Bridegroom of Blood

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Previously on the Chosen People. 00:00:03 Speaker 2: I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries and beheld their suffering. I have come to deliver them out of slavery and carry them to a land of promise, A vast and vibrant land heaving with life, a land flowing with milk and honey. 00:00:30 Speaker 3: So you will still send me, Jethro, I have to return to Egypt? 00:00:42 Speaker 4: What why would you return there? Oh? What's left for you in Egypt? 00:00:47 Speaker 3: I'm burdened by the people I live there. I want to see if my brothers are still alive. I have lived comfortably here under your leadership. It doesn't sit right with me that they're suffering. 00:01:00 Speaker 4: A good luck convincing my daughter to uproot her life and take her children into almost certain peril unlocked, My friend, you're not. 00:01:11 Speaker 5: Envy return to Egypt to do what exactly. 00:01:19 Speaker 3: Set his people free, to lead them into the land she's promised to them. 00:01:24 Speaker 6: Why you, I ask the same question, thinking, I think this has always been my destiny. 00:01:37 Speaker 3: This must be why I was spared all those years ago. This is why I survived the Nile and. 00:01:44 Speaker 7: Pharaoh's daughter plucked me out of the river. 00:01:47 Speaker 3: I was chosen for this. 00:01:50 Speaker 5: I am yours, Moses, I and your children are yours. When do we leave? 00:02:00 Speaker 1: This episode of The Chosen People with Yeil Exstein contains explicit content that may be triggering for some listeners and inappropriate for young children. Listener discretion is advised. The sun had dipped low beyond the horizon, dragging its fiery orange cloak beneath the sands. Moses and Zippora, weary and worn from the ceaseless journey through the blistering dunes and the bone chilling knights, found a moment of solitude. Zippora, Gersham, and Eliezza rested a short distance away, beneath the shade of a crooked acacia tree. They were exhausted from traveling. Even worse, they were uncertain as to why they were traveling. Everything seemed veiled in mystery. They didn't see what Moses saw, nor could they hear what Moses could hear. The wind whispered across the barren lag and carrying with it the dust of ages and the distant howl. 00:03:04 Speaker 2: Of a desert wolf. 00:03:06 Speaker 1: Alone in the vastness, Moses felt the presence of the Lord descend upon him. 00:03:12 Speaker 2: Like a shadow when you return to Egypt. See that you show Pharaoh every wonder I have bestowed upon you. Stretch forth your hand and the waters will turn to blood. Cast down your staff and it will rise like the serpent in the sand. Yet steal your heart, Moses, for Pharaoh's heart I have turned to iron. He will not let my people go. 00:03:46 Speaker 1: Moses turned back to his wife and two children. He wondered about their place in the Lord's plans. 00:03:53 Speaker 7: What of my wife and my sons? What are their fates? Tell Pharaoh that Israel is my first born son. If he will not release my son to me, then I shall take his His first born will be as dust upon the wind, as a shadow upon the wall. 00:04:19 Speaker 1: Her chill crept up Moses's spine, despite the heat of the day that still clung to the sands. He had seen the blood of the innocent soap, the mud bred streets of Egypt. The crimes of Pharaoh's house were etched into his soul. The boys were fast asleep under the tree. Zipporah placed woolen blankets over them and approached her husband from behind. 00:04:45 Speaker 5: Is he speaking to you again? 00:04:47 Speaker 1: Moses turned to his wife and then glanced up at the skies. The auburn glow of dusk dimmed into the dark expanse. The stars hadn't yet emerged. Moses turned his gaze back at Zipporah and gestured for her to come over. 00:05:04 Speaker 3: He was, but not anymore. 00:05:07 Speaker 5: What was he saying? 00:05:09 Speaker 3: He was reminding me of his plans for Ramses, for Pharaoh. 00:05:14 Speaker 5: Will Ramses listen to you? From what you've told me, He did not respect you as. 00:05:18 Speaker 3: A brother, No, he did not. But there were moments, moments when we were just children playing on the banks of the river, pretending to be monsters and warriors. But but much has changed since then. 00:05:33 Speaker 1: There was a lingering silence between them. Moses could feel his wife's shoulders tense and soften with each new thought. Her mind was racing, as was his. 00:05:46 Speaker 3: What's troubling you everything? 00:05:48 Speaker 5: Moses? Why leave Midian? Why return to the place that brought you so much pain? 00:05:55 Speaker 3: I didn't choose the Zipporah. I have little choice in the matter. If it were up to me, I'd remained in the pasture until my bones could rest in the plains. I want nothing more than to quietly watch our sons grow and hold your hand. But the God of my forefathers has cold has chosen me. 00:06:19 Speaker 5: He's asked you to leave your home and enter into certain danger. What else will he require of you? 00:06:26 Speaker 3: I'm not sure. He's still a mystery to me. 00:06:30 Speaker 5: I know little about this God, Moses. I will admit I'm a bit frightened by him. 00:06:37 Speaker 3: I think that's wise, my love. I hope Pharaoh shares your fear. When we arrive in Egypt. 00:06:44 Speaker 5: Are you nervous to return? You left as an Egyptian, but you will return as a Hebrew. 00:06:50 Speaker 3: I am nervous, but the part of me is relieved. For so long I've only been a Hebrew by blood. But there'll be no denying who I am. I am in Israelite, descended from Abraham and called. 00:07:07 Speaker 2: By the Lord. 00:07:08 Speaker 1: Night settled and the stars sprinkled across the skies like speckles of paint. A strange and heavy silence settled over their camp. The air itself seemed to grow thick with a foreboding weight, like a storm gathering its fury. Though the sky above remained clear, the breath of the desert turned warm, and the sand beneath moses feet seemed to burn with a hidden fire. His eyes darted away. He rolled out and crawled to a nearby stone. His body felt as if it were about to burst into flames. Then it came the presence, an unseen force, like a hand clenched tight around his heart. Moses staggered, his breath hitching as if the air had been stolen from his lungs. The Lord was upon him, not as a shepherd calling his flock, but as a beast with fangs bared. God himself had drawn a sword against him. But why had the Lord led Moses out into the wilderness just to kill him? Was this retribution for something? Moses fell to his knees, eyes wide, his hand clawing at his chest. A great terror seized him. He turned to his wife, Zipporah, and their sons, huddle close beneath the tree's meager protection. They were fast asleep, unaffected by whatever plagued him. 00:08:42 Speaker 3: Zibberer Ah zibrah ha I. 00:08:48 Speaker 1: Moses collapsed onto the floor. The thud awoke his wife. She came to his side and observed his face in the faint glow of the Starlit sky, sharp eyed and keen as a hawk in the night since the dread that had befallen her husband. She had seen it before, in the eyes of those marked for death by the gods of Median. 00:09:13 Speaker 5: Your God has done this, But why? 00:09:16 Speaker 1: She stripped moses clothes off to expose him to the chill. There she had to get his fever down before it overcame him completely. As she removed the last of his undergarments, she realized something. His naked body gave away a clue to what may have been happening. She thought about the night of their wedding. The first time she and Moses had shared a bed, Zipporah noticed that Moses was marked. He called it the circumcision. Moses told her it was a symbol of God's covenant with the Hebrews. It was a seal of the relationship between the Israelite people and the God that had called them. She turned back to her son's They had circumcised Gersham, but not Eliezza. Moses didn't find it important any more, being so removed from his past. Perhaps this God was demanding more of Moses, more of his family. Zipporah realized what she had to do as her father's successor as priestess of Median. She knew a thing or two about rituals and the importance of following through. This was the only way to save her husband. She looked down at his trembling body and sneered. 00:10:38 Speaker 5: I hate you for this, Moses. 00:10:40 Speaker 1: She didn't mean the words she spoke, but the thought of cutting her son brought her agony. She wasted no time, and grabbing a flint with trembling hands, she rushed to her son. The blade gleamed in the pale moonlight. 00:10:56 Speaker 6: All this is barbaring. 00:11:00 Speaker 5: I'm sorry, my sweet boy. 00:11:03 Speaker 1: She woke Girsham and held a finger against her mouth. The moonlight revealed an uncharacteristic intensity in Zippora's eyes. 00:11:12 Speaker 4: What is it? 00:11:13 Speaker 2: Mother? 00:11:15 Speaker 5: I need you to be quiet and do as I say. Hold down your brother for me, no matter how much he screams or flails. Do not let go until I say otherwise. Do you understand? 00:11:27 Speaker 7: What are you going to do? 00:11:29 Speaker 5: Do as I say? 00:11:30 Speaker 4: Gersham? 00:11:31 Speaker 1: Now, Gersham crawled over to his baby brother. He was fast asleep under the blankets. His sweet, steady breaths rose in the chilled night. Gersham's brow curled upward in grief. He looked to his mother, then pressed his hands against Alieza's arms. Zipporah raised the boy's tunic and brought the sharp stone to his foreskin. With tears in her eyes, she pressed the blade against her flesh. The child's eyes darted open in panic. He screamed and thrashed. Girsh and pressed down on his arms and legs, holding him still for his mother. Blood flowed hot and red, staining the sands. Zipporah lifted the blade, not sure if she had the stomach to continue, but as she stopped, moses convulsing increased. That was confirmation. This is what had to be done. Zipporah steeled herself and continued with the flint. Her hands worked feverishly, each cut, deliberate and filled with a desperate primal urgency. She muttered words under her breath, half prayer, half curse, her dark hair whipping across her face in the night wind. Elieza's screams of pain turned to frantic please for help, mother. 00:12:55 Speaker 3: We have to stop. Why are we doing this? 00:12:58 Speaker 5: If I do not do this, your father will die. 00:13:01 Speaker 1: Finally, the foreskin was off of her child, gersh and rushed to press a cloth against his brother. He held him in his arms as he whimpered. Zippora's hands were shaking with grief and rage. Then almost instantly, the warm wind ceased its howl, and the night was still again. Zippora looked over to her husband, who was still lying in the sand. He stirred awake and propped himself up. The weight that had pinned Moses to the earth lifted, and he gasped, his lungs, filling with the cool light air once more, What what what happened? With the foreskin of her son clutched in her hand, she turned back to Moses. Her eyes blazed like coals as she flung the bloodied flesh at his feet. 00:14:00 Speaker 5: Here's the blood your God required. 00:14:03 Speaker 1: Her voice was low and filled with a venom that could curdle the blood. Her words hung in the air like a sword poised to strike. Moses looked up at Zipporah, his eyes wide with a mixture of relief and dread, for he knew what had been done. The blood had spoken, the covenant had been sealed anew, and their sons were now claimed by the God of Israel, bound by blood as Moses himself was bound. 00:14:35 Speaker 5: How did you know I haven't heard the voice of the Lord as you have, but tonight, he seemed to communicate exactly what he wanted. Thank you do not thank me. Don't you dare thank me. I had to make my son lead. Miss Barberica act has sullied our bond. Moses, your God. 00:14:59 Speaker 3: Made me my son. You are a bright groom. 00:15:04 Speaker 4: Of blood to me. 00:15:06 Speaker 1: He requires everything he Moses paused, realizing what had to be done next. The Lord required everything from Moses. He was about to ask the entire nation of Israel to uproot themselves, give up their lives, and follow him into the unknown. If he was going to require this sacrifice from the people, Moses had to follow suit. 00:15:32 Speaker 3: He requires everything. I must give up everything, return with our sons to media. I must continue this journey along. 00:15:43 Speaker 5: After all this, you're sending us away. 00:15:47 Speaker 1: Zippora beat her fists against moses bare chest. The blood from their son stained her hands in his chest. 00:15:57 Speaker 5: We were supposed to do everything to get Zipperah. 00:16:02 Speaker 8: What I have to do will require everything from me. I will have to give more than our son's foreskin. My life is no longer my own. 00:16:14 Speaker 5: As you wish. 00:16:16 Speaker 1: Zipporah staggered backward and began to weep. She fell into the sand. Moses stepped forward to comfort her, but she slapped his hand away. She stood and turned from him, her face a mask of fury and defiance. She left him there alone in the silence. She wrapped her weeping son in her arms and led the boys back to Median. The early signs of dawn lit their way. Moses stood silently, still naked, watching them leave. The taste of death still clung to the back of his throat. The desert chill closed in around him, and he understood that the path before him, the path to free his people, would be soaked in blood, his own and perhaps that of many others. This Prey dot com production is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Katina, Max Bard, Zach Shellabarger, and Ben Gammon are the executive producers of The Chosen People. Narrated by Paul Coltefianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvato, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwold, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland Junior, Rosanna Pilcher, and Mitch Leshinsky. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Aaron Salvato bre Rosalie and Chris Baig. You can hear more Prey dot com productions on the Prey dot Com app, available on the Apple App Store and Google play Store. If you enjoyed the Chosen People PLA, please rate and leave a review.