Bring 'Em Home
Exodus 6: 13-27
Ahhh, geneologies- my favorite.
This section starts off with an odd change of tone. God commands Moses and Aaron to bring the Israleites out of Egypt. This isn't new news- we already know about their mission- but the phrasing here has a much different feel than I'll be with and tell you what to say. The responsibility for results seems to have shifted. Nothing has changed- God is in control and He's calling the shots, but clearly the tone is different.
Is Moses taking a characteristically inflated view of himself as he looks back on his epic tale?
Is God tiring of his whining and saying- you WILL follow through, so deal with it?
Is it simply an awkward translation?
other thoughts:
It's interesting to me that some people in this list have ages listed with them and others do not.
Were the records incomplete?
Did these people live to odd ages making them noteworthy? This seems unlikely- for while they would've made Willard Scott's list, they're far from Methusaleh status.
Also of note- Aaron and Moses are pointed out as children of incest. Their mother is also their great aunt. It doesn't seem to be taboo yet, but is it significant that these men rise to greatness from auspicious beginnings?
I hadn't remembered (or maybe never realized) that Nadab and Abihu (of strange fire fame) were actually Aaron's children. It's interesting how quickly fates can change for a family.
Narratively this structure seems really odd. Moses has been telling his story and plunks this geneology here in the middle of it all. And at the end he sees fit to remind us that the Moses and Aaron mentioned are the ones who lead the Israelites out of captivity. Ummm- thanks Moses...we've been reading, we get it.
Just some odds and ends- but what do you want? It's a geneology.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
Wise Guy
Exodus 5:21- 6:12
So Moe, afraid to speak in public, once again has the courage to stand up to God. This time he more or less says- Why am I even here? Nothing but bad things have happened- and You're nowhere to be found.
God answers with reassurance- not wrath. Really a neat moment of God's patience and love for His creation. Instead of barrelling back with "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" He instead tells Moses, "You'll see, it's all under control."
His continuing message is a little (ok a lot) puzzling, though. He says, " I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob- but they just thought I was God Almighty, not the LORD."
Huh?
I'm not sure that I get the actual distinction- is He saying they knew I was A God but not THE God? I think ultimately the point may be- they were impressed at My power, but they really had no idea how much in control I really am.
God comforts Moses and says that it will be ok. But when Moe reports back to the Israelites, they'll have none of it. After the extra burden from Pharaoh they'd like nothing better than to distance themselves from this guy who uses his rod to stir the pot.
God tells him to go back to Pharaoh but even after the comfort from God, he goes back and still tries to get out of it. If the Israelites won't even listen to me, how will I ever convince Pharaoh?
This may be where we can empathize most. We find ourselves with the burden and forget that God runs the ship. I don't have to worry about what I can do. If God is working through me then the obstacle is unimportant. We don't just serve God Almighty- we serve The LORD!
Exodus 5:21- 6:12
So Moe, afraid to speak in public, once again has the courage to stand up to God. This time he more or less says- Why am I even here? Nothing but bad things have happened- and You're nowhere to be found.
God answers with reassurance- not wrath. Really a neat moment of God's patience and love for His creation. Instead of barrelling back with "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" He instead tells Moses, "You'll see, it's all under control."
His continuing message is a little (ok a lot) puzzling, though. He says, " I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob- but they just thought I was God Almighty, not the LORD."
Huh?
I'm not sure that I get the actual distinction- is He saying they knew I was A God but not THE God? I think ultimately the point may be- they were impressed at My power, but they really had no idea how much in control I really am.
God comforts Moses and says that it will be ok. But when Moe reports back to the Israelites, they'll have none of it. After the extra burden from Pharaoh they'd like nothing better than to distance themselves from this guy who uses his rod to stir the pot.
God tells him to go back to Pharaoh but even after the comfort from God, he goes back and still tries to get out of it. If the Israelites won't even listen to me, how will I ever convince Pharaoh?
This may be where we can empathize most. We find ourselves with the burden and forget that God runs the ship. I don't have to worry about what I can do. If God is working through me then the obstacle is unimportant. We don't just serve God Almighty- we serve The LORD!
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Festival of Swords
Exodus 5: 1-21
So Moses and Aaron go see Pharoah and begin their "let my people go" entreaties. It doesn't go so well- at least not in the short term. Their opening presentation leaves two very different images of God- one uplifting- one pretty scary.
They tell Pharoah that God has told them "'Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert." And I'm struck by how cool that sounds. When was the last time you thought of worship as a festival? I'm guessing not so much the creepy carnies, about to break ferris wheel or out of control ticket prices- but more the sense of enormous celebration, huge gathering and sheer joy. Worship too often can consist of drudgery, guilt, responsibility and service instead of an expression of pure unadulturated passion for our creator and father.
But their very next response quiets the party. "Now let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword." Suddenly this party doesn't sound like quite so much fun anymore. Is this just a tactic Moses is using to get Pharoah to change his mind? It doesn't work. Or is this really a fear the Israelites have? Maybe it expresses a misperception of God on the part of Moses and Aaron. The first idea came directly from God- and this seems to be based more on a reaction from Moses and Aaron.
Or maybe the "us" here was the land and not the people. Not God will hunt down the Israelites, but- Pharoah if you don't give in- bad things are going to happen around here.
Well Pharoah's not biting- and in fact says that if the Israelites have time to whine about worship, they have time to do more work. So they stop providing the Isralites with straw to make bricks. They still have to make just as many, they just have to find their own raw materials to make them from.
Naturally this doesn't go over so well. It doesn't happen. Production decreases and the Israelite foremen go talk to Pharoah about it. We're working just as hard as before- we just don't have the straw. But Pharoah won't relent- he calls them lazy and won't reduce the workload.
As you might guess, Moses and Aaron aren't about to win any popularity contests in the camp. The foremen tell them "May the LORD look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us."
What must Moses be thinking at this point? Lord God, I've done what you asked- I knew I'd be bad at this- and I was right. Why have You left me? Not only doesn Pharoah hate me- so do the Israelites. Why am I even here?
And maybe the same thing happens to us. We come to a crossroads where there's a tough choice. We make the one we think is right, not the one we want to choose- but the one that seems like the right choice. And when we take that path...bad things happen. Wait, it wasn't supposed to be like this.
But we don't see the other side of the valley. We don't see the sunshine after the rain- we're in the moment. And too often our short-sightedness makes us back out- or head back for the other path.
May we press through the pain- and see what God has in store for us further on down the road.
Exodus 5: 1-21
So Moses and Aaron go see Pharoah and begin their "let my people go" entreaties. It doesn't go so well- at least not in the short term. Their opening presentation leaves two very different images of God- one uplifting- one pretty scary.
They tell Pharoah that God has told them "'Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert." And I'm struck by how cool that sounds. When was the last time you thought of worship as a festival? I'm guessing not so much the creepy carnies, about to break ferris wheel or out of control ticket prices- but more the sense of enormous celebration, huge gathering and sheer joy. Worship too often can consist of drudgery, guilt, responsibility and service instead of an expression of pure unadulturated passion for our creator and father.
But their very next response quiets the party. "Now let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword." Suddenly this party doesn't sound like quite so much fun anymore. Is this just a tactic Moses is using to get Pharoah to change his mind? It doesn't work. Or is this really a fear the Israelites have? Maybe it expresses a misperception of God on the part of Moses and Aaron. The first idea came directly from God- and this seems to be based more on a reaction from Moses and Aaron.
Or maybe the "us" here was the land and not the people. Not God will hunt down the Israelites, but- Pharoah if you don't give in- bad things are going to happen around here.
Well Pharoah's not biting- and in fact says that if the Israelites have time to whine about worship, they have time to do more work. So they stop providing the Isralites with straw to make bricks. They still have to make just as many, they just have to find their own raw materials to make them from.
Naturally this doesn't go over so well. It doesn't happen. Production decreases and the Israelite foremen go talk to Pharoah about it. We're working just as hard as before- we just don't have the straw. But Pharoah won't relent- he calls them lazy and won't reduce the workload.
As you might guess, Moses and Aaron aren't about to win any popularity contests in the camp. The foremen tell them "May the LORD look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us."
What must Moses be thinking at this point? Lord God, I've done what you asked- I knew I'd be bad at this- and I was right. Why have You left me? Not only doesn Pharoah hate me- so do the Israelites. Why am I even here?
And maybe the same thing happens to us. We come to a crossroads where there's a tough choice. We make the one we think is right, not the one we want to choose- but the one that seems like the right choice. And when we take that path...bad things happen. Wait, it wasn't supposed to be like this.
But we don't see the other side of the valley. We don't see the sunshine after the rain- we're in the moment. And too often our short-sightedness makes us back out- or head back for the other path.
May we press through the pain- and see what God has in store for us further on down the road.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Wes Craven's Bridegroom of Blood
Exodus 4: 18-31
The time is now- and God tells Moses to head on back to Egypt and take care of business. But even before Moe gets the word, he tells Jethro he'll be leaving the Clampetts and heading back to Egypt to see if any of his own people are still alive.
Is Moses embarassed about his mission? Doesn't want to seem crazy or fanatical? Why doesn't he come straight out and say "God is sending me"? Maybe he's facing some of the same pressures to conform that we face thousands of years later.
But God sends him, and he goes.
Most of the rest of the chapter is puzzling and worrysome.
First off God tells Moses that He will harden Pharoah's heart so that he won't let the Israelites go- and then when he doesn't, He'll tell him (through Moses) that since you won't let my first born worship me, I'm going to kill your firstborn.
I understand that God knows Pharoah's heart and that all things (evil and good) work toward God's purpose- but this notion of God actually hardening Pharoah's heart is troublesome for me. For one thing, it seems to fly in the face of freewill. If I can't choose, then how can I be responsible for my actions?
I can get around this in my mind a little- simply by God's omnipotence. If He knows my heart- if He knows what I will choose- then the actual choice itself becomes fairly perfunctory. But if Pharoah was already going to say "no"- why did God need to harden his heart? Is He just speeding up the process? And does He harden my heart today?
This really confuses me- and while I've heard it explained away over and over- I'm not really comfortable with all those explanations. Regardless- if God is the father I believe Him to be, I can trust Him to act in my life according to my best interests, if I don't make it to heaven, it won't be because I got cheated by God- even if I don't understand all the inner-workings of His being (and it's a good thing, because I don't).
But now the other troubling part.
Moses and family are en route to carry out God's plans and when they stop for the night, God sets out to kill his son (or Moses- it's kind of ambiguous). It seems Moses hadn't circumcised him. So Zipporah, apparently well-skilled with the flint knife- does the job, drops the foreskin at Moses feet and calls him a "bridegroom of blood."
This seems way legalistic- Moses is setting out to do God's work- and while he's traveling- he almost loses his child. Scary- but maybe there are a couple of important lessons here.
1) You can't pick and choose God's will. Even if I'm serving God- if I'm consciously defying Him at the same time (which they seem to have been doing since Zipporah knew what had to be done) things aren't going to be ok. While that could lead to an unhealthy paranoia- am I doing everything? What if I forget...? The more healthy application may be to seek- knowing that God's not going to abandon you in the dark. And when you find...act.
2) and maybe even more importantly- this may be a wonderful example of the difference between covenants. This is the pre-Jesus get it all right, no room for error, no room for grace, blood on the doorpost kind of situation. Maybe Moses forgot, was preoccupied, was a little queasy with such medical procedures- whatever. But without Jesus to bridge the gap- the world was a much harsher place. And the lesson is...phew! We've got him- and his grace makes all the difference in the world.
The chapter ends with God sending Aaron to meet Moses. They meet with the Israelite elders- tell them of God's concern and hearing the wondrous news, they worship.
Exodus 4: 18-31
The time is now- and God tells Moses to head on back to Egypt and take care of business. But even before Moe gets the word, he tells Jethro he'll be leaving the Clampetts and heading back to Egypt to see if any of his own people are still alive.
Is Moses embarassed about his mission? Doesn't want to seem crazy or fanatical? Why doesn't he come straight out and say "God is sending me"? Maybe he's facing some of the same pressures to conform that we face thousands of years later.
But God sends him, and he goes.
Most of the rest of the chapter is puzzling and worrysome.
First off God tells Moses that He will harden Pharoah's heart so that he won't let the Israelites go- and then when he doesn't, He'll tell him (through Moses) that since you won't let my first born worship me, I'm going to kill your firstborn.
I understand that God knows Pharoah's heart and that all things (evil and good) work toward God's purpose- but this notion of God actually hardening Pharoah's heart is troublesome for me. For one thing, it seems to fly in the face of freewill. If I can't choose, then how can I be responsible for my actions?
I can get around this in my mind a little- simply by God's omnipotence. If He knows my heart- if He knows what I will choose- then the actual choice itself becomes fairly perfunctory. But if Pharoah was already going to say "no"- why did God need to harden his heart? Is He just speeding up the process? And does He harden my heart today?
This really confuses me- and while I've heard it explained away over and over- I'm not really comfortable with all those explanations. Regardless- if God is the father I believe Him to be, I can trust Him to act in my life according to my best interests, if I don't make it to heaven, it won't be because I got cheated by God- even if I don't understand all the inner-workings of His being (and it's a good thing, because I don't).
But now the other troubling part.
Moses and family are en route to carry out God's plans and when they stop for the night, God sets out to kill his son (or Moses- it's kind of ambiguous). It seems Moses hadn't circumcised him. So Zipporah, apparently well-skilled with the flint knife- does the job, drops the foreskin at Moses feet and calls him a "bridegroom of blood."
This seems way legalistic- Moses is setting out to do God's work- and while he's traveling- he almost loses his child. Scary- but maybe there are a couple of important lessons here.
1) You can't pick and choose God's will. Even if I'm serving God- if I'm consciously defying Him at the same time (which they seem to have been doing since Zipporah knew what had to be done) things aren't going to be ok. While that could lead to an unhealthy paranoia- am I doing everything? What if I forget...? The more healthy application may be to seek- knowing that God's not going to abandon you in the dark. And when you find...act.
2) and maybe even more importantly- this may be a wonderful example of the difference between covenants. This is the pre-Jesus get it all right, no room for error, no room for grace, blood on the doorpost kind of situation. Maybe Moses forgot, was preoccupied, was a little queasy with such medical procedures- whatever. But without Jesus to bridge the gap- the world was a much harsher place. And the lesson is...phew! We've got him- and his grace makes all the difference in the world.
The chapter ends with God sending Aaron to meet Moses. They meet with the Israelite elders- tell them of God's concern and hearing the wondrous news, they worship.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)