Paragraph 12

And when His day was ended, there came the turn of Moses. Armed with the rod of celestial dominion, adorned with the white hand of divine knowledge, and proceeding from the Paran of the love of God, and wielding the serpent of power and everlasting majesty, He shone forth from the Sinai of light upon the world. He summoned all the peoples and kindreds of the earth to the kingdom of eternity, and invited them to partake of the fruit of the tree of faithfulness. Surely you are aware of the fierce opposition of Pharaoh and his people, and of the stones of idle fancy which the hands of infidels cast upon that blessed Tree. So much so that Pharaoh and his people finally arose and exerted their utmost endeavor to extinguish with the waters of falsehood and denial the fire of that sacred Tree, oblivious of the truth that no earthly water can quench the flame of divine wisdom, nor mortal blasts extinguish the lamp of everlasting dominion. Nay, rather, such water cannot but intensify the burning of the flame, and such blasts cannot but ensure the preservation of the lamp, were ye to observe with the eye of discernment, and walk in the way of God's holy will and pleasure. How well hath a believer of the kindred of Pharaoh, whose story is recounted by the All-Glorious in His Book revealed unto His beloved One, observed: "And a man of the family of Pharaoh who was a believer and concealed his faith said: 'Will ye slay a man because he saith my Lord is God, when He hath already come to you with signs from your Lord? If he be a liar, on him will be his lie, but if he be a man of truth, part of what he threateneth will fall upon you. In truth God guideth not him who is a transgressor, a liar.'"[Qur'án 40:28] Finally, so great was their iniquity that this self-same believer was put to a shameful death. "The curse of God be upon the people of tyranny."[Qur'án 11:21]

First Noah, then Hud, Salih, and then Abraham. Now we move on to Moses. From here, if you remember from our outline, Baha'u'llah will ask us to consider the reasons for the denial of all the Messengers of God He's mentioned so far. Then He will turn our attention to Jesus. From there, He will look at the Eternal Covenant and finish off with His incredible analysis of the prophecy in Matthew 24 (which is, coincidentally, in paragraph 24, and on page 24). This will take us to the end of Part One. Then He will apply all of this to the case of the Bab in Part Two. Why? Presumably to make sure that we are all filled with certainty when it comes to our faith.

But going back to Moses now, Baha'u'llah begins by looking at some particular descriptions. He outlines, in a sense, the story of Moses' encounter with Pharoah after He returns to Egypt. He describes Moses as being "Armed with the rod of celestial dominion, adorned with the white hand of divine knowledge, and proceeding from the Paran of the love of God, and wielding the serpent of power and everlasting majesty".

Why? Don't we already know this well enough from our religious traditions? He seems to be stating the obvious, and yet He isn't. Perhaps He is reminding us of the station of Moses. He is telling us that a Messenger of God comes armed, adorned, and proceeds from a place of love wielding power and authority.

But another thing, isn't it out of order? If He were merely trying to retell the story, then the chronological order would be the rod, the white hand, the serpent and then Paran. For remember, He visits Pharoah and shows the rod, His staff, His only companion. Then He puts His hand to His chest and shows how His hand is now glowing white, symbolic of purity and power. After this, He turns His staff into a serpent, which devours the other snakes, those symbols of idolatry. Finally He leads His people into the desert, Paran.

But here the order is different.

Perhaps instead of telling a chronological story, Baha'u'llah may be alluding to the importance of each event. Moses is alone, symbolized by the rod. He draws His power and authority from God, symbolized by the heart, from which His hand becomes white. He leads His people to the Promised Land, symbolized by their wandering through the desert. But most importantly, He cleanses the people of their idle fancies, ensuring that they worship God, and not a set of idols.

A second aspect of this is how Baha'u'llah describes each component: "celestial dominion", "divine knowledge", "the love of God", "and power and everlasting majesty". It seems to show that God rules over all, and because He rules over all, He knows all. Due to this knowledge, He loves all. And it is this love that culminates in the power and everlasting majesty. Perhaps this can also be applied to us, in our own lives. We begin by ruling over ourselves, controlling ourself and our desires. Then we get to truly know ourselves. From there, our love grows, our love for ourself, for God and for others. And it is through this love that we can best exert a positive influence upon the world.

Combining this little insight with the story, we realize that it begins with Moses alone, as it also begins with us alone, or more accurately, relying only on God. To even step on this path, we have to be "detached from all that is in heaven and on earth." At the same time, Baha'u'llah's first counsel to us is to "possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart", and this will aid us in being more detached. You see, as we all know, it is not about waiting for the first step to be perfected, but it is about simultaneously being and doing. As we learn about ourselves, we become more detached and are able to learn even more. From there, we learn more about the world and other people, and if we begin to love, unconditionally and wholeheartedly, then we will have a greater effect on bettering the world around us.

A third aspect of this sentence is the use of verbs. Moses comes "armed" and "adorned". Then He is "proceeding" forward and "wielding". Maybe it's just us, but we see that as a warrior. First he is armed, and then someone comes up and places his cape, or perhaps a medal, or some other insignia denoting his rank, on him. Then he goes forth into the battle and wields his weapon with deadly accuracy. Sort of like a Messenger of God fighting the forces of darkness. But this image is probably just due to watching too many fantasy movies.

Now Baha'u'llah continues on to what we see as the second of four parts of this paragraph: "He summoned all the peoples and kindreds of the earth to the kingdom of eternity, and invited them to partake of the fruit of the tree of faithfulness."

This is interesting, for we often think of Moses as coming only for the Jewish peoples, but here Baha'u'llah says that He summoned everyone. Like the previous Messengers mentioned in this Book, He also called the people to God. Baha'u'llah also makes a reference to a fruit of a tree. This, obviously, reminds us of the story of Eden, but instead of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it is "the fruit of the tree of faithfulness".

Now we come to the third of four parts in this paragraph: "Surely you are aware of the fierce opposition of Pharaoh and his people, and of the stones of idle fancy which the hands of infidels cast upon that blessed Tree. So much so that Pharaoh and his people finally arose and exerted their utmost endeavor to extinguish with the waters of falsehood and denial the fire of that sacred Tree, oblivious of the truth that no earthly water can quench the flame of divine wisdom, nor mortal blasts extinguish the lamp of everlasting dominion. Nay, rather, such water cannot but intensify the burning of the flame, and such blasts cannot but ensure the preservation of the lamp, were ye to observe with the eye of discernment, and walk in the way of God's holy will and pleasure."

This is a story that we all are very familiar with, and while, on the surface, it doesn't appear that Baha'u'llah is telling us anything new, His focus is just a bit different. Instead of only referring to Pharaoh's opposition, He also mentions the opposition of the people. In other words, the King and his people fought the divine Messenger, and did all they could to stop His faith. They tried to put out that sacred fire, which itself is reminiscent of the burning bush, with water, unaware that their opposition did nothing but spread the fire further. Doesn't this sound like Nasiri'd-Din Shah and people trying to stop the Bab?

We could look a bit at the imagery of the fire, water and the tree, but we're not sure what else we could add here. Normally water is what helps a tree grow, but in this case, with the reference to the burning bush, it seems that it is the fire that helps it to grow. And obviously the Tree is a reference is to the Messenger of God, in this case. This image will also come up again and again. But really, Baha'u'llah seems to have said it all.

He concludes this paragraph about Moses with a story that further shows how the effects of the Messengers has grown: "How well hath a believer of the kindred of Pharaoh, whose story is recounted by the All-Glorious in His Book revealed unto His beloved One, observed: 'And a man of the family of Pharaoh who was a believer and concealed his faith said: "Will ye slay a man because he saith my Lord is God, when He hath already come to you with signs from your Lord? If he be a liar, on him will be his lie, but if he be a man of truth, part of what he threateneth will fall upon you. In truth God guideth not him who is a transgressor, a liar."'[Qur'án 40:28] Finally, so great was their iniquity that this self-same believer was put to a shameful death. 'The curse of God be upon the people of tyranny.'[Qur'án 11:21]"

This seems to be the first time that someone who is not known to be a believer is put to death for speaking the truth about a Messenger. The attacks are no longer directed only against the Manifestation, or even Him and His followers, but now includes any who stand up for them. How much more would he have suffered had be known to be a follower of Moses? Again, this seems to be yet another reference to the forces at play when this Book was written. The uncle of the Bab, to whom this was written, was no doubt aware of the many deaths suffered by the Babis, or even those accused of being Babi. Perhaps this was a gentle way in which Baha'u'llah was slowly showing the greatness of the Bab's Revelation. If you follow the vector, you can see how the greatness of each subsequent Revelation surpassed that of the previous.