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Exodus of the Jews
or who and why invented God to the Jews

Egypt. 1444 BC
Memphis. Office of Pharaoh Thutmose IV.
Meeting of the National Security Council.

Actors:

1. Pharaoh Amenhotep ІІІ,
2. Commander of the Army,
3. High Priest of the Lower Kingdom.

Pharaoh:
- So. Okay. The construction is finished. Let's discuss the next question. What is there?

Priest:
- Jews.

- Jews again? What's the matter this time?

- The same problem. They breed like rabbits. There is no government for them. If this continues to be this way, it is a direct threat to national security.

Pharaoh:
- What kind of attack? Where did they come from?

Commander:
- Well, this is an old story. Four centuries ago there was the great drought and famine. We let nomadic tribes of pastoralists, all sorts of Semites-Hyksos into the river delta as humanitarian aid. And little by little they captured the whole Lower Kingdom. Up to Thebes.

- But they were broken and expelled a long time ago.

- Yes, they were, but those ones who had been armed.

- And why the others were not expelled?

The Commander edged in his chair:
- Well, try to understand... Army, this is a part of society... Corruption... as everywhere...

Pharaoh:
- Yes, the situation is gaining alarming proportions. We can find ourselves in our country national minority. We can lose the state, language, culture, religion. Can it happen in this, how do you call it?... Ukraine in three and a half thousand years.

The Commander and the High Priest looked at each other.

- Well, that's me, by the way. The pharaohs also have their own sources of information.
So what are we going to do?

Commander:
- All previous actions proved to be not effective. Neither the midwives nor the rafting of the boys on the river helped.
They arrived, settled down and do not want to move to their Palestine. Even their involvement in work is tolerated.

Pharaoh:
- Can you try to assimilate them? What is their religion?

Priest:
- The devil only knows. They make sacrifices to some kind of a bull. Go and see what is in their minds, whether to their Baal or to our Amon. And they are very stiff-necked.

- What do you mean?

- They are atheists, don't trust in God, in a word, they are a wild tribe. And making sacrifices to the gods for them is just a reason to have fun. They respect only their ancestors. The family roots have been kept since the beginning of the world. They feel strong tribal attachment. No, I do not believe in assimilation.

Commander:
- Can we organize an armed uprising or send provocateur revolutionaries? Let them declare the national liberation struggle for independence. They will kill several Egyptians. And then we will drown the "uprising" in the blood.

Priest:
- We have already tried to do this. This activity was entrusted to one of our commanders of their origin Moses by name. And what do you think? We still hide him from the Jews at my friend's Jethro, he is a priest of Midian.

- What kind of Moses is he? Is he an adopted son or a lover of Queen Hatshensus? the Commander asked.

Pharaoh:
- Yes, it is not easy to provoke them to do something. Their messiah was executed so that the Romans would not suspect them of inciting disobedience.

The Commander and the Priest looked at each other again.

Pharaoh continued:
- And I do not want to provoke massacre. I will disgrace my sacred name then. It's the eighteenth dynasty, after all. You will remain nameless as you are. And what will be said in a few thousand years about Thutmose IV or Amenhotep III? We are a civilized country. Not some kind of Russia. And what will the UN (United Nation Organization) say? And the Assembly of African Countries? And America will make noise. This is not Chechnya or Kurdistan for you.

The Commander and the Priest lowered their eyes.

Priest:
- Or maybe we will place them in "Stalin carriages" and exile them to the desert? Like Stalin did with the Crimean Tatars.

Pharaoh looked intently at the Priest.

- The High Priest has got his own channels of information, as well. - the Priest said modestly.

- No. It would work with someone else. But not with the Jews. They will make screams all over the world. You will not be happy that you got into all this.

A long silence hang.

- And what is the inner political situation inside the Lower Kingdom? - Pharaoh asked to break the silence.
- How are the supporters of Aten?

- Imprisoned, - the Priest replied reluctantly.

- I can't get it, - Pharaoh continued.
- And Ra is the god of the sun, and Amon is the god of the sun, and Aton is the god of the sun. So isn't there the same one uh... god?

The High Priest sensed a trick in this question. Did they really report about my contacts with the priests who are the supporters of Aten?
The brain was feverishly looking for a way out.
And suddenly a saving thought flashed.
- That's what I thought, - the High Priest began.
- Why don't we kill two birds with one stone? We will get rid of both Jews and this harmful sect once and for ever.

- How will you do this? - Pharaoh and the Commander asked in unison.

- We will offer the Atonists to be priests to the Jews instead of rotting in the cellars before the resurrection of Osiris. Let's develop a legend for the Jews that the god of their Abram, Jacob, and Joseph once promised to make them a great nation; to be God-chosen. And now he remembered his promise and decided to bring them out of Egyptian slavery in the promised land with rivers of milk and honey.

- The Jews will not believe in a new god and will not accept the Egyptians as their priests.

- And we will involve Moses in this case. The common people treat him as a Saviour.

- He is already old. He will not accept such radical thoughts. In his young years he was too simple and straightforward, to put it mildly. He will not connect two words together.

- I will take on Moses. With the help of my friend Jethro, the priest of Midian, we will arrange him a face-to-face meeting with the god of Abram and Jacob. Jethro's help will also be needed to help them adapt to the desert for at least a while, otherwise they will immediately rush back. Well, and all sorts of signs must be done to maintain their faith. We have to raise the dust on the road somewhere, or smoke above the mountain. And that Moses may not connect two words is no problem. I have a familiar priest from Aton here, well, in the sense of being imprisoned in the basement. Aron is his name. Here's the smart head. We will introduce him as Moses' brother. He will take on all organizational problems. We will work out together the legend of the god Abram-Jacob and the ritual to the smallest detail. Everything will be on a professional level.

- It will not be easy to impose a god to the tribe with such a hard neck.

- It is necessary for them to bring harm when leaving, so that they would be afraid to return.

- How? Shall we kill a few Egyptians?

- No, Egyptians do not need to be killed, but rumors can be spread that the god of Abram and Jacob struck the Egyptians. And let them borrow some valuable things from the Egyptians themselves, so that they would be involved in a way. Yes, and some help on the road will be get.

- And I organize a "chase" with the army and chariots to scare them more.

- Be careful, do not overdo it, so as not to catch up. They with their children, oxen and things are not as fast as your chariots.

- And how will they be in the desert? Theywill die.

- Well, that's their business. People live there in some way. Let them fight withChanaanites. It will be easier for us. And now they will have their own god. Let him take care of them.

Three of them laughed.

- Well. Good. Work. I give you two years to prepare. Amenhotep III paged the calendar and made a note: "Exit of the Jews".
- What is our next question?

- War with the Ethiopians...

© «Bible from Anatoliy»
translation from Ukrainian