OK, so I like consistency and order, so today had to be either one chapter or three to get me back into my 'even number' contendedness!  (yes, I'm weird, I know).

This largish chunk of text seems to fall fairly neatly into three very different parts, written in different styles and with plenty to challenge sceptic and literalist alike.  Oh, and there is an excellent example of how words can change their meanings over time too.

Captain's Log Stardate Plinky Plonk... and Linguistic Changes

I'm not a trekkie, but growing up in the 1970s Star Trek was hugely popular family entertainment, each episode beginning (as I recall anyway) 'Captain's log star date...'

Parts of the Exodus narrative read very much in that style, suggesting that, albeit originally in an oral rather than written tradition, there was an equivalent phrase.  So this section opens by telling us that on the 15th day of the second month after leaving Egypt the people left Elim.  Whether this is six weeks from the Passover or six weeks from crossing the Red Sea, or even if it was literally six weeks isn't so significant.  What is significant is that so early in the and having already twice being recorded as complainign about how much better life was in Egypt, they are at it again.

Back in Egypt, they say, we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread.  To a twenty-first century reader, unfamiliar with the passage, this should create a shocked reaction - 'fleshpot' nowadays refers to places in which hedonism and sexual licentiousness abound.  Could it be that the Hebrews sat on the edge of such areas?  No.  A 'fleshpot' was, as it's name suggests, a pot in which meat was cooked.  It's easy enough to see how, over time, the word has changed its meaning - from inferring plenty and ease back in Egypt to luxury and thence hedomism and beyond.  A salutory reminder that the meaning of words are (generally) not fixed but evolve and change over time.

Life in Egypt was good, very good it now seems - clean water, plenty to eat and a settled lifestyle... This wilderness wandering is unsettling and demanding... they don't like it and they want Moses to fix it.

Only a few verses on, and now at Rephidim, short of water the people moan again... poor Moses!

Manna and Quails... Human Nature

Debates over the nature of the manna and its provision, of why it rotted if kept overnight any day except what we'd call Friday, and why the sample kept as a reminder seemingly survived intact only to disappear from any later 'history' are not helpful.  What we have in this highly detailed account is an intriguing insight into human behaviour.

The quails arrive in the evening, and the manna in the morning.  The people are sent to gather as much as they need (an omer apiece, which may be around 2kg/4lb) and no more.  Overnight it perishes, there is no point keeping some back 'just in case.'  But people do.  Because that's human nature, the desire to keep something in reserve, 'just in case', the unspoken, unrecognised fear that tomorrow there may not be any bread.  In the New Testament is the parable of the man who built 'bigger barns' to store his grain, and then he died... Tomorrow is never guaranteed, sufficent unto the day and all that... but I still have a pension fund, and I still save what money I can 'just in case.'  Living totally by faith is really hard - and even having done it for four years when I was a student, I've still slipped back into a self-reliance that keeps some back 'just in case.'

On Day 6 (Friday in our parlance) they are to collect double and this won't perish overnight, but on Day 7 (Sabbath, Saturday) there will be no provision: the provider rests and so should they.  That's quite a big ask of people who have already seen manna rot and stink overnight.  And even though there is nothing to suggest they failed to gather the required quantity, and presumably even though they lifted the lid of the jar and found it still intact, some of the people still went out to gather.  This is readily seen as disobedience to Moses and to God, but is it, again, human nature?  Even if we have enough do we still want more?  Do we want to risk the possibility that failing to gather today will leave us lacking tomorrow?

Slipped into this section, and expressed in Divine ire, is the fact that the people were not to travel on the seventh day.  The temptation to keep on going, to think that a day waiting is a day wasted, is very real.  But right at the start the people begin to establish a rhythm and routine of rest.  No 'shopping', no 'cooking', no 'travelling'... a day to rest and be refreshed.  I know that I, of all people, constantly need to be reminded of that, and not to slip into making my one 'rest day' a week the day when I catch up on the chores I haven't done because I've been too busy doing other stuff.

Teamwork

In two very different episodes, we reminded both of Moses' humanity and of the need for different kinds of teamwork.

The battle against Amalek is probably one of the least bloody descriptions we will encounter, but what is striking, and is a story I have always loved, is how Moses, along with Aaaron and Hur, go up a hill where they can be seen.  Moses, an old man by all accounts, holds up his arms and the people are inspired... but as his arms tire and sag, so they lose heart.  On his own, he cannot inspire the people; on his own he will tire and be unable to stand.  So what happens?  First Aaron and Hur find him a seat - he doesn't need to be standing up - and then they each take one of his arms and support them when he grows tired.  It's a beautiful, albeit bizarre, image... human finitude and frailty being recongnised and others coming alongside to support and encourage without either undermining or over-ruling.

The visit of Jethro along with Moses' wife and sons (who had at some point been sent away) is also beautiful and challenging.  Jethro watches Moses at work, and sees how exhausting and impossible is the task he has undertaken.  Everyone comes to Moses, and Moses tries to deal with everything himself.  No-one, it seems, within the Hebrew people sees fit to question this, but Jethro does.  You can't do it all yourself, he says, what you need is to identify suitable people (men in the text, but Biblical record suggests that there were some women, at least later on) who are able, God-fearing and trustworthy, and give them authority over defined groups of people.  Moses remains the leader and now he is able to focus his energies on the things only he can do because he isn't worn out with the things others can do.

I often tell people I'm not like Moses, and I'm not, but the  temptation to try to do everything myself is very real.  Partly because of my personality.  Partly because, at least as I perceive it, the person/people who raise something expect me to do it.  And its crackers.  Not least because I really do believe in teamwork and like to think I'm a half decent team-player.  I have recently been reminding myself that my old boss used to say "don't bring me probelsm, bring me solutions"... I need to learn to response not by taking on more work, but by inviting others to bring to fruition that which they desire, and in so doing to discover and/or develop their own gifts and skills.

I'm not sure this is about delegation - though I may need to recover my ability to do that - it's more about prioritising within my role, and identifying people who are gifted to pick up other roles... which is challenging, because people seem to fall into two categories, those who are brilliant at saying 'no' and those (like me) who find it nigh on impossible.

Real People

I wanted to undertake this read through of Exodus (and then Numbers) because it is a story of real people, with real faults and failings, real hopes and dreams, real frustrations and fears.  As I move further into the story, with this aim in mind, I am reminded of how very real these people are... Moses, the flawed and fallible leader, and the Hebrews, a motley crew of former slaves learning to fend for themselves and become a nation in their own right.

I'm carefully avoiding drawing simplictic parallels, but whatever sphere of life we may wish to consider, the same is surely true... every leader is fallible and flawed; every church, every city, every nation, comprises people working out what life is meant to look like, quick to grumble and, if the Hebrews are anything to go by, slow to learn. 

All of which is, perversely, quite reassuring for this flawed, frail and finite Baptist minister!