Reading: Exodus 13-15, Psalm 21
In the last year I had the distinct pleasure of filing numerous pieces of paperwork at various levels of government. There are few things as joyous as the regulatory rules of cities, counties, states, and the federal government of the United States. Makes me want to party every time.
Does sarcasm come through in text? I certainly hope so. Today we get the first bits of God’s regulations for his people, and I hope you enjoy it, because we are in for a lot more. I do hope you will see that God’s regulations are different than ours- one of his first great commands to his people is to have a party and eat a bunch of food. Now that is my kind of law.
Israel has been ejected forcibly from the kingdom of Egypt, and they are headed out to the wilderness to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now what? It is clear from the Israelite reactions that they do not know where they are going, which is unsurprising considering they had lived in the land of Egypt for 430 years. Imagine, if you will, being told you were going to the place your relatives lived in 1589. Could you find the way? Would you know what country to start looking in? Which continent, even? I could make a vague guess, but it would be a long and uncertain process, and that is with the almost magical power of the internet at my disposal. This uncertainty is worth keeping in mind as we look at the words and actions of the people of Israel in the rest of the book of Exodus and even beyond.
Moses told Pharaoh the people of Israel did not know how their God wanted them to worship him in the wilderness. Now, at the beginning of our reading today, they find out. God will be taking possession of all the firstborn of the people of Israel. The animals will be given to God by sacrifice. The humans will be redeemed by animal sacrifice. God is again co-opting death, the consequences of human rebellion, into the story he is telling. This is a large scale retelling of the sacrifice of Isaac, with much less anxiety for the parents. There will be a great deal of death in the daily worship of the God of Israel, but it won’t be the death of humans. There will be a substitute for them, in this case a lamb. Just like the blood of a lamb protected the people of Israel in Egypt, the blood of a lamb will take the place of their firstborn sons. As we work through the second half of the book of Exodus and the book of Leviticus, we will see a great deal of this. God has made his first declaration of how he is to be worshiped. But he isn’t done.
God declares an annual party and feast. It is easy to think of all the regulatory rules laid out in these books as dry, boring requirements, like the regulations of our present government. But some of the rules God lays out are much more interesting. In this case he tells Israel to hold a week-long celebration commemorating their release from bondage in Israel by the power of their God. The only restriction on the celebration is they must eat unleavened bread- basically crackers. This seems pretty good as worship goes- get together and eat for a week.
God still isn’t done with telling the Israelites how to worship him, but first there are some other events to wrap up. God appears as a cloud and fire (will be significant later), and leads the people away from inhabited lands to avoid conflicts immediately following their exit from Egypt. Pharaoh, the king of stubbornness, gets report of how they are wandering in the wilderness and decides to go get them. One wonders if Pharaoh has any limit to his arrogance at this point. Ten plagues, death and sorrow beyond measure throughout his kingdom, but he continues to be concerned with having Israel as his servants. God tells Moses this will happen, then leads the people up against the edge of the sea. There is debate about exactly where along the edge of Egypt this was, but the story makes it clear this is water not easily crossed.
Recall, if you will, the situation of the people of Israel. They are displaced. Crazy things have happened to them in the recent past, which resulted in leaving their home of hundreds of years to go somewhere they do not know. Their reaction, questioning if Moses brought them into the wilderness to die, may become more understandable. It is worth thinking about what you or I would do in the same spot. Would you do better than them? I don’t think I would. But God has a plan to show both is own people and the people of Egypt something. You know the rest of the story. The cloud blocks the Egyptians. God has Moses raise his staff and the water before them divides so they can walk through the sea. They pass through, but Pharaoh pursues them, and God collapses the sea on them, destroying Pharaoh and his army of chariots.
Upon their escape, Moses sings a song, and the people sing and dance with him. They worship God by having a dance party. The picture of the worship of the God of Israel is starting to come into focus: this is a God one worships in joy, not terror. Unlike the government of Pharaoh, based on oppression and terror, and the gods of the ancient near east, constantly demanding appeasement, the God is Israel is pleased with the joy of his people. Because of the human problem, there is death everywhere in the worship of God, but there is also joyful celebration.
The last bit of today’s reading leads into a series of scenes where God provides the necessities of life to the people of Israel in the wilderness. They come across water they cannot drink. Recall the first plague? Undrinkable water. These are a people who do not really know the God they worship. God makes water available to them, and reassures them that the plagues of Egypt will not fall on them so long as they listen to the voice of God. Tomorrow we will see how God continues to provide for his people and show them, step by step, what kind of God he is, and what kind of people they are.