Mosaic imagery
Editorial introduction
On the Mount of Knowledge Moses heard a voice that delighted his eyes, ignited his heart and expanded his breast, and Bahá’u’lláh says that the same voice is speaking now. The images of Exodus become, in his hands and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s, a vocabulary for recognition in the present: the fire in the blessed tree that was Moses’ own reality, Sinai astir with joy and sensing the fragrance of the garment, the land of allusions, the white hand as a heart renewed, the sacred valley crying out its presence. Joseph sold by his brothers and Jacob refreshed by the scent of a garment join the same language, lending words to separation and to sight restored. Exodus itself tells of a man who turned aside to look at a bush that burned without being consumed and was sent from that encounter to a suffering people [1]; the later symbolic uses are best read alongside that story rather than instead of it. The journey leads naturally to Moses himself, to the Torah and the Jewish people whose memory carries these images, and to the larger question of symbolism, of how a story becomes a language for an inward change that bears fruit.
Hearken unto My call whereby We guided Moses on the Mount of Knowledge and caused him to hear that which delighted his eyes, ignited his heart, expanded his breast, and illumined his countenance.
His Holiness Moses beheld the luminous flame of divine guidance from the blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, and heard the divine call from that enkindled fire.
His Holiness Moses beheld the burning fire in the Blessed Tree, and thou hast beheld the burning fire in the Tree of Sanctification. Although that verdant Tree was the Reality of Moses wherein the fire of the love of God was ignited.
Through it was Moses drawn to the Mount of Revelation when He turned toward Sinai and heard Thy sweetest call and attained the vision of Thy most resplendent Beauty which Thou didst reveal unto Him through one of Thy names.
In the time of Moses, the ides of the Trinity was shown in (1) God, (2) the speaker of Mount Sinai, and (3) The Fire (which corresponds to our idea of the Holy Spirit).
O handmaiden of God! Moses attained to hearing the divine call in the Sinai of recognition, and this is that same call with which the Goal of the world now speaketh.
We have caused you to hear in all times that which We caused the Interlocutor to hear on Sinai and the Spirit when He was hastening in the wilderness of love.
O Ruhullah! Today the Spirit in the sacred valley cries "Here am I, O my God, here am I," and Moses on the Mount of Knowledge gives glad tidings of the Manifestation.
This is the day wherein the attraction of the Call that was raised from the direction of 'Akka hath seized Mount Sinai.
O ye possessors of sight! With the inner eyes contemplate the Horizon of the world, that ye may behold the Mount of Sinai and the Country of Safety resplendent through the Light of God and radiating with the Manifestation of the Lord!
Say: When We journeyed from the Orient of Eternity to the Occident of the Cloud, We found a people from among the dwellers of Sinai who were standing upon the land of allusions.
O Salar-Ibrahim! The Friend and He Who conversed with God have come, and the Kingdom proclaimeth "The dominion belongeth unto God, the Possessor of existence!" The Mount hath attained to the presence of the Manifestation and hath cried out "Arise!
Praise be befitting and worthy of the intended Lord Who, through His Most Exalted Word, illumined the world of kingdom and dominion with the lights of the manifestation of Him Who conversed upon Sinai, and raised up the banner "The Kingdom is God's" upon the hearts and minds of His servants.
And thus they speak and chant and intone: "Glory be to Him Who appeared in Faran and shone forth from Sinai and was manifested in Sa'ir!"
Let Faran become the Mount of Moses, and Seir become that of Jesus, and may the manifestation of the Most Glorious Beauty illumine mountain and plain.
The relatives of your honor have safely and securely arrived at, attained to, visited and been honored at the blessed spot of the sacred valley, the Valley of Ayman, the wilderness of Sinai and the Mount of Revelation to Moses which is mentioned in the verse of the Qur'an.
Today in the wilderness of nearness unto the Spirit thou art crying "Here am I, here am I," and in the city of the love of Him Who conversed with God thou art uttering "Praise be unto Thee, O God of all the worlds."
I beseech Thee by Thy Name through which Thou didst protect Him Who conversed with Thee from the evil of the Pharaoh of the age, to protect them that seek Thee from those who are moved by the winds of self and passion.
I beseech Thee by that revelation whereby Moses the Interlocutor was struck down, and by Thy most sweet call which the Beloved was blessed to hear, to ordain for Thy chosen ones that which will shield them from all else save Thee and draw them nigh unto Thee.
As regards the interpretation of Jinab-i Aqa Ibrahim's dream of 'two blistered hands': by this is meant that the troubled and ailing heart, God willing, will be illumined and cheered with the supreme divine light, and even as the generous hand of the One Who conversed with God (Moses) it shall be 'white to all beholders.' And 'Draw Thy hand from Thy bosom, white to all beholders' will be fulfilled.
O namesake of Moses! The word "Moses" in Hebrew was "Moshi," meaning "drawn from the water," for Asiyih drew him from the water. Now you too should not be drowned in abundant weeping and floods of tears in the sea of grief, for the hand of the Asiyih of grace has lifted you up and saved you from drowning in heedlessness.
This is no ordinary chest--it is the Ark of the Covenant, even as He saith: "And a sign of his kingdom is that there shall come to you the Ark wherein is tranquility." Then He saith: "borne by the angels."
["It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments" Psalm 133:2]
And "they came to their father in the evening, weeping" hath been fulfilled, and "they sold him for a paltry price, a few dirhams" hath become manifest.
How blessed thou art that in this divine Dispensation, in this century of God in which the power of His word hath moved the whole world thy conscience hath been revived and refreshed like unto Jacob's, in his eagerness with the scent of the garment of the true Joseph.
Give thanks to God that you have again become a sugar-breaking parrot, and like Jacob, your eyes were opened by the blessing of the garment, and you were perfumed by the fragrance of the divine Joseph's shirt.
Appreciate, enjoy this blessing from God, and from the soul's solitude will come the "soul's companionship with God": - the companionship of Him, the All-Highest and yourself -; then say with Jacob, the Patriarch, "I will not let You go, unless You bless me!"
The fire of Moses hath appeared and set Mount Sinai ablaze. … The morning breeze hath blown through the Sheba of Solomon and the fecundating winds of grace have spread from the gardens of oneness.
Therefore, O ye who seek His countenance, who stand at His threshold, and whose hearts are quickened by His fragrance - turn ye wholly toward Him, and receive bounty from His nature, that ye may behold the fire of Moses, witness the flame of Sinai, inhale the breath of the Messiah, see the garden of Abraham, observe the blood sacrifice of John son of Zacharias, find the fountain of life of Khidr, contemplate the sacrifice of the Offering, perceive the beauty of Joseph, hear the sighing and lamentation of Jacob, know the affliction and sorrow of Job, establish the lesson of Enoch, understand the intensity of Eve's separation, and recognize the chastity and purity of Mary.
O sapling of the garden of truth! Praise be to God, like unto Moses thou hast witnessed the flame of the Mount, and observed the radiance of light in the human tree. Thou hast heard the divine call and been struck unconscious by its power. Now is the time to arise with the white hand, to manifest the evident serpent, and to cause rivers to gush forth from the solid rock.
The Cry hath been raised and the Hour hath appeared and the Trumpet hath been sounded, when He Who conversed with God took His seat upon the throne of Revelation and the Herald proclaimed: The Kingdom is God's, the Almighty, the Self-Subsisting!
I have become aware of the kindling of the fire of sorrows in your hearts and innermost being, and the flowing of oceans of tears upon your cheeks from your eyes and eyelids, and your yearning and your grief, your sighing and your deprivation, the flood of your lamentation and the proclamation of your wailing, the burning of your hearts and your Job-like affliction, the magnitude of your tribulations and the intensity of your anguish, the exhalation of your fire and the blazing of your flames, the separation of your Joseph and the anguish of your Jacob, the burning of your phoenix and the cooing of your dove, the sobbing of your weeping and the bursting asunder of your innermost being.
O dear friend! A sweet melody has been raised from the Concourse on High and a fragrant breeze has wafted from the Garden of Immortality. Praise be to God, you have heard that melody and inhaled that fragrance. You have caught the fragrance of Joseph's garment and discovered the divine Egypt, and like Jacob you have gained seeing eyes. I hope that you may behold the divine Joseph's countenance and attain the station of unveiling.
O thou who hast diffused the fragrances of truth! Stand thou firm in the Cause of God like unto a tree firmly rooted, with massive trunk, spreading branches and abundant fruits, that thou mayest become the manifestation of that which the glorious Lord hath said in the Gospel: "By their fruits ye shall know them."
Further quotations · supplied wording and references
This is the Day whereon human ears have been privileged to hear what He Who conversed with God heard upon Sinai
For thought and discussion