Original subtitles

He is a revered prophet, a freer of slaves, a

hero of the Bible.

He is the father of the Israelites, Moses.

Moses with destiny lead his people to the promised land of Canaan by any means

necessary.

This is a new look at Moses and the Exodus story.

He talks to God, but he's also a brilliant general.

He doesn't just lead slaves. He commands an army of mercenary warriors.

During the Israelites' 40 -year march across the desert, Moses and his army

fight battles of biblical proportions and defeat some of the deadliest armies

the ancient world.

Moses is the master tactician.

Moses is an unrelenting commander.

Moses is on the war path to the promised land.

The 14th century B .C.

Under a sweltering sun, Israelite slaves build Egypt, one brick at a time.

If they fail, they suffer the consequences.

But the Israelites are about to meet their savior.

His name is Moses, and his story begins with murder.

Exodus chapter 2, verse 11.

When Moses had grown up, he went out to his kinsfolk and witnessed their labors.

He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsmen.

He turned this way and that, and seeing no one about, he struck down the

Egyptian.

Moses is significant not only as a great political leader of the Israelites, but

he really is the Israelites' first great general. A good reading of the Exodus

book of the Bible reveals a first -rate military mind, a commander who knew how

to organize troops, how to fight them strategically and tactically, and a man

who practiced deception in the military sense, almost as great as any other

general in history.

After Moses murders the Egyptian and buries him in the sand, he flees Egypt,

escaping into the Sinai desert.

This is a great turning point in Moses' life, according to the Bible.

He has filled his fate in Egypt and is about to start on a path that will

ultimately lead him to a great confrontation with Pharaoh, resulting in

exodus from Egypt.

After living many years in the desert, God puts Moses on a path of bloodshed

brutality. God appears as a burning bush and commands Moses to return to Egypt

and free the tens of thousands of Israelites from bondage.

And he does exactly that. He goes to Pharaoh and says, let my people go.

Pharaoh refuses.

Then Moses unleashes the fury of God in ten devastating ways.

Hail crashes from the sky.

Water turns to blood.

And the angel of death kills every firstborn Egyptian child.

It's like an apocalyptic horror movie, and Moses, acting as God's mouthpiece,

running the show.

Finally, Pharaoh admits that he's beaten, and he frees the Israelites.

Now, you'd think that would be the end of the story. Roll credits.

But suddenly the Pharaoh changes his mind and orders the army to hunt them

and stop them.

God, now in the form of a pillar of smoke and fire, miraculously leads Moses

the Israelites out of Egypt.

Then comes one of the most famous miracles of the Bible, the parting of

of Reeds.

This is how the Bible explains the Israelites' escape from Egypt.

They continue to Canaan, where they eventually claim the land as God -given.

But this is just one version of the Exodus story.

It's a great story, and it's the foundation upon which Judeo

based.

God leads the Israelites from bondage to a promised land.

You get the whole Passover story and everything.

Now, if we stop... and retell this story from a military perspective, from a

soldier's point of view, we get a very different, a very violent picture.

The real question of trying to understand this retelling of Exodus is

the Israelites?

What are they doing in Egypt?

And why doesn't Pharaoh want them to leave?

According to the Bible, the Israelites originally migrated from the land of

Canaan into Egypt some two centuries before Moses' time.

Around the 14th century BC, they settle in the land called Goshen, a fertile,

prosperous area near the border.

And the Bible tells us that they live here for 200 years, peacefully

with the Egyptians.

But in fact, there are those who believe that the Israelites were more than just

coexisting. There's a theory that the Israelites were actually major military

players in the defense of Egypt.

This theory comes from reading the Exodus story at the military campaign.

Some believe the Israelites might be the same people as the Habarim, a group

that includes merchants, construction workers, and farmers, as well as

warriors.

If true, the Israelites are likely in the land of Goshen for a very definite

reason, to help defend the Egyptian border against attacks from the north.

So the Habiru military mercenary arm can be put in Egyptian service as auxiliary

troops settled across that key avenue of invasion to act as a tripwire and

defensive troops in the event of an invasion from Canaan.

The powerful Habiru mercenary army is about 1 ,000 strong.

Soon, a new pharaoh rises to power and sees the fighting force as a threat.

And he said to his people, Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous

us. Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase.

Otherwise, in the event of war, they may join our enemies in fighting against us

and rise from the ground.

Pharaoh said he launched several wars to reassert Egyptian authority over Syria

and Canaan.

Now, when he looks at the route from Canaan to Egypt, what does he see?

Israelite settlements.

The Israelites have been living on the border for about 200 years.

And Seti knows they're originally immigrants from Canaan.

As Egypt's military grip on the land of Canaan slips, Pharaoh Seti fears the

Israelites in Goshen will join the Canaanite fight against Egypt.

Now, he didn't expel them.

What he did is he set them to labor.

This is the part of the Exodus story when many believe the Egyptians enslaved

the Israelites.

But that may be historically inaccurate.

In the Christian translation of the Hebrew Bible, the text tells us that the

Israelites were turned, set to slavery in the field, making bricks for

cities. But the Hebrew Bible doesn't say any such thing.

What the Hebrew Bible doesn't mention the word slavery.

It says instead that the Israelites were set to labor and uses the Hebrew term

Abadim.

Abadi means workman or construction worker, or in a technical sense, what we

call corvée laborers.

Corvée laborers are recruited to build public works projects like city walls

fortifications. While they may have been forced to work, some believe they are

not slaves.

Now, you can imagine that the Israelites are held in fairly high regard as

essentially the first line of Egyptian defense.

and then suddenly are demoted to common workers, this might not go over too

well. So after several years of this, the Israelites decide it's time to go.

But when they leave, they may not be just a ragtag group of slaves.

If the Habiru theory is correct, these are people who are skilled fighters with

the military capability of causing some pretty serious damage.

Now, historians disagree, but likely.

The Pharaoh at the time when Moses comes and says, let my people go, is Ramses

II.

And after the plagues and all the drama, Ramses finally concedes to Moses.

Then, 25 ,000 or so Israelites, divided into their 12 tribes, the famous 12

tribes of Israel, flee Egypt.

The great exodus out of Egypt begins.

But soon, Pharaoh mysteriously changes his mind and launches his army in

of the Israelites.

The Bible provides a clue as to why he does this.

The Israelites had done Moses' bidding and borrowed from the Egyptians objects

of silver and gold and clothing. And the Lord had disposed the Egyptians

favorably toward the people, and they let them have their request.

Thus they stripped the Egyptians.

It says that the Israelites lacked provisions, and so they simply asked the

Egyptians for them, and the Egyptians gave them the provisions they wanted,

including gold and silver.

Well, this is a story that's really not believable, and if you read the Hebrew

Bible, the phrase or the term that is used to describe what happened is

nitzayel. Nitzayel means to strip or to spoil.

Whatever was being given was certainly being taken at the point of a source.

The first steps to the promised land are paved with blood.

The great Israelite exodus out of Egypt has begun, and it's not a peaceful exit.

Some believe that the Israelites sack an Egyptian city on their way out of the

country.

They're in the land which is surrounded by, or literally infested with, what we

call store cities, small supply depots. It's also the place in Egypt of the

giant... cattle -raising estates. So here are the provisions all around them.

Okay, so what the smart thing might have been would have been to essentially

sack one of the estates and provision themselves.

The Bible says Moses leads the Israelite slaves out of Egypt.

But some military historians believe he commands a mercenary group of skilled

warriors.

There are those who believe that the Israelites are this semi -nomadic group

called Habiru.

And one of the things Habiru are known for...

by their military skill.

Pharaoh, who had let Moses and the Israelites leave Egypt, now orders his

to hunt them down and destroy them.

The Bible says the Israelites leave Egypt boldly and defiantly.

Well, Certainly one way to show defiance is to take what you need on your way

out. But even more evidence in the Bible points to a pretty tough Israelite

group. It says they had weapons.

The children of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt.

If you read the Hebrew text of the Bible, what it tells you is in fact that

Israelites were armed to the teeth.

Their arsenal includes the short spear.

About six feet in length, its stabbing point is made of sharpened bronze.

And the flashing bronze sickle sword, the most popular and deadly weapon of

day.

After sacking the city, Moses leads the Israelites toward Canaan.

But as he approaches an Egyptian outpost, Moses discovers that Egyptian

are in hot pursuit and closing fast.

He's got an anvil to his front and a hammer closing on the back.

He calls his commanders together and then gives an order that must have

some as almost insane.

He tells them to turn off the road and head into the southern desert.

This appears to be suicidal.

But Moses knows this desert. He spent most of his adult life here, and he's

a plan.

If we look at Exodus as a battle,

What we see is a level of military sophistication that's truly amazing.

Moses takes his understanding of the desert terrain and uses it to go up

the most powerful army of the time, Egypt.

Egypt in the 14th century BC is at the height of its power.

It is the time known as the New Kingdom, and its power reaches north to

Mesopotamia.

But according to the Bible, Moses receives help against the mighty

The Lord went before them in a pillar of cloud by day to guide them along the

way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light that they might travel

day and night.

Behind this divine intervention may be inspired military strategy.

Although the Bible portrays the pillar of smoke and fire, as essentially a

divine totem, perhaps even the Lord himself or the angel of the Lord. In

of fact, there's nothing more than a common command and control device used

commonly by Egyptian armies of the day.

Ancient Egyptian artifacts show how fire and smoke are used to lead and direct

enormous armies spread out over great distances.

At the head of the column, soldiers carry long poles with bracers or fire

containers on top.

In a world before night vision goggles, GPS, and radios, you need a way to keep

your troops together in the dark.

The Egyptians used fire.

At night, the brazier is uncovered to serve as a beacon to follow.

In the morning, the brazier is half covered to send out a smoke signal and

the army it's time to move out.

In fact, Alexander the Great, when he conquered Egypt years later, adopted

technique.

Moses likely uses this Egyptian method of signaling to keep the Israelites on

the move.

That night, the pillar of smoke turns into the pillar of fire, signaling to

Israelites that it's time to make camp.

The Egyptians see this, and it doesn't surprise them because they know what it

means, time to make camp.

They make camp themselves a couple hundred yards away because it's night,

they didn't want to fight at night.

What does surprise the Egyptians is the placement of the fire.

The Bible tells us Pharaoh is there.

Not sure whether he would have been or not, but we'll follow the Bible on this.

He sees this and probably doesn't think anything of it.

Israelites are just making camp, except that the fire is closest to him relative

to the entire Israelite camp.

If the fire is at the head of the marching column, then the Israelites

between Pharaoh and the fire.

But it's not. It's closest to him.

It appears that the Israelites are heading in the wrong direction, back to

Egypt. Behind, the Sea of Reeds traps them.

Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, they are astray in the land. The wilderness

has closed in on them.

Now, from the Egyptian perspective, the Israelites are lost.

They're moving deeper into Egypt than they should be. They're not going to

escape this way. What a bunch of stupid people the Egyptians must have thought.

It didn't count on the brilliance of a first -rate tactical mind. And that is

that Moses has set about deceiving them in any number of ways.

Moses is about to perform a magic trick. He's going to make 25 ,000 Israelites

disappear right before the Egyptians' eyes.

The ruse begins with the placement of the pillar of fire.

The Israelites aren't heading in the wrong direction.

Moses has turned his people around so the fire is now at the rear of his

The purpose is to both deceive and blind the Egyptians.

Modern soldiers are taught what we call night discipline.

When you're moving at night, the one thing you must do is avoid looking into

bright light because it has to do with the cones and rods of your eye, the way

the eye functions.

But if you look into a bright light at night, it can take 30 minutes up to an

hour before you can see again, at least see clearly.

So as long as that flame was burning in front of the Israelite camp, as best we

know, it burned all night, the Egyptian soldiers from the camp, several hundred

yards away, were functionally blind.

They couldn't see beyond that light.

Under this cover, the Israelites escape across the Sea of Reeds.

Everyone immediately thinks of Charlton Heston in the film Ten Commandments. He

raises his arms, and the sea splits right down the middle.

It's iconic, but it's also fantasy.

So what really happened?

Well, remember, Moses spent a lot of time out in this desert and knows the

Sea very well. He would probably be aware that at a certain location, at a

specific time of day, it can be crossed on foot.

Moses' timing is perfect.

They likely cross about 20 miles south of the Mediterranean, where the Sea of

Reed is a tidal swamp.

As the Israelites approach, the tide rolls out. The Bible then states the

begins to blow.

Now, that wind is blowing from the southeast out of the deserts of the

blows from the southeast at the same time as the tide goes out pulling it

Within a small amount of time, that marshland, perhaps several hundred yards

long, suddenly is empty of water. Or at least the water is at such a low level

that you could easily walk across it.

It's not a heavenly miracle.

But it's still an amazing escape.

To pull it off, Moses brings together his knowledge of the terrain, tides,

conditions, and Egyptian tactics.

And he has to keep 25 ,000 Israelites together who are not used to marching

through the wilderness.

If you've ever been hiking in a group, you know that's a miracle in itself.

Daybreak. Pharaoh Ramses is in for a surprise.

The Israelites have safely crossed the Sea of Reeds, and the water begins to

flow back into the marsh.

By the time the Egyptians get to the Reed Sea, the tide is rolling in.

They can probably see the Israelites on the other side, so they chase after

them. But chariots are too heavy for the soft, mucky swamp.

They get stuck.

Moses triumphs over the mighty Egyptians, succeeding with a brilliant

strategy and without raising a sword.

He has avoided a superior force, deceived it into thinking he was going

gone the other way, and done it all because he had an intimate knowledge of

terrain upon which he had to operate.

And he had that knowledge of the terrain because he spent 40 years wondering if

we can believe the Bible, attending flocks in that area.

As was said of the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo, he said, I've

had this piece of land in my pocket for a long time. My guess is Moses had this

piece of land in his pocket for a very long time as well.

But the Exodus campaign has only just begun.

Three months into the journey, a tribe of people called the Amalekites launched

a surprise attack against Moses and the Israelites.

The Amalekites are a hostile tribe that roams the Sinai Peninsula and southern

Canaan. They fight on camelback, firing arrows at their enemies and cutting them

down on the run.

Moses has just outsmarted the Egyptians, but his challenges have only just

begun. Next, he will lead the Israelites into a fight against a new and

unexpected enemy.

It's the great exodus out of Egypt.

And the Israelites have just made a daring escape.

But now, only three months after crossing the Sea of Reeds, Amalekite

ambush the Israelites from behind.

Moses says something interesting.

Instead of leading the Israelites himself, he watches the battle from the

hilltop. The Bible says, that every time Moses raises his religious staff above

his head, the Israelites win.

But if he lowers the staff, they lose.

Now, we don't know if this is some kind of signal or source of inspiration to

his men, or perhaps a ruse to make the Amalekites think he has hidden forces

behind the hill. But Moses definitely directs the battle in some way.

With Moses on the hill, control of the army falls into the hands of another

great Israelite hero of the Bible, Joshua.

The Israelites fix their spear into the ground at a 45 -degree angle to defend

against the oncoming Amalekite camels.

This stops the immediate onslaught, and the fight descends into a hand -to -hand

splatterfest.

The Amalekites launch a ferocious assault.

From the hill, however, Moses inspires Joshua and the Israelites to battle the

Amalekites. Despite being exhausted from the journey, the Israelite soldiers

fight furiously and put down the Amalekite onslaught.

It's a tremendous victory.

But Moses knows there are much greater obstacles ahead.

Moses is a realist. Sure, his guys just beat up on a raiding party of

Amalekites. But if he tries to invade Canaan,

With a thousand men, he's going to have trouble.

So, instead of heading towards the promised land, he leads his people south

towards Mount Sinai.

Moses understands he needs a larger, more sophisticated, and better trained

army.

But more soldiers means they'll need to manufacture more weapons.

Why is Moses heading toward Mount Sinai?

We really don't know the answer because the texts are silent.

But what we do know is that a Canaanite group called the Kenites live there.

And they're known to be metal workers.

And the area around Mount Sinai is known to be a giant, large mine for copper.

Copper and tin make bronze, and that's what the weapons of the day are made of.

When you smell bronze, at a certain point in the process, the copper emits a

dazzling green flame.

I could imagine the Israelites marching into this...

Tolkien -like Middle Earth -type scene where these weird green flames were

illuminating Mount Sinai.

Many Israelites are angry about the detour.

The Israelites complain bitterly about their conditions in the desert on the

to Mount Sinai. They're hungry.

They're thirsty.

They're exhausted.

You've got to remember there are women and children here on this trek. How are

they going to eat? What are they going to eat?

To get them to leave Egypt, Moses promised the Israelites a land of milk

honey in Canaan. But what they get is sand, marsh water, attacks, and spooky

mountains.

The Israelites are on the brink of an open rebellion against Moses and his

leadership.

What happens in the Bible is whenever you have a revolt of the people and a

punishment of the people, it's always cast in ritualistic terms.

That, you know, they did something against God's will.

But in point of fact, I mean, far more likely is people are just angry,

horrified. You know, things aren't going well. Here we are in the desert. It

says in the Bible, what are we doing following you, Moses? We should have

back to Israel or gone back to Egypt.

There we had fish. We had melons. We had onions. What do we got here?

Nothing, so to speak.

So very human emotions of maintaining power.

While the furious Israelites rage, the Bible says Moses climbs Mount Sinai.

There, he receives ten commandments from God.

But he might also go up there to figure out what his next move is.

How can he control his followers?

Who can he trust?

What will he need to invade Canaan?

The Bible states that Moses remains on Mount Sinai for 40 days.

When he finally comes down, he carries the stone tablets of God's law.

The Ten Commandments. But when Moses reaches his people, he's stunned by what

sees.

He finds that the people have created a terracotta or clay idol covered over

with gold and they're worshipping the golden calf.

He's furious.

Enraged that his followers are worshipping idols, Moses destroys the

tablets. He then calls together the men of the Levite tribe.

His orders, teach the unfaithful a brutal lesson.

He summons the Levites to him, it says.

Every man put your sword on your thigh and go from tent to tent, killing even

your relatives and brothers.

And 3 ,500 died that day.

Moses turns the Levites into a Praetorian guard.

Personal bodyguards beholden only to him.

They do whatever he says.

And oftentimes, that means killing his own people to keep the rest in line.

The Levites execute a terrible justice.

We're not exactly sure why God or Moses chooses the Levites to do this business.

There's nothing that's special about them except that they are the priests.

It's likely that their religious conviction can never be swayed.

This is the start of Moses as divine dictator.

Up until now, the structure of the Israelite tribes has been very

But now Moses has a direct line to God, and that's the end of all debate.

Phase one of the Exodus campaign is complete, and Moses' tactical plan has

brilliant. Phase two, the conquering of the promised land of Canaan, will

require a large -scale invasion.

For that, he needs more than his 1 ,000 mercenary soldiers.

What he does is he institutes, essentially, a conscript draft from each

And that's a great reform because it now means that Israel no longer has just a

made -up army of mercenaries.

Using population data, historians believe the conscription likely swells

army ranks from 1 ,000 to about 5 ,000 warriors.

Forward reconnaissance teams scout the enemy.

Heavy infantry form close battle lines in front.

Light infantry are positioned in the middle to flank, defend, and move out in

front for quick strikes with swords and shields.

Slingers and archers are next in line to fire at the enemy from a protected

position.

And at the back of the column, Moses places another division of heavy

for defense.

It takes two years for Moses to train and shape his 5 ,000 soldiers into a

deadly fighting force.

Except for chariots, which the Israelites don't have, Moses creates a

image of the Egyptian army.

He knows how effective Egypt's coordinated attacks are and wants the

capabilities for his own army when he invades Canaan. His army is ready. His

control is absolute.

Moses is ready to conquer Canaan.

The promised land of Canaan.

Rich and fertile, it has everything the Israelites want and need for their new

homeland.

Moses and the Israelites have been on the march toward Canaan for two years.

But Canaan is a land already settled by powerful city -states, with strong

armies and fortified cities. It's not free for the taking.

The Israelites have no intention of settling in Canaan as long as there are

other people still in Canaan. They intend to attack cities and drive them

and to replace their populations with their own population.

This is a war of extermination.

Moses leads his followers to a large oasis in the desert called Kadesh

about 12 miles from Canaan.

Israelite spies who have been scouting Canaan return with both good news and

bad.

They come back and meet with Moses at Kadesh Banea, and

they say, this is an impossible task.

The cities are walled, the armies are powerful, they have chariots, they have

armor, weapons, they have food.

It would be impossible for our army to do this.

Moses determined that even his 5 ,000 -man army isn't big enough for the job.

The invasion must wait.

And so the Bible tells us they remained at Kadesh Banei for two generations,

which has been translated to mean 40 years.

And in that time, of course, what would have happened is that the 25 ,000 or so

people of the Israelite nation would have replaced themselves through normal

birth rates.

So that by the time two generations had passed, you're probably looking at a

community of about 35 ,000, which would now allow you with a conscript base.

drawing on all adult males between the ages of, say, 20 and 35 to produce an

army between 8 ,000 and 9 ,000 men.

The Bible states that finally, 40 years after the start of the Exodus campaign,

Moses is ready to launch his attack against Canaan. He has trained his army

well. They are a powerful fighting force.

But Moses wants to fight on his terms, using tactics and strategies he first

learned in Egypt and has been training with for more than 40 years.

Walled Canaanite cities block the route north from Kadesh Barnea, and a direct

assault could destroy Moses' army before he ever gets to the Promised Land.

So instead, he marches the Israelites east towards the Jordan River Valley.

Moses knows that your strategy should dictate your tactics, not the other way

around. His goal is to get to Canaan with the largest force possible, which

means he should avoid fights along the way whenever possible.

For Moses, the path of least resistance to Canaan is through the Jordan River

Valley. But there's still one problem.

A mighty tribe stands in the way of Moses and the Israelites, the Ammonites.

There's no way around them. Moses has the Dead Sea on one side and a harsh

desert on another.

His only way to the Jordan Valley is through the Ammonites.

They're a somewhat softer target than the Moabites or the Edomites.

Moses isn't stupid.

Diplomacy first.

So he asks the Ammonite king's permission to pass through his country.

Ammonite king says, no way.

Moses turns and calmly walks away.

The battle is on.

Moses again turns to Joshua to command the army on the battlefield.

The Israelites line up opposite the Ammonites on the open plain.

Moses watches as the two armies clash.

Moses' army has been training for years.

Today, they finally draw blood.

The Israelites' heavy infantry smashes into the Ammonites' front lines.

Bones are shattered.

Limbs are hacked.

The light infantry's bronze sickle swords slash mercilessly.

The grass is soon split with blood.

The battle rages all day. But in the bloody end, Moses' well -trained army

the battle.

We think that both armies are about the same size.

So, what accounts for the Israelites' overwhelming victory?

It comes down to training and tactics.

We know that the Israelite army is built upon an Egyptian model, divisions of

varied forces that can fight as one.

They're likely more mobile, more agile, and more disciplined than anything the

Ammonites had ever seen.

With the Ammonites destroyed, Israelites sweep through the Jordan Valley. They

attack and ravage Canaan's neighbors in the lands of Edom, Moab, and Gilead.

So the Lord our God also delivered into our power King Og of Bashan with all his

men, and we dealt them such a blow that no survivor was left.

One element of the Jordan Valley campaign that stands out is its

Again, the Bible describes what happened when these fortified towns were taken.

It was often great slaughter, burning, destroying of the towns and flocks and

animals. And so you ask yourself, why the need? Why the need for this kind of

brutality?

The Israelites don't want to live in the Jordan Valley.

They're moving on to Canaan.

So, the worst thing they can do from their perspective is to leave a hostile

force at their back as they push forward.

The only way to make sure this doesn't happen is to wipe out the population.

Ruthless, yes. Also practical.

Not just the men are slaughtered. Women and children are also killed.

But before they march into Canaan, Moses will turn against the people who have

been his allies for 40 years.

Moses' army, from 8 ,000 to 10 ,000 ruthless warriors, has cut a swath of

destruction through the Jordan Valley.

They now face the Midianites, a longtime Israelite ally.

These are the people who took Moses in after he killed the Egyptian taskmaster.

They are the people who Moses called family. His wife is a Midianite. Now,

gives a brutal order.

Destroy them.

A couple of Israelite men were sleeping with a couple of Midianite women. That

by itself probably wasn't a problem from Yahweh's perspective, but they had now

begun to worship Midianite gods, and they had turned their back on Yahweh. So

Yahweh orders the children of Midian to be killed and puts Moses in charge of

the operation.

Every Israelite soldier, led by a commander named Phineas, marches to the

camp. They destroy everything.

They butcher all the men, burn all the houses, loot anything of value.

The only thing Phineas can't bring himself to do is kill the women and

The Midianite camp is completely destroyed. But Phineas can't bring

follow Moses' orders to kill women and children.

So he marches them back toward camp.

Before the army even makes it back to camp, Moses rushes out in a fury and

at Phineas, I told you to kill them all.

He demands that every boy and every woman old enough to have slept with a

must die right then and there.

They are all executed.

This is all a prelude to the invasion of Canaan, and Canaan will be a tougher

nut to crack than the tribal societies of the Jordanian Valley.

Best now, best now, to train the army for the horror it will face in the

When the bloodletting ends, the ritual cleansing begins.

The Bible states that any Israelite soldier who draws blood in battle must

outside the camp for seven days.

And this probably doesn't just mean physical cleansing.

They might also use that time to cleanse their guilt.

The horror of what they've done to other people would have left deep

psychological scars.

And they would, in all likelihood, suffer from what we now call post

stress disorder.

It's intriguing to raise the question about the effect of all this up -close

personal bloodletting would have had on...

the morale and psychological stability of the Israelite soldiers.

Many believe Moses used brutal methods in his long campaign to toughen the

Israelites for the invasion of Canaan. But it's an invasion that Moses never

gets to be part of.

That very day the Lord spoke to Moses, ascend the heights of Abarim to Mount

Nebo. which is in the land of Moab facing Jericho, and view the land of

which I am giving the Israelites as their holding.

You shall die on the mountain that you are about to ascend.

The Bible tells us that God lets Moses see Canaan from the top of Mount Nebo,

but doesn't let him enter.

Why?

After everything that Moses has done in the service of God, it seems like cosmic

injustice that he's denied entrance to the promised land.

The only explanation the Bible...

is that one time Moses showed a lack of faith and struck a rock with his staff

in frustration.

And it makes you think, well, the Old Testament God is strict, but come on.

So, one has to wonder, what's really going on here?

Some historians believe that there's another reason why Moses never sets foot

the Promised Land.

There'd been a lot of suffering and a lot of bad decisions made on this great

trek, the extermination of peoples such as the Midianites and attacks, plus

attacks on their own Israelites by Moses and his praetorian god of the Levites,

that there's been some speculation that the real reason Moses never made it to

the Promised Land is that he was killed by his own people, that they just had

had enough of this and just rose up and killed him.

As to the murder theory, the Bible is silent.

There's not a scintilla of evidence to support this perspective.

It just seems that it's a kind of a logical consequence to ask, why would a

kill a servant who has spent 40 years or more in his service for what seems to

be a minor ritual sin of striking the rock with one's staff?

So it's the illogic.

It's almost the purity of the biblical explanation that has led scholars to

speculate that Moses had met his end at the hands of his own people rather than

at the hands of Yahweh himself.

Regardless of how Moses died, the conquest of Canaan will fall to a new

generation.

The Israelite general Joshua continues the brutal but effective strategies of

Moses in his quest to conquer Canaan.

And many centuries later, there are examples of his ability to outmaneuver

enemy without actually fighting, as he did when the Israelites escaped the

Egyptians.

One example is Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indian tribe.

In 1877, 2 ,000 U .S. cavalry tried to force the tribe around 800 back onto

the Indian Reservation.

The tribe fights back against overwhelming odds and leads the U .S.

1 ,000 -mile chase through some of the harshest wilderness in America.

At one point, the U .S. General Sturgis believes he has Chief Joseph trapped.

But like Moses, Chief Joseph feigns one way and moves another to allow his

people a chance to escape.

Unlike the Israelites, however, the Nez Per are eventually captured.

The exodus of the Israelites under the leadership of Moses has always been a

story of a dazzling escape and a desperate battle for survival.

But now, seen through a military perspective, the Israelites are no

slaves, but mighty warriors. They are held together by one towering

We never think of Moses as a military commander because until recently there

been no attempt to analyze the Bible in military terms. But when you do look at

it that way, you'll find that this was a man who organized the Israelites, which

had a completely trained military arm on his way out of Egypt. This is a man who

sacked the city, a man who deceived Pharaoh, and then later on completely

reformed the Israel military arm into a first -rate fighting force.

Moses is a man of God and a man of the sword.

A man who led his people to freedom and to a new homeland.