Author: MFM Kubwa
Moses Striking the Egyptian and Looking Both Ways
The child of the bulrushes had grown to manhood in the palace of Pharaoh. Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, trained in the sciences of the ancient world, skilled in the arts of leadership and war. He wore the fine linen of the court. He ate at the table of the…
The Basket Floating Among the Reeds of the Nile
A man of the house of Levi took a wife from the same tribe, and she conceived and bore a son. The child came into the world under a death sentence, every Hebrew boy marked for the river by the decree of Pharaoh. The mother looked at her baby and saw that he was goodly,…
The Midwives Defying the Order of Pharaoh to Kill
The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives. His throne was secure, his armies were strong, his monuments rose against the sky, but the children of Israel multiplied like the stars Abraham had counted on that cold night in Canaan. They filled the land. They spilled across the borders of Goshen. Their numbers swelled…
The Cloak of Joseph Left in the Hand of the Wife of Potiphar
The Ishmaelites had sold him to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard. Joseph had arrived in Egypt as a slave, his hands bound, his coat of many colours torn from his shoulders and soaked in goat blood, his future reduced to the will of a master he had never chosen. The…
The Brothers Dipping the Coat in Goat Blood
Joseph had walked for days to find them. From the valley of Hebron to Shechem, and from Shechem to Dothan, he had followed the trail of his brothers and their flocks. The coat of many colours marked him from a distance, a bright speck moving across the brown hills, the garment of their father’s love…
Joseph Dreaming of Sheaves Bowing Down
Jacob loved Joseph more than all his other children. The boy was the son of his old age, the firstborn of Rachel, the woman he had worked fourteen years to make his wife. The other sons had been born to Leah and the handmaids while Jacob waited and labored for the woman he truly wanted.…
Simeon and Levi Drawing Swords After the Agreement
The men of Shechem were still sore from the circumcision. They had submitted to the knife at the gate of their city, persuaded by Hamor and Shechem that the wealth of Jacob would soon be theirs. The covenant had been made. The agreement had been sealed in blood and pain. The Hivites had become as…
Dinah Going Out to See the Women of the Land
She was the daughter of Leah, the unloved wife who had borne six sons to Jacob. Dinah stood as the only daughter named in the long list of brothers, the girl among the men, the sister among the sons. The household of Jacob had settled outside the city of Shechem, in the land of Canaan,…
Esau Running to Meet Jacob with Four Hundred Men
The messengers had come back with nothing but fear. Jacob had sent them ahead to the land of Seir, to the country of Edom, with words of peace for his brother Esau. He had told them to say, “Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now. And I…
The Limp That Lasted After the Hip Was Touched
The sun rose over Peniel, and Jacob crossed the ford of the Jabbok. The water was cold against his legs, the current pulling at his feet, but he hardly noticed. The pain in his hip was a fire that drowned out everything else. The man had touched him in the hollow of his thigh, just…
