We begin the readings from Exodus. The generation of Joseph and bros have passed, and there is now a Pharaoh that did not know of Joseph. The Hebrews previously in bondage to Pharaoh are now systematically enslaved. Being prolific breeders, they have now become a 'foreign workers' social problem despite their enslavement. So Pharaoh undertakes a systematic culling program to kill off any male child born. But since the midwives were Hebrew, this wasn't particularly effective.
Which was fortunate for a baby born to a Levite couple. Adopted by Pharaoh's and given to his own mother to nurse, the little boy is named Moses. Moses now grows up in the Egyptian court and struggles through his identity crises, eventually killing an Egyptian in the process. He flees into the desert and takes up with a Midianite tribe, and ends up marrying the Priest's daughter, Zipporah.
Was he a deeply religious man at this point in time? Probably not. Did he know about God? Probably not. So when he, one day, wanders off into the mountain (Horeb) and encounters God in the form of a burning bush, this was a much more dramatic and frightening experience then we can ever imagine.
5"Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
So Moses is introduced to the 'God of your father, God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob'. How much was Moses aware of his ethnic roots? Commentators tend to portray Moses idealistically as being very aware, and charged with this sense of ethnic activism. But my reading tends to lead to me to see Moses as still being an ethnically confused man, happily hiding out, perhaps trying to 'find' himself in the desert, among the bedouin Midianites. See how the Midianites identify him as an 'Egyptian':
19They answered, "An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds."
And when God presents his plan for Moses, note how the discussion never identifies Moses as one of the 'Israelites', and Moses always portrays the situation as if he was outside of the Israelite communiy:
11But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" 12And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain." 13Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"
But this is just my personal take on the situation. But it says a lot of Moses's initial reluctance to get involved, and also of his obedience despite his misgivings.
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4 comments:
1. Do you know there is a plant called flaxinella, also known as gas plant, or burning bush. The plant is honeycombed with tiny oil sacs that secrete volatile oil in hot weather. With direct rays of sun, the oil might ignite and burn very quickly - but the bush remain intact. Apparently these can still be found all over the middle east.
2. Hey, so the priest of Midian - Moses's dad in law- what is he a priest of? What was his religion? Some said that the Midianites were already worshipping a GOd called "YAHWEH" and this is somehow linked to the Kenites and their 'yahweh-cult". So who are the Kenites? And did Jethro introduce Moses to Yahweh, or did Moses introduce Yahweh to Jethro an the rest of the Israelites?
There's are two articles published in the journal The Biblical World entitled "The origin of Yahweh worship in Israel" - should be fun to have a read.
Kenites? It's funny isn't it that they are supposed to be descendants of Cain. Didn't that line die out with the flood?
I am generally not to concerned with the origins of monotheism. I think ppl tend to overglorify and over hero-ify the patriarchs and want to make them the origins of monothesim etc.
Must consider that Noah was already talking to God. We don't know by what name he recognized 'God'. Abraham certainly did. Bible only identifies as 'God of Abraham'. And remember our friend Melchizedek? He certainly was high priest of a religion which was highly compatible with 'God of Abraham'.
Regardless of Abraham or Moses or Jethro, the religious traditions stemming from Noah must have spread throughout the world through his 3 kids Ham, Shem and Japheth. So some sort of worship of 'YHWH' must have spread throughout the world. Many may have developed regional perverted versions, so it would not be surprising to find various forms of worship of YHWH throughout the world. Some may be more monotheistic than others. The Midianites may have worshipped a God called Yahweh. The Egyptians had a God called Iah. The Hebrews were definitely not monotheistic until the 10 Commandments were given. Even after that, they struggled with being monotheistic.
When Moses went up to the mountain, he was confronted with the one true God, who identified himself as "I AM THAT I AM", or YHWH.
When Hebrew midwives had to choose between fearing GOD and obeying the orders of the king of Egypt, they chose to fear GOD (Exo 1:15-17). This put me into thinking of how would I respond when Im facing with choice between pleasing man and obeying GOD? Hmmmm.. hard to answer hor as very often we want people to like us, and the safest way to do that is to blend in lol... Haizzz.. So we must dare to be different - for the Father's sake. :)
Yah...
I have always wondered the same question, what it would be like if we were forced by 'gahment' to do things against our religious convictions.
There is actually a 'similar' situation here in Singapore where in many clinics (gahment and private) abortions on demand are carried out. If you are a doctor/nurse working in these clinics you have to assist in these procedures. While staff can opt out because of religious convictions, career advancement obviously will be affected.
But overall we have a great deal of religious freedom here, and we should never stop thanking God for that.
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