Had fear prevailed, we would not know the names "Moses" today. Had Pharaoh triumphed, the story of God's liberation of God's enslaved people could not be told. Had a number of women not acted out of compassion and courage, the extermination of a people would have been sharply felt by them but probably forgotten by history.
The closing chapters of Genesis narrate the story of Joseph and his family. Sold into slavery and despair, Joseph eventually finds himself -- through God's help -- in the halls of Egyptian power. An interpreter of dreams and a wily diplomat, Joseph helps lead Egypt out of a severe famine. He, his family and his people are rewarded for their service to the nation, but the rise of a new Pharaoh means that the memory of Joseph and how Israel had helped Egypt in its darkest hour is lost.
Political memories are so very short, aren't they?
As the book of Exodus opens, Moses is born under the reign of a Pharaoh who couldn't be troubled to learned what had come before. A new Pharaoh enslaves and tries to eradicate a people who had previously helped save the nation. This new king fears these foreigners. He worries that they would trick the Egyptians, deceive them into losing their own land. He frets about their rising numbers and that this great multitude would return one day as an invading military force.
Pharaoh opts for a pair of heartless but ancient tactics: slavery and genocide. Impose grueling labor on a people and soon not only would they be reduced to cogs in a machine but the expectation of a better future would prove impossible. Take the life of every baby boy and soon not only would a lineage be extinguished but the hopes of a people would also be dashed. Soon even the cries of loss would be muffled, and a people no longer deemed useful would be erased.
But where cruelty seeks its victims, courage and grace will also arise. A pair of midwives named Shiphrah and Puah refuses to execute Pharaoh's demands. In response, Pharaoh ratchets up the pressure, commanding "all his people" (not just the midwives!) to toss each of Israel's infant boys into the Nile.
Ironically, of course, one boy would float in that same river and rise to lead his people out of the cruelty of Pharaoh's enslavement. After keeping him in secret for several months, Moses' mother carefully places him in a basket and set him on the Nile. With Moses' sister watching from afar and hoping for his protection, he floats right into the home of the same Pharaoh who would have him exposed to the elements.
Pharaoh's daughter recognizes Moses as one of the Hebrew children and, instead of abiding by her father's clear orders, assures his well-being and eventually adopts him as her own son. Again, the courage and compassion of a woman exceeds the cruelty of political power and shortsighted fear.
Of course, this story could have been otherwise. Variations on the story of Israel's enslavement in Egypt have been repeated throughout the ages. An unimaginable number of people have lost their lives due to fear and hatred. Too many even today do not have a Moses to lead them through and out of impossible situations.
Part of the difficulty of reading this story of God's eventual deliverance of Israel through Moses is the underlying reality in the back of our minds that so many others have not been saved. Even today, Somalian refugees might wonder where their Joseph or Moses is. Where are the dreams that will blaze a path through this famine? Where is the leader who will guide the nation to the promised land?
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In the Exodus story as in many of our lives, deliverance and suffering are interlaced. Our hopeful prayers are not always answered, and grace may take a different shape than we might have expected. Moreover, these early verses are a poignant reminder that standing with God often means taking a courageous stance against cruelty and savagery like Shiphrah, Puah, Moses' mother and Pharaoh's unnamed daughter did, even when holding on to hope seemed entirely naïve.
When I think about this passage, at least two more matters strike me. One is that we continue today to fear the encroachment of the so-called "outsider." When our neighbors begin not to look, speak or think like us, our primary instinct is not to welcome them or be curious about our differences. Instead, we tend to choose apprehension and fear. We draw inward, hoping for the protection of the status quo and the familiar. Most unfortunate, our churches tend to become cultural cocoons where we can escape the changes our neighborhoods, cities and nation are experiencing.
American history repeats this tale seemingly every generation. Whether against Italians, the Irish or Mexicans, prejudice against and fear of the other leads us to worry that these "new" immigrants will so alter the American landscape as to make it unrecognizable. And yet these concerns prove false from generation to generation.
More importantly, in our fear of the "other" and the newcomer, we find ourselves at odds with God. God repeatedly, even habitually, sides with the marginalized, the enslaved, the downtrodden, the weak, the poor. What would it take for us to take God's side rather than dwelling on our basest fears?
There is a second lesson in this passage that we have yet to heed. Egypt's new Pharaoh in the opening chapters of Exodus is a commensurate politician. Political leaders too often tend to have extraordinarily short memories and narrow visions for the future. More often than we wish, the powerful among us focus almost entirely on the current moment or at least the ever-shrinking election cycle. The past can inform but only insofar as it confirms the politician's current position. The past that supports us we turn into talking points; the past that works against us is conveniently forgotten. The future can give us a sense of direction but only insofar as it assures continued power. Visions of what may lay ahead are frequently self-serving or pre-determined by our ideology rather than a rallying point for unity and hope.
The role faith plays in politics today is incredibly controversial. Debates about whether faith should be a guide in the voting booth too often deal primarily with the social controversies of our days. That is, faith in politics boils down to particular positions on the most contentious questions of the day.
But what if faith does not provide a particular ideological perspective on specific social issues? What if faith, instead of telling us for whom to vote, directs us how to vote? Our faith invites our politics to become more open and graceful. Our faith teaches us that the present is fleeting, that the past is never just ancient memories and that the future is not mere abstraction. What if old stories that continue to be repeated around us teach us anew that the past will not conform to our narrow agendas and that the future is not ours alone?
Editors Note: ON Scripture is a series of Christian scripture commentaries produced in collaboration with Odyssey Networks. Each week pastors from around the country will approach the lectionary text of the week through the lens of current events, providing a religious voice that is both pastoral and prophetic.
Follow Rev. Dr. Eric D. Barreto on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ericbarreto
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Exodus 1:8-2:10 NIV - Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant ...
To say that a person does something repeatedly, one must have many reliable observations of a behavior, and at some point decide to judge the behavior as habitual.
Is the statement the author decided that a god of his selection habitually, sides with the marginalized people, and with groups of enslaved people, and groups of downtrodden folks, and then some weak folks, and many poor people, been based on personal numerous observations of his own or by reliable observations of others? Were they ancient or current observations by others or by himself?
Personally I have not observed ONE incident of any of the given examples of any selectied gods habitual behaviors. Have any of the other readers of the article had even one? If you have had one, do you think it is habitual of a god of your selection to do such a thing? Will it happen again soon for anyone else to observe it often enough to call it habitual?
Unfortunately, I agree with your statement about God. God talks a good game in the older parts of the Bible, but he spends a lot of time and effort in either ordering the death of people or in doing it himself. Note the killing of innocent children in Jericho, Ai, and Midian, as easy examples. God also wiped out all but eight people - adults - in a flood. At least seven million people were alive on earth at that time.
God is good at telling people to be kind to the poor and sick, but he himself kills huge numbers at a time. No mention is ever made that he spares the downtrodden in his periodic killing sprees.
Alas, many have not learned the lessons of history, and they repeat the same mistakes over and over again -- even today -- fighting for power in the name of patriotism and religion, claiming that God is on their side.
Where oh where has God gone? Where oh where is the promised voice of true righteous judgment that will provide intercession, intervention, and resolution to the horrible conflict?
Perchance it is at http://messenger.cjcmp.org
No, and neither were the people who wrote the bible or any of the people who now believe in it. If everyone had your foolish attitude there would be no need or demand for historians. Do you also doubt, say, Julius Caesar, Xerxes or Alexander the Great existed and did the things they did? After all, no one alive now was there to see for ourselves what happened. Perhaps you also doubt the Civil War happened as well.
Fortunately, whether any of us were there or not is besides the point. The Egyptians in those days wrote a great deal about what went on in their country. Suffice it to say there is no mention there of virtually anything written in the Bible. No Flood, no Joseph, no Moses, no Israelite slaves, no Plagues, no Exodus. Nothing. Indeed, nothing at all was said about Israel in the New Kingdom, aside from Merneptah mentioning in the 19th dynasty that he went on a military campaign in the Levant and kicked puny little Israel's ass along the way. That is, BTW, the oldest mention of Israel known to exist, significantly older than the bible.
So, given the people who actually were in Egypt all those years ago said nothing about any of those things, it is probable that they are mythical.
Could the Egyptian use of –mose really be a reflection of knowledge, by the Egyptians of their time, as remembering an earlier liberator ordained by god to set his people free?
Since, the recreation of the ancient Egyptian language; I have not found any reconstruction of the word phase-to draw from the river.
This theory is substantiated by the fact that the Bronze Age supplies far more evidence of Biblical events than the current Iron Age does. Then like Dr. David N. Freeman, we would have to move the whole Biblical story events back by almost 1,000 years to find that evidence. However, such a move backwards reduces much of the justification currently used to support the later date. Much to the horror of just about anyone, that has a stake in the current Iron Age biblical stories.
Kamose, was honored with his stele left intact after his death, his mummy and tomb were rescued during the great tomb robbery of Pharaoh Ramesses IX about 400 years later. From that date there is the notation that the tomb was in “good order” while the mummy was hidden elsewhere. His remains (mummy) was rediscovered by Auguste Mariette and Heinrich Brugsch at Dra’ Abu el-Naga’ in 1857.
Ahmose I, remains were likewise “protected by the great tomb robbery era” this time by the Pharaoh Pinedjum II. The remains were discovered in 1881 within the Deir el-Bahri Cache. There is some question if the remains are his, but this doubt with the rest of his known history does not allow him to be considered as Moses.
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The triumph of fear is the ONLY reason we know the name Moses.
Have the archaeologist/anthropologist found any evidence of tens (or hundreds) of thousands of Jews living in the Sinai for 38 years yet?
No...
Any historical record from the Egyptian side of the equation that hints at a Hebrew population in their midst?
No...
This is due to the pandering of conservative fundies and their insistance of a YEC and a literal reading of scripture.
There was no "Exodus." Moses? Unlikely.
Creation is full of paradox and contradiction. Perhaps it our duty to do our part. Perhaps God expects each of us to be his agent in guiding the nation to the promised land?
God told us to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. xix, 18)
God told us that "the stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the home-born among you, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Lev. xix, 34).
Perhaps it is up to us to actualize Gods dream for humanity?
Hillel used to say, 'If I am not for myself, who is for me? Yet if I am for myself only what am I? And if not now when" (Avoth i, 14).
If we are for ourselves only what are we? The time to take action is now! If not now when?
The regulation of immigration is also an important contemporary issue. The regulation needs to be fair. It has to use census and registration as a measure of fairness: Don't allow too many. Don't forbid too many. Allow naturalization gradually after education in human rights, normalization and language acquisition. Don't allow criminal behavior. Regulation in border states needs to comply with federal standards.
The Bible tells us that six hundred thousand men and accompanying women and children left Egypt for the Promised Land. This means that two million or so are wandering in the wilderness for forty years. New people are born, but God causes all people who left at the age of twenty or more to die in the desert (Caleb and Joshua are the two named exceptions). No evidence exists to show that any group of this size wandered, discarded trash, left broken pottery, or buried their dead over a forty-year period.
Was there a Moses or someone else who led a much smaller group for a much shorter time? Perhaps, but the whole Moses saga is a much better story.
What alternative are you proposing that we should base our "vote of faith"?
FWIW, Pharoah did not work hard. Others worked hard for Pharoah.
God son, by the way was persecuted by those who boasted of their Holier then thou, many men woman used the line, God is talking to me to win over the multitude for their own self interest. All recorded in history, after such men or woman won, the multitudes suffered much for their folly those who followed them. While they , gained great wealth power control over them. Many also saying God is talking to them, wanted to be worship as a god like Caesar did. Caesar created his Tax game to gain ill gotten wealth, through the grievous toils of his own citizens hard earned labor $$.
Caesar taxation was no better than an introduction to slavery and exhorted the Nation to assert their Liberty. Told written history repeats itself and what is all hearing today? Foretold this would return and who is not willing to work with this Pres to create a fair tax code for all citizens today, wealthy not even wanting to pay no taxes at all. And with this new republicans tax code all voted yes yes among by those on the stage, who are getting poorer? middle class? Love all.
Jesus rather boldly rebuke those who sat in high places, those who claimed to know all, those who claimed to be Holier then Thou, Jesus rebuke. Jesus had no palls in Government or in his own Temple, the powers that be. For Jesus threaten and disturbed the Rulers of both. Their own job securities of ill gotten wealth.
This Pres is words, deeds, seeking to serve the middle class, create a fair balance tax code, create jobs, why those who oppose the Pres, seek to boast, while demeaning others, name calling, etc. Pres acts more like a Christian then those who boast that they are Christians, telling others they are not real Christians, remember they did the same to Jesus saying Jesus also was not a real believer, a blasphemer of God, falsely also accusing Jesus of being this or that, yes also those who called themselves boasting to be real Christians, called Jesus also not a real believer. Buyer be ware.
That's a good question. The Israelites wandered for 40 years. Would've been hard fighting wars like that.
Ref: hard fighting wars. Not if you had God on your side. The example of Jericho comes to mind.