prior 400.pri.002 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

[SHOW POWERPOINT 10: EXODUS 13:17]

Moses and the Habiru camped next to the “Sea of Reeds” (“Sea of Reeds” is the accurate translation; the “Red Sea” is an inaccurate translation). The “Sea of Reeds” was a swamp/marsh estimated to be several hundred yards wide and subject to tides.

[SHOW POWERPOINT 11: SEA OF REEDS]

Using subterfuge with lights, Moses and the Habiru crossed the Sea of Reeds at Night at low tide. The next day, the Egyptians, realizing that the Habiru’s camp fires had been left burning through the night to fool the Egyptians and that the Habiru had crossed the marsh at night, gave chase in their chariots and tried to cross the Sea of Reeds at high tide and were bogged down. The immobilized Egyptian Charioteers were then slaughtered by the Habiru.


[TRANSITION] Now I would like to turn to a brief discussion of the endgame.


BODY: PART III AFTERMATH


Subsequently the Habiru went to the south of the Sinai where there were copper mines (copper and tin = bronze) to be able to fashion more weapons. At this point the Habiru – the group included women and children -- were grumbling about not having gone straight to Canaan but, instead, having to deal with attacks, the desert, sand, mountains, etc.

It was here that Moses descended from the mountain with the Commandments and announced that he alone had the straight phone line to God and he tasked HIS newly created bodyguard – the Levites (who later became the Israeli tribe that were the priests) to slaughter the dissenting cow-worshipping Habiru.

The journey continued with battles along the way – with, for example, the Amalekites – including a stop at Midian where the Habiru were exposed to the Midian stories of their God named “Yahoo.” Subsequently, the Habiru knew their God’s name (and correct ‘names’ were an important aspect of Egyptian religion) to be “Yahweh.”


[SHOW POWERPOINT 12: MOSES MUST DIE FOR HAVING STRUCK A ROCK IN FRUSTRATION THAT GOD TOLD HIM NOT TO TOUCH.]

Just prior to reaching Canaan, Moses was killed by his own people. The Habiru were tired of his leadership: his massacres of his own and other peoples, their sufferings in the desert, etc..


The Habiru, in time, became known as the Hebrews. Their struggle for and escape to freedom has since become the classic motivational story about the oppressed’s efforts to become free.