Zora Neale Hurston takes on the biblical story of Moses and the Exodus. Starting with the birth of Moses and ending with the migration of the Israelites to Canaan, Zora puts her stamp on this famous story. Moses is depicted as a great guy who is devoted to learning, reading, and spending time with Mother Nature. He is mentored first by Mentu and later, his father-in-law. He devotes his life to freeing the Hebrew slaves from the Egyptian Pharaoh. Along the way, he is tested by the people who all seem to want something from him.
In many ways this matches the biblical version, but it is also different in many ways. Hurston does a great job with letting us get to know the characters and she is sublime about making the story teach us a lesson. I'm finding when reading Hurston, a big part is just paying attention. There is no shortage of timeless messages for the attentive reader.
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