Eleazar or The Source and the Bush - Michel Tournier - book

In 1845, Pastor Eleazar left his native Ireland with his wife and two children to emigrate to America, like thousands of his compatriots driven out by the Great Famine. Landing in Virginia, he began crossing the continent to reach California, which many people considered the Promised Land. Arriving in the Colorado Desert, it seemed as if a veil had been lifted before his eyes and he was reading the Bible for the first time. His own personal adventure was illuminated by the grandiose destiny of Moses. He understood that Moses' tragedy was his torn between the Burning Bush, symbol of the sacred, of the voice of Yahweh, and the springs that the Hebrews constantly demanded from him for their wives, their children, their livestock, and their crops. A tragic choice was forced between the Source and the Bush.