I'm not going to sugar coat this one. Some of the things that happen in Exodus scare the crap out of me. I'm glad that whatever God decided to destroy Egypt hasn't come to the conclusion that I need to be taught a lesson. I don't think that anyone in my family for about seven generations would be safe.
Okay moving on. The first person that you see trying to whine and moan his way out of responsibility is none other than Moses. (By the way, Moses is Aaron's younger brother. See previous post.) Rather than accepting what God has to say and going to the Pharaoh immediately with all the power of God behind him, Moses does everything that he can to get out of his responsibilities. What if no one believes him? He can't speak well... etc. The only excuse he doesn't seem to use is that his head hurts. Here Plotz notes an interesting point that this actually ingratiates Moses with God who is not actually looking for "yes-men" as much as he is competent tools that are willing to even question him if it means getting the job done satisfactorily.
As we move through the first half of Exodus, God pretty much flexes his muscles at the world, and shows how cruel he can be by pretty much laying waste to Egypt. Every time it looks like Pharaoh is going to concede and allow the Jews to leave, God "hardens Pharaoh's heart" and proceeds to send another more vicious plague at Egypt.
Finally, after every firstborn son (again with the hating of the firstborns), the Israelites leave. They're not even in the desert for five minutes before they start complaining. Why are they complaining to a guy who just proved that he's like the ultimate smiter (my spell-check hates me for this)? Who in their right mind decides its a good idea to complain to someone that can snuff you out in an instant? God, though, seems pretty patient with Israel for some reason. There is the occasional smiting for disobeying and at one point he almost kills everybody for making a golden calf. In the end though, for some reason, God is very patient with Israel. Though he doesn't actually take them to the promise land, instead condemning them to wander the desert for 40 years.
That Damned Remote...
8 years ago
I have to admit that I also had the hardest time understanding how hard it is for Moses to believe, but it did make sense once we read about how full of complaints the Israelite people were. To think that they were the "chosen" people of God makes me wonder how malicious the rest of the world had to be. They complain and complain and complain, but according to the text they had been in slavery for generations. How much do you think you would complain after a God "left" you to do others work for centuries? Sure, he does come back and lead the people out of Egypt, but the people are new to this more personal God, God who speaks with Noah, and like any person they forget the miracles God has done and fall back into bad habits. They're only human.
ReplyDeleteAs for God making the heart of Pharoah hard, throughout the next few books of the bible other nationalities will constantly comment in fear about what the Hebrew God did to the Egyptians. It served as a warning to the rest of the world is what seems to be my understanding of what happenned.