The pharaoh who ruled Egypt was a tyrant who oppressed the descendants of Jacob, known as the children of Israel. He used every means to demean and disgrace them. They were kept in bondage and forced to work for him for small wages or nothing. Under this system the people obeyed and worshipped the pharaoh, and the ruling class carried out his orders, thereby authorizing his tyranny and crazy whims.

The pharaoh wanted the people to obey him only, and to believe in the gods of his invention. Perhaps, during that time, there were many classes of people who did not believe in or practice polytheism; however, they kept this to themselves and outwardly did as they were expected to do, without revolting or revealing themselves to anyone.

Thus, successive dynasties came to Egypt and assumed that they were gods or their representative or spokesmen.

Years passed, and a despotic king, who was adored by the Egyptians, ruled Egypt. His king saw the children of Israel multiplying and prospering. He heard them talking about a vague vision that one of Israel' s sons would dethrone the pharaoh of Egypt. Perhaps this vision was only a daydream that persisted within the hearts of the persecuted minority, or perhaps it was a prophecy from their books.

Another tradition states that it was Pharaoh himself who had the vision. Pharaoh saw in his vision a fire, which came from Jerusalem and burned the houses of the Egyptians, and all Copts, and did not do harm to the children of Israel. When he woke up, he was horrified. He then gathered his priests and magicians and asked them about this vision. They said: "This means a boy will be born of them and the Egyptian people will perish at his hands.' That is why Pharaoh commanded that all male children of the children of Israel be killed."

Either way, this vision reached the ears of the Pharaoh. He then issued a decree to slay any male child that would be born to the children of Israel. This was carried out until the experts of economics said to Pharaoh: "The aged of the children of Israel die and the young are slaughtered. This will lead to their annihilation. As a result, Pharaoh will lose the manpower of those who work for him, those whom he enslaves, and their women whom he exploits. It is better to regulate this procedure by initiating the following policy: males should be slaughtered in one year but spared to live the next year." Pharaoh found that solution to be safer economically.

Since, due to their historical conditions, the messages of all the previous Prophets were restricted to a certain people and period, certain principles had prominence in those messages. Also, God bestowed some special favors on each Prophet and community according to the dictates of the time. For example was favored with knowledge of the ‘names’, that is, the keys to all branches of knowledge. Noah was endowed with steadfastness and perseverance. Abraham was honored with intimate friendship with God and being the father of numerous Prophets. Moses was given the capability of administration and exalted through being the direct addressee of God, and Jesus was distinguished with patience, tolerance and compassion. All the Prophets have, however, some share in the praiseworthy qualities mentioned, but each of them surpasses, on account of his mission, the others in one or more than one of those qualities.

When the Prophet Moses was raised as a Prophet, the Israelites were leading a wretched existence under the rule of the Pharaohs in Egypt. Because of the despotic role and oppression of the Pharaohs, slavery was ingrained in the souls of the Israelites and had become a part of their character. In order to reform them, to equip them with such lofty feelings and values as freedom and independence, and to re-build their character and free them from subservience to the Pharaohs, the Prophet Moses came with a message containing stern and rigid rules and measures. This is why the Book given to Moses was called the Torah, meaning Law. Again, as a requirement of his mission, the Prophet Moses was a reformer and educator of somewhat unyielding and stern character. Therefore, it was quite natural for him to pray in reference to Pharaoh and his chieftains: ‘Our Lord, destroy their riches and harden their hearts so that they will not believe until they see the painful chastisement.’

In the time when Jesus came, the Israelites had abandoned themselves to worldly pleasures and led a materialistic life. The Holy Book ( 9:34) states that not only the common people but also, and more so, the rabbis and scribes consumed the goods of others in vanity and barred people from God’s way. They exploited religion for worldly advantage:

You see many of them vying in sin and enmity and how they consume the unlawful; evil is the thing they have been doing. Why do the masters and rabbis not forbid them to utter sin, and consume the unlawful? Evil is the thing they have been doing ( 5:62-3).

A similar sentiment is to be found in the Gospels, attributed to Jesus:

You snakes—how can you say good things when you are evil. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good person brings good things out of his treasure of good things; a bad person brings bad things out of his treasure of bad things (Matthew, 12:34-5).

Take care: be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees are the authorised interpreters of Moses’ Law. So you must obey and follow everything they tell you to do; do not, however, imitate their actions, because they don’t practise what they preach. They tie onto people’s backs loads that are heavy and hard to carry, yet they aren’t willing even to lift a finger to help them carry those loads. They do everything so that people will see them. . . They love the best places at feasts and the reserved seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the market places and to have people call them ‘Teacher’. . . How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and the Pharisees. You hypocrites. . . You give to God one tenth of the seasoning herbs, such as mint, dill and cumin, but you neglect to obey the really important teachings of the Law, such as justice and mercy and honesty. These you should practise, without neglecting the others (Matthew: 23, 13, and 12).

When Jesus was sent to the Israelites, the spirit of the Religion had been dwindled away and the Religion itself reduced to a device for its exponents to rob the common people. So, before proceeding to put the Law into effect, Jesus concentrated on faith, justice, mercy humility, peace, love, repentance for one’s sins and begging God’s forgiveness, helping others, purity of heart and intention and sincerity:

Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor: The Kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

Happy are those who mourn: God will comfort them.

Happy are those who are humble: They will receive what God promised.

Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires: God will satisfy them fully.

Happy are those who are merciful to others: God will be merciful to them.

Happy are the poor in heart: They will see God (Matthew: 5:3-10).

As for Moses, on receiving the order to go to Pharaoh, he supplicated:

"My Lord, open my breast (relieve my mind and make me so persevering as to tolerate every impudence and bear every hardship), and ease for me my task. Make loose a knot upon my tongue so that they may understand my words ( 20:25–8)."

Some commentators have misunderstood Moses’ supplication, Make loose a knot from my tongue, and asserted that he suffered difficulty in speaking. According to the story they narrate, Moses once pulled Pharaoh’s beard while being brought up in his palace. Angered at what the child did, Pharaoh wanted to have him killed, but his wife, in order to save the child, offered Pharaoh to test him whether he was fit to judge or decide in his favor. They put a piece of gold in one of the scales of a balance and embers in the other. The child took the embers and put them in his mouth. This made him a stammerer. So, by supplicating Make loose a knot from my tongue, Moses petitioned God to restore him the ability of articulation.

An invented story can be no basis for the interpretation of any The Holy Book’s verses. If Moses had had a speech impediment due to the burning of his tongue, he should have said, ‘Make loose the knot’, not ‘a knot, from my tongue’. What Moses meant by Make loose a knot from my tongue, was that he was not as eloquent as his brother Aaron ( 28:34), and therefore desired to be more articulate in delivering God’s Message in Pharaoh’s palace.

In conclusion, all the Prophets were perfect both mentally and physically, with nothing to suggest any defect. However, some of them may, in some respects, have been superior to others: And those Messengers, some We have preferred above others; some there are to whom God spoke [directly], and some He raised in rank ( 2:253).