The Ten Commandments Page #10

Obey?

Moses, Moses.

Are there no magicians in Egypt

that you have come back

to make serpents out of sticks?

Or cause rabbits to appear?

I will give your staff

a greater wonder to perform.

Bear it before your idle people

and bid them make bricks without straw.

How can people make bricks

without straw?

Let his staff provide them with it.

Or let them glean straw in the fields

for themselves.

But their tally of bricks

shall not diminish.

So let it be written.

So let it be done.

We are free!

Aaron! Aaron, when do we leave Egypt?

We do not leave Egypt.

But Moses promised us.

But you said we'd be freed!

I have brought more evil upon you.

God forgive my weak use

of his strength.

- Weak use?

- Moses, what have you done to us?

It is Pharaoh's order

that you be given no straw

-to make your tally of bricks.

- No straw?

How can we make bricks without straw?

You will glean the stubble

of the fields by night.

And your women and children, too.

Is this the deliverer?

You've brought

the wrath of Pharaoh upon us!

You put a sword in their hands

to kill us!

Stone him! Stone him!

Stand aside! Come!

Follow!

There goes your deliverer.

Now, go find your straw.

Remember, the tally must be the same.

Not one brick less.

I cursed you.

Each time Rameses took me

in his arms, I cursed you, not him,

because I love you.

The Moses who loved you

was another man.

No, he was not.

You believe you've changed,

but you haven't.

You call yourself a prophet,

a man of God,

but I know better.

I don't believe that only the thunder

of a mountain stirs your heart,

as you stir mine.

Nefretiri, I have stood in the

burning light of God's own presence.

It was not he who saved you just now.

I did that.

Oh, Moses, Moses.

Why, of all men, did I fall in love

with the prince of fools?

But I believe anything you tell me

when I'm in your arms.

Why must you deny me and yourself?

Because I am bound to a God

and to a people

and to a shepherd girl.

A shepherd girl?

What can she be to you?

Unless the desert sun

has dulled your senses.

Does she... grate garlic on her skin?

Or is it soft as mine?

Are her lips chafed and dry

as the desert sand?

Or are they moist and red

like a pomegranate?

Is it the fragrance of myrrh

that scents her hair?

Or is it the odor of sheep?

There is a beauty

beyond the senses, Nefretiri.

Beauty like the quiet

of green valleys and still waters.

Beauty of the spirit

that you cannot understand.

Perhaps not.

But beauty of the spirit

will not free your people, Moses.

You will come to me

or they will never leave Egypt.

The fate of Israel

is not in your hands, Nefretiri.

Oh, isn't it?

Who else can soften Pharaoh's heart?

Or harden it?

Yes-

You may be the lovely dust

through which God

will work his purpose.

Fill every jar in your house with water-

Tell the others that for seven days

there will be none to drink.

- But this well has never run dry.

- And the river is high.

What does it mean?

- Whose word is that?

- One who knows.

So fill your jars or go thirsty.

- Miriam is always right.

- Yes, I'm going back for more jars.

No water for seven days.

Yes, Joshua.

She comes to the well every day.

Wait, and you will see her.

It is wise of Dathan

to send you to the well, Lilia,

or he might find his water poisoned.

They told me you were dead.

To all I love, Joshua, I am dead.

- Dathan?

- Yes. Dathan.

Of your own free will?

Of my own free will.

You are no man's slave.

The hour of deliverance has come.

Not for me, Joshua.

Hail to thee, great god of the Nile!

Thy life-giving waters

are the blood of Egypt.

Hail to thee, maker of barley,

feeder of cattle, carrier of ships,

greatest of all the gods.

Pharaoh of Egypt!

You have not yet obeyed the Lord.

Let my people go!

- The point of the sword...

- Let him rave on,

that men shall know him mad.

Obey the Lord,

or he will raise his hand

against the waters of the river.

I have come to bless the waters,

you have come to curse them.

We will learn if a god of shepherds

is stronger than the gods of Pharaoh.

Water of life,

give drink to the desert

- and make green the meadow.

- Aaron.

Stretch out my staff

against the waters.

- Look!

- There!

Where he struck the river,

it bleeds.

The water turns to blood!

Blood flows from the god!

See how it spreads.

It is blood!

That you may know

the power of the Lord,

for seven days, Egypt will thirst.

Seven days without water!

Fill every jug and jar!

- Pestilence will be everywhere!

- Were it seven times seven days,

no magician's trick

will set your people free.

Sacred water,

make pure the flood

from which you came.

And God smote the land

with all manner of plagues,

but still Pharaoh 's heart

was hardened.

Great one, you hear the cry of Egypt.

They would cry louder

if they had to make the bricks.

- Send them away.

- The people have been plagued

by thirst, they've been plagued

by frogs, by lice, by flies,

by sickness, by boils.

They can endure no more.

Back to your homes!

Why do you bring

this worker of evil before me?

The people desert the temples.

- They turn from the gods.

- What gods?

You prophets and priests

made the gods,

that you may prey upon

the fears of men.

When the Nile ran red,

I too was afraid,

until word came of a mountain

beyond the cataracts

which spewed red mud

and poisoned the water.

Was it the staff I gave you

that caused all this?

Was it the wonder of your god

that fish should die

and frogs should leave the waters?

Was it a miracle that flies and lice

should bloat upon their carrion

and spread disease

in both man and beast?

These things were ordered

by themselves,

not by any god!

Now, go.

That you may know

these things are done of God...

...you shall see hail fall

from a clear sky

and burn as fire upon the ground.

You shall see darkness cover Egypt

when the sun climbs high to noon.

And you shall know that God is God

and bow down to his will.

Nothing of this Earth

can make me bow to you, Moses.

Behold, the hail comes.

When darkness has covered Egypt

for three days,

your ministers will send for me.

In the three days of darkness,

you have whined like

frightened children in the night.

Moses said the sun would shine

in three days and it is true.

Oh, great one, let his people go,

or all of Egypt will be barren

from the cataracts to the sea.

Will my father free the slaves?

Can taxes be collected

from dead cattle and blighted harvests?

Does fear rule Egypt, or do I?

We fear no army of the Earth,

but can we fight plagues with swords?

There is no shame in this.

The strongest tree bends.

It is not Pharaoh

who yields to the slave,

but his counselors.

I have summoned Moses

at your request.

People will bless you, great one.

No other choice, Pharaoh.

Does the world bow

to an empty throne?

Empty?

Does a Pharaoh harden his heart

against his son?

If you let the Hebrews go,

who will build his cities?

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