\n<\/p>\n
00:00<\/p>\n
Pete:\u00a0 You\u2019re
\nlistening to the Bible for Normal People, the only God-ordained podcast on the
\ninternet.\u00a0 Serious talk about the sacred
\nbook.\u00a0 I\u2019m Pete Enns.<\/p>\n
Jared:\u00a0 And I\u2019m Jared
\nByas.<\/p>\n
MUSIC<\/p>\n
00:11<\/p>\n
Hey everybody.\u00a0
\nWelcome to Part 4 of the Pete Ruins Exodus series.\u00a0 Before we begin, a couple of very quick
\nannouncements because I\u2019m afraid I\u2019m going to forget.\u00a0 First of all, October 4 and 5, I\u2019m going to
\nbe at Evolving Faith which is in Denver, CO this year.\u00a0 That should be fun.\u00a0 Also, on September 23, we\u2019re offering a
\none-time only, one evening, one-hour class on Genesis.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the good news.\u00a0 You pay what you want.\u00a0 Just have to reserve your seat.\u00a0 You can get information about that on the
\nwebsite, like exactly when and where.\u00a0
\nHope you can make it to that.\u00a0 It
\nshould be fun.\u00a0 It\u2019s a one-hour only
\nclass.\u00a0 I\u2019m just talking about what I
\nthink are highlights of the book of Genesis and why I think is really important
\nand what I think is really cool about the book that doesn\u2019t always get picked
\nup in casual readings of the book itself.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
Commercial\u2019s over.\u00a0
\nLet\u2019s get into Part 4 of Pete Ruins Exodus.<\/p>\n
This is going to take us from the departure from Egypt over
\nthe Red Sea through Chapter 19, and that is specifically beginning in Chapter
\n13, verse 17.\u00a0 The middle of Chapter 13
\nthrough to the end of Chapter 19.\u00a0 That\u2019s
\nthe departure from Egypt and the journey to Sinai.<\/p>\n
Just to review where we\u2019ve been up to this point in this
\nseries as a whole.\u00a0 We started with Moses
\nand he gets this call from God to be the agent through which the Israelites
\nwill be delivered.\u00a0 He has early
\nstruggles.\u00a0 He really doesn\u2019t want to do
\nit.\u00a0 But he finally gives in and goes
\nahead and he confronts Pharaoh.\u00a0 Pharaoh
\ndoesn\u2019t care what Moses says or what their no-name God says.\u00a0 He never heard of Him.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Of course, that results in the plagues which wind up
\nconvincing Pharaoh that, \u201cYeah, I\u2019m no match for Israel\u2019s god.\u201d\u00a0 Especially the plague of death, which is the
\ntit-for-tat, payback for what Pharaoh did drowning the male infants in the Nile
\nway back in Chapter 1.\u00a0 Now they\u2019re dead
\nas well.\u00a0 The firstborn of Egypt are
\ndead.\u00a0 That\u2019s how the story goes.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
So now they depart.\u00a0
\nAll that\u2019s over.\u00a0 Now, they\u2019re
\nleaving Egypt never to go back again.\u00a0
\nRemember, Mount Sinai, also called Horeb\u2014we talked about that in several
\nplaces in Exodus\u2014Sinai is the goal of the rescue.\u00a0 Aaron and Moses say, \u201cLet my people go so
\nthat they might worship Me in the wilderness.\u201d\u00a0
\nThe wilderness is where Sinai is.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
They have no clue at this point about where they are going
\nafterward, namely into the land of Israel to take over for the Canaanites and
\nto eradicate them and exterminate them and take their land.\u00a0 They don\u2019t know where that\u2019s going.\u00a0 All they know is that they\u2019re going to Mount
\nSinai.\u00a0 Even though the land and entrance
\nto the land, and I\u2019m going to say, just frankly, the monarchy, is really the
\ntrue end goal of Israel in the Hebrew scriptures.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
I\u2019ve written about this elsewhere, but the Pentateuch as a
\nwhole is really an entrance ramp onto that central, important period of time
\nwhen the Israelites are in the land.\u00a0
\nThat\u2019s where I think all this is going.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve got six plus chapters.\u00a0
\nThey can be divided into two parts.\u00a0
\nThe one is the actual departure from Egypt itself.\u00a0 That starts in 13:17. It goes to the end of
\nChapter 15, 15:21.\u00a0 Then the journey to
\nSinai, which picks up at 15:22 and goes to the end of Chapter 19.<\/p>\n
These six chapters have some pretty well-known stories in
\nthem.<\/p>\n
First, let\u2019s look at some highlights from part one, the
\ndeparture from Egypt across the Red Sea.\u00a0
\nOne thing to note is that we have two versions of the same event.\u00a0 We have a prose version, which is 13:17
\nthrough Chapter 14.\u00a0\u00a0 Then the poetic
\nversion, which is in 15:1-21. <\/p>\n
This is similar, if you\u2019re familiar with the book of Judges,
\nin Chapters 4 and 5, we also have a prose version and a poetic version of the
\nexploits of the judge Deborah.\u00a0 The poetry,
\nthe poetic version, is, according to biblical scholars who study Hebrew, it is
\ncertainly older.\u00a0 At least, the core of
\nit is older, if not the whole thing.\u00a0
\nThere are reasons for saying that.\u00a0
\nThat becomes important in a minute when we get into Chapter 15 because
\nof the kinds of things that it says.<\/p>\n
This is just a reminder to us that we have, here again, as
\nwe have so often in the Bible, evidence of different traditions that are
\nprobably written or originated orally in different times and places, and here
\nwe have editors at a later time putting them together, just back-to-back.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s like Genesis 1 and 2.\u00a0
\nYou have two creation stories and they are back-to-back, edited together
\nand left there, even they don\u2019t say exactly the same thing.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look at that prose, the narrative version first.\u00a0 That\u2019s the first one that pops up in 13 and
\n14.\u00a0 They depart from Egypt and Yahweh
\nmakes them look lost in order to pick a fight with Pharaoh.\u00a0 The people freak out (Israelites) and God
\ndrives back the Red Sea to open an escape route.\u00a0 The Israelites pass through safely, but the
\nEgyptians drown and they wash up on the shore.\u00a0
\nThat\u2019s how the story goes.\u00a0 Very
\nfamous story.<\/p>\n
One thing to note is that Pharaoh was all ready to let them
\ngo.\u00a0 He had been convinced after the last
\nplague.\u00a0 He said finally, \u201cJust go.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to see you again.\u00a0 Just get out of here.\u201d\u00a0 He was ready to let them go, and he did.\u00a0 But God wants Pharaoh to follow the
\nIsraelites.\u00a0 God hardens Pharaoh\u2019s
\nheart.\u00a0 You see it in Chapter 14, verse 8
\nand 17, and especially 17 is explicit that the purpose of the hardening is so
\nthat the Egyptians will follow the Israelites.\u00a0
\nIt\u2019s hard to pass over the fact that God wants them dead.<\/p>\n
As harsh as that is, and I think it is harsh, we can offer a
\ncontextual, theological explanation.\u00a0 By
\ncontextual, I mean the groove of the story itself up to this point.\u00a0 We can read this drowning of the Egyptian
\narmy in the Red Sea as tit-for-tat, payback for another Pharaoh drowning the
\nIsraelite male infants in the Nile way back in Chapter 1.\u00a0 Also, \u201cYou\u2019ve been treating my people
\nharshly,\u201d says Yahweh, \u201cso I\u2019m going to treat your people harshly.\u201d\u00a0 Although, I still wonder if this is necessary
\nto drown them.\u00a0 How about just letting
\nthe sea close up so they can\u2019t cross.\u00a0
\nBut they drowned.\u00a0 That\u2019s how the
\nstory goes.<\/p>\n
This is an example of violence in the Bible and it raises some eyebrows, not
\njust for today, but this is a story that has made people think for quite a
\nwhile.\u00a0 It\u2019s caused a lot of
\nconsternation for one of my own children.\u00a0
\nWhen she was very young, she came home from Sunday School and this was
\nthe story and she came home just very, very upset, asking, \u201cWhat kind of a god
\nis this?\u00a0 Aren\u2019t these God\u2019s children
\ntoo?\u00a0 Why does God do stuff like this?\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
This is not the Bible\u2019s best moment, in my opinion.\u00a0 But this is how the might and power of God is
\nexpressed in an ancient tribal context.\u00a0
\nYour god is great because your enemies are destroyed before you.<\/p>\n
Some of you know how I handle this sort of divine violence,
\nnot as a depiction of what really happened, or not as a depiction of what God
\nis really like, but as a depiction of ancient people of faith, true ancient
\npeople of faith, albeit in a tribalistic, Iron Age society\u2014the Iron Age started
\nin 1200 BCE and goes well into the first millennium BCE.\u00a0 That\u2019s the basic time of Israel\u2019s existence
\nas a people is during the Iron Age.\u00a0 This
\nis how people in the Iron Age expressed their faith, expressed their
\nunderstanding of the gods or of God.\u00a0
\nThis is what gods did.\u00a0 They go to
\nbattle.<\/p>\n
Remember, way back in the first episode, along with most
\nbiblical scholars, I said that I don\u2019t think Exodus is a historical account,
\neven if it preserves an ancient, historical memory, as biblical scholars like
\nto call it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think we would see
\nthis if someone had been videotaping, so to speak.\u00a0 This reflects an ancient understanding of
\nancient Israelites about what their god is like.\u00a0 That\u2019s my opinion.\u00a0 That\u2019s how I \u201cget out of it.\u201d\u00a0 But I\u2019m not trying to get out of
\nanything.\u00a0 I\u2019m trying to understand it.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re interested, you can see some blog posts that I\u2019ve
\nwritten on violence.\u00a0 You can just type,
\n\u201cviolence\u201d in the search bar or in an earlier chapter in The Bible Tells Me So,
\nI deal with biblical violence as I understand it.\u00a0 It\u2019s the number one question I get from young
\npeople today. \u00a0That and human
\nsexuality.\u00a0 Those are the things that
\nthey really want to talk about. <\/p>\n
09:30<\/p>\n
Another thing about this prose narrative section.\u00a0 The Israelites see the Egyptians coming and
\nthey grumble and they complain.\u00a0
\nBasically, \u201cwe could have died just as easily in Egypt, Moses.\u00a0 Why bring us all the way out here to just
\ntrap us at the sea?\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Then Moses says something interesting that I think is often
\nmisunderstood, which is why I want to bring it up.\u00a0 He basically says, \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid.\u00a0 After today, you\u2019ll never see these Egyptians
\nagain.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m quoting verse 14 of Chapter
\n14.\u00a0 \u201cThe Lord will fight for you.\u00a0 You only have to keep still.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s not a soothing word.\u00a0 It\u2019s typically interpreted, \u201cThere,
\nthere.\u00a0 Just calm your hearts.\u00a0 God will take care of everything.\u00a0 Just be still and know that I am God,\u201d as we
\nread in the Psalms.\u00a0 \u201cThe Lord will fight
\nfor you, but just chill.\u201d<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think that\u2019s at all what Moses is saying in this
\nstory.\u00a0 This is a rebuke.\u00a0 \u201cThe Lord will fight for you.\u00a0 You need to keep your mouth shut.\u00a0 You need to stop complaining.\u201d\u00a0 This is the first of many rebukes of Moses
\nthat we\u2019re going to see toward the Israelites in Moses\u2019 lifetime.\u00a0 This is the real beginning of this grumbling
\ntheme that we\u2019re going to see a lot of.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
He\u2019s not making them feel calmed about this.\u00a0 He\u2019s just saying, \u201cJust shut up.\u00a0 You\u2019ve seen plagues, the Red Sea open, for
\nheaven\u2019s sake, and you\u2019re still complaining.\u00a0
\nCome on.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Another thing.\u00a0 This
\nconcerns the actual parting of the Red Sea.\u00a0
\nThis is in verse 21.\u00a0 The Red Sea
\nis really the Sea of Reeds.\u00a0 That\u2019s what
\nit says in Hebrew.\u00a0 Where the Sea of
\nReeds is a topic of a lot of discussion among people who look for these sorts
\nof things.\u00a0 Is it a lake?\u00a0 Is it a marsh or something like that?\u00a0 But the reason why we say Red Sea in our
\nEnglish translations is that this has to do with influence of Greek translators
\nof the Bible before the time of Jesus.<\/p>\n
There was a little bit of confusion about what body of water
\nwas actually represented by this term \u201cred sea.\u201d\u00a0 If you look at a map today of the modern
\nMiddle East and where it says \u201cRed Sea,\u201d it\u2019s this massive body of water,
\nthat\u2019s not what anybody meant.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard
\nto know exactly what they meant, when they said \u201cRed Sea\u201d back in this Greek period.\n<\/p>\n
In the biblical text, the Hebrew text, it says, \u201cSea of
\nReeds,\u201d but again, we don\u2019t know where that is either.\u00a0 All that to the side.\u00a0 The parting of the Red Sea echoes the
\ncreation story.\u00a0 This is the theological
\npoint I want to make.\u00a0 Moses stretched
\nout his hand with the staff, and an East wind divided the waters of the Red Sea
\nand they parted. <\/p>\n
Now wind\u2014the Hebrew word is \u201cruach,\u201d which means \u201cspirit\u201d or
\n\u201cwind\u201d and that\u2019s the same \u201cruach\u201d of Genesis 1 that is hovering over the
\n\u201cdeep.\u201d\u00a0 What\u2019s the \u201cdeep?\u201d\u00a0 The deep is the primordial sea at the dawn of
\ncreation that God has to tame, that God has to put in its place to allow for
\nlife to appear.\u00a0 The wind drives back
\nwater giving life.\u00a0 That\u2019s the same in
\nboth the Genesis creation story of Genesis Chapter 1 and this parting of the
\nsea here in Exodus.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
The wind, \u201cit turned the sea to dry land\u201d\u2014I\u2019m quoting
\nhere.\u00a0 \u201cAnd the waters were
\ndivided.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s better to think of the
\nwaters as not maybe divided, although that\u2019s fine, but as pushed back, pushed out
\nof the way, revealing the dry land beneath, which is also the language in
\nGenesis Chapter 1.\u00a0 The third day of
\ncreation, it\u2019s the same thing.\u00a0 The
\nwaters were divided, revealing the dry land beneath.<\/p>\n
In both stories, waters are separated, pushed aside,
\nrevealing what was there all the time: dry land.\u00a0 In other words\u2014this is getting into Genesis 1
\na little bit more than you\u2019re paying for here\u2014in Genesis 1, this is why it\u2019s
\nnot creation out of nothing.\u00a0 What you
\nhave is a \u201cdeep,\u201d a massive chaotic water that God divides and splits,
\nrevealing the dry land, i.e., the earth beneath it.\u00a0 Those things were already there in Genesis
\nChapter 1.<\/p>\n
Actually, Genesis Chapter 1 makes no sense unless we
\nunderstand the ideology of the ancient Israelites here and how they thought
\nabout what a creator god does.\u00a0 It\u2019s not
\nout of nothing.\u00a0 That comes later.\u00a0 It\u2019s in the Bible.\u00a0 It\u2019s just not here.<\/p>\n
Think of taking a leaf blower to a big puddle on a sidewalk
\nafter a heavy rain.\u00a0 The water is pushed
\naside by the wind, by the force of the leaf blower, and the sidewalk is
\nrevealed, that\u2019s always been there underneath.\u00a0
\nThat\u2019s what\u2019s happening in Genesis 1 and in Exodus 14 in the parting of
\nthe sea.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Now the point\u2014we touched about this is a couple of earlier
\nepisodes\u2014the point is that God\u2019s act of redemption, here crossing the Red Sea,
\nis a replay of God\u2019s act of creation, which is to say, redemption (saving,
\ndelivering, redeeming) is an act of re-creation.\u00a0 Hang with me.<\/p>\n
As with the plagues, parting the sea is getting creation involved
\nin saving God\u2019s people and destroying the enemies of God\u2019s people.\u00a0 In the flood, you have the waters of the
\nupper atmosphere above the vault, above that dome, those waters are let go and
\nthey come crashing down to defeat the bad guys, which is basically everybody
\nbut Noah and his family.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what\u2019s happening too, here in the Exodus story in
\nChapter 14.\u00a0 These waters are again
\nseparated and just like the flood story, they come crashing back down
\nagain.\u00a0 But Israel, or Noah, are not
\naffected negatively.\u00a0 They\u2019re actually
\ndelivered through that.\u00a0 To save is to
\ncreate again.\u00a0 We here echoes of that in
\nthe New Testament.\u00a0 I know I\u2019ve mentioned
\nthis, but just very briefly I want to mention it again, because I think it\u2019s so
\nimportant theologically, in the New Testament we see echoes of this.\u00a0 For example, where Paul says, \u201cif anyone is
\nin Christ, there is a new creation.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
To be saved means to start anew and to use the language of
\nJohn\u2019s gospel, that you\u2019re \u201cborn again.\u201d\u00a0
\nYou\u2019re starting over.\u00a0 You have a
\nnew start.\u00a0 Which is certainly what is
\nhappening here at the Red Sea.\u00a0 Israel is
\nbeing transformed, re-created from a group of slaves and now beginning to be
\nformed into what it\u2019s going to become, namely a nation.<\/p>\n
Having said all that, it\u2019s still a really violent
\nstory.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not cover over that.\u00a0 But there are theological things happening
\nthere as well.\u00a0 Speaking of violence,
\nlet\u2019s turn to Chapter 15 here, the poetic version of the Red Sea crossing.<\/p>\n
For one thing\u2014I alluded to this before\u2014this may be one of
\nthe oldest pieces of Israelite literature we have, because of the Hebrew
\nstyle.\u00a0 Scholars can tell where we are in
\nstages of the evolution of biblical Hebrew.<\/p>\n
17:05<\/p>\n
Biblical scholars\u2014this is routine.\u00a0 This is very early.\u00a0 This is not written during the monarchy, but
\nprobably going back to before the time of David.\u00a0 It could be that old, which is very old.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the thing:\u00a0 this very, very old piece of ancient Hebrew
\nliterature depicts God as a fierce warrior.\u00a0
\nIt\u2019s not uncommon to hear scholars muse that Israel\u2019s view of God began
\nas one of being a warrior, understandably due to the cultural influences and
\nthen the view of God grew to include other metaphors like gardener, planter,
\npotter, law-giver, things like that.<\/p>\n
Warrior might become less prominent, less harsh,
\nperhaps.\u00a0 God\u2019s depiction might become
\nless harsh.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to paint that
\nin too simplistic a way, like there\u2019s an evolution where God starts off as a
\nwarrior and ends as a tree-hugger.\u00a0 But we
\ndo have the earliest reflections of Israelite religion in these poetic
\nsections.\u00a0 There, God is a fierce, no-nonsense,
\ntake-no-prisoners warrior.<\/p>\n
You come later to the book of Jonah, where God says, \u201cI
\nactually have compassion on Israel\u2019s enemies.\u00a0
\nI don\u2019t want to kill them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Something is going on in this trajectory within the Hebrew
\nBible or Old Testament itself.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
So this song praises Yahweh for destroying his enemies by
\ndrowning them in the sea.\u00a0 For that
\nreason, Yahweh is praised as a god who has no equal, as we read in verse
\n11.\u00a0 \u201cWho is like you, O Lord, among the
\ngods?\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Catch that there.\u00a0
\n\u201cAmong the gods.\u201d\u00a0 We have here
\none of many examples, and you\u2019ve heard this before, in the Old Testament of
\nIsrael\u2019s belief that their god, Yahweh, was not the only god, but was the best
\ngod, the one truly worthy of worship.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
In fact, as I said before, that might be the point of the whole Pentateuch, to
\nmake the case that Yahweh alone is worthy of Israel\u2019s worship.\u00a0 Israel does not practice\u2014I have a whole blog
\npost series probably and a podcast from way back in Season 1 talking about
\nthis\u2014but Israel did not practice monotheism, at least through most of its
\nhistory that we see in the Old Testament, but monolatry.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
The difference is this:\u00a0
\nmonotheism means there\u2019s only one god.\u00a0
\nMonolatry means you only worship one, but you acknowledge the existence
\nof others.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
We saw this is the plague story.\u00a0 God is passing judgment on all the gods of
\nEgypt.\u00a0 Exodus 12:12. What does that
\nmean?\u00a0 Passing judgment on all the gods
\nof Egypt?\u00a0 It means\u2014there\u2019s an assumption
\nthere that there are other gods that Yahweh is passing judgment on.\u00a0 If we miss this dynamic that Yahweh is better
\nor the best by far of all the other gods or if we try to step around it because
\nthe theology bothers us a bit, we\u2019re gonna miss the theology of the book.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Making the Israelites into monotheists here is
\npremature.\u00a0 That happens later on in
\nIsrael\u2019s history.\u00a0 I would say certainly
\nby the time you get to Jesus and well before that, we can call the Israelites
\nmonotheists.\u00a0 Only one god exists. <\/p>\n
The heavens might be active places, but they\u2019re not
\ngods.\u00a0 But here, that\u2019s not the case.\u00a0 Making these Israelites here of Exodus into
\nmonotheists just creates confusion in the story.\u00a0\u00a0 You can\u2019t make sense of things like Exodus
\n12:12, where Yahweh says he\u2019s passing judgment on all the gods of Egypt.\u00a0 I\u2019ve beaten that dead horse enough.<\/p>\n
20:57<\/p>\n
Next point.\u00a0 This song
\nthat\u2019s sung at the sea mentions something.\u00a0
\nIt\u2019s subtle.\u00a0 It mentions
\nsomething that doesn\u2019t happen until much later in the biblical story.\u00a0 Namely, I\u2019m talking about verses 17 and 18. <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how it begins: \u201cYou (Yahweh) brought them in and
\nplanted them on the mountain of your possession, the place, O Lord, that you
\nmade your abode.\u201d\u00a0 What is this mountain
\nof your possession?\u00a0 What is this
\nabout?\u00a0 Maybe, it\u2019s talking about Mount
\nSinai, because that\u2019s where they\u2019re going.\u00a0
\nThey\u2019re not there yet, but nearly so.\u00a0
\nGive it a couple chapters.\u00a0
\nThey\u2019ll be there.\u00a0 Still in the
\npast tense, though.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
This raises another question.\u00a0 Could it be referring to another mountain and
\nanother abode all together?\u00a0 Hang in
\nthere.\u00a0 Keep reading.\u00a0 \u201cThe sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have
\nestablished.\u201d\u00a0 The sanctuary.\u00a0 The holy place.\u00a0 What is that sanctuary?\u00a0 Could it be Sinai?\u00a0 Perhaps.\u00a0
\nIt could be Mount Sinai.\u00a0 Or
\nperhaps another sanctuary entirely.<\/p>\n
Keep reading.\u00a0 Verse
\n18 says this: \u201cThe Lord will reign forever and ever.\u201d\u00a0 From where?\u00a0
\nFrom the mountain?\u00a0 From the
\nabode?\u00a0 From Mount Sinai?\u00a0 Probably not, since Yahweh will leave forever
\nSinai when he goes with the Israelites into the Promised Land.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t go back.\u00a0 Yahweh doesn\u2019t show up on Mount Sinai again
\nand say, \u201cI live here really.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019s
\ngoing to live with Israel.\u00a0 Where is he going
\nto live with Israel?\u00a0 In the temple.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
In Old Testament theology, the language we see here fits
\nvery nicely with the ideology of the temple in Jerusalem as the sanctuary, the
\nabode, the mountain.\u00a0 Mount Zion.\u00a0 The temple is on a mountain.\u00a0 Theology, Mount Zion takes the place of Mount
\nSinai in Israelite theology.\u00a0 It\u2019s from
\nthere that Yahweh will rule.\u00a0 Through the
\nkings, but forever and ever.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
We see this language in various places in the Old Testament,
\nincluding the Psalms and II Samuel 7.\u00a0 So
\nwhat?\u00a0 Well, for one thing, this illusion
\nto the temple suggests that this ancient poem, as in pre-David, may have been
\nadded to as time went on to reflect Israel\u2019s growing theology.\u00a0 It\u2019s developing theology.\u00a0 In other words, this ancient poem, Chapter
\n15, may have gotten its final shape after the Israelites were settled in the
\nland with their own king and temple.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Note that (and I hope that your English translations get
\nthis because some don\u2019t) the entire poem, all the stuff that talks about the
\nExodus and all the stuff that seems to be talking about the conquest of the
\nland and entering it and building a temple where Yahweh\u2019s going to be
\nworshipped, all that stuff is in the past tense.<\/p>\n
For this writer, both the Exodus and the establishment of
\nthe monarchy and the religious life of the people, those things are past
\nevents.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s interesting
\nbecause it suggests something, once again, of the dating or at least the
\ngeneral time frame of when this stuff was written or when this poem, when this
\nsong got its final form.\u00a0 Probably well
\ninto the monarchy, if not later.<\/p>\n
Again, it\u2019s interesting.\u00a0
\nSome translations put the second half of this poem that talks about the
\nland and the temple as future to avoid this kind of conclusion, but I think
\nthat they\u2019re wrong.\u00a0 I think the Hebrew
\nreally lends itself very naturally to just keep reading everything in the past
\ntense.\u00a0 There is no indication that you
\nshould switch to future in Hebrew when you get to this part.<\/p>\n
Another so what.\u00a0\u00a0 Why
\nam I dragging this out?\u00a0 I\u2019m not dragging
\nit out.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s really
\ninteresting.\u00a0 Another so what.<\/p>\n
This is a huge issue because scholars routinely, and I think
\ncorrectly, see the temple on Mount Zion as a replacement for Mount Sinai.\u00a0 The temple mount replaces Mount Sinai.\u00a0 Or perhaps, as is more commonly thought among
\nbiblical scholars, maybe it\u2019s the other way around.\u00a0 Maybe Sinai is the later Israelite temple
\nbrought back into ancient mythic time.\u00a0 How
\nis that for a mouthful?<\/p>\n
Which came first?\u00a0 The
\ndepiction of Mount Sinai as a sanctuary, as an abode, as a holy mountain and
\nthen the temple is modeled after that?\u00a0
\nOr is the temple there first and then the stories of Sinai are written
\nin such a way to reflect that later glory of the temple?\u00a0 Which came first?\u00a0 <\/p>\n
That\u2019s a lot to wrap our arms around.\u00a0 That\u2019s actually a few podcast episodes all by
\nitself.\u00a0 I only bring it up here because
\nit might help to explain the ambiguity of verses 17 and 18.\u00a0 You\u2019re reading it, and what are we talking
\nabout?\u00a0 Sinai?\u00a0 Or Zion?\u00a0
\nThat\u2019s a good question.\u00a0 Maybe
\nthat ambiguity is intentional.\u00a0 Maybe
\nthey are both the same.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re really motivated, I highly recommend a book by one I should plug my own books, not somebody else\u2019s.\u00a0 What\u2019s wrong with me?<\/p>\n 26:45<\/p>\n Okay, a lot more to this.\u00a0 Let\u2019s move on Here\u2019s the big picture.\u00a0 They take a couple of drinks in a couple of special 27:42 BREAK<\/p>\n 29:10<\/p>\n Next, after that, they get a miraculous supply of water from Next, they keep moving.\u00a0 You might be asking what Jethro\u2019s doing there.\u00a0 Remember, he is where?\u00a0 He is from Midian.\u00a0 On the way to Sinai, we are close to Midian, Finally, after three months, they reach Sinai and the people That\u2019s the gist of what\u2019s happening in the end of 15 through 19.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Just a few highlights:<\/p>\n First, water and food are going to be a problem because we The story is written to explain that.\u00a0 We know of stories like this too.\u00a0 Where do things like sickness, death and evil Why is the Grand Canyon so deep?\u00a0 Because Paul Bunyan and his ox had a The second miraculous supply of water happens at a place Moses is told by God to strike the rock to let water flow Here\u2019s the thing:\u00a0 Side issue:\u00a0 gathering Questions that are really hard to answer definitively, but The manna is a daily gift from God for the entire 40 years 34:19<\/p>\n No such permanent supply of water is given in this We see a close version of this very same story of getting One reason I find that so fascinating is because Paul, our Note that Paul doesn\u2019t just say the rock was Christ making a I know we\u2019re just biting off a big chunk off to the side here.\u00a0 If you\u2019re interested, I talk more about this One more comment on the manna.\u00a0 Let\u2019s pause there for one more second.\u00a0 We\u2019re told that they\u2019re to gather an omer of An omer is a unit of measurement.\u00a0 It\u2019s about one to two liters.\u00a0 Frankly, that\u2019s no help to me because I\u2019m Could I pick a more boring verse to mention?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think so.\u00a0 Not for me anyway.\u00a0 An omer is a measurement known to us only He needed to explain what that was to his readers, who lived Today, a day\u2019s wage\u2014I actually Googled this\u2014an average So much for food and water.<\/p>\n 39:45<\/p>\n Another point.\u00a0 This One explanation for where they got their armor and their That actually makes some sense if you think about it.\u00a0 It\u2019s worth noting that the story itself I also think that a story about an Amalekite battle here I\u2019m willing to think more about that, to entertain that Let me elaborate on that a little bit more.\u00a0 Again, I think it\u2019s important.\u00a0 We have to look at how they win the battle at Frankly, folks, that\u2019s a little bit weird.\u00a0 Some commentaries say that this seems In other words, this is another Egypt-like miracle which The power that delivered them from Pharaoh will also now \u201cMoses isn\u2019t here.\u00a0 It\u2019s still weird.\u00a0 On one level, I think that\u2019s fine.\u00a0 It\u2019s well-attested in church history.\u00a0 It\u2019s fine for Christians to bring these stories 45:45<\/p>\n But it\u2019s still one of the weirder episodes in Exodus, along Another point here in this second big section on the way to Early in According to It seems here Here\u2019s Moses just It\u2019s like How does Not so fast I\u2019m not sure Maybe the biggest Scholars have This story of In this Moving toward They all This means Here you have That\u2019s why This plan to 53:50<\/p>\n Another point Now Moses, of Hanging Moses here on We also see In Chapter 55:57\u00a0 MUSIC<\/p>\n All right All right
\nof my professors, John Levinson, called Sinai
\nand Zion.<\/em>\u00a0 The book is those two
\nmountains, comparing them and how they\u2019re analogous to each other.\u00a0 It\u2019s a fascinating book. <\/p>\n
\nto the second part, the journey to Sinai itself that begins at the end of 15
\nand goes through 19.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nAfter Moses\u2019 song that we just went through, his sister Miriam and the
\nwomen, they sing what looks like the same song and then they all head out to
\nthe dessert where they are immediately thirsty and wonder why no one thought
\nahead that this might be a problem.\u00a0 They
\nare in the wilderness, for heaven\u2019s sake.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nplaces.\u00a0 Then they receive the manna from
\nheaven, the bread from heaven.\u00a0 Manna is
\nthe Hebrew word, \u201cmanna,\u201d which means \u201cwhat is it?\u201d\u00a0 Because that\u2019s what the Israelites said.\u00a0 I might say, \u201cWhat the heck is this?\u201d but I
\ndon\u2019t think there is a Hebrew word for that.\u00a0
\n\u201cWhat is this stuff that lands like dew on the ground?\u00a0 We\u2019re supposed to eat it?\u00a0 Come again.\u00a0
\nWhat is this stuff?\u201d<\/p>\n
\na rock just in time to ward off an attack from the Amalekites.\u00a0 Where did they come from?\u00a0 This is the first battle.\u00a0 Things are moving rather quickly here in this
\nstory.<\/p>\n
\nThey\u2019re going toward Mount Sinai.\u00a0
\nNext, Moses\u2019 father-in-law, Jethro, shows up and he advises Moses to get
\nhelp \u201cherding the cats,\u201d so to speak, judging the people, adjudicating differences,
\nthings like that.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nit seems.\u00a0 That is\u2014I touched on this in
\nthe first episode\u2014Mount Sinai, in the logic of the story, seems to be in
\nMidian, not in the Sinai Peninsula way south at Saint Catherine\u2019s Monastery.\u00a0 Look on a study Bible map.\u00a0 It seems to be some place in Midian.\u00a0 That\u2019s the logic of the story.<\/p>\n
\nare consecrated by going through a cleansing ritual, because they\u2019re going to
\nneed this powerful god who defeated the Egyptian pantheon and the army by all
\nthese signs and wonders.<\/p>\n
\nare in the wilderness.\u00a0 We actually see
\ntwo miraculous supplies of water.\u00a0 The
\nfirst is turning the bitter waters in Mara into sweet water.\u00a0 It happens to be that \u201cMara\u201d in Hebrew means
\n\u201cbitterness.\u201d\u00a0 This story is often seen
\nby scholars as a story written to explain some phenomenon, in this case, why
\nthis location is called \u201cbitterness,\u201d of all the things to call a town.\u00a0 Why call it \u201cbitterness?\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\ncome from?\u00a0 Pandora opened the box.\u00a0 Adam and Eve ate a piece of fruit.\u00a0 These are stories that are called etiological
\nstories that seem to be written to explain why things are the way they are.<\/p>\n
\nwrestling match.\u00a0 It\u2019s a story written,
\ntold to explain a phenomenon.\u00a0 That might
\nbe what\u2019s happening with this site, \u201cMara,\u201d calling it \u201cbitterness.\u201d\u00a0 This story of making the bitter water sweet
\nby throwing a branch in there.<\/p>\n
\ncalled Rephidim.\u00a0 This is in chapter
\n17.\u00a0 The people grumble again, which
\nmakes sense, because they had gotten a drink at Mara and at another place
\ncalled Elim, which is an oasis.\u00a0 But now,
\nthey left those places and they still need water.\u00a0 So they complain.\u00a0 Again, \u201cMoses, what are you trying to
\ndo?\u00a0 Kill us?\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nout of it which he does.\u00a0 Moses promptly
\ngives the place two names:\u00a0 Massa and
\nMeribah, which mean \u201ctest\u201d\u2014they\u2019re testing God\u2014and \u201cquarrel.\u201d\u00a0 Again, possibly stories to explain how
\nlocations got their names.\u00a0 Possibly.<\/p>\n
\nwater, for the Israelites, presented more of problem for them than food
\nbecause in between these two water stories, the waters of Mara and the waters
\nof Rephidim, in between these two stories, God gives them bread from heaven,
\nthe manna to eat.\u00a0 That manna is promised
\nby God to come every morning dew, except on the Sabbath, so gather twice as
\nmuch the day before.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nbread on the Sabbath would be work and you don\u2019t do work on the Sabbath even
\nthough there\u2019s no Sabbath command given until Chapter 20.\u00a0 I just wonder, in the logic of the story,
\nwere the people thinking, \u201cWhat\u2019s a\u2014what do you mean Sabbath?\u00a0 Where did that come from?\u201d\u00a0 Or are we seeing, again, the story written
\nfrom a later point of view where Sabbath-keeping was already a thing.<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019m intrigued enough to ask them because they let us in a little bit on the
\nnature of this literature.<\/p>\n
\nthey wandered in the wilderness.\u00a0 It
\ndoesn\u2019t cease until they come to the borders of Canaan.\u00a0 We read that in 16:35. It\u2019s also stated in
\nJoshua Chapter 5.\u00a0 In other words, it
\nceases after they\u2019ve entered the land.\u00a0
\nThey have bread to eat for 40 years.\u00a0
\nGreat!<\/p>\n
\nstory.\u00a0 They\u2019re left to wander, maybe
\nstress out about all that.\u00a0 Not to get
\noff the track, but again, this is so intriguing again to me.\u00a0 This is the kind of stuff that reading Exodus
\njumps out at me as I read it.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nwater from a rock in Numbers Chapter 20.\u00a0
\nThat\u2019s toward the end of Israel\u2019s 40 years in the wilderness.\u00a0 There, too, water comes from a rock.\u00a0 Ancient Jewish interpreters\u2014this is before
\nthe time of the New Testament\u2014perhaps also wondering why there was no daily
\nprovision of water, came up with a rather ingenious solution.\u00a0 The rock of Exodus 17 that gave water and the
\nrock of Numbers 20 that gave water, though they\u2019re separated by 40 years and
\nlocated in completely different places, were one in the same rock, which had
\napparently rolled around the wilderness for 40 years supplying water, like a
\nportable water fountain.<\/p>\n
\nvery own Paul, in I Corinthians, seems to be aware of this rather creative
\nexplanation and even drops it into Chapter 10, verse 4 of I Corinthians.\u00a0 He recalls this episode of the Israelites in
\nthe wilderness and he talks about how the rock back in Moses\u2019 day was
\nChrist.\u00a0 Paul is trying to say that
\nChrist\u2019s presence was with them too.\u00a0 A
\nvery Paul thing to say.\u00a0 A very New
\nTestament thing to say.<\/p>\n
\nChristological connection.\u00a0 He says \u201cthe
\nrock that followed them,\u201d followed the Israelites was Christ.\u00a0 Followed.\u00a0
\nHe got that idea from somewhere.\u00a0
\nHe got it from his Jewish tradition.<\/p>\n
\nin the Bible Tells Me So.\u00a0 Sorry for the
\ndeviation, but I just love looking at how Jewish the New Testament writers were
\nwhen they used their Bible, what Christians call the Old Testament.\u00a0 It\u2019s actually this story, specifically, that
\nstarted me down a different path over 30 years ago, about thinking about how
\nthe Bible actually works and what it is and how we read it.<\/p>\n
\nmanna per day, two omers on the day before the Sabbath so you can eat for two
\ndays.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nAmerican and my phone app says that a cubic liter is about a half dry
\ngallon.\u00a0 My point is that Exodus 16:36
\nseems like it needs to explain what an omer is.\u00a0
\nBecause this is what Exodus 16:36 says.\u00a0
\nIt says, \u201cAn omer is a tenth of an ephah.\u201d\u00a0 An ephah is about 23 liters or somewhere between
\nfive to six gallons.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nfrom this story.\u00a0 The ephah is the more
\ncommon measurement in the Old Testament used over 30 times.\u00a0 We\u2019re seeing here, again, a clue about when
\nthis story was written.\u00a0 It seems the
\nstory of omers of manna being gathered preserves something of the past, maybe
\nthe deep past from the point of view of the later biblical writer.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nat a time when ephah was the measurement used.\u00a0
\nIn other words, we\u2019re seeing here in this little editorial comment a
\nhint of how these biblical stories have a history.\u00a0 Maybe they\u2019ve developed and they\u2019ve evolved
\nand things needed to be added as things were handed down.\u00a0 It\u2019s like us reading in the New Testament\u2014maybe
\nyou\u2019ve come across this\u2014we have footnotes that explain a denarius, a unit of
\ncoinage.\u00a0 A denarius is about a day\u2019s
\nwage.\u00a0 That\u2019s what my study Bible says.<\/p>\n
\nlaborer\u2019s day\u2019s wage today is $14.57 an hour which is $116.56 cents a day.\u00a0 It actually helps to know that a little
\nbit.\u00a0 A denarius is about a day\u2019s
\nwage.\u00a0 What was a day\u2019s wage?\u00a0 What would it be for us?\u00a0 It helps us to put it into context.\u00a0 Because simply to say denarius\u2014what do I
\ncare?\u00a0 I don\u2019t even know what that
\nmeans.\u00a0 Oh, it\u2019s about what a worker
\nmakes in a day.\u00a0 $15 an hour.\u00a0 $120.\u00a0
\nOkay.\u00a0 I get it.<\/p>\n
\nIsraelites right away find themselves in a battle against the Amalekites.\u00a0 This is in Chapter 17, verses 8 to 16.\u00a0 For one thing, it\u2019s worth asking whence the
\nIsraelites got their weapons.\u00a0 Exodus
\ndoes say earlier in the story that they left Egypt with plunder, likes clothes
\nand valuables.\u00a0 It\u2019s really unlikely that
\nthe Egyptians would have decked them out in military gear.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think I\u2019m crazy for suggesting that.<\/p>\n
\nswords and their shields from\u2014one explanation that ancient Jewish interpreters
\ncame up with is that the Israelites stripped the armor and the weapons off of
\nthe Egyptian soldiers whose dead bodies washed up on the shore of the Sea of
\nReeds. <\/p>\n
\ndoesn\u2019t seem at all concerned about with filling in this logical gap.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think the writer actually cared very
\nmuch.<\/p>\n
\nmight be for the purpose of giving the later reader something to chew on seeing
\nthat the Amalekites were enemies during the times of David and Saul, in their
\nattempts to unify Israel around a monarchy.<\/p>\n
\npossibility.\u00a0 I have a feeling that this
\nmay be more complicated than what we\u2019ve seen before, reading Israel\u2019s later
\nhistory back into an earlier time.\u00a0 The
\nAmalekites have been around for a long time.\u00a0
\nI don\u2019t think this is a made-up thing.\u00a0
\nBut there may be something more to it than what I\u2019m seeing.\u00a0 Again, we do see this sort of thing
\nelsewhere, where a writer places something of his present back in the
\npast.\u00a0 In other words, I don\u2019t know, but
\nit is curious that the first thing that happens when they come into the land is
\nthat they have a battle with the Amalekites.\u00a0
\nIt\u2019s not just that they have a battle, however we explain that, the
\nstory also serves a purpose of a couple things:\u00a0
\n1) introducing Joshua as Moses\u2019 general and he plays a huge role later
\non in the conquest of Canaan.\u00a0 I see this
\nas a bridge between the Egypt experience and then the later experience in
\nCanaan.\u00a0 We have here Joshua teaming up
\nwith Moses, so-to-speak, bringing an end to an enemy.\u00a0 Joshua is going to be that bridge for the
\npeople between the Egypt experience and then later, the conquest of Canaan.<\/p>\n
\nall, this whole deal of how they win the battle.\u00a0 Moses climbs a hill and he stands there with
\nhis arms raised.\u00a0 You know this
\nstory.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard many sermons on
\nthis.\u00a0 As long as his arms are up, the
\nIsraelites are winning.\u00a0 When they drop
\ndown, they begin to lose.\u00a0 So brother
\nAaron and some guy named Hur, who will appear later in this story, they see
\nwhat\u2019s happening.\u00a0 They rush over to help
\nMoses.\u00a0 They have him sit down on a rock
\nand they prop up his arms with rocks.\u00a0 By
\nsunset, the Amalekites were defeated.<\/p>\n
\nsomewhat magical almost.\u00a0 One way of
\nlooking at this is that Moses was holding his staff in his raised arms.\u00a0 It\u2019s not mentioned, so I want to be very
\ncautious about that.\u00a0 When we\u2019re thinking
\nabout that, he\u2019s holding his staff in his raised arms.\u00a0 That\u2019s why his arms are raised.\u00a0 He has a staff.<\/p>\n
\nmakes some sense since the Amalekites are playing an Egypt-like role in trying
\nto squash the Israelites, even when their god was with them and had other
\nplans.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\ndeliver them from the Amalekites, who would also be the god who delivers them
\nfrom the Canaanites.\u00a0 Joshua and Moses
\nare in this Amalekite episode.\u00a0 It\u2019s just
\nMoses in Egypt.\u00a0 It\u2019s just Joshua in
\nCanaan.\u00a0 But here, the two are
\ntogether.\u00a0 It\u2019s like a continuation of
\nthe promise that the warrior god will continue being with them in fighting
\nbattles.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nThat\u2019s okay.\u00a0 Joshua is.\u00a0 He was with Moses before.\u00a0 They\u2019re tight.\u00a0 So it will be good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThis whole battle depends on Moses not getting tired.\u00a0 The best explanation that I come up with is
\nwhat I just said.\u00a0 I think this is an
\nextended Egypt-like experience where the staff comes into play and as a result,
\nthe sign and the wonder is done.\u00a0 It\u2019s a
\nbetter explanation.\u00a0 It\u2019s the one that I
\ngo with.\u00a0 It\u2019s better, in any case, than
\nsome more common explanations like Moses\u2019 arms were raised in prayer to
\nGod.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing in the context that
\nhints at that at all.\u00a0 Or a popular
\nChristian explanation is that Moses\u2019 arms were raised like Jesus\u2019 arms were
\nraised on the cross. <\/p>\n
\nand Jesus together like this.\u00a0 But that
\ndoesn\u2019t really help me what the writer here is trying to communicate.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think he\u2019s saying, \u201cLet\u2019s slip
\nsomething in here about Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 It means
\nsomething to them.\u00a0 Again, as I said,
\nperhaps this is an extension or continuation of Exodus power at this moment.<\/p>\n
\nwith God almost killing Moses right after he had told him to go to Egypt and
\ndeliver the Israelites, back in Chapter 4.\u00a0
\nThese are just weird things that happen in Exodus.<\/p>\n
\nSinai, just a quick comment on Jethro, Moses\u2019 father-in-law.\u00a0 Moses and the Israelites are close to Sinai
\nin Midian.\u00a0 Jethro comes out to meet them
\nwith Moses\u2019 wife and two sons.\u00a0 This is
\nin 18:6. They had been staying apparently with Joseph (I
\nTHINK YOU MEAN JETHRO) while
\nMoses was busy at work.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nChapter 4, we hear of just one son, Gershom.\u00a0
\nNow, we see he has a second son, Eliezer.\u00a0 Fine.\u00a0
\nNot a big deal.\u00a0 Just didn\u2019t
\nmention Eliezer.\u00a0 Who cares?\u00a0 But there is actually a bigger problem here.<\/p>\n
\nExodus 4:20 in that story where God almost kills Moses, we read there that
\nMoses\u2019 wife, Zipporah, and their one son were with Moses on his way to
\nEgypt.\u00a0 That\u2019s when the angel of the Lord
\nalmost attacks them and kills Moses.\u00a0
\nThey weren\u2019t with Jethro in Midian.\u00a0
\nThey were with Moses on the way to Egypt. <\/p>\n
\nin this boring little detail that we\u2019re seeing evidence of multiple traditions
\nof the Exodus story that were respected enough to be woven together in the
\nmaking of this book we have before us today.\u00a0
\nAs is usually the case, the fact that the traditions don\u2019t line up with
\neach other doesn\u2019t seem to bother the editor at all.\u00a0 I want to suggest it shouldn\u2019t bother
\nus.\u00a0 It should be a window to helping us
\nunderstand the nature of this literature.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nMoses.\u00a0 He tells Jethro all that had
\nhappened in Egypt, which is a nice development in their relationship.\u00a0 You remember when he left Jethro, Moses
\ncouldn\u2019t quite bring himself to tell Jethro the truth of why he was leaving,
\nwhich is to say, \u201cGod told me to leave to deliver the Israelites.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nmumbled something about needing to see how his kindred were doing.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve got to check in on my family\u201d
\n(4:18).\u00a0 Now Moses puts it out there.\u00a0 He\u2019s just got this feeling of
\nconfidence.\u00a0 He puts it out there like a
\nson-in-law who earned his stripes and now, his father-in-law can be proud of
\nhim.\u00a0 By the way, I have a son-in-law and
\nwas a son-in-law myself.\u00a0 I get this.\u00a0 Anybody who\u2019s lived this can understand.<\/p>\n
\nthey\u2019ve reached a new stage in their relationship where shy and unconfident Moses
\nfeels like, \u201cSure.\u00a0 I stared down
\nPharaoh.\u00a0 I stood there and watched the
\nsea split in half.\u00a0 I think I can handle
\nJethro.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cHey Jethro.\u00a0 Let me tell you what\u2019s been going on.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nJethro react?\u00a0 He\u2019s blown away enough to
\nconfess Yahweh as greater than all the gods.\u00a0
\nAgain, another monolatry thing.<\/p>\n
\nMoses.\u00a0 Right after that, Moses, we read,
\nis burned out from judging disputes between the Israelites who apparently form
\na line outside his door from morning to night.\u00a0
\nJethro sees what\u2019s going on.\u00a0 Maybe
\nthis is actually too much for Moses.\u00a0 He
\ntells him, \u201cWell, looks like you could use some help there, Pal?\u00a0 You should get some able men to help you
\ndivide the tasks and leave you to handle only the most important ones.\u00a0 Not feeling so big now, are you Moses?\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nif that family dynamic is central to this episode.\u00a0 I know some friends of mine who think this
\nstory is a prooftext for how God ordained Presbyterian church government.\u00a0 You have a head pastor surrounded by his male
\nelders.\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\npoint of this story is that this bureaucracy of Israel is the brainchild of a
\nnon-Israelite, a priest of Midian, Jethro.\u00a0
\nIsrael seems to owe a lot to Midian.\u00a0
\nAfter all, that\u2019s where God\u2019s mountain is.\u00a0 There\u2019s something about Midian that\u2019s
\nimportant for the origin of the Israelites religion.<\/p>\n
\nlong wondered whether the origin of Israel\u2019s religion, which historically is a
\nvery complicated thing and very mysterious thing, might owe something to Midian
\nin the deep south, with respect to where Israel is, alongside of other stories
\nthat the Israelites preserved.\u00a0 Liked our
\nancestor Jacob was a wondering Aramean.\u00a0
\nThis is more in the north.\u00a0 You
\ncan see this in Deuteronomy 26:6. Or if they were from the far east in the land
\nof Babylon.\u00a0 That\u2019s where Abraham is
\nfrom. \u00a0Or as we read here in this story,
\nsome connection historically, some rootage in the land of Egypt.<\/p>\n
\nIsrael in the Old Testament seems to suggest that Israelites have various
\npoints of ancestry and that were later united under Yahweh\u2019s banner.\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0
\nI think that\u2019s true.\u00a0 To me, that
\nexplanation makes the most sense.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nstory, the only point is that Midian is very prominent in this ancient telling
\nof the story of the departure from Egypt.<\/p>\n
\nthe end here.<\/p>\n
\nreach Sinai three months to the day after they left Egypt.\u00a0 Two things strike me.\u00a0 First, even those God rules all the earth, as
\nwe read, Israel is God\u2019s special possession and their role will be to be a\u2014this
\nis in verse 6 of Chapter 19\u2014their role will be to be a priestly kingdom and a
\nholy nation.\u00a0 I think this is huge.<\/p>\n
\nthat Israel\u2019s purpose, already here in the story, is to be priestly, to mediate
\nbetween God and who?\u00a0 The nations.\u00a0 Feel free to think back to the story of
\nAbraham in Chapter 12 where Abraham is called.\u00a0
\nAbraham will have an influence on the nations themselves.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nit.\u00a0 You\u2019re to be a priestly kingdom and
\na holy nation.\u00a0 That\u2019s why you\u2019re
\nhere.\u00a0 That was the plan anyway.\u00a0 They were rescued from Egypt, not to go free,
\nbut to become holy, which means \u201cset apart for special purposes.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s not about moral perfection.\u00a0 To act as priests mediating God to the
\nnations around them.\u00a0 A priestly kingdom
\nand a holy nation.\u00a0 Those aren\u2019t two
\nseparate things.\u00a0 They\u2019re actually two parts
\nof one role.<\/p>\n
\nit\u2019s so tragic in Israel\u2019s story as we read on in the Old Testament.\u00a0 Rather than mediating God to the nations,
\nIsrael, through its kings, winds up becoming a problem that God needs to solve
\nsomehow.\u00a0 In some cases, He doesn\u2019t solve
\nit at all.\u00a0 The northern tribes, the
\nnorthern kingdom go to Assyria and never come back.\u00a0 The southern tribe of Judah goes into exile
\nin Babylon and comes back and has to rebuild, but never really does.<\/p>\n
\nbe a priestly kingdom and a holy nation doesn\u2019t work out very well.\u00a0\u00a0 But that was the plan.<\/p>\n
\nhere.\u00a0 It seems that no one is to touch
\nthe mountain itself.\u00a0 \u201cKeep your
\ndistance.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, they\u2019re to wash
\ntheir clothes and to abstain from sex to prepare to meet God.\u00a0 At a distance. <\/p>\n
\ncourse, may go up the mountain.\u00a0 He can
\ngo to the top, but only he.\u00a0 The holiness
\nof the mountain must be protected.\u00a0 I
\nonly mention this here because a little later in the story, in fact, I mention
\nit in the next episode of this podcast series, we will see more clearly how the
\nholy mountain is marked off in segments, three to be specific, which reminds us
\nof the Tabernacle, which is also the model for the temple later on during the
\ntime of the monarchy.<\/p>\n
\naround the outside of the sanctuary at a distance is fine.\u00a0 Say the temple.\u00a0 Only priests can enter the next stage, the
\nholy place.\u00a0 But into the holy of holies,
\nthe third stage, only one may enter: the high priest.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nMount Sinai is like a high priest entering God\u2019s most sacred presence.\u00a0 You may remember that Chapter 6 which is sort
\nof a boring chapter because there is a genealogy in it, but it makes a big deal
\nof letting you know that Moses and Aaron are from the tribe of Levi, the
\npriestly tribe.\u00a0 Here, we\u2019re beginning to
\nsee why.<\/p>\n
\nhere what is glimpsed earlier in the song of Moses in Chapter 15, that the
\ntemple and Sinai are closely connected.\u00a0
\nTo speak of one is to speak virtually of the other.\u00a0 Both are marked off in segments of approachability.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\n19, Moses is spending some time hearing from God on the top of Mount
\nSinai.\u00a0 He is about to come down and tell
\nthe people what he heard and what God wants from them and what God is going to
\ndo for them.\u00a0 But that is the topic of
\nthe next episode, where we look at the section of law in the book of Exodus.<\/p>\n
\nfolks, thanks again for listening to another episode here of the Exodus
\nseries.\u00a0 I appreciate you listening and
\npressing download and all that stuff again.\u00a0
\nJust a quick reminder, the \u201cpay what you want class\u201d discussing Genesis
\nis September 23.\u00a0 Also, I\u2019ll be at
\nEvolving Faith October 4 and 5 in Denver, CO.\u00a0
\nTickets are still available.\u00a0 I
\nhope you can make it.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nfolks, thanks so much for listening.\u00a0 See
\nyou next time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n