The beginning and end of slavery and exodus of the Israelites from Egypt
The people of Bani Israel settled on the banks of the Nile River after entering Egypt during the time of Yusuf; But since 1411 B.C. After the death of Hazrat Yusuf, the scope of disagreements regarding his successor among the people gradually increased, and the position of this people was completely shaken due to unbelief and religious deviations, as well as efforts to gain power. Egyptians first looked at them with respect; But after they saw them arguing with each other and fighting each other, their respect decreased and in later periods they considered them as immigrants, Until they were enslaved during the reign of the pharaohs, as far as human eyes are concerned; rather, they were seen as animals for work and slavery and carrying loads.
Preface
It is an undeniable fact that long-term colonialism causes the destruction of human consciousness; because the main goal of the colonizers is to disturb the consciousness and distinguish wrong from right. they try to show the issues in a different way and destroy the sense of courage, stability in belief and morality.
In this article, in addition to the events that happened to the Bani Israel in Egypt, we will have comments on the diseases and immoral behaviors of this people that were caught by long-term slavery; To such an extent that all the religious and moral bases among them were destroyed and once again in history they could not get their previous position.
Beginning of slavery of the Israelites
As mentioned above, after their good forefathers and forefathers in Egypt, the Israelites suffered many moral declines, which caused them to descend from the high position of religious and moral leadership of the society of that day; Also, the competition between them and the priests of the temples had caused the priests to try to discredit the descendants of Sayyidna Yaqub.
Therefore, we see that in the following periods, their credibility is completely lost and they are known as immigrant slaves from the land of Canaan; If the Almighty God depicts their slavery in such a way that they did not have the authority over their lives, wealth, and their male and female children. Says:
(And remember the time when We freed you from the hands of Pharaoh and Pharaohs, who used to torture you the worst, behead your sons and keep your women alive (to serve them)) and in this, there was a great test from God for you.) [Al-Baqarah: 49]
It is a divine law, which gives justice to oppressed people and severe punishment to oppressors; therefore, at this time, God’s will was determined on the destruction of Pharaoh and the salvation of the Israelites from the colonialism of the Pharaohs. According to this will, Almighty God sent Sayyiduna Musa as a prophet, as he says:
(After that, We sent Moses to Pharaoh and his people with our signs.) [A’raf: 103]
The mission of Prophet Moses was first to express the monotheism and oneness of God and secondly to save the Israelites from colonialism; For example, when Moses appeared ahead Pharaoh, in the first stage he discussed with Pharaoh about the Lord of the Universe and his attributes, and in the second stage he asked for the freedom of the Israelites.
(I have brought you a sign from your Lord; so send (free) the children of Israel with me.) [A’raf: 105]
But when Pharaoh rejected the invitation of Sayyiduna Musa and called out “I am your Lord, the Most High”, he wanted to show him the divine power so that he would accept the oneness of the Lord after being impressed by the miracles. Therefore, he requested to present miracles to Pharaoh. Pharaoh said:
([Pharaoh] said, “If you are one of the truthful, then show it.” (At this time, Sayyidna Musa) dropped his staff, then suddenly that (real) dragon’s staff appeared, and he put his hand (to his neck and then He brought it out; then suddenly the seers saw that hand bright and clear.) [Shuaraa:31,32,33]
Believing the magicians
When Pharaoh saw the miracles, he was very frightened; But bigotry and pride did not allow him to accept Sayyidna Musa’s words; because he had introduced himself as the great Lord; So how can he believe in another god? And another reason is that he considered Bani Israel to be inferior and slaves, and Sayyidna Musa was also from Bani Israel; So how did he admit to being a prophet of one of his slaves? Therefore, he presented a request to deal with miracles, Sayyidna Musa, peace be upon him, accepted it based on his firm belief in divine power and marked the day of Eid as an appointment between himself and Pharaoh.
In the confrontation side
Pharaoh called all the skilled magicians of the region and promised them a post and position if they overcome the miracles of Prophet Moses. The promised day came and the fight between right and wrong began; But when the sorcerers saw the staff of Sayyidna Musa, which turned into a dragon, and all the staffs and ropes that they had thrown down, they realized that this was not the work of magic; Rather, it is a miracle and a proof that Moses, peace be upon him, is the messenger of the Lord of the worlds, so all those who prostrated to God fell on the ground and declared their faith in the oneness of God and the Prophethood of Sayyidna Musa.2
(After that, the magicians all prostrated and said [we see the truth clearly and] we believe to the Lord of Moses and Haron.) [Taha: 69]
Pharaoh’s denial
Despite seeing the signs (miracles), Pharaoh still refused to accept the truth. This has been the habit of all the colonizers and oppressors of the world since ancient times until now, who do anything to maintain their position and especially refuse divine teachings; Because in the law of divine justice, all human beings are equal and oppression of others is considered one of the worst acts.
The prayer of Sayyidna Musa
When Prophet Musa saw the symptoms of the pharaohs, he felt that their strong capitalist system and great prosperity made them consider themselves unnecessary to accept the truth; Therefore, he prayed: “Producers, disrupt their capitalist system so that they may turn to you.” Almighty Allah accepted their prayers and destroyed the comfort of the pharaohs with various punishments. To the extent that they turned to Sayyiduna Musa and said, ask your God to remove these torments, we believe.
(So We sent punishment on the pharaohs in the form of storms, locusts, lice, frogs and blood.) In this way, first the storm destroyed their crops; Then the locusts ate what remained; But they would go back to their shirk deeds after removing any punishment. [A’raf: 133]
After their capitalist system was hit that year, Almighty God took away the comfort and peace of life from them, in such a way that he dominated them with lice and frogs; As far as lice or frogs were found in their water and food.
Certainly, those who claim civilization and culture and consider others inferior to them, this kind of life will be difficult for them and will cause them to be humiliated.
In the last stage, God Almighty stained the water with blood for them, when the Israelites used water, the water turned into blood.
Water is one of the important basics and essential needs of human beings, and also one of the honors of modern nations is to maintain good health, which is possible with water. Pharaoh himself displayed the streams that flowed from under his palace as a point of superiority over others. Therefore, God Almighty disrupted all the means by which they used to give themselves superiority over the Israelites, so that they might return to God.
Towards freedom
When the pharaohs increased the pressure on the Bani Israel, the Bani Israel complained to Sayyiduna Musa that before you came as a prophet, we were oppressed and now that you have come, the oppression has increased on us. It is natural that the nations and generations that were born and live in colonialism and slavery, like domestic chickens, do not benefit from the feeling of the pleasure of a falcon flying high above the world.
After saying this, God ordered them to leave Egypt towards the Nile River; But when Pharaoh heard about their escape, he was greatly agitated, because he considered the Israelites to be his property and they should not leave without permission. Therefore, he pursued them and reached them near the Nile River.
(When the two groups saw each other, the companions of Moses said: We will be caught (in the clutches of the pharaohs). (Moses) said: It is not so, my Lord is with me and He will surely guide me (to the path of salvation). So We revealed to Moses to strike the sea with his staff, at that time the sea split and each part became like a big mountain.) [Shuaraa:63]
Hazrat Ibn Abbas, may God be pleased with him, said: Twelve roads appeared on the surface of the sea, and each road belonged to a tribe of Bani Israel. God had placed these roads on the surface of the sea, dry and easy to cross, so that the Bani Israel could easily cross it. 3
Why twelve ways?
This was a natural thing, because Bani Israel was and is the leader of all nations in hatred, hatred, creating differences and incompatibility. From throwing one’s brother into a well to slandering and killing the prophets, these are actions that were easy for them to do, and God Almighty, in His perfect wisdom, knew that they could not do it in one way; Therefore, he set a separate path for each tribe, so that they could safely cross the sea and not have differences.
Then Pharaoh and his army followed the children of Israel in the sea and the wave of the sea engulfed them and God drowned them all and destroyed them.
(Pharaoh followed them with his army and the sea surprisingly caught them in its (waves).) [Taha: 78]
After liberation from slavery
After God saved the children of Israel (from Pharaoh’s clutches) and showed them Pharaoh’s destruction, it was expected that they would increase their faith, sincerity and trust in God, but they surprised Moses with a strange request and asked him to become a deity. to set for them, just as the polytheists had deities. Almighty God says:
(We led the children of Israel through the sea, so (on their way) they came to a people who had idols and were busy worshiping them, and they said: O Musa! Make us a deity as they have deities. (Moses) He said: You are an ignorant group.) [A’raf: 138]
It was expected that after God showed them these great signs and the destruction of Pharaoh and his unbelieving followers, they would condemn the work of polytheists and worshiping their idols; But not only did they not do this, but they (shamelessly) asked Moses (peace be upon him) to place an idol for them to worship, just as those idolaters had idols and worshiped them.
It is really surprising that seeing the miraculous staff of Sayyidna Musa; By seeing the ellipse; Seeing the torments of storm, grasshopper, louse, frog and blood; Seeing the splitting of the sea and the twelve ways; Seeing the destruction of Pharaoh and his army, all of which speak of God’s help and support; Why do the Israelites have such a request from a messenger who is the messenger of monotheism and unity of God?
The answer to these questions is given by the Almighty God through the words of Prophet Musa, peace be upon him, where he says:
«إِنَّكُمْ قَوْمٌ تَجْهَلُونَ.»
(O Children of Israel, you are an ignorant people.) [Araf: 138]
Ignorance is the opposite of knowledge, as the great Quran says:
(Are those who have knowledge and those who do not have knowledge equal? Rather, the principle is that those who have wisdom take advice.) [Zamr: 9]
Therefore, the conclusion is that the Israelites had lost the essence of knowledge, which is common sense, due to humiliation, slavery and being under colonialism, despite all those great signs, they could not find complete certainty about the oneness of God, as if these signs did not see at all and did not hear the words of Hazrat Musa (peace be upon him) at all, the following verse expresses their situation as God says:
(The example of two groups (polytheists and polytheists) is like a blind and a deaf person compared to a sighted and a hearing person. Are these two equal? Do you not accept advice?) [Hood: 24]
Another thing is, people who live under oppression and colonialism lose their self-confidence and suffer from a kind of pessimism. This type of psychological pressure is one of the worst types of pressures and pulls towards religious, moral and social anomalies and causes lack of motivation, lethargy and confusion.
The children of Israel lived in such a state of self-deprecation that they could not see their monotheistic fathers, and they also did not see the privileges that God Almighty had given them through the mission of Sayyidna Musa. But every false path was beautiful to them and they entered it without thinking.
