Reading: Exodus 16-18, Psalm 22

I am good at school tests. I can remember things fairly easily, recall information at a decent if not instant pace, and make a convincing argument in an essay. The tests we give in school are pretty ideal for me. But there are other kinds of tests. Today we will see God introducing a test that I would not have any advantages on, and would not likely pass.

Following the incident where God made bitter water sweet at Marah, we get a series of three stories where God directly intervenes to protect and provide for the people of Israel. First, they complain they do not have enough to eat. Then, they complain they do not have enough to drink. Finally, they are threatened by some distant relatives, the people of Amalek.

God responds to the people’s complaint about food. But first, we get a little interaction between the people and Moses. Moses makes a statement, often to be repeated, which reveals something of his character. Moses tells the people that, despite appearances, they are not grumbling against him and Aaron, but against God. Moses makes no pretense as to being able to do anything for the people himself. Moses is more closely associated with God than any character in the Bible so far, and will continue to be for a very, very long time. His relationship with God is unique. If there were anyone with the right to simply speak for God, Moses would be it. But he does not. He instead pushes the people towards understanding that God is their provider- no human can claim that responsibility or authority. And God delivers, but with a test.

Manna, the bread from heaven, will occupy an important place in the history of Israel, so much so that God has some of it stored for a memorial to the future people of Israel. But it is insignificant compared to the importance of the test introduced by God here. God gives the people a rule about the manna: gather only enough for one day for five days, but on the sixth gather double, and rest on the seventh. There is a whole book to be written on the parallels with the creation here, especially in regard to the sixth and seventh days of creation, but that isn’t the point of this story. During that first week, the people discover if they gather more than a day’s worth of manna, it goes bad overnight. But on the sixth day, they are told to gather double. The act of doing so is an act of obedience without evidence- actually in contradiction to the available evidence. God is asking the people of Israel to obey his words, and this is a test run. There will be more words. A great deal more words. On the seventh day, God declares a holy day of rest. God limits an aspect of life that can easily get out of control: work. Over the next few weeks, we will read a great many laws that God gives Israel. It is helpful to think of them in the same terms. God will be limiting aspects of life that have gotten out of hand due to the human problem.

Following the manna and institution of the sabbath day, there is a similar incident involving water. In this case Moses’ response is a bit more exasperated: “What will I do with this people??” He is reaching a breaking point for the people’s obnoxious complaining. But God again provides for them, this time by having Moses hit a rock with his staff and causing water to pour out of it.

The third incident here is the battle with the people of Amalek. Amalek was a descendant of Esau, and during the time Israel was in Egypt, they followed the pattern of the children of Abraham and also became a large nation. But they have become violent and dangerous. The Amalekites will plague the people of Israel for generations. In this first encounter they appear and attack without any defined cause- perhaps they saw Israel as an invader, but it seems more likely they saw them as an opportunity: laden with the treasures of Egypt and without obvious food and water, they were an appealing and easy target. In the first appearance of Israel’s military leader, Joshua, the people of Israel go out to battle with the Amalekites. But the battle isn’t about tactics. It is about the staff of Moses. When Moses is holding his staff up, the Israelites are winning, when he gets tired and puts it down, they are losing. Two other men go hold up his arms until the battle is over. This battle, while it introduces the antagonizing Amalekites, also appears as another example of how Moses is reaching his limits.

God has provided food, water, and protection to his people all through Moses. And Moses is showing signs of breaking. Exasperation. Exhaustion. He admits he is no one capable of leading Israel, but God uses him anyway. At the burning bush, God told Moses you are not who you think you are, but he is in the end still a human, and he has limits. This leads us into the next narrative, where Jethro, Moses’ father in law, arrives with Moses’ family. Why Zipporah and their sons were with her father is not told. We know from the strange story of Zipporah at the Inn that they went with Moses to Egypt, but at some point Moses sent them back to Midian. Given the activities Moses undertook in Egypt, it seems likely enough he was concerned for their safety, but we don’t really know. At this point Jethro bring the family back together and the priest of Midian has a reunion feast not just with Moses but with the elders of Israel. While some of the family of Abraham (the Amalekites) have become violent and dangerous, some of them are still worshiping Abraham’s God, as Jethro acknowledged the superiority of the God of Israel. But Jethro isn’t done with Moses. He observes Moses’ long and exhausting day as the judge of Israel and tells him, in effect, that he is overworked and to get help. Moses listens to this advice and puts a structure of responsible judges in place.

God has protected and provided in obvious ways in today’s reading, but also in some less obvious ones. Food, water, and threats are dealt with, but so is exhaustion and overwork, through the sabbath and the advice of Jethro. God is at work making the people of Israel into a new kind of people, who behave differently than all the other people around them. Over the next few days God will draw ever more extreme distinctions between Israel and the trouble filled world around them, limiting the results of the human problem on his people and again making them a promise to, in the end, restore all the families of the Earth through them.