The Priest: Aaron by Francine Rivers Page B

that the Lord is God and there is no other.”
    Fear gripped Aaron. “Should we tell the others?”
    “They will know soon enough.”
    “Should we make battle lines? Should we have our weapons ready to defend ourselves?”
    “I don’t know, Aaron. I only know that the Lord has led us here for His purpose.”
    A cry rose from among the Israelites. Several men on camelback rode out onto the beach. Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops were coming up the canyon. Horns sounded in the distance. Aaron felt the rumble beneath his feet. An army that had never known defeat. Thousands of Hebrews wailed so loudly they drowned out the sound of the sea at their backs. People ran toward the sea and huddled in the wind.
    Moses turned toward the deep waters and raised his arm, crying out to the Lord. The battle horns sounded again. Aaron shouted. “Come here to Moses!” His sons and their families and Miriam ran to them. “Stay close to us no matter what happens!” Aaron beckoned. “Do not be separated from us!” He took his grandson Phinehas up into his arms. “The Lord will come to our rescue!”
    “Lord, help us!” Moses cried out.
    Aaron closed his eyes and prayed for the Lord to hear.
    “Moses!” the people cried out. “What have you done to us?”
    Aaron handed Phinehas to Eleazar and stood between his brother and the people, staff in hand.
    “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt?”
    “We should’ve stayed in Egypt!”
    “Didn’t we tell you to leave us alone while we were still in Egypt?”
    “You should’ve let us go on serving the Egyptians.”
    “Why did you make us leave?”
    “Our Egyptian slavery was far better than dying out here in the wilderness!”
    Moses turned to them. “Don’t be afraid!”
    “Don’t be afraid? Pharaoh’s army is coming! They’re going to slaughter us like sheep!”
    Aaron chose to believe Moses. “Have you forgotten what the Lord did for us already? He smote Egypt with His mighty hand! Egypt is in ruins!”
    “All the more reason for Pharaoh to want to destroy us!”
    “Where can we go now with our backs to the sea?”
    “They’re coming! They’re coming!”
    Moses raised his staff. “Just stand where you are and watch the Lord rescue you. The Egyptians that you see today will never be seen again. The Lord Himself will fight for you. You won’t have to lift a finger in your defense!”
    Aaron saw by Moses’ expression that the Lord had spoken to him. Moses turned and looked up. The shining Angel of the Lord, who had been leading them, rose and moved behind the multitude, blocking the entrance of the great wadi that opened out upon Pi-hahiroth. Raising his staff, Moses stretched out his arm over the sea. The wind roared from on high and came down from the east, slicing the water in two, rolling it back and up so that walls of water rose like the sheer cliffs of the wadi from which the Israelites had come. A pathway of dry land sloped down where the depths of the sea had been and straight across and up to land on the other side of yam suph , the Red Sea.
    “Move on!” Moses called out.
    Heart leaping, Aaron took up the cry. “Move on!” Raising his staff, he pointed it forward as he followed Moses into the great, deep walls of water on either side.
    The strong east wind blew all night as thousands upon thousands of Israelites raced for the other side. When Aaron and his family reached the eastern shore, they stood on the bluff with Moses, watching the multitude come through the sea. Laughing and crying, Aaron watched the people come out of Egypt. Impenetrable darkness was over the rocky terrain of the canyon through which they had come, but on this side, the Lord provided light so the Israelites and those traveling with them could see their way through the Red Sea.
    When the last few hundred Israelites were hurrying up the slope, the fiery barrier holding the Egyptians back lifted