Saturday, December 19, 1998

Why does a 3,500-year-old prophet stir souls?

By Hieu Tran Phan

The Orange County Register

Virtually every day for the past 21 years, Rabbi Levi Meier has comforted people who have lost faith in life. Clients who committed heinous crimes. Families torn apart by divorce or financial crises. Patients in such extreme pain that they cry out for someone to kill them then and there.

As a longtime psychologist and chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Meier labors to restore hope. He counsels the wicked, consoles the distraught, hugs the weak and tells them all his quintessential story of perseverance: the epic of Moses.

Yes, that Moses. The man also called Moishe, Musa, Old Gray Beard, patriarch of biblical prophets. The refugee credited with bringing Israelites out of bondage in Egypt. The law-giver who received the Ten Commandments. The staff-wielding leader vividly linked with the miraculous parting of a sea.

Meier isn't the only one who sees a present-day paradigm of morality in Moses. The prophet is entering superstardom through books, TV specials, lectures, even toys. DreamWorks SKG Studios is giving him animated treatment in "The Prince of Egypt," which opens nationwide Friday.

Why Moses? Why now? What does a shepherd thought to have lived 3,500 years ago have in common with the 1990s?

"Here's the epitome of triumph over the most daunting odds. Moses is very much an imperfect being, yet God picks him to endure four decades of trials," Meier says. "If he made it through, so can anybody else."

Long before mass culture venerated him, Moses figured prominently in the literature of Jews, Christians and Muslims. He dominates the Torah, or Pentateuch, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. He is mentioned more than any other prophet in the Koran -- 134 times in more than 30 chapters. And the New Testament uses Moses in comparison or contrast to Jesus.

Leave it to Hollywood, though, to influence America's psyche regarding the Exodus guide. In the 1950s, a bewigged Charlton Heston created a larger-than-life image of the prophet in "The Ten Commandments." Exuding virtue and courage, his Moses was a confident star who steered a sweeping saga.

But popular portrayals of an all-powerful Moses collide with conflicted portraits of him in Scripture, most historians, archaeologists and theologians maintain. Their assertions are reflected in some 10 books released this year.

The scholarly rendering paints a prophet torn by dual nationalities -- Hebrew and Egyptian -- "slow of speech and tongue," doubtful of his ability to implement God's mission and even resentful of Yahweh's expectations of him.

Moses spent 40 years leading thousands of families through barren desert. For all that service, he never received his final reward. God barred him from setting foot on the Promised Land because of his hubris.

It's precisely this flawed nature of humanity that late-1990s postmodern society has come to associate with heroes, Meier notes. Today's role models are lauded because they tussle not only with external enemies but their own devils.

"He's unforgettable because he's one of us," the rabbi says. "Despite his shortcomings, he rises to the occasion and draws out God's compassion. His legacy is that of faith and hope in a tortured world."

He may have been one of us, but from his first days, Moses' life hardly seemed ordinary.

As biblical accounts go, he escaped death in a purge of newborns mandated by Egypt's pharaoh. A princess rescued and raised him in the royal court. Early into his adulthood, he killed an Egyptian who was abusing a Hebrew slave.

"Talk about hitting the lowest point -- murder -- right from the start. Already you witness his clear imperfection," says Dave Mitchell, senior pastor at Calvary Church in Santa Ana, Calif.,who is preaching about Moses in a series that dates back to April.

Mitchell, a pastor for 22 years, also experienced rough beginnings on his path toward ministry. In college, he flunked a Bible course. His professor suggested it was a sign from God to try a different career.

After he didn't listen and earned his divinity degree, Mitchell entered rough waters at his first church assignment. One of the leaders there bluntly told him that he didn't have what it took to lead a congregation.

These days, Mitchell oversees nearly 3,500 worshipers, making Calvary one of the largest churches in Orange County, Calif.

"Christ gave me, and each of us, failures and struggles and doubts as 'grace builders.' They helped me mature, deepen my religious commitment and learn faith through humility," he says. "Back then, too, God empowered Moses to save the Israelites."

But God didn't target his truth only to the Hebrews, according to Muzammil Siddiqi, imam at the Islamic Society of Orange County in Garden Grove, Calif. The Koran, he notes, emphasizes the universality of Moses' message of equality.

Extensive passages of the holy book are devoted to conversations between Moses and the pharaoh, presumed to be Rameses II. In one of them, the ruler asks the prophet who sent him.

"Moses replies with the name Rabb al-Alameen, which is Arabic for Lord of All the Worlds," says Siddiqi, who is also president of the Islamic Society of North America. "He speaks of a God for every people."

Rameses laughed off the claim, feeding the insecurity already gnawing at Moses. But Scriptures say God came to the prophet's aid with signs of his wrath -- the 10 plagues. Eventually, Moses succeeds in leading the Israelites out of bondage.

"We must remember that Moses overcomes incredible barriers, internal and external, because of God's grace," Mitchell says. "He couldn't have done it on his own."

Not that Moses obeyed divine mandates without reluctance or complaint. He questioned God's judgment on several occasions. He also tired of having to deal with the Israelites, who constantly second-guessed his directives.

Yet Moses' ultimate disagreement with Yahweh formed his greatest contribution to religion, Meier believes.

Years into their wandering in the desert, the Israelites reached Mount Sinai. Moses ascended the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, which affirm monotheism and delineate ethical conduct. Upon his return, he came upon his group worshiping a golden calf. Moses broke the commandment tablets in a fit of rage.

"God was even angrier. He was ready to wipe out the whole miserable lot," Meier said. "But Moses beseeches him to be compassionate, to love his creations despite their mistakes."

The second set of commandments was drawn in this spirit of mercy. Rules became ideals: Humans would strive to attain them, but God would also forgive if people stumble.

"If we only understood this 'second chance' core of religion, this realistic and caring approach to life's adversities, we would be more positive in our spiritual outlook. We would view God as friend and not harsh, distant judge," Meier says.

"Moses will always be remembered by how he addressed God in Exodus 34:6: 'God, oh God, the Lord of compassion.' "

Perhaps all the more ironic, then, that this same Yahweh would forbid his faithful servant from entering the Promised Land. The closest Moses comes to his end destination is a hilltop view of modern-day Israel.

What does this say of God's benevolence?

Scriptures fault Moses for an impious act: God instructed him to tell a rock to yield water for the Israelites, who were again bewailing their fate in the wilderness. Instead, the prophet struck the rock twice with his rod.

Numerous scholars have tried to put such hairsplitting into context. They point out that Moses didn't attribute the miracle to God, thus sealing his final fate. Still, other historians wonder why four decades of leadership would end with punishment.

For his explanation, Meier returns to the theme of 20th-century heroes.

"In this day and age, the journey is just as meaningful as the destination," he says. "Very few people reach the Promised Land, metaphorically. What matters is how we deal with the journey itself, and Moses overcame every obstacle and endured every detour to emerge a hero."

And the journey continues, Siddiqi hastens to add. The master of prophets triumphed because he never gave up hope on God as he confronted his inner and outer battles.

Siddiqi recites a Persian saying that bores right to the heart of Moses' mystique: "For every pharaoh there is a Moses, for every oppressor there will come a liberator. Look no further for that Moses than within yourself."

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(c) 1998, The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.).

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