Well, I requested an immediate consultation with the Almighty, and took Gabriel with me. I told the Almighty all about what happened - actually, He knew already. He knows everything, but He likes us to put our petitions to Him in words as it helps to clarify our thoughts. When I had finished, He simply smiled and murmured that Moses had a lot to learn yet. I was instructed to get him to learn more about his own and mankind's origins. When Moses fled, I had got one of my assistants to shepherd him to the camp of the wise old High Priest of Midian, mainly because I knew he would find a refuge there. It proved to be a good choice because the old man was a remote relative of the Israelites, both being descended from Abraham, and as High priest he had all the ancient records. Even so, Gabriel had to teach Moses about the origins of the universe and early events in the life of mankind.

Keeping Moses safe was no problem, as Satan had concluded that he no longer was a threat to Egypt and was ignoring him. It was a peaceful 40 years and I was able to give most of my attention to other matters.

The day came when the Almighty called Gabriel and me into conference. "It is time for Moses to bring my people out of Egypt," He said. "Go and find him where he is looking after the sheep, and then set fire to a bush near him. I will speak to him there." This I did and the next thing the Almighty was there in the flames. Moses was given his instructions as Gabriel and I watched. I noticed that the bush was not burning in spite of all the flames around. Moses was at first rather stunned that the Almighty should speak to him. He did not want to go back to Egypt, and he tried several arguments to get out of it - but you can't argue with the Almighty and finally Moses accepted the commission. He was given his brother, Aaron, to help him, and Gabriel was despatched to bring Aaron into the desert to meet Moses.

I will not go into detail over the next few months as Moses was given the power to challenge the Egyptian so-called gods by sending a plague which each god was supposed to be able to deal with. I and my staff had great fun making these plagues come to pass. We turned the river water to blood, chased frogs out of the river, brought up swarms of flies and biting midges, and even blacked out the sun. Satan, of course, was doing his best to oppose the Almighty's plan by persuading the Pharaoh to be stubborn. Eventually Pharaoh was persuaded to let the Israelites go but no sooner had they gone than he changed his mind and called the army to go after them.

The Almighty Himself joined in the ensuing chase, appearing as a pillar of smoke by day and fire by night to guide the Israelites through the desert to the sea. We angels scouted the area and reported on the Egyptians' progress. Eventually the point came when the Israelites were trapped in a wadi between the sea and the Egyptian army. I was told to separate the waters of the sea and bring up a hot wind to dry out the sea-bed so that the Israelites could pass through, dry-shod. It took a lot of angels to do this but we managed it. The Egyptians followed, of course, and the Almighty told us to release the sea just as they got to the middle. Angels are not supposed to harm humans, and it grieved me to see all those Egyptians being swept to their deaths. However, the Almighty said they could expect no better because of their sin.

I thought that the battle was all over and it would be easy to get the Israelites to the Promised Land. How mistaken I was. Yes, there was a bit of opposition from other tribes but the chief problem came from the Israelites themselves. You would have thought that they would have learned to obey the Almighty, and the instructions given through Moses, after all they had seen but they found all sorts of reasons to complain. I regret to say that most of them finished up paying for their sin with their lives. That is the Almighty's law. It was only centuries later that He revealed His way round this law, though the system of sacrifices and rituals given to the Israelites was a pre-figuring of this.

Eventually we got the remnants of the Israelites to the borders of the Promised Land. There, Moses died. He had disobeyed the Almighty on what must have seemed a trivial point but was in fact very important. So he was not allowed to enter Canaan. He was 120 years old by then - a good age for a human.

To be continued...