Aviv works tirelessly all day. He sometimes becomes mentally and emotionally confused. He always is physically exhausted from hard work under a hot sun, in a body whose legs will not want to walk in the morning. That is how it is generally, but now. Now, it is a body whose back cakes up from coagulated blood, making every movement preternaturally painful. Poor Aviv finds out that the reason for the multiplied discomforts and pain is because Aaron and Moses had gone to speak with Pharaoh. Pharaoh’s reaction was well, brusque.
Here now, Aviv learns that Moses and Aaron keep at it! They go before Pharaoh again. This time having a magic show contest which ends with the Egyptian water supply being turned into blood. What!? That’s not something that happens every day. Indeed, nor is even spoken of. Most preternatural, surreptitious, and now look, who knows how the Egyptians will react to that. Pigs!
Over the course of several months (possibly), as time tries to march on as it always has, there are many plagues Aviv witnesses. After the first few plagues the Egyptian magicians are unable to respond with their dark arts. The average citizen is comepletely unaware of the source of these attacks. Aviv is not just an Hebrew engineer, but a high ranking Hebrew engineer whose job entails high level security clearance to discuss and ensure the building projects go well. How much blood have the dark magicians been shedding? Aviv thinks to himself several times a day. Those thoughts use to make him feel important, now they only bring him lonleliness.
Eventually, through locusts that are so thick that they block out light; gnats so fierce they stop daily activities; something as harmless as frogs even, he thinks, in great number, halts life as he knows it; then, hail, oh my goodness that storm. Such a monumentally fierce hail storm rips through the land. The crops are destroyed. All of them. It seems Aaron and Moses had enough of their nation being enslaved. Aviv wonders what it must have been like to be there, in Pharaoh’s courts, during those meetings and what Aaron and Moses were doing to cause The Savior to bring the plagues. Finally, after the Israelite cry was heard from the heavens, he finds himself up to his eyeballs in Egyptian gold, silver, clothing, writing tablets, cooking utensils, farming equipment and traveling provisions. All of it willingly given to him, his neighbors, and even the poor beggar on the corner at the end of his block, by their Egyptian neighbors. So much treasure in fact that the excess was put on the children for fun.
With all of these fine items Aviv is next to the Red Sea, with a cloud between his Hebrew camp and the camp of the angry Egyptians. They are ready to take them back to Egypt to rebuild their nation. Then, Moses. From Aviv’s vantage point near the sea, he see’s Moses with his flowing gray hair and beard, standing stoically at the edge of the water, robes curling and flapping in the wind. His hands stretched towards the heaven with staff. Aviv notices the Red Sea begin to lose depth in front of him, for miles! The waters on either side of the shallowing path grow like the upside down daggerboards of a boat, tall and thin, and then flow back into the sea. There is a long hallway of dry ground! Holy cow. Without thinking, like lemmings Aviv and everyone around him begin the long journey across the Sea of Reeds.
Mouths agape and eyes wet with watery wonder, the army of Israelites slowly walk through the most fantastic sights anyone on earth has ever seen. While unashamedly in awe the occasional unknowing fish swims right through the wall of water and directly into the air, falling to the ground. A child picks the flopping thing up and throws it like a rugby marker back towards the wall of water. Aviv watches it swim away, he was sure he could see it swimming off with hurt pride, “Hmmff,” the fish seems to say, swimming quickly away from the embarrassing event.
The whole camp makes it across the sea only to turn around, finding that the Egyptians are now on the same path in order to overtake them and bring all of Moses and Aaron’s hard work to nothing. Then, Aviv and his assembly see Moses’ staff over the sea of Israelite heads. He is looking into the heavens and his mouth is speaking words. His expression concentrated and humble, praising The Savior with all of His strength even after a long and what should have been stressful journey. It occurs to Aviv, deep within him, the concept not quite yet having crossed the veil between his unconscious knowledge, and the small sea of thoughts that are his awareness, maybe Moses has little to do with this being saved from Egypt, maybe our whole family of Israelites have done nothing to cause this to happen. Aviv see’s his hands and arms come down and towards each other while his body folds over in a crouched stoop, all in one momentous movement miraculously and maniacally bringing the sea back into itself. The Egyptians swallowed whole. The abrupt downfall of one of the most powerful nations ever to walk the face of our beautiful blue planet. Now nothing but a memory, strong, proud and monumental. All Aviv knew is that they had reached the other side
