Mount Sinai
Moses & Sephora
Scene 1
Moses and Sephora (future wife of Moses) are talking.
In the background is Mount Sinai in the distance and a flock of sheep that Moses is tending for Sephora's father Jethro.
Sephora: Today he sleeps.
Moses: Who sleeps?
Sephora: He who has no name.
Moses: Does your god live on this mountain?
Sephora: Sinai is his high place, his temple.
Moses: If this god is God, he would live on every mountain, in every valley.
He would not be only the god of Israel or Ishmael alone, but of all men.Sephora: It is said he created all men in his image.
Moses: Then he would dwell in every heart, in every mind, in every soul.
Sephora: I do not know about such things, but I do know that the mountain rumbles
when God is there, and the earth trembles, and the cloud is red with fire.Moses: At such a time, has any man ever gone to see him face-to-face?
Sephora: No man has ever set foot on the forbidden slopes of Sinai.
Why do you want to see him, Moses?Moses: To know that he is. And if he is, to know why he has not heard
the cries of slaves in bondage.Sephora: Moses, it would be death to look upon his face.
Moses: How many of my people have died because he has turned away his face?
Sephora: Can a man judge God? No, Moses. We cannot see his whole purpose.
Even Ishmael did not know that God drove him into the desert to be the father of
a nation. Is it not enough to know that he has saved you from the Pharaoh's anger?Moses: How do you know that?
Sephora: You walk like a prince, and you fight like a warrior. There is word in
the caravans of a great one who was driven out of Egypt.Moses: This is not the scepter of a prince, but the staff of a wanderer.
Sephora: Then rest from wandering. My father has many flocks and no son to tend them.
There would be peace of spirit for you, Moses, in our tents beneath the holy mountain.Moses: You have strong faith in this god, Sephora... but for me, there is no
peace of spirit until I hear the word of God from God himself.
Scene 2
Joshua has found his way out of Egypt and into the land where Moses now lives tending the sheep of his wife's father Jethro.
Moses: Here you, too, will find peace.
Joshua: Peace? How can you find peace or want it when Rameses builds cities mortared
with the blood of our people? You must lead them out of Egypt!Moses: God made a covenant with Abraham that he would deliver the people.
Am I the hand of God?Moses: Sephora, give him water.
Joshua: Water. Bless you.
Moses: The desert sun has set fire to his mind. His name is Joshua.
I once killed that he might live.Joshua: They told me you were condemned, but I knew that you were chosen to
take the sword of God into your hand.Moses: I am not the man. I am a shepherd with flocks.
That light in the mountainside... do you see that strange fire?Joshua: A bush that burns?
Moses: It is on fire, but the bush does not burn.
Sephora, take him. Serve him food in our tent.
I will turn aside and see this great sight.[Moses climbs up Mount Sinai....]
He-Who-Has-No-Name: Moses. Moses.
Moses: I am here.
He-Who-Has-No-Name: Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place where art thou
standest is holy ground. I am the god of thy father, the god of Abraham, the god of Isaac,
and the god of Jacob.Moses: Lord... Lord, why do you not hear the cries of their children in the bondage of Egypt?
He-Who-Has-No-Name: I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and
I have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. Therefore, I will
send thee, Moses, unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring my people out of Egypt.Moses: Who am I, Lord, that you should send me? How can I lead this people out of bondage?
What words can I speak that they will heed?He-Who-Has-No-Name: I will teach thee what thou wilt say. When thou hast brought forth the people,
they shall serve me upon this mountain. I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will
I write them. Now, therefore, go, and I will be with thee.Moses: But if I say to your children that the god of their fathers has sent me, they will ask, "What is his name?"
And how shall I answer them?He-Who-Has-No-Name: I am that I am. Thou shalt say, "I am" has sent me unto you.
[Scene on top of mountain ends.]
Joshua: Is the holy mountain forbidden to men?
Sephora: Yes. And I am afraid for him.
Joshua: Then he is more than man, for look. Look at his face.
Sephora: He has seen God. Moses... your hair, your sandals.
Moses: I stood upon holy ground.
Joshua: Can you tell us, Moses?
Moses: My eyes could not look upon him.
Joshua: Did he speak?
Moses: He revealed his Word to my mind, and the Word was God.
Joshua: Did he speak as a man?
Moses: He is not flesh, but spirit, the light of Eternal Mind.
And I know that his light is in every man.Joshua: Did he ask something of you?
Moses: That I go to Egypt.
Joshua: You are God's messenger. He has set the day of deliverance.
I will get water and bread that we may leave at once.Sephora: But Egypt holds death for you.
Moses: If it be his will.
Sephora: Where he sends you, I shall go. Your god is my god.
Joshua: I will lead men against the armory at Migdol and get swords for the people.
Moses: It is not by the sword that he will deliver his people, but by the staff of a shepherd.
Moses with his staff opening the Red Sea
