Exodus

GOD OF THE EXODUS

In about 1290 BC, an event took place which was to have both historical and religious significance in the life of the Jewish race, and a profound significance upon the Christian understanding of God. I refer, of course, to the Exodus.

First of all, the Exodus was an historical event in the life of the Jewish nation.

Faced with the prospect of prolonged famine some 400 years earlier, the Jews had migrated south, and settled in the fertile delta region of Egypt. This had been made possible by one of their own kinsmen, named Joseph, who had risen to a position of great power and influence in that country.

Later, "there arose a new king over Egypt who knew not Joseph" and very quickly the Jews found their position in society reduced to that of state slaves being put to work to build the great store cities of Pithon and Ramasese. They were also increasing in such numbers that they posed a security risk.

But this was not to be the end of their national story. On to the stage steps a fellow Jew who had been brought up and trained in Egyptian circles but who had never forgotten his Jewish origins. His name was Moses.

On one occasion, he became particularly enraged when he saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating one of his kinsmen. He killed the Egyptian and escaped to the land of Midian, in order to avoid being caught.

After living a nomadic existence, looking after the sheep of Jethro, he decided to return home to Egypt and fight the cause of the enslaved Jewish people.

At first, the King of Egypt was reluctant to let his cheap labour go free and return to their homeland. However, after a natural disaster he changed his mind, only to change it again once the disaster had receded. This happened many times until at last he reluctantly agreed, believing that the presence of the Jews was the cause of those successive natural disasters.

Led by Moses the people escaped, bypassing the main trade route and Egyptian frontier posts to Canaan, choosing instead to take the longer route to Canaan via the marshy land by the Lake Timish, north of the Gulf of Suez and on through the wilderness of Sinai. However, the King of Egypt changed his mind again.

His army pursued the Jews but its chariots became bogged down in the marshy land and they were drowned in the water of the lake when the wind changed direction.

Thus, under the leadership of Moses, the Jews escaped from their Egyptian captivity and headed for a new life in the promised land of Canaan.

That, simply, is the historical event of the Exodus in the national life of the Jews, but as I said earlier, the Exodus was also seen to have been an event with a particular religious significance.

As they looked back upon the historical event, and recounted the story time and time again to future generations, they came to see the hand of God in their nation’s history. Eventually, they committed the historical story, together with its religious significance, to writing. At least two versions of it are included in the Old Testament. Unfortunately the historical narrative and its religious significance have become so intertwined, that it is difficult to disentangle the one from the other.

In particular, there is a heightening of the natural events through which God is seen to be speaking.

For instance, whether or not Moses was found by an Egyptian princess in the bullrushes, we have no means of knowing for certain. Certainly, there is evidence of a similar incident involving Sargon of Akkad, who was found in a basket of reeds sealed with bitumen, and who later rose to become king of the city of Agade.

As regards the burning bush, I think Stuart Blanch, the former Archbishop of York and Old Testament scholar, is probably right when he says that "it lies too far back and too way out to be within our comprehension". Those who wrote up the story are at pains to stress the involvement of God in the Exodus as against the human involvement of Moses. Thus Moses protests at the challenge by suggesting that his own race will not believe him and that he is a poor speaker.

Again, the involvement of God in the story of the Exodus is focused by the heightening of the various national disasters that befell the Egyptians. There appear to be three different accounts by different writers of the so-called "plagues" attributed to God, and not one account contains the whole ten plagues of water into blood, frogs, gnats, flies, cattle sickness, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and the death of the firstborn.

Certainly, the tremendous number of those who escaped, namely 600,000, appears to be a slight exaggeration. It is certainly doubtful whether the delta area could have accommodated that number and certainly the wilderness of southern Canaan could not have supported that number. Furthermore, such a number would have demanded more than the two midwives which existed in this Hebrew colony.

However, the final difficulty for rational minds is caused, not so much by the heightening of natural events, but by the subsequent translation. As you know, the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew. The Hebrew words, which the Greek Old Testament, known as the Septuagint, translates as the "Red Sea", originally meant the "sea of reeds". This is in fact an appropriate description of the marshy area where the Jews most probably crossed, since the actual Red Sea is many miles off their route. This is also an area where the wind can dramatically change the flow of water. The significant part of the story is that the wind changed direction at the appropriate time.

First and foremost, the Exodus was an historical event in the life of the Jewish nation. Secondly, upon later reflection, it was also seen to be a religious event, since God was seen to be involved in natural events, rescuing his chosen people from slavery and leading them into the freedom of the promised land.

Thirdly, the Exodus event has importance as regards our Christian understanding of God.

In short, God is seen to be a person who does not let us “stew in our own juice". Rather, he is a person who offers us a way out of whatever is enslaving us and preventing us becoming free people and living whole lives.

You see, God did not just set the creation events in motion and then drift off, leaving us to get on with it. He is, and always has been, bound to his creation in love, like a parent to a child.

If you do not believe me and find it hard to accept the evidence of the Exodus, you need look no further than at Jesus of Nazareth, who was God enfleshed.

In the opening words of his ministry in the synagogues in Nazareth, he announces that he has come to release the captives and give liberty for the oppressed. And the gospel writers recall story after story of how he gave wholeness and freedom to those who were held captive by physical sickness, mental disorder, guilt and prevailing social attitudes.

To the lame, he said "Get up and walk". To the woman caught in adultery he said "Go and do it no more”. To the person crippled he said, "Your sins are forgiven”, and as regards the social outcasts, he said, "Go out into the highways and byways and bid them come in".

My friends, you need not “stew in your own juice”. You need not be held captive by those inner forces that prevent you living full and wholesome lives. You can be set free by the power of God.

A power which we see not only displayed in Jesus of Nazareth, but in the whole story of the Exodus whereby God enabled the Jews to walk free from their enslavement in Egypt.