Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of
Israel’s army, fell back and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved
from in front, and went behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and
Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and
light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. Then
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night God drove the sea back with a strong
east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and
the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on
their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s
horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. During
the last watch of the night God looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud
at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He jammed the wheels of their
chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get
away from the Israelites! Their God is fighting for them against Egypt.” Then
God said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may
flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” Moses stretched
out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The
Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and God swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and
covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed
the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. But the Israelites went
through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their
left. That day God saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw
the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the mighty
hand of God displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared God and put
their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
This is one of those familiar
stories that we tend to nod through – we’ve all seen the Charlton Heston
version of Moses leading the children of Israel out of slavery and to a land
which is promised by God.
Yet even in reading this text, look
at all the inconsistencies. We have always thought of a pillar of fire and a
pillar of cloud, yet this tells us the angel of God was travelling in front of
Israel’s army – I can only assume that means a whole lot of people – but the
word army is interesting. God’s angel moves behind the escaping people, as does
the pillar of cloud – and it’s the pillar of cloud which provides light for the
refugees to see, and darkness to prevent Pharaoh from seeing them. Then, God
drives the sea back with a strong east wind – which would suggest one
direction, yet there’s a wall on either side. God tells Moses to stretch out
his hand, and kill all the Egyptians by sweeping them and their horses and
chariots into the sea. And the very last bit – the Israelites are so terrified
by what they see done, that they are in complete awe and fear of God, and do
what Moses tells them.
So, once again we’re faced with
whether or not we take this as a literal historical event. How many of us
honestly believe this literally happened? Yes, someone will say “Anything is
possible with God”, but I'm not convinced this is where that works. Is God a
magician who arbitrarily kills a whole lot of people, to save a ‘chosen race’?
I don’t think so.
I think this is a story of God’s
steadfastness and commitment to those who are oppressed, and Im drawing on last
week’s sermon as well – because it seems to me this is God making a Way out of
no Way. And I think it’s a story of liberation of people – that’s God’s desire
is that all be liberated.
Do
you remember the movie? Remember Heston, his long, grey beard blowing in the
wind, raising his hand and the waters piling up on either side. Those were
pretty impressive special effects in those days. Remember too, lots of well-intentioned people
trying to “logically” and “scientifically” explain the parting of the sea. But
scientifically explaining miracles misses the point of the story.
In such legends, impossible things happen, and the whole point is their impossibility. This is a foundational story for the Hebrews. It is a way the Hebrews have been able to say to themselves, “God is with us. We are a chosen people. The fact that we are here is a miracle. It’s God’s doing.” In other words, this is a theological statement told in the language of a story.
And a part of the legend, told in the Hebrew Midrash, is that God wept as the Hebrews celebrated because, “the Egyptians are my children too!” Sometimes the story needs to be enlarged to accommodate such new insights.
This text is really the end
of the rule of Egypt over the Hebrews – the end of the first 14 chapters of
Exodus, after Pharaoh let the people go. Pharaoh has second thoughts, and the
chase is on. Yet God accompanies the people on their flight from violence and
oppression, and the story tells us God is there in the form of an angel.
This is a core story for the Hebrews then and the Jews today - the telling and re-telling, remembering this story about God's hand at work when they were absolutely "up against it," up against a wall of water that trapped them before the certainly awesome might of Pharaoh and his armies. This wasn't one army against another, however outnumbered and outgunned. This was a ragtag group of impoverished ex-slaves escaping their captors not by their own strength or wits or organizational skills or strategic planning, but by the power of God.
Imagine their panic and terror, when the vast armies of Pharaoh appeared on the horizon, in hot pursuit? They had lived their entire lives under the heel of this mighty empire, so they were well acquainted with what it could do. They had no idea how a way might come out of No Way.
The great theologian and preacher Walter Brueggemann describes this narrative as "the powerful, compelling center of Israel's defining memory of faith," through which Israel comes to understand itself as "the beloved, chosen community of YHWH and the object of YHWH's peculiar and decisive intervention in public events.
Yet notice, this Pharaoh, is never given a name. Thus, he can be identified with, and experienced as, every one of the "powers-that-be," every overwhelming, well-armed oppressor, for he is "as much a cipher for evil as a flesh-and-blood human being. And if God and empire face off, the story reminds us, in any situation or time, God is always going to win. Even against superpowers occupying other countries and oppressing their people.
When the people entered that pathway through the water, they were a huge group of refugees, terrified and in panic, but they "emerged on the other shore in awe and in an attitude of faith in Yahweh for this great miracle of salvation"
It’s a great story about faith, trust in God, of the underdog coming out on top. It’s the story of a slave people – the product of perfectly legal slavery, a people held by the ‘powers that be’, the mega-powers who have an agenda for their own powerful expansion of empire.
What happens if we look at today?
Dos God swoop in and rescue the drowning refugees? The little boys and girls
lying face down on a beach? Does God rescue the Rohingya Muslims being
exterminated in Burma, the leadership of a person who is a Nobel prizewinner,
who was once an oppressed person as well? Does God rescue the Uighur religious
group in China, persecuted for practicing their religion? Is God supporting the
takeover of Palestinian lands and homes, in favour of another group which has
forgotten what it means to be an oppressed people.? Or is God weeping at the
incredibly useless slavery enforced upon
minority peoples?
For more than a generation now Canadians have been learning about, and
trying to learn to embrace the history of oppression and cultural genocide –
both official and unofficial, both at-the-top political and on-the-ground
personal that has been faced by the First Nations of this land. We’re
learning the story of the residential schools, and we’re learning also that
that’s only one chapter in a very big book. We’re learning about treaty
rights, stolen land and broken promises, and so much more. and we’re
learning that it’s not up to us to make all the decisions, and expect First
Nations to continue doing what we think is best – without listening seriously.
Do we really believe that life is
about liberation, and that liberations – small or large, simple or complex, are
one of the ways we see God at work in the world? And even if we do
believe it, how on Earth do we act it out and honour the ways of God in human
affairs?
This is a story of liberation – escape from slavery and oppression. For the people
of Israel – for the people whose cries God hears, to whom God sends a leader,
and for whom God arranges a liberation from their oppressor – a story which
continues to be told by Jew and Christian alike – that no matter how long it may
take, God is always on the side of the oppressed.
But for the people of Egypt – the
people who would not let them go, who did not take seriously what was happening
until it was too late, it’s a tragic story – for the Egyptians, for God, for
anyone who cares about humanity.
An old Jewish legend says that 40
years after this miraculous escape and 40 years in the wilderness, as the
people of Israel finally stand on the bank of the Jordan about to enter the
Promised Land, God tells Moses he will not be entering the land with them, and
will not set foot in it. After leading them all this time and all this
way, he is to die and be buried just outside the Promised Land. Moses,
taken aback, asks why.
In reply, God asks Moses if he
remembers the day way back at the beginning when the people of Israel were led
through the Red Sea, and they turned around to see the Egyptian army
overwhelmed and drowned in the same sea they had just passed through.
Moses says yes, he remembers that day. And God says, "Well, you
smiled."
In our heart of hearts, and in our
best and most informed reading of Scripture, we know God does not will the
destruction of anyone. How might it have been, and what might have
happened if the Egyptians had only – even just at the last moment, chosen to
let the people go?
It really does seem that the story tells
us that life is about liberation, and that the liberations all around us – big
or little, simple or complex, are one of the ways we see God at work in the
life of the world. It’s about our own liberations from old and maybe
mistaken ideas; for when we chain others, we also are chained. If others are
not free, we are not free. And it tells
us that God might just choose us to work through, to effect yet more liberation
till the Way has been made out of No Way. May it be so.
Sources:
1. Church
of Scotland website - Weekly Worship
2. Sermon Seeds for Proper 19 by Rev. Kathryn Matthews
3. Brueggemann,
Walter Introduction to the Old Testament
4. Milton,
Ralph. “Rumors”, an E-zine for
Christians with a sense of humour.
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