Prince of Light

The other evening I did something I hadn’t done since lockdown. Three of us went to the local cinema. We saw the West End musical ‘Prince of Light’. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and a visit I plan to repeat. (though not too often as it was expensive but not as expensive as London.)

Knowing the story of Moses well I was interested to see how they would tackle the story. Of course, it was produced as a box office draw, and not from a religious point-of-view. There was nothing I objected to at all as it was all produced very sympathetically. There needed to be a love interest but the Bible doesn’t give us much detail in that respect.

Great emphasis was made that Moses grew up with the future Pharaoh as his brother and the problems that would cause. Again that was quite possible historically; it wasn’t mentioned in the Bible as it wasn’t important in the life of Moses.The choreography was completely brilliant, the most memorable part being the parting of the Red Sea and the return of the waters. The brilliance of the dancing will stay in my mind for a long time.

Not One Saved and Not One Drowned.

Probably few of us witness such a spectacular and horrifying event as the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea. The Israelites had passed through safely, then the waters closed over the Egyptian warriors. The Bible tells us that ‘were bodies of the Egyptians on the shore.’

One wonders how they could forget God’s wonderful miracle towards them. But then we only have to think of ourselves and how we easily forgot God’s bounty to us.

The story reminds of God’s great power especially over the natural world. Not surprising really as He created it. The waters parted as exactly the right time and then closed over at the right time again. There was nothing haphazard in God’s planning. There wasn’t one Israelite who drowned or one Egyptian who was saved.

A Safer Route

We read in exodus that God did not lead the people of Israel through the land of the Philistines on their journey to the Promised Land. This was because He knew that they might become frightened and return to Egypt. God was considering their frail mentality and took them on the longer route through the desert towards the Red Sea.

He treats us the same today. God does not give us more to bare than we are capable of. At one stage of my life I used to flippantly joke that I almost had more than I could bare. That was wrong of me; God was kind and merciful towards me. The Israelites would face many difficulties during their forty wandering years but by His grace they got through the first stage of their long journey.