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Moses Going Out From Egypt to Midian With Fear
Moses went out in a hurry from Egypt and he did not get ready for travelling but only depending on God to guide him to the right way, and he was with no companions or with a caravan in that long and hard travel, because he was one that seeking safety for himself by himself and afraid of an enemy that wants to kill him and has no other target except to have his blood and he is the tyrant of this earth and he made all of the people as soldiers for himself and as slaves, and so he (Moses) can not prepare for travelling and he had no one to ally with him and no one to take his advice. As attributed to Al-Tabari that he said that Moses had nothing to eat except of the leaves of the trees and he went out of Egypt with barefoot, and when he reached Midian his bottom feet skin fell down because the long walk affected his feet bitterly.
As mentioned by Ibn-`Abbâs: he (Moses) reached the waters of Midian, and the green color of the vegetables would appear obviously from behind his abdomen for his thin-looking body, and when he reached the water of Midian he saw groups of people seeking water for their cattles and saw two women keeping their sheeps away from the water waiting the powerful shepherds to finish watering their sheeps and when they finish they then come to seek the water that is left for they had no man or the power to compete with others, and they were weak so they have to be late until no one is there, and the people that got the power would seek first the waters of the wells because it is cleaner and purer, and the water that lasts at the end would be mixed with mud from the bottom of the well, as one poet said:
We drink in our attendance clean water
And other than us would drink sadness with mud
Some historians said: Moses (PUH) was a serious man and a truthful one too, and when he saw such a thing he did not like to see women staying at the end until men finish, so he asked the two women about their need and why they keep their sheeps away, so they said to him: we do not approach water until all of these men leave, for if we tried to reach water and compete with them they would keep us away by their power and we have no one to protect us, and we wait here because our father is an old man and can not take care of everything. So then Moses protected them and banished all of the shepherds and reached the well and watered their sheeps and no one could keep him away because they respected the powerful always and they saw his strength and dealt with him in respect in return.
And some interpreters said: Moses found a large rock and water cannot be reached except by removing it by many powerful people, so he took it off from the well and watered for the two women, but the holy phrases in quran say it apprently that there were lot of people over the well so there were no need to remove the cover of the well if it had any, for the presence of the people already watering their sheeps is not done unless the well was already uncovered. Then the daughters of Jethro went back to their father with their sheeps and when he saw them he was amazed for their early coming, but when he knew their story with Moses he accepted that and sent one of them to call Moses, and she went to him in a place near by the well and said to him with embarrassment: my father is calling for you to reward you for your deed with us, and then, because Moses was so tired and hungry which made him so weak, said: My Lord! I am needy of whatever good Thou sendest down for me.
It is mentioned that he did not ask for anything more than bread to eat it with the vegetables of the ground. He saw that the relief is close and God answered his prays and the relief is coming from the side of that woman and her father. Some interpreters like Ibn-`Abbâs and others said that he requested food, and some said that he made one of the two women hear him saying: My Lord! I am needy of whatever good Thou sendest down for me, as to show them that he needs some help for he had no money nor something to eat, so his pray was like a pray that was answered immediately, or it might be just that the beautiful deed bears the fruit so fast and God increases the rewards for His faithful worshippers. Just by calling him to her father he went with her in a hurry and saying to her: be behind me, for I am someone from a family that did not use to look at the backs of woman, so guide me while I am behind you.
Some interpreters said: he said that to her and made her behind him because in the first time he walked behind her and the wind then stroke her dress and showed some of her skin and so he asked her to be behind him and asked her for guidance while he is in the front, and othes said: Moses was a man that lived in luxury in the house of the pharaoh, and then he had troubles which made him so hungry that he would accept any wage for deeds of bravery, and hunger can make lions accept the dead corpses, and then he said: I think if he was in a luxury, he would not accept to take wages for his deeds, then he went to that old man and he welcomed him with hospitality and signs of happiness, then he asked him about what happened to him and what is his story after banishing hunger away from him and calming him down, and then Moses told him his story and told him everything about himself and about the deeds of the pharaoh with the Israelites as for killing the children and captivating the women and making the Israelites as slaves, and he told him how he escaped from them in amazement and by the hardest ways, and he told him also about all the hard times that his mother faced to give birth to him up to his story with the coptic man that he killed without meaning so, and how then they asked for him to take revenge and then he escaped from them to the waters of Midian, all of these were stories in a sequence and destined in the knowledgement of He who knows the destiny for a purpose He knows the better, so when he (Jethro) heard all of that he calmed him down and said: Fear not! Thou hast escaped from the wrongdoing folk, and so God said in the chapter of Al-Qasas: And when he turned his face toward Midian, he said: Peradventure my Lord will guide me in the right road. And when he came unto the water of Midian he found there a whole tribe of men, watering. And he found apart from them two women keeping back (their flocks). He said: What aileth you? The two said: We cannot give (our flocks) to drink till the shepherds return from the water; and our father is a very old man. So he watered (their flock) for them. Then he turned aside into the shade, and said: My Lord! I am needy of whatever good Thou sendest down for me. Then there came unto him one of the two women, walking shyly. She said: Lo! my father biddeth thee, that he may reward thee with a payment for that thou didst water (the flock) for us. Then, when he came unto him and told him the (whole) story, he said: Fear not! Thou hast escaped from the wrongdoing folk(Al-Qasas:22-25).
They say that he passed over that distance from Egypt to Midian in three days and when he reached Midian he saw a well that used to water the sheeps, so he sat down on the side and he did not eat anything for three days, so then he looked at two maids keeping away with their sheeps so he said to them: why don't you water your sheeps? They answered: we wait for others to finish and our father is an old man, so mercy took over Moses and got closer to the well and said to the one over the well: give me one bucket of water and then one for you as well, and one bucket was carried only by ten people at least, so he had one bucket only by himself for the daughters of Jethro and watered their sheeps, and then went to the shade and said: My Lord! I am needy of whatever good Thou sendest down for me.
It is mentioned that the Imam (`Ali ben Abi-Tâlib PUH) swore by God that he (Moses) did not ask for anything more than a bread to eat with the vegetables and they saw the green color of the vegetables inside his abdomen because of his thin-looking body. Some said that the distance that he passed over took him eight nights and he had nothing for food but only the leaves of the trees, as mentioned before. When the daughters of Jethro came back he said to them: you are early this time! Then they told him the story of Moses and they did not know him yet, so then Jethro said to one of them: go to him and call him to pay him for what he did for us, and then she went to him approaching shyly and said to him then: my father is calling for you to pay you what you did for us, so he went with her and then the wind stroke her dress and some of her skin appeared, so then Moses said to her: be behind me and guide me to the path for I am from a family that did not use to look at the backs of women, so when he went to Jethro he told him his story and Jethro said to him then: Fear not! Thou hast escaped from the wrongdoing folk..etc, it is mentioned that when the daughter of Jethro came to Moses and said to him: my father calls for you to pay for you what you did for us, Moses then hated to follow her, but he did not find any other way around for he was in a land that he does not know, and when he got into the house of Jethro he found the dinner was ready, so then Jethro said: sit O young man and have dinner, so then Moses said: God forbid! Jethro said then: and why is that, aren't you hungry? He said: yes, but I am afraid that this is as for the service I did to you and I am from a household that do not sell the reward of the after-life with all the gold on earth, then Jethro said: no and I swear by God, but it is my habit and my fathers' as well to do hospitality for the guests and every passer by.

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