23 WHY THE FACE OF MOSES SHONE A JEWISH TRADITION Exodus xxxiv. 29-35 For forty days and forty nights The prophet fasted on the heights, On Sinai's peaks he spake with God, His being strangely overawed. "Write down these words, 'tis My command That they be written by thy hand; Fore'er a witness they shall be Of Israel's gift of Prophecy." And Moses wrote the Ten Words down, O'er every one he placed a crown, An olden legend tells us why: 66 They were to rule the world for aye." He dipped his pen in starry light— On tablets twain the Prophet wrote WHY THE FACE OF MOSES SHONE 77 The task was done, and Moses seemed But, murm'ring "Nay," looked heavenward. 66 'Tis not for man to know Thy ways; "He soars upon the wings of thought "Shall I reveal to human mind "Nay, Lord of Hosts, he shall not see But every heart shall feel its glow- "And every eye ""Tis better far the human soul Shall strive and struggle toward the goal, And, saying this, with solemn mien, And Light streamed forth, he knew not how. The Mountain flamed, as in a cloud He wist not that his face did shine, Then Moses knew that Hand Divine They all came nigh, while Moses spake And lo! unwritten glory glows From each pure heart that heaven knows; Effulgence gleams to cheer the night. THE SHEPHERD LEADER OF THE NILE 79 And every man who mounts the hill, Shall wear upon his forehead clear The wondrous Sign which blessed the Seer. The Light of Hope which glistened then, And shone o'er him, he knew not how, GEORGE ALEXANDER KOHUT 24 THE SHEPHERD LEADER OF THE NILE Before the throne of Egypt's Lord, The shepherd leader, Moses, stands; But with his undimmed eyes commands. Turns deaf ears to his pulsing word, "Oh, sov❜reign of the hardened heart, To make bricks from your River's clay. From sand dunes cast up by the sea- My people cried unto their God, A zealous God who heard their cry; He walks the earth in majesty, And rules supreme the far-stretched sky; He called them to possess His land, The kindred of a noble breed, That they in large and liberal ways May serve their God, they must be freed! The woes of thousand pains they bear, Baked by the sun that steams the Nile— For every blow a foreman dealt They wrought some huge but bloody pile. The Egypt that you rule, they reared, An empire mighty as the sea, And for the things their hands have made Their Father's God now sets them free! My people must go free this day! My God hath sent me to your face But Pharaoh of the hardened heart, |