Exodus 3:1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law,
the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness
and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2
There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a
bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, "I will go
over and see this strange sight--why the bush does not burn up." 4 When the LORD saw that he had gone
over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!"
And Moses said, "Here I am." 5
"Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for
the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his
face, because he was afraid to look at God. 7 The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people
in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am
concerned about their suffering. 8
So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring
them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with
milk and honey--the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites,
Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now
the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians
are oppressing them. 10 So now,
go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of
Egypt." 11 But Moses said
to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out
of Egypt?" 12 And God said,
"I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who
have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship
God on this mountain." 13
Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The
God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?'
Then what shall I tell them?" 14
God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the
Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' " 15 God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD,
the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of
Jacob--has sent me to you.' "This is my name forever, the name you shall
call me from generation to generation.
Our
journey through some of the great Old Testament stories continues this week,
but there is something of a shift in terms of 'thematics.' Whereas the broad title of "first
families" had served well up to this point (with last week being something
of a bridge as the baby Moses leaves his birth family to join the Egyptian
royal family), this week the emphasis is noticeably shifting to that of
'deliverance.' In keeping with that
realization, then, our journey in the Old Testament will continue, but under
the new heading of The Way of Deliverance. Just one more observation before we
continue, one of the recurring truths found in the scriptures is that
'deliverance,' (aka rescue from our troubles, problems, issues, sins, etc. etc.)
almost never occurs immediately; it usually is a *process, or a 'way.' That
truth will be illustrated well in the stories from Exodus that we'll be looking
at over the next couple of weeks.
For
this week, we are treated to one of the most interesting (and theologically
dense) passages of the whole bible. In terms of a 15-20min sermon there will
not be enough time to mine all of its riches, but I will try to point out some
of the major things.
First,
this week's reading jumps ahead quite a bit from last week's. Last we knew, baby Moses was being "drawn
out" from the water, nursed by his real mother and turned over to
Pharaoh's daughter at the age of weaning (perhaps age 3). How does he get from
her house to living in Midian? Actually, the text itself is pretty vague. In
Exodus chapter 2 Moses goes from being an infant to fully grown between verses
10 and 11. In verse 11 he sees an Egyptian taskmaster cruelly treating a Hebrew
slave and he murders the taskmaster and hides the body. Then in vss 13-15, Moses
attempts to break up a fight between two Israelites with the result being that
his murder of the Egyptian taskmaster is made known--as high up as Pharaoh
himself, who tries to kill Moses. Pausing here, from this portion of the text
alone it's interesting to note that even though Moses was raised in an Egyptian
household, he has a sense of his
Israelite identity.
Two
important New Testament passages give a further window on this time in Moses'
life. Acts 7:24-25 says: He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went
to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his
own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did
not. The other passage comes from the famous 'faith hall of fame
chapter,' Hebrews 11: 24 By faith Moses, when he
had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along
with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing
the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. At the very least these passages give us an important lens
through which to view both the late Jewish and early Christian thinking
regarding Moses' early life. Moses (a) rejected the easy road of his Egyptian
identity (b) embraced his Israelite identity (c) saw himself as uniquely
positioned to try to liberate his people (d) and even though the Exodus text
makes it sound like Moses got out of
Dodge in a hurry and in fear, Hebrews states that Moses fled in faith.
It's difficult to know how far Moses fled. One estimate is 285
miles. As chapter 2 closes, Moses, who is roughly 40 at the time of his escape,
settles in the land of Midian and marries. Forty more years pass. In our modern
understanding, it's hard to know if Moses is "waiting patiently in faith
for God to act in his life," or if he was bitter about the way things had
turned out, or if he had embraced his new life as a farmer/shepherd.
Biblically/theologically, those questions aren't addressed. As chapter 3 opens
80yr old Moses is grazing sheep one day out in the middle of nowhere
("Horeb" basically means "wasteland") and he encounters
GOD. This is a recurring biblical theme--ESPECIALLY in Exodus. God is in our
wastelands. As Hebrews 11 will imply, this takes
faith to see, because from our perspective we most often feel that the
'wastelands' of our lives are the very places God has vacated; he's left us
there all alone. Not so.
Another
interesting detail from this passage concerns the sanctification of space. The hunk of dirt that Moses and the bush
occupy is nothing special, yet the voice of God says: Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals,
for the place where you are standing is holy ground (vs 5). One piece of God's
creation is no more intrinsically 'holy' than another--with one exception--it
is made so by the presence of God.
There is a necessary balance to be struck when discussing the Creator of the
Universe. On the one hand, in faith we are encouraged to think of God as our
'friend,' who accepts us in spite of our sins for Christ's sake. On the other
hand, God remains wholly other and
always deserves to be worshiped in awe. To the uninitiated, the celebrant's
actions during Holy Communion and around the altar may seem unnecessarily
formal, but this 'formality' stems from a belief in the divine presence.
As interesting as all of the above may be, I think that for our
purposes this passage boils down to three important streams of thought: (1) God
clearly states that he has seen the plight of his people and HE WILL ACT. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from
the hand of the Egyptians. However, no sooner does God announce that
**HE** is going to do this mighty work, he then says to Moses: 10 So now, go. I am sending you
to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. I can just hear
the voice of Austin Powers as Moses... "Wait a tick... you said **YOU were going to rescue them... now you're
telling **ME to do it??" This is that great theological truth again
that God works THROUGH MEANS.... aka ordinary stuff... like water, bread, wine,
....and YOU and ME. This is something to ponder as we pray for change. Often
our concept is that God will wave his magic wand to bring it about. Instead, he
may wave YOU.
Then
(2) the second important stream is that God's work of grace is not just from something, it's also to something: So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians
and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land
flowing with milk and honey. In other words, God doesn't just bring a
plague on the Egyptians, wipe them out, and leave his people where they are. To
be 'rescued' means to leave point A and go to point B. It is a journey. This
has 'sanctification' implications for the Christian. To follow Christ, to be
(in the words of Paul in Romans) grafted
into God's covenant is to undertake a journey... to leave the old way of
sin and self behind, and to follow the new path set forth by Christ that leads
to the promised land of God's abiding grace and favor.
Finally
(3) the third important stream is the little wrestling match Moses has with
God. In spite of his earlier fervor, Moses evidently now (at age 80!) has no
delusions/illusions of 'grandeur.' 11
But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the
Israelites out of Egypt?" Moses actually has MULTIPLE objections that
he fearlessly voices to God. Interestingly, God does not do the parental thing
of saying: "Quit back-talking me & do it cuz I TOLD YOU TO." The
Creator of the Universe, the Divine Presence, patiently interacts with Moses. Somewhere along the way many Christians
have been taught that God expects unquestioned loyalty and meek, instantaneous
acquiescence from us at every step of the way. The Scriptures, however, often
portray a different reality. Jacob wrestles with God all night; Moses argues
with God (on several occasions); multiple Psalms/Psalmists complain to God;
Jesus, himself, wrestled with God's will. The point is that it's not a matter
of only having two choices... servile obedience OR complete rejection/unbelief.
The Bible actually presents the life of faith as a frequent dialog...questioning...
and even, at times, an argument... between the believer and God.
Cheers,
T.M.
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