, and fodder for evil.

Everyone is born. Everyone with his or her own life chooses what is most important to him or herself. To grow here, and shrink there, to blow in the wind, or to burrow deep roots.

In a relationship with the almighty sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, keep in mind that He is in it for the long game. As we beg God to satisfy our longings, cast a thought for how our lives could be useful to Him. For many, that is not good enough; there is too much room for doubt and disappointment. Well, perhaps that's why Jesus said the road is narrow and few go there to eternal life. Yes, to some it's a big gamble, to others their ears are always alert to words from above for guidance and ways they can serve the Creator.

Abraham died at 175 years old, 38 years after Sarah, and was buried with her in the cave that they owned without ever having received the promised land.

Abraham gained very little in his lifetime. He never owned land; he had only one son with his primary wife Sarah. Yet, all of God's promises to Abraham came true. Abraham became the forefather of kings and of the King of kings. His children through both Ishmael and Isaac indeed posses all the land Abraham could see from where he stood on that day when it was first promised to him.

God is trustworthy. We who want to be truly Alive should be too.

ALIVE: Chapter 38 the Sacrificial Son

Perambula looked on in horror and turned to God in fury.

"My Lord, this is the most outrageous thing I have ever seen You do. What can You be thinking? How can You ask Abraham to sacrifice his only son?! If he does, then how can You honor Your covenant with him?" Tears streamed down angel eyes as Perambula's rage exploded. "Look at that innocent child! You are asking Your chosen one, Abraham, to behave as an ignorant pagan looking to satisfy an evil spirit?! I have disagreed with You before, I have misunderstood You, but I have never been so furious!"

God patiently allowed Perambula to vent. During a momentary break in the tirade He replied, "Be quiet and trust Me. I need to see if a man can allow his only begotten son to be sacrificed for the sin of others. I know that an ignorant animal can be sacrificed, but would a child be so trusting as to surrender, and could a father give up his only son, his most precious son in whom he placed all his hope? I need to know if this is realistic, if it is within the realm of possibility. I need to know if Abraham and Isaac trust me to the death."

Perambula listened intently to God's reply, then sighed, and meekly asked, "Shouldn't you have conducted this experiment BEFORE Abraham entered into covenant with you my Lord? Then, if the man failed, you could find another man, and if he passed your outrageous test, then he would be found worthy of the covenant. I am afraid that tormenting him so, and appearing to rescind your offer after-the-fact will tarnish your pristine reputation."

"God smiled big and replied, "Let Me worry about My reputation, but thank you for your concern. I have a task for you that will calm you down, but first, watch this."

Young Isaac lay still on the wooden plank with his arms and legs firmly encased in a net of unyielding rope. His arms hurt the most. How he wished he could stretch them out. His head throbbed. Even Isaac's little feet were tied up. He knew that his father was just stalling by using up every inch of rope, to postpone as long as possible the carrying out of God's cruel command.

Isaac closed his eyes, but the pain grew sharper, so he opened them again. Abraham could not bear to see his young son's eyes. He prayed, "God of my fathers I give to You what is yours: my precious son. Have mercy on me and my wife for the many times we have forsaken You. Help me and forgive me in the coming days, as I grieve, when I am lonely. Help me to cherish Your will and not my own. Help me to tell Sarah what I have done."

Isaac's mouth was not tied up. The child added, "Amen. Into Thy hands I commend my soul and my body." and then he closed his little brown eyes to begin his eternal sleep.

Abraham pulled the knife out of its sheath. It was time. He had to get this over with. He looked upon his yielding son and gained strength from his humble surrender. Abraham lifted his arm to cast the fateful blow into his beating heart.

Just as the knife began its dastardly decent, Perambula loudly called to him and said, "Abraham, Abraham!"

Abraham's arm and dagger fell without hesitation as he looked up and around to see who called. Without seeing anyone, he replied, "Here I am."

Perambula, proudly and joyously speaking for God said in a clear loud voice, "Do NOT lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son from Me."

Isaac heard the voice too. How suddenly did his obedience yield life instead of death; reprieve. Still tied up tightly, head still throbbing, deep within his soul a sensation of pure life, oddly secure and incorruptible welled up. Was it sheer relief or was its source more celestial than that? With closed eyes searching the darkness within Isaac looked for evidence of the God who asked for his death and then saved him.

Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. God had provided the sacrificial ram. He ran to grab. Without more rope to tie the ram with, Abraham immediately bludgeoned it with the happy knife so recently relieved of committing a much more dastardly deed.

While the dead ram bled on the hallowed ground, Abraham lifted limp Isaac from the bier and untied him. Isaac was weak and deflated. Saved from the power of the knife, Isaac sensed that nevertheless, he had indeed been sacrificed.

Like a sack of potatoes, Isaac was propped up against a rock and then His father lifted the bleeding ram onto Isaac's wooden bier and looked up to heaven to worship and thank his God.

Isaac mustered up the strength to ask, "Father, may I set the fire please?"

"By all means my son."

Little Isaac slowly rose and limped over to the little flame that had quietly witnessed this sacred scene. He carefully lifted the candle out of the earth and reverently lit the sticks as he had done numerous times before. The flame grew with vigor to consume the sacrificial ram. Isaac gazed upon the dead and burning animal. He had to turn his head and look away.

Abraham stood mesmerized by the flame as it consumed the ram instead of his son, first cooking, then burning, then pulverizing it until nothing was left of the innocent ram but ashes. The father and son sat in empty silence, their thoughts and feelings spent by overuse.

As Perambula and God also watched the wood being consumed, memories of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Tree of Life, and then the Tree of Crucifixion welled up in God's timeless mind.

When the ram turned to ashes, and the sun was retreating in the horizon, Abraham and Isaac gathered the rope and the knife and headed back to the waiting servants.

Abraham said to Isaac, "I will call this place, 'The Lord will provide.' Isaac, wondered what God may have in store for his life as he walked ten steps behind his elderly father who was also deep in a syncopated rhythm of contemplation and worship.

As he walked, Abraham heard the Lord call him a second time saying, "By myself I have sworn, says the Lord: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gates of their enemies, and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed My voice."

God loved Isaac like His own son.

"Perambula, go and find the strongest and most able among angels to guard this precious child Isaac, perhaps fetch Michael. Go, and then come to tell me whom you have chosen."

"Yes, SIR!" replied Perambula before gleefully flying up into the heavens.

Meanwhile, Abraham and Isaac arrived at their servant's camp.

"Welcome master. Enter into your rest." said the young man showing Abraham the bed that he had prepared for him.

Exhausted, Abraham nodded, forced a smile and went into the tent to collapse in sleep.

The next morning the troupe packed up and headed back to Beer-Sheba and the refreshing well and Sarah who was waiting patiently for her son to return.

Watching the humble father and son as they stumbled over rocks to descend Moriah's mountain, God's mind flashed to the future vision of a great and magnificent temple built on the spot where Abraham proved himself to be a God-fearing man. There at that place thousands of animals will be sacrificed as punishment for the sins of man. The Temple Mount is truly hallowed ground where God was trusted as never before.

ALIVE: Chapter 37, Abraham's Test

One particularly hot and dry afternoon, Abraham, bent over his well, lowered the bucket and pulled up its cool refreshing water. After grabbing the cup to ladle it out and drink, he transferred the rest to his other bucket and carried his water to the tamarisk tree in whose shade he sat to pray and think. Abraham wondered how Ishmael was getting along; he wanted to give thanks again for his well, and he marveled again that Sarah gave birth to Isaac. As he was busy thinking about himself and his desires and concerns he suddenly and unexpectedly heard in his heart God call him.

"Abraham."

"Here I am." he replied.

God said, "Take your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you."

"WHAT?!" thought Abraham. Had he heard correctly? What an impossible request. Why would God wait all those years to finally grant elderly and barren Sarah a son, which in itself was a miracle, perhaps the greatest miracle the world had ever known; only to ask him to sacrifice this child?! How could there ever be another, how could he ever become the Father of a multitude, if he was not allowed to keep the one son who could ignite the succession?

Abraham instinctively fought this request. Could it be from the devil trying to take away the covenant promise? No. Abraham recognized the voice of God. But what good would killing young Isaac do? The angel of the Lord whispered in his broken heart, "God is not asking you to kill, as much as to sacrifice. What God gave you is His. He wants you to acknowledge that and give Isaac back to him. Would you deny the Lord what is His own?"

Ishmael's departure then began to make sense. Letting go of Ishmael, as hard as it was, was practice for letting go of Isaac. Abraham thought to himself that he could find the strength to sacrifice Isaac from the strength he had mustered to release Ishmael. What was the difference between death and Ishmael's absence? He had to trust God. Perhaps it will be through Ishmael after all that his children will come.

Abraham didn't know why, but he knew only one thing, that he had no choice but to accept the shocking command and obey God. As the master of men and animals, he knew the importance of obedience. And he knew that the Voice he had heard from time to time was wiser than he could ever be. To ignore this or any request from God was worse than suicide; it was to deny his own sensibilities. To deny it now would be to destroy all the altars he had built in his journeys through life and throughout the land.

Even as Abraham was deep in gut-wrenching thought, he slowly fell into a deeper sleep. Sleep was the only way Abraham could cope with the shock of this horrific request. In his sleep Abraham was given a vision of the place he was to take his son. It was high atop the mountain belonging to Moriah. He looked around and memorized every bush and rattle. He looked down at his surroundings and took in every feature of the place. Slowly this vision melted into total darkness and an empty healing sleep kept Abraham under the tamarisk tree all night long.

He rose earlier than usual the next morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, one to carry the flame and the rope, the other to carry the wood, and he took his son Isaac, and his knife. The troupe set out to go to the place that God had shown him in the vision.

On the third day of the solemn journey Abraham looked up in the distance and recognized the place he had seen in his vision. So he said to his men, "Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over to that hill. We will worship there and I will come back to you."

Abraham took the flame from his servant and gave it to Isaac and then took the rope and wood and off they went, Abraham and his precious son began the hike up Mount Moriah to worship and obey his God.

Over rocks and between sagebrush Abraham walked in silence contemplating the meaning and purpose of sacrifice. Isaac startled him when he shouted over to him, "Father,"

"Here I am, my son."

"The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

Abraham replied, "God himself will provide the lamb my son." Isaac said no more. Father and son spoke as they continued their trek up the mount, while innocent Isaac looked around for a ram to capture.

A mile later, Abraham saw in the distance the place he had seen in his vision. The flame flickered with fear and awe as if aware of its dreadful mission.

"There it is!" exclaimed Abraham to himself." Isaac struggled to keep up with his father, rushing over to him to see what Abraham recognized, still looking for the ram.

When they arrived at the site, Abraham dropped his load of wood and took the flame from his son's little hand. He then carefully planted the flame in the ground and piled small rocks around to hold it up while Isaac looked on curiously.

"Isaac, help me gather stones about this size to build the altar."

The child obediently and solemnly walked the site back and forth carrying grapefruit sized rocks to the spot of sacrifice. Abraham, holding back tears brought in the larger rocks, working as slowly as he could. He was thinking of all the lambs he had sacrificed with young Isaac watching.

Abraham had taught his son that God is perfect and demands perfection from people. Because Abraham had no law, and no example (i.e. Jesus) to follow all he had to do was to trust and obey God, exactly what Adam and Eve, and Noah had to do.

Abraham knew how he fell short from trusting God. He fell short when he gave his wife to Pharaoh, when he received Hagar into his bed, and on numerous lesser occasions. Abraham taught his son that animal sacrifice helped man to see the real tangible difference between life (trusting God) and death (mistrusting and therefore disobeying God).

Abraham had shown Isaac that life is the frolicking lamb nuzzling its mother to drink her nourishing milk and breathe in her sweet smelling sweat, while death was being restricted by rope, stabbed and burned to ashes.

Once the stone altar was built, Isaac watched his father carefully arrange the wood to lay a mighty fire, just the right proportion of solid to air. Abraham intended to build a fire so big that it would quickly consume its lunch of flesh and wood.

"Now, go get me the flame Isaac."

The obedient little boy hesitantly went over to dig out the precious flame and carried it to his elderly father. Not a breeze had blown to threaten the life of the flame since they had left home three days earlier. Keeping the flame alive when they slept required a rotating night watchman. Every time he transferred the flame, Abraham thought about what it meant, every time the old short candle kissed the new one, Abraham, pondered the life and death of his only son, and then he thought about mighty God who is without beginning or end.

After the flame was safely replanted closer to the altar, Abraham, with his knife waiting patiently in its holster, went over to the rope he had set down and approached his precious son. With tears filling his eyes he said, "My son, come to me."

Isaac lovingly and obediently approached his father, shivering with the sense of doom.

"You know why we must sacrifice the lamb, don't you?"

"Yes, father."

"Isn't it unfair to the lamb who was innocent to suffer the punishment of death?"

"Yes, father."

"Then isn't that the most noble creature of all?"

"Yes, father."

"We must be obedient to God or our lives are as ignorant as the lamb who neither speaks nor understands, and yet is punished for our sins. How much more just for an innocent human to be sacrificed for human sin. God has commanded me to give Him you, my precious son of the promise. You know how long I waited for you, all my life till I was an hundred years old I waited and longed to have this son that is you."

Tears began streaming down Isaacs young eyes. He sensed what was coming, but he didn't run away.

Isaac my precious son, our God has told me to give you to Him, as the sacrificial lamb."

"But father!" cried Isaac. "What did I do wrong?! I am sorry. PLEASE father forgive me! Mommy! Mommy!"

"My son, my son. You are innocent, as innocent as the lambs we have sacrificed together. But God asked me to give you back to Him in this way. You did nothing to deserve this, I promise you."

Abraham hugged his sobbing child. Isaac smelled love in his father's bosom. Swallowing down his tears, he tried to muster the courage he needed to accept his fate. Immediately, child as he was, Isaac knew that he, a human being, could not be compared to an ignorant lamb whose fate, sooner or later would be to be slaughtered and consumed. These thoughts started the tears flowing again. Did the God he heard his father speak of from his earliest conscious moments truly demand his life or could his elderly father be mistaken? Either way, Isaac knew that he was doomed to obey, and that the sooner he accepted death, the sooner his torment would end. Isaac bravely turned sobs into whimpers followed by a gentle silence. Still sitting in his father's lap the child rested.

Abraham consoled his precious son, "You and I will obey Him together. Giving the Lord your life is giving Him my own. I believe Isaac that in a flash like lightening you are going to see the face of God, to live with Him as a precious son, and I will remain to mourn you until with God's blessing, we will meet again at his throne. You, not I, have the best part."

These words helped to strengthen Isaac. He felt brave. His young life had meaning well beyond any other human he knew. His father from birth had taught Isaac to revere and worship God, now here was his test, and Abraham's test of that lesson.

Abraham solemnly released his son from his lap, and rose to fetch the rope. Both father and son were ready to get the sacrifice over with so that each could go his separate way, one to heaven, one to earth but together safe and sound in the Will of an omnipotent and mysterious God.

Soon, the rope replaced the strong arms of Abraham cradling his promise child. As Isaac sat tied up like a little lamb he pretended that the ropes were the arms of God holding him tight.

ALIVE: Chapter 36 The Tenant's Plight

The first year was the hardest. Abraham thought of Ishmael every day. He prayed for his son's safety and health. He missed his help and his loving ways. Infant Isaac was no substitute, but he offered a measure of welcome relief from his grief. Little Isaac also mourned the departure of his big brother. Father and son had this in common, together they prayed for Ishmael's safety. Little Isaac wept.

Abraham had other problems to distract him from the loss of his firstborn son. He still resided as an alien in the land of the Philistines and he still had threatening neighbors. Despite the mass circumcision with its pain and embarrassment, Abraham was still a squatter and a wanderer in a dry and dusty land.

Water was more precious than silk, more rare than four leaf clovers, more necessary than sleep. On land belonging to another, Abraham and his men worked day after day digging deep into hard ground without shovels or machines until finally they tapped a vein of cool clean water. Months into it, tough sweaty labor finally paid off. Hallelujah.

When his lazy neighbors spied the new well, their laziness gave way to malice. With weapons they arrived to seize the precious water, beating off Abraham's servants. Then they constructed barriers to keep Abraham and his people away from their well.

While war was in his heart, frantic Abraham wisely sought justice instead. He rode over to Abimelech, the landowner, his landlord, to complain. Luckily Abraham found both Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of Abimelech's army, together. Good. Abimelech could authorize him to take back the well, and Phicol could help make it happen.

Abimelech respected Abraham and was glad to see him approach until he came close enough for Abimelech to notice that this was not a friendly visit.

"Greetings Abraham, God is with you in all that you do;" reminded Abimelech with Phicol looking on curiously right hand on his sword. "Now therefore swear to me by God," continued the landowner defensively, "that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but as I have dealt loyally with you, you will deal with me and with my land where you have resided as an alien."

Aware that his anger frightened the landlord, Abraham calmly replied, "I swear it. I have come to tell you, that your servants have seized my well."

Abimelech, relieved that the issue was not threatening to him personally replied, "This is the first I have heard of this. I assure you that I did not order my servants to seize your well."

Abraham then fetched his sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech and they made a covenant. Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock.

Abimelech said to Abraham, "what is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?"

Abraham replied, "these seven ewe lambs you shall accept from my hand, in order that you may witness for me that I dug this well."

So they both swore an oath to each other that the matter should be considered closed. The well belonged to Abraham.
Abimelech gladly received the livestock, and shook the hand of Abraham in front of Phicol, "I swear on this day that the well is yours, and my servants will no longer rob you of your water. Go in peace."

Abraham replied, "I swear that I will always deal loyally with you."

Therefore the place was called Beersheba because they both swore an oath. After naming the place and swearing an oath to each other Phicol and Abimelech went off to the land of the Philistines.

Abraham returned to his well and announced to Abimelech's bullying servants that they must depart in peace. Then he planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. Thanking him for the peaceful resolution of what could have been a different situation, if Abimelech had instead favored the well thieves. Abraham thanked the Lord that justice had been done.

In turn, the Lord was glad for Abraham's faith who continued to reside as an alien with a circumcised penis, one young son, and no land to call his own.

After wandering from place to place, enduring days of famine, the eviction from Egypt, fighting for his nephew Lot, the embarrassment of the mass circumcision to mark his people as being in a covenant relationship with the Creator God without any evidence that he would have more children or grandchildren, or any property to call his own or to hand down the generations, and having his well seized, Abraham still believed and worshipped God.

Yet there was to be another test of his faith, more difficult than any other. One calm day when Abraham least expected it he heard in his heart God calling him. God said, "Abraham."

"Here I am." He replied.

"Take your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you."

ALIVE: Chapter 35 The Promised Child

When Sarah was ninety years old she miraculously conceived and gave birth to a healthy baby boy. She named him Isaac which means laughter, because she thought it was funny that such an old lady could produce a newborn.

Sarah said, "God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me. Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet, I have born him a son in his old age."

When Isaac was eight days old he was circumcised to mark him forever as a man of the Covenant with God. He quickly grew out of infancy and was weaned. On the day Isaac was weaned Abraham made a great feast. Such festivities, such abundance Abraham's house had never seen. Even the livestock sensed the joy.

Ishmael liked his baby brother Isaac and played often with him. But whenever Sarah saw Ishmael playing with her miracle baby possessive feelings percolated up from her gut. Her disdain for prideful Hagar had been brewing for years and spilled over to this son of hers. Sarah fretted that her Isaac would have to share his inheritance with this child of a slave woman, especially because he was Abraham's firstborn. It causes one to wonder if Sarah's dilemma is the reason that to this day, Judaism is inherited from the mother rather than the father.

One night as Sarah lay sleeplessly fretting about Hagar and Ishmael, she decided that the only solution was to evict them both, something she should have done long ago. Sarah wondered whether Abraham would be willing to send his precious Ishmael away because she knew how much the father doted on his son. But that was exactly why this was necessary. Letting go of Ishmael would be a test of Abraham's allegiance. Yet, Sarah knew that even more than His love for her or Ishmael or Isaac, Abraham loved God. So she prayed to Abraham's God for help.

The next morning, after a fitful night, Sarah awoke determined to change the dynamic of her home. She bathed and washed her hair to make herself look as attractive and sweet-smelling as any hundred and three year old woman possibly could. Then Sarah set out to find Abraham.

Before long, she spotted him in the lower field inspecting the goats. He looked up and saw Sarah alone walking toward him. Abraham sensed by the rhythm of her trot that she was on a mission. He wondered what was on her mind, but knew he didn't have to wait long to find out.

"Greetings, beloved." said Sarah smiling in the sunshine.

"Was she wearing color on her lips and cheeks?" thought Abraham sensing that Sarah's purpose was grave. Abraham gave her a hug and a peck and replied, "What brings you here looking so lovely my dear? Could you have not waited until lunch-time to speak with me?"

Sarah went straight to the point sensing that Abraham was as ready as he ever would be to hear her demand. "I have come to tell you to cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of a slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac." There, she said it.

Abraham looked shocked and distressed. "How could Sarah make such a demand?" he thought. "Had she gone mad? His precious Ishmael! Never!" Then he said aloud, "How about simply sending Hagar away, and let my son stay? Perhaps we should have sold her years ago, when the child was first born."

Sarah stood firm, "I mean this Abraham. Isaac will have no peer. I admit, and how I have regretted it, that I was wrong to hand you my maid. I just couldn't believe that God meant me to be the mother when I was growing so old. Yet, he waited ten more years, when I was even much older to bless us with Isaac. Indeed this is a miracle child from your God, not Ishmael. Ishmael is the child of sin and doubt. All the more reason to erase him from our lives as a sign of repentance."

"Sarah, my dear, you have given me enough to think about." And then Abraham walked away deeper into the field with his head hung very low. Sarah did not see the tears spilling out of her husband's blue eyes. She did not feel the anguish in his heart. Instead, she turned around satisfied that she had set in motion events that would lead to her relief from rancor and malice.

Abraham walked deep into his fields. With every step he wished that he could part himself from her demand to expel his beloved son Ishmael. Memories of the joys this son brought him flooded Abraham's mind as tears continued to streamed from his eyes. His son, Ishmael, this brave young man who was the first to be circumcised in the covenant would be dead to him forevermore! How could Sarah demand this of him? She whose idea it was to give him this son, is now taking him away. Abraham pleaded to his God for counsel.

God replied. He said to Abraham, “Do not be concerned about the boy and your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac. But I will also make a nation of the slave’s son because he is your offspring.”

This message from the Lord consoled Abraham. He knew that by sending Ishmael away, he was not only obeying Sarah, but that this painful decision was God's will and that made all the difference. Knowing that his beloved Ishmael would also become a great man reminded Abraham of the death of his father Terah. A man must leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife. This was God's will that each generation travels away from the former to make its own way in the world, sometimes sooner, sometimes later, but always it must grow away from its deep roots into the sunshine of its own world.

Fortified with these thoughts, Abraham rose early the next morning, took bread and a waterskin, and put them on Hagar’s shoulders. Ishmael watched curiously. Abraham said, "Hagar, it is time for you to take the boy and leave us. You know that God will be with you and the boy. But depart from us. May this bread and water satisfy you for as long as you need it to."

Hagar was astounded at the demand. A slave all her life she was unable, whether by habit or something else, to say anything except, "Yes, my lord." But her mind was filled with anger and fear.

Ishmael looked on shocked that this was happening. He always knew that Sarah despised him and his mother, and all his life he seemed to anticipate this moment. Especially when the baby Isaac was born and they had no more need for the son of a slave girl. It was as if Ishmael always knew in his heart this day would come. When it did, he felt relief mixed with sadness to leave his loving father. Yet, he was glad to never have to feel Sarah's malice again.

Father and son gave hugged a hug they knew was to last a lifetime. Their hearts beating beside each in a holy rhythm. Ishmael released himself first parting forever with a firm manly handshake and then abruptly turned and walked away to join his mother on the path that led them into the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

The mother and son walked in silence for days. Thoughts whirling in their minds, of fear, of anger, of retribution.

When the water in the skin was gone, Ishmael became weak with dehydration. They walked for two more days looking for water and finding none. On the third day, Hagar sat the weak boy under one of the bushes, and he moaned deliriously.

Then she took herself a bowshot away, and said, “I can’t bear to watch the boy die!” So as she sat nearby, she wept loudly. God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What’s wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy from the place where he is. Get up, help the boy up, and support him, for I will make him a great nation.” Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water and quickly filled the waterskin and gave the boy a drink.

When Ishmael revived, the mother and son continued their exodus, until they reached the Wilderness of Paran where the two settled.

Ishmael grew strong and tall. He went through life with his father's strong hands and crooked smile, and Abraham's fierce sense of loyalty. Only Ishmael's loyalty was to his mother, Hagar, who had suffered so much because of him. Ishmael became an archer who shot wild game to feed the village. Hagar selected a wife for her son from the land of Egypt, a lovely woman who gave Ishmael many sons, but none of them were circumcised on their eighth day. Hagar would not permit it.

In all this Abraham didn't know that his willingness to let go of Ishmael was practice for an even greater sacrifice that would be asked of him by his God.

Alive: Chapter 34, Commentary

The story of Abraham teaches us that a relationship with God, wth all three Persons of the Trinity, is similar to relating to any other person: a relative, a coworker, or a friend in that relationships require active involvement of both parties. Being in a relationship with the all knowing, all powerful creator of life is clearly a subservient one. Subservient relationships, unlike peer relationships, require a particularly respectful attitude and behavior.

So far, in this tale we see God as patient and intentionally uninvolved from time to time. For example, why did Abram and Sarai have to wander so? How could God passively accept Sarai in Pharaoh's bed, and later, why didn't God warn Abram in a dream or something that long term trouble would ensue because of Sarai's impatience that lead to giving her husband over to Hagar? More importantly, why did God wait so long to give Abram a son through Sarai?

Circumstances surrounding the birth of Isaac cause us to wonder whether the birth of Jesus Christ was the first miraculous pregnancy. The birth of Isaac from a woman well past menopause with an hundred year old man, was physiologically impossible. How did Sarah get pregnant? Was the miraculous impregnation of Sarah an experiment? Was it practice for the ultimate crescendo of human history, the impregnation of the Virgin Mary?!

God's use of Abraham was more important to Himself than it was to Abraham who received little more than promises for a bright future for his lineage and some land of his own. For Abraham, that was good enough.

The lesson is that in our relationship with God, we must be extraordinarily humble and patient, always yielding to His judgment and seeking His will and purpose above our own. Humility is willingness to be an instrument in the hand of God. Humility takes courage and fortitude.

Circumcision was quite a lot to ask of an old man; more still to command his staff of hundreds to follow. No one wants to force others to do something dangerous or painful.

Why did everyone have to be circumcised? This holy laceration of slaves and servants was not an option.

Millennia later, we know that God's purpose for the covenant was never about the land, or the Kings. It was to establish the lineage of His only begotten Son. But Abraham didn't know that, nor could he have understood the purpose of the incarnation. Some information is simply too big to explain.

Abraham truly became the father of billions, more than all the stars of the heavens, through Ishmael, through Isaac, and by adoption through his greatest grandson Jesus. God fulfilled his part of the contract.

Now, back to 99 year old Abraham and 89 year old pregnant Sarah. The plot thickens.

ALIVE: Chapter 33, The Painful Covenant

The birth of Ishmael presented to Abram the life he had yearned for. How he loved his precious son. Ishmael had his father's eyes and his hands; tiny versions of his own. Abram stared at Ishmael's tiny fingers and contemplated all that he would teach them to do. He was happy to cuddle the baby in his arms and pace the tent when he cried. Tossing him in the air to make him giggle.

Ishmael was one lucky boy, the only son of a wealthy old man who adored him. He was treated as a prince everywhere he went. As Ishmael grew up he returned the love of his father. Abram's 90th birthday party was a feast to be long remembered throughout the land. Four year old Ishmael had prepared a song for his father. The audience was delighted. There could be no doubt that this was his father's son.

Yet, Ishmael failed to be the son Sarai thought she would have. Hagar never let go. She so enjoyed keeping the child close to her and away from Sarai. How could a child feel any affection from the woman who despised his mother, nor did Sarai care. Yet, she never forbade Abram from fathering his son, knowing that some day the child would grow into manhood and would care for them both.

Months passed slowly into years, and Ishmael grew with them. On his tenth birthday Abram presented Ishmael with his own horse. A happier boy there never was. Together, father and son rode throughout the territory as king and prince for all the world to admire.

Ishmael learned quickly. By the time he was thirteen there was nothing that Abram did around the estate that Ishmael couldn't do almost as well. Ishmael learned to avoid Sarai. He loved to listen to Abram's stories of God, the God of Creation. His thirsty young mind wished that he too could experience visitations from the God of his father, but he knew that such an omnipotent and sovereign God spoke only to those he chose, and so far, God had not chosen to speak to Ishmael, only to his mother once. They both clung to those words of how great Ishmael would become.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, and Ishmael was a young man of thirteen, the Lord appeared to Abram one day when he least expected it, and said to him, "I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between Me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous." Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you. And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God."

God said again to Abraham, "As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God."

Then God said something to Abraham that was so outrageous that if anyone else had suggested this, it would have meant war. Never before had God ever indicated why he chose Abram, but after 40 years or more of divine visitations, Abraham was going to show himself worthy of this holy relationship.

Perambula blurted, "Ahhh, Lord, am I finally going to see why You were so patient with Abram when he gave his wife to Pharaoh and when Sarai gave him to Hagar!"

God smiled mysteriously as if not necessarily to concur with Perambula.

"What does Abram, I mean Abraham have to do to hold up his end of the covenant. He gets all the land, and nations of descendants, including kings, and what do you get my Lord?"

"God chuckled and before announcing the requirement to Abraham he whispered to Perambula, "Foreskin."

"What!" exclaimed Perambula. Perambula had known God to be creative and wise, but this deal, even for God seemed strange to say the least. Then Perambula heard God tell Abraham:

"As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you:

Perambula focused on Abraham who was listening attentively with eyes closed while sitting under his favorite tree on a cool morning, waiting for God to spill it, wondering why He was hedging so long, curious as curious can be. What could the God of the universe ask from a mere mortal like him, and a flawed one at that. Finally He said it:

"Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins..."

Abraham's eyes opened abruptly and then nearly popped out of his head. He took a big gulp of air to reign himself back in. Did he really hear what he thought he heard God say? At first Abraham wrestled within himself, vacillating between belief and doubt. Finally he decided that it must have been God, because never in a million years would he have come up with such a thing as to ask every man in his home, including himself and his precious son Ishmael to put a knife to their penises.

God continued, "Throughout your your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant."

Silence. Abraham sat dumbfounded. How could he possibly convince his entire household to clip every penis among them? He knew that for him to have the land and the enormous family and heritage was worth everything, but what could he tell the shoemaker and the butcher that would keep him from fleeing, or worse revolting? Wouldn't it be enough just to circumcise himself and Ishmael, and their children?

God continued, "Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant."

"Okay," thought Abraham. God answered his question. No one, especially no man wants to be banished. He would use the power of the human bond to convince everyone to submit to the operation. They would, because it will be the only way they can maintain participation in Abraham's community. He would convince them that the God who commands circumcision will also protect them from their enemies, and feed them. He would explain to them Who this God is, and they will accept the pain and humiliation of circumcision for the lofty reason that this sacrifice will, in the long run, ensure their security. God was nation building, the beginning of many nations of Abraham. Abraham still feared giving this announcement, but at least he knew what his argument would be.

God continued to speak. Never before had He spent so much time with Abraham. Never before had God so much to say.

God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."

Perambula looked at God at that moment and said, "Now I get it! You blew life into Adam with a HA! and into Abram when you added HA to his name to signify your breath of life. And by adding ah to Sarai, you joined them to each other as one complete breath! Right?" God looked at Perambula quizzically.

Meanwhile, Abraham, who could not hear Perambula, but heard God clearly, fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man who is an hundred years old? Can Sarah who is ninety years old, bear a child?" And Abraham said to God, "Oh, that Ishmael might live in your sight!"

God said, "No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, who Sarah shall bear to you at the season next year." Then God departed from Abraham. He had nothing more to say leaving Abraham with the problem of how to present this mass surgery to his people. Abraham thought he risked a mass exodus, but where would they go? These people were bound to him. If they left, the neighbors would round them up and bring them back.

Finally, Abraham mustered up the courage and told his chief servant to round up all the men, every hand from the fields and the carpenters and blacksmiths, and the cooks, butchers, and every man was called to Abraham's meeting. Even the boys were called. Ishmael rounded up all the boys who could walk. Father carried their infant sons.

When everyone was gathered Abraham spoke.

"Men," he said, "The God of all creation who formed this earth and all of the animals in it, who formed the heavens with its moon and stars has spoken to me on this day. He wants to mark us, you and me as His special people among all the peoples of the earth. He asks us to sacrifice a small piece of our flesh in return for His infinite blessings and protection."

The men looked at each other confused, wondering specifically what Abraham wanted them to do.

Abraham understood that he needed to get specific. "Men and boys, there is a piece of flesh on your penis at the tip that is unnecessary. In fact sometimes it can harbor dirt and germs. We are asked by God to remove that piece..."

Suddenly a loud gaff erupted from the audience in horror and disbelief.

"Please, calm down, listen to me!"

"It will only bring you pain for a little while. Thereafter we will be marked as the people of a mighty God that we are, that we want to be. God is asking us to sacrifice a tiny bit, yes even with some pain, but He is a generous God, and He will not ask more than we can take. My son Ishmael and I will be the first to undergo this operation.

Will all the butchers come forward."

Muscular young Ishmael sauntered out of the crowd and slowly and hesitating approached his father. Everyone's eyes focused on this feisty lad, beloved of his powerful father. Had Abraham gone mad? What would Ishmael do? Would Ishmael actually present himself to enter into a covenant with God?

Ishmael felt himself approach his father as if he was having an out of body experience. Logic told him to run away, but his love for his father, and his father's love for Ishmael drew him to Abraham's side. Abraham was proud of Ishmael once again.

There for all the world to see Ishmael, and then Abraham became the first to undergo the incision that would painfully mark them as God's chosen people, God's faithful business partners.

Seeing spunky thirteen year old Ishmael humble himself to his father impressed all of the men. One by one in his heart each man knew that he had no choice but to succumb to the knife. Never before had they been asked for so much. As the slave-girl Hagar gave her body to her master, so too would each slave-man, and each free man be required to offer up his body too. What was in it for them? The bond between master and slave would never be greater than on that day.

Abraham was relieved that his men willingly joined in this covenant with his God and with him. Somehow the mass suffering made it easier. He noticed a few men slip away and run into the hills and he let them go. Even Abraham didn't fully understand what the covenant would mean in his lifetime since God mostly referred to a faraway future. Yet, he knew in his heart that any man who would sacrifice himself, who would willingly obey God with adult circumcision would indeed receive in return the reward of His divine protection. No one else was offered land or children to become kings, but all suffered just the same, and God counted that as righteousness.

The men moaned for a week. Within the following three months sixteen baby boys were born and on their eighth day, they too were circumcised, they were given the mark of Abrham's covenant with God.

This massive first covenant act marked a mass conversion unlike any other in the history of humankind. Men from many tribes and backgrounds, now living in Hebron, united with Abraham to become a Hebrew tribe united by this hidden seal of God.

If Abraham was crazy, they were crazy too.

That there were no enemies surrounding them to take advantage of their temporary frailty showed them that perhaps they were protected by an invisible God. These proud men and boys in pain never felt so alive.

ALIVE: Chapter 32 - The Wrong Son

Our grandmother Eve decided to trust the crafty serpent instead of her Creator which caused us to fall into a wormhole of good and evil in which we sometimes swim and we sometimes drown. It doesn't help to wonder what the world would have been like had that one decision, by that one person, never been made.

She did it again.

Ten years after Abram and Sarai had settled in the land of Canaan, when childless Sarai was around 76 years old, and her 86 year old husband had waited too long to receive the promise from God of a child, in her impatience and distrust, she offered her maid Hagar to Abram, handing her husband's body to another woman as he handed hers to Pharaoh years before. Like Adam, Abram went along with his doubting wife. This time, instead of death, the world inherited the war between Arab and Arab, Arab and Jew.

It went like this.

"You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children;" said Sarai whose hair had grown white and brittle, and whose skin hung from her body in wrinkled folds like a sleeping garment. "go into my Egyptian slave girl, Hagar; it may be that I shall obtain children by her."

"Are you sure you want me to do this my dear? Remember the ills that befell us when I gave you to Pharaoh?"

"What ills? We left with quite a booty. It will be fine."

Abram did not know if Sarai's motives for making such a proposition were righteous or not.Yet, he had to admit that his longing for his own child had grown greater with every aging year. He wondered if Sarai was correct in thinking that God did not mean that his children would come from Sarai's body. Without consulting with God and without hearing from God whether or not to pursue using a surrogate, Abram cooperated with Sarai's plan.

"Abram, I give you Hagar to be your second wife, that she may give us children." And turning to Hagar she said, "Hagar, you are to receive my husband Abram and bear a child for us."

Hagar was thrilled with this request. No longer would she be scrubbing clothes on rocks, or foraging for food. Ever since she left Egypt and her family, Hagar had been forced to work hard, even on days when she was ill, even on days when she was tired or sad. Her life had never been her own. Sarai had been a hard task master, always telling her when to wake up and when to sleep and when and what she could eat. The prospect of becoming a wife of the master and a mother to his child was thrilling.

Hagar lowered her eyes humbly at this introduction, but her heart was raised high and proud. She replied, "I am your servant master Abram. Do with me what you will."

Abram took Hagar by the hand and together they walked away from Sarah and into his tent. Without a wedding feast or fanfare, without ceremony or sanctification, young brown muscular Hagar and old scratchy Abram joined each other for the sole purpose of bringing new life into their world. They kissed. Each with hope of what he and she could gain from the other. Freedom and honor for her, lust and a child for him.

Abram enthusiastically went into Hagar feeling like a young buck for the first time in decades. So pleasant was this union that Abram sought to repeat it afternoon and evening for several days, but at night he knew to go back to Sarai so they may awake in the loving embrace of two who had grown old together with all of the trials and tribulations life had given them.

After a week of mating, their days returned to normal, Hagar with her chores and Abram managing his estate. He felt stronger and healthier than he had in years. But he was also sensitive to Sarai's feelings remembering the sadness and the loneliness he endured when she was in Pharaoh's bed night after night.

Hagar became emboldened. No longer was she a slave woman. The sight of Sarai annoyed her. After all, wasn't she to be the mother of Abram's child? Certainly motherhood would catapult her in Abram's eyes. Life would be better if Sarai never existed. How could this old useless woman tell her what to do? So much had Hagar vilified Sarai in her mind that she could not bear the sight of her.

This treatment by Hagar, her arrogance, was something that Sarai had not expected.

Sarai announced, "That is enough Abram. If this thing is to happen it will." And she responded to Hagar with malice. Hagar returned to her old position resentfully. She had been born a slave being ordered to do whatever her masters commanded her every waking moment of every day, but never before had she felt so violated as when she gave herself body and soul to her mistress's husband. This was more than mere labor, it was reaching into the core of her being and ripping out her soul for Sarai's personal use and glorification. Morning and night Hagar's thoughts increasingly embittered her until weeks had passed and she missed her period. She waited for the turn of the moon until she was certain that her monthly flow of blood was not coming. When the moon was full for the second time, Hagar was sure that she was with child. With the master's child. Hallelujah. What joy, what revenge she felt. Abram would be the first to know. Perhaps he would honor her and truly love her.

Hagar waited until evening brimming with pride and joy. Yet, the opportunity to tell Abram eluded her.

"Mistress, you should know that I am indeed with child. With your husband and my child."

Those words stabbed Sarai in the heart. They were at once as bitter as bile and as desired as honey. Sarai conjured up the most nonchalant attitude she could, and said, "You may fetch the water now Hagar."

Hagar replied, "I will lie down and rest now." And walked away leaving Sarai speechless and angry.

Sarai walked directly over to Abram in the lower field where he was talking with the shepherd. He saw her approaching him quickly and walked toward her. When they met, Sarai said immediately, "May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave-girl to your embrace, and now that she has conceived, she looks on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!"

Abram faced his furious wife with tenderness and compassion and replied, "Your slave-girl is in your power; do to her as you please." By saying that Abram risked relinquishing his child for Sarai, the child he had longed for, the child of his promise.

Sarai awoke the next morning refreshed. She had been empowered by her husband's words to take full command. She would thoroughly reduce Hagar from wife, to the slave-girl she really was.

The treatment was unbearable to Hagar. The delicious taste of glory and honor lingered in her mouth and she refused to replace it with bitter humility. Being with child Hagar was more sensitive than she had ever known herself to be. She cried more easily, felt outrage more intensively. She tried to find an opportunity to speak with the father of her child and beg him to defend her, but Abram intentionally avoided her which caused her anger to slip into grief and then despair.

As the countenance of Hagar plunged into the abyss of her soul, Sarai's rose. She felt her place. Her cruel demands proved that she was the queen, and not the dark surrogate. Her husband loved her with an enduring love and respect that surpassed physical passion. Abram was hers. The child would be hers too. This woman had come to recognize her place in their little world, and was securely fixed there.

On the morning after a tongue lashing Sarai had given Hagar for neglecting to wash her undergarments, the heat from sun the came earlier and was more intense. She was thirsty and looked for Hagar to bring her fresh figs for breakfast. The slave was no where to be found. She ran looking for Abram and was relieved to find him meeting with the manager of the cattle. He hadn't seen Hagar either. Neither did Abram seem overly concerned. The thrill of anticipation over the birth of his son or daughter had been spoiled by his wife's rancor. If he cared about Hagar's absence at all, he didn't dare express that to Sarai who stormed away.

Sarai continued her fruitless search as her mind whirled in a mixture of glee and anger.

Meanwhile, the angel of the Lord found Hagar by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where are you going?" She said, "I am running away from my mistress Sarai." The Angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress and submit to her." The Angel of the Lord also said to her, "I will greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude." And the Angel of the Lord said to her,

"Now you have conceived and shall bear a son; you shall call him Ishmael, (God hears) for the Lord has given heed to your affliction.

He shall be a wild ass of a man, with his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; and he shall live at odds with all his kin."

So she name the Lord who spoke to her, "You are El-rio, (God who sees) for she said, "Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing Him?" Therefore the well was called Beerlahai-rio, it lies between Kadesh and Bered.

Hungry Hagar returned slowly to her prison filled with awe of God and filled with child. She could now bear Sarai's wrath knowing that God planned for her to be the matriarch of a nation of people from this little fighter whom she felt kicking the walls of her womb.

Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
"Lord?" Called Perambula to God as together they looked down on this drama.

"Yes Perambula?"

"Don't you care that Abram and Sarai waited so long for a child and were reduced to finding a surrogate? Did Abram fail you by caving to his wife's request?"

"Perambula, what makes you think this is not exactly what I planned?" Is it my fault that it took them so long?"

"Fret not Perambula, Abram will still be given opportunities to prove his faith. Meanwhile, he has a precious son. Abram lives. He honored his wife, and he did not dishonor Me. Perhaps you too need patience Perambula. Let's go back."

With that, Perambula ascended into the clouds and beyond the atmosphere, glad to be leaving the affairs of men.

ALIVE: Chapter 31 Abram's Dilemma

Abram and Sarai and their slaves and their animals and their nephew, Lot, step by step, exited Egypt leaving a plague-worn palace in their wake. Their caravan had more than doubled in size since their arrival. The co-conspirators left in shame, but with full bellies and pockets. It was Egypt that was worse off. It was Egypt that suffered for their deceit.

Abram's exodus foreshadowed the Great Exodus when his grandson, Jacob, also fled to Egypt for the same reason, famine in the land. Jacob stayed long enough to plant deep roots and grew big, so big that the tribes formed by His twelve sons threatened Pharaoh who enslaved the whole lot of them for generations. Could slavery have been Egypt's revenge for Abram and Sarai's lie? Again, generations later, God used plagues to answer prayers for release from Egypt's grip on Sarai, then on her enslaved children. Pharaoh held on tight to the twelve tribes, until his firstborn son was found dead. The pain of that loss was so severe that writhing Pharaoh loosened his grip on Abram's nation of a family, losing all of his valuable human resources. His loss was overwhelming and Pharaoh had nothing to gain by their departure. His dead son could never return to Pharaoh's loving embrace. This first time Pharaoh, seeking relief from punishment, expelled them promptly and whole heartedly to satisfy the natural law that says a man's wife belongs to him alone.

Abram and Sarai walked away from Egypt without a word to rejoin them. They were not ready to tell each other of their experiences. Sarai relished her weeks in the palace and felt as if she was walking away from a dream. She was guilty of adultery, but hadn't Abram given her away? She had no choice but to give and to enjoy. The baths of milk and perfume long worn off, her lavender scent was replaced by her own sweaty stench. Sarai stayed silent for days, sometimes moping, sometimes weeping.

Nevertheless Abram was content to have her back. To empathize with her, he tried to imagine the contrast between palace life and the dusty road. The loud din of hundreds of shuffling footsteps of man and beast could not mask the sound of children laughing and fighting as they tried to keep up with the procession. Other people's children.

Suddenly Abram spotted the old altar he had built to the Lord when God first told him that his offspring would own the land.

"Sarai, look!" Called Abram breaking the silence. "Over there! Isn't that pile of rocks the same altar I built to the Lord when He gave us this land?! Let's go see!"

Glad for the interruption of her pouty thoughts Sarai trotted over to Abram as he approached the pile of stones. Looking at the altar brought back a flood of memories of the days before they ever met Pharaoh.

"Yes! This is the altar we built Abram. But we don't own even a cupful of land yet. See, we are still wandering as we did when your father made us leave Ur."

"Sarai, my dear" said Abram affectionately, "there is still time. I believe the Lord. Let's stay here, there is plenty of room." And to his nephew Lot he shouted, "Lot, come here. Tell them to set up their tents. Let's talk to the owner. Here is where I want to stay." With a stick and earth Abram mapped out his plan for a village. Food animals here, work animals there. Married slaves and their children here, and single slaves, men, and women separately quartered over there.

Closest to the altar facing east Abram and his wife Sarai pitched their own tent.

There, between Bethel and Ai where God first spoke to Abram, they rested and they prospered more and more, to the point that Abram's animals and Lot's animals could not coexist due to insufficient grazing land.

Lot moved his estate eastward to Jordan where the land was well watered like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt.

[There] "The Lord said to Abram, after Lot moved away, "Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land that you see I will give you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring can also be counted. Rise up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you." So Abram moved his tent, and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, (the Amorite brother of his allies Eschcol and Aner) which are at Hebron; and there he built [another] altar to the Lord." There Abram came to be known as a Hebrew, because he lived in Hebron.

There the people Abram owned continued to multiply exponentially as did his animals. He was surrounded by fertility while his wife remained barren. Often Abram looked around at all the children playing and shouting, and wondered where his countless offspring would come from. But never did he doubt what he heard. God's words rang true and sure in Abram's heart; there could be no doubt of their divine origin. Abram and God knew each other as much as any person can know another.

One day, when he least expected it, Abram experienced another vision from the Lord who read his heartfelt desire for a son. God said, "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." But Abram said, "Oh Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus." And Abram said, you have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir." But the word of the Lord came to him, "This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir." He brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." The he said to him, "So shall your descendants be." And Abram believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness."

Then He said to him, "I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess. But he said, "Oh Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it." He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." Abram brought the Lord all these things and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other, but he did not cut the birds in two. And when the birds of prey came down on the carcasses he drove them away. Sarai did not question this strange collection of dead animals. She never heard the Lord speak, and she never spoke to Him.

As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram, "know this for certain, that your offspring shall live in a land that is not theirs, and shall be oppressed for four hundred years; but I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for yourself, you shall go to your ancestors in peace, you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadomites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Jebusites."

Abram awoke clearheaded from that deep and eventful sleep which he remembered as real as day. Promises promises. Abram had been given quite a lot to think about. This time he heard that it wasn't during his lifetime that he would possess the land. And the news that his multitudinous offspring would be slaves was certainly very disappointing. Abram wasn't sure how much he should tell Sarai. Here he was a wealthy, childless old man, a squatter, to whom God said that would own the land, and then said it was through subsequent generations, over four hundred years to be exact, that this land would be his. One thing Abram knew for sure though was that this vision was from none other than God. He could have never made up such bad news.

Abram was the one moping all that day, and he slept restlessly that night, tossing and turning in his bed on the ground. He came to regard his life as a story that God was writing. He was merely the character. In his wakefulness Abram thought back on the story from his great grandfathers about the tree in the garden that God forbade the first man to eat. The tree of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. He decided that whether the events of his life were pleasing and joyful or whether they were painful and difficult, he should remain steadfast, even keeled, neither elated nor forlorn, but simply wait and glorify God in his heart. He must be patient, and let the events play out in the way that God dictated. Perhaps then he could please God and maintain his own sanity.

ALIVE: Chapter 30 - Deceitful Refugees

They were in!

Sarai had never been happier. The life of luxury was certainly something she enjoyed. After all the time spent on the dusty road, and all those years in tents Sarai was in a state of clean ecstasy. Her ladies-in-waiting bathed her daily in sweet warm perfumed water mixed with goats milk to keep her skin supple. The rest of the harem was a sisterhood of lovely ladies; even the first wife was happy to be relieved of her duties.

Sarai slept in the bed of Pharaoh many nights. He enjoyed her body, and she enjoyed his body. They made each other tingle and they liked that feeling. Even if they were able to speak the same language, there was not much to say, except Sarai was grateful for the luxury. She let him know by pleasing Pharaoh with every technique she could think of to do. Sarai was glad to bring such joy to her powerful benefactor. She wondered if she would bear his child, but she never conceived.

Abram was located nearby where he pitched his lonely tent. To keep him company, or to keep him busy, or to thank him for his entertaining sister, Pharaoh showered Abram with animals and male and female slaves. Abram became rich, he was rich in sheep, oxen, male donkeys, female donkeys and camels. He was given figs, olive oil, grain for bread, chickens galore, food enough for his animals and for his slaves. His slaves cooked for him and cleaned for him and cared for the animals. But for Abram the food and animals were losing their appeal. With belly full, his heart began to ache. He was in a bind. How could he get his wife back, and would she even want to return to him after experiencing life in the palace? Abram prayed.

Abram worked too. He realized that he had to keep busy to avoid thinking too much about Pharaoh and Sarai sleeping together. His nephew Lot was a good distraction. Lot and Abraham enjoyed each other's company. They played games; they told stories and jokes to each other.

Meanwhile, Perambula was extremely annoyed with Abram's immoral decision to give his wife to Pharaoh.

"Lord! Forgive me, but you cannot let this happen!"

"Let WHAT happen?" replied God with a knowing smile.

"Lord, You know as well as I do, that it is wrong wrong wrong for Abram's wife to be disloyal to her husband! He is her mate for life. It is through Sarai that you shall bless Abram and make a great nation come from his groin. Will you bless Abram with this whore of a wife! What if Sarai gets pregnant!"

"Calm down Perambula. Sarai will NOT get pregnant! You are being much too emotional. We will put an end to this, but first I want them to enjoy this rest."

"Lord, let's send them plagues to punish Pharaoh and his house for taking another man's wife? He is violating the laws of nature!"

"Perambula, let Me remind you that Pharaoh doesn't know that he has taken another man's wife. The only culprits here are Abram who is suffering loneliness and regret, and Sarai. "

God smiled condescendingly and added, "Besides Perambula my dear, I believe the laws of nature dictate that a man will take any woman he can to please him. What he violates is the moral code, but he doesn't know it, yet. Let's not be too critical of Pharaoh."

Perambula nodded and said, "So what should our plagues be?"

It wasn't long after that conversation between the Lord and His Angel Perambula that Pharaoh's palace went from being a sweet dreamland to a nightmare. First there were the rats. Hundreds of rats scurried around every room in the palace. The servants tried to kill them with bats but they were outnumbered. Then, disease-carrying mosquitoes swarmed in to feast on the people and many became ill with high fevers and rashes. Children came down with chickenpox. Life was a hot mess.

Meanwhile, Sarai was untouched. She neither suffered the mosquito bites, nor was phased by the rats. She continued to eat grapes and figs and she napped a lot in her big feather bed from which she was summoned less and less often. Pharaoh was much too preoccupied with one plague after another.

He came to notice that it was only within the walls of his palace that the plagues hit and it made him wonder why? What was different that his home should be singled out for such calamity?

One hot day Pharaoh mounted his fine Arabian horse and rode into the hills to get away and to think. It was on this ride that he realized that the only difference in his palace was his new wife Sarai. It was since she came that the plagues descended upon his home. With that thought Pharaoh immediately turned his steed around and rode like lightening back to the castle and right into Sarai's bedroom.

"Good afternoon sire! What grieves you my beloved?" she begged.

"Who ARE you!" bellowed Pharaoh angrily.

"You know who I am my dear. I am Sarai, your nymph." replied Sarai sheepishly understanding every word he said by the tone of voice.

"Have you deceived me? Are you NOT the sister of this Abram fellow? Tell me the truth now or I will have you beheaded!" He threatened.

"If you must know, I am the wife of Abram, but we were suffering from the famine in the land and we came as refugees to your magnificent palace. Please don't be angry, we were desperate, and you have been so kind and generous with us."

Pharaoh began to calm down looking upon this beauty, who indeed had given him so much pleasure. He suddenly remembered the long passionate nights and said to himself. 'Surely if her God treated me this way, I cannot harm her, or her husband for then I would reap even more disaster. Her God is only protecting her from me. I must release her, but with gifts so that my palace and my kingdom may be restored.' And out loud to Sarai he said, "Get dressed! I'm sending you back,"

So Pharaoh sent for Abram and through his interpreter said, " What have you done to me? Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, "She is my sister?" so that I took her as my wife? Taker her and go!" Then Pharaoh gave his men orders about him, and they sent Abram away with his wife and all he had.

Perambula looking down on this angry scene smiling the biggest spirit smile ever. Sparkles of light radiated from Perambula in colors of red yellow and white.

Abram looked ashamed and felt elated. He was ready to exodus Egypt and he had his wife back. His God had answered his prayers; more proof of the reality of his invisible God. He went over to Sarai and took her trembling hand. He did not dare look into her eyes. He wasn't ready for that because she was as a foreigner to him. He neither knew how she felt about this expulsion from Egypt or how being the wife of Pharaoh had changed her. They walked hand in hand as strangers to each other slowly out of the palace followed by armed guards.

Pharaoh stood and watched them leave until their two figures could be seen no more. Now, thought Pharaoh, to see if he was right and that the plagues would be lifted. He knew he would miss his white skinned wife who had brought him such joy and such tragedy.