Reviewing "Moon of Israel" by H. Rider Haggard

After the colossal disappointment that was She, I was dubious about trying another H. Rider Haggard novel that wasn’t part of the Allan Quatermain series. It was a pleasant surprise, then, when I read Moon of Israel: A Tale of the Exodus. In fact, I was immediately impressed when I read Haggard’s forward, which detailed where he got his historical information for this story from Sir Gaston Maspero, Director of the Cairo Museum and one of the first "serious" Egyptologists (as opposed to tomb raiders and sensational adventurers). As an Egyptology geek this intrigued me.

Moon of Israel takes place during the events of the first fourteen chapters of the Biblical Exodus…narrated by Ana, and Egyptian scribe. This was a clever choice on Haggard’s part, because any inconsistencies with Scripture could be easily excused as the misunderstanding of a pagan. It also camouflages any anti-Semitic sentiments—whether or not Haggard stereotyped Jews (which he probably did), it’s certain that an Ancient Egyptian would not have a high opinion of them.

Ana is a scribe whose popularity is just beginning to grow as the story begins. He has a tragic past, having suffered the loss of his only child and had his wife leave him for another man. As a result he is embittered against women and life in general, and this sardonic attitude attracts the patronage—and friendship—of the eccentric Prince Seti, heir to the throne of Egypt.

Seti is probably my favorite character of this book, mostly because of his witty, self-deprecating humor. He’s more philosopher than ruler, however, so despite the machinations of his family and the adoration of the citizens, it’s no surprise when he’s disowned and passed over for the title of Pharaoh when his father inevitably dies.

 But despite Ana being the narrator, and Seti being by far the most dimensional and interesting character, the protagonist of this book is the “Moon of Israel,” the beautiful and noble Hebrew lady Merapi. It is against the magnificent backdrop of Israel’s slavery and eventual liberation that the simple story of doomed star-crossed lovers is told. Because of course Seti falls in love with Merapi, initiating a sort of Romeo-and-Juliet scenario that just can’t end well.

While I enjoyed this story quite a bit, there were several instances where it felt like Haggard missed opportunities to deepen the characters or the relationships. Perhaps Haggard was intimidated by his choice of source material, and so avoided incorporating more details from scripture into his story. One of the downsides to having the action of the book take place on the periphery of the Biblical action is that some of the most dramatic parts of the Exodus story are told in a second-hand, detached way.  However, it’s a shame that, after Haggard was relatively accurate in his details about Ancient Egypt,* The Moon of Israel should be hindered by his less thorough research of Biblical history.

*Though at one point he does describe the Egyptian deity Thoth as having the head of a jackal, which is incorrect: Thoth is depicted either as having the head of an ibis (a type of bird), or as having the entire body of a baboon. In the context of what he was talking about, Haggard probably meant Anubis, who is probably the more well-known of the Egyptian pantheon and is pretty uniformly depicted with the head of a jackal.