I found the map that I've added above online on this website. I've included it because just reading lists of names of places isn't very meaningful in its own right. If you are interested, you can check out more about the route, and assorted theories, if not, it serves as a reminder that what we read in a few sentences did not happen all that quickly.
I opted for three chapters today partly because I recalled that when we looked at Exodus as part of a second year OT module at vicar school, the focus was Exodus 1 - 15, stopping just after the crossing of the Red Sea. It seemed appropriate, therefore, to work with that break in my close reading.
Back in the 1970s when I was first starting to engage seriously with Biblical reading, there was a popular and seemingly emergent theory, now discounted, that rather than the Red Sea, the Israelites crossed the Reed Sea... Again, you can find out more about this via Dr Google and Professor Wikipedia if you so wish. I note this simply because as a result, I have 'always' known that there were questions over the location and historicity of the events described in this chapter. Even if we have no questions about the nature of them, what they say to us about God that isn't exactly edifying.
One thing that seems to me abundantly clear, is that the Hebrews got a good head start before Pharaoh changed his mind yet again and sent out his charioteers to pursue them.
Close reading of these three chapters once again shows evidence of the combining of different sources, with variation in style and repetition of information. Maybe I should stop boring my readers with this, as I'm sure you've all noticed it by now!!
Another Ritual
After a brief (re-)statement of the institution of the Passover, comes the requirement to sacrifice or redeem every firstborn male, human or livestock. Sheep and cattle male firstborns are to be sacrificed but firstborn male donkeys and first born sons may be redeemed. The purpose is a lasting reminder of what happened to the Egyptians. This ritual is one of those performed by Mary and Joseph for Jesus within the encounter with Simeon and Anna.
Mumbling and Grumbling
Within this chunk of test, we have two records of the Hebrew people moaning and groaning.
The first comes when they are are camped near the place where they will cross the Red Sea, and they become aware that they are being pursued. Surely we'd have better off to stay put, they say, better to have died in Egypt than to have had our hopes raised only to have them dashed...
The second comes after the crossing, as the people enter the Wilderness of Shur, and travel for three days without finding water; reaching Marah (which means bitter/bitterness) they find only bitter water and they complain again to Moses. Presumably back in Egypt, plagues aside, there had always been an ample supply of clean water.
These little insights are important, because they show us that these were ordinary, fallible, human beings with ordinary concerns. Sometimes we embark on a new venture only to wonder whether this was in fact wise... at least we knew what to expect where we were... That old job was at least familiar... The way we used to do things was easier... The place we left because we dreamed of a brighter tomorrow now takes on a rose-tinted remembracen or at least a sense of "well it wasn't SO bad afterall..."
It takes determination to keep moving forwards, even if metaphorical bridges have been burned and going back is impossible. The lure of bitterness can be strong. The resort to nostalgia overwhelming. But there is no route back, only an uncharted route forward... and that can be really challenging.
This grumbling is a recurrent theme to which we will find ourselves returning - and whilst it isn't the most edifying, it is at least reassuring to know that we aren't so different from the ancients who sometimes seemed a whole lot closer to God than we ever are.
Victory Songs
Both Moses and Miriam are recorded as singing. The song attributed to Moses is not, I suspect, one that we would choose to use in its entirety on a Sunday morning! And yet phrases and lines from this, and from some of the more troubling Psalms are to be found in old hymns and contemporary worship songs, neatly skipping past the troubling verses.
Every now and then I find myself making up songs to God - spontaneous doggerel that arises in a moment and is as quickly forgotten. Probably some of what I sing is not good theology, but it is authentically of the moment... trust me, though, you would not want to read or hear these songs! I guess that just because something is bad poetry, dire music or even questionable theology it isn't automatically inauthentic.
The victory song sung by Moses, and quite possibly repeated by Miriam and the women, expresses their emotions and understandings in that moment. What we have recorded is, I suspect, a later, edited version, that has become part of the accepted liturgy or psalter of its day. And it's that aspect which gives me pause for thought... sometimes I feel that nowadays we are too ready to publish, record and share songs that, whilst authentic for those who create them, really add little or nothing to the music of the church. Sometimes, too, it is when I learn the story behind a song that irritates or offends my sensibilties, that I discover its worth for those who created it.
Among my least-liked songs is one called 'Strength will rise" - or even "Strenf wiw rarz" as it's almost always sung in Estuary English. The tune is dull and repetitive, the words, whilst innocuous seem a bit vacuous. It was learning that this song was created by a young man suffering from depression singing hope when he had little or none that enabled me to discover its value and authenticity. I still don't like it, but at least I understand it.
Washed up on the Seashore
The account of the events includes reference to the bodies of dead Egyptians being washed up on the seashore. I cannot read these words and not think of the refugees who are drowning in the Mediterranean as they flee Syria in the hope of a new life.
The simplistic "Hebrews good, Egyptians bad" distinction doesn't work. Perhaps the equally simplistic "refugees good, extremists bad" distinction isn't entirely right either.
The story interprets the drowing of the Egyptians as the work of a God who is on the side of the Hebrews. In its context we accept it, even if it is uncomfortable. It does beg questions about where God is perceived to be in the current refugee and migrant crisis, by those of us who name ourselves Christian and by those follow variant forms of islam.
Stern Words
This section ends with some stern words from God:
There the Lord made for them a statute and an ordinance and there he put them to the test. He said, ‘If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in his sight, and give heed to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.’
Lots of conditions here - if you listen, if you do what is right, if you heed God's commandments, if you keep all God's statutes, then...
How often do we speak of the God who heals (and back to songs, quote the phrase 'I am the Lord who heals you') without noting this more than somewhat scary context. Total obedience is required to avoid illness... which is surely impossible.
Camping at Elim
This stage of the story ends with the people camped at Elim, a fertile place characterised by having twelve springs and seventy palm trees. The numbers are certainly significant/symbolic, but perhaps what we note is that for a while at least, the people are able to rest in a comfortable place.
In parts of Britain, especially in Wales, Baptist churches are named after Biblical places, so Hebron, Ebenezer, Salem, Sion/Zion and so on. Not so common is Elim, but I found one in Wales when I did a quick web search.
A church as an oasis, where tired people can find rest and refreshment before continuing their journey... I reckon that's quite a good aim to have.
Tomorrow we move on again, beyond the material I worked with in vicar school and back to searching my memory banks for the 'O' level RE stuff! A week into our Lenten journey I hope that you haven't given up, and that just maybe something in what I write resonates or prompts thoughts of your own.