Exodus: Chapters 1 to 5

Meet Moses.  This was what I read the day I began this blog (along with Psalms 11-12)

CHAPTER 1

Well, Joseph and them all died, but their descendents sure were fruitful and multiplied.  So much so that the Egyptians got sick of them.  The new pharaoh didn’t give a rip about Joseph (the Bible says “knew nothing of Joseph” but the footnotes says he might’ve known, but just didn’t care) and wants their numbers reduced.  So the Israelis are enslaved. 

But they keep having babies.  No matter – pharaoh has a new plan.  He tells the midwives to see to it that all newborn males are killed.  Holy smokes! That’s more than a bit extreme.  It’s also hard for me to believe.  The “let’s kill all the newborn males” thing seems more like literary affect than anything else. 

Really, the historical veracity of this whole section is kind of ……well, at the very least things are being overblown.  Did some Hebrew live in Egypt and escape?  OK, I can see that.  Something must’ve happened to serve as the basis of a folk tradition that became an oral tradition that became written down in the Bible.  But here, the Hebrew are so numerous as to be an internal threat to the Egyptians and apparently have been there several centuries.  Y’know, there is not a single record of anything even remotely like that in any Egyptian sources.  I don’t just mean there’s no record of the 10 plagues, but there is no record of Hebrew.  Sure, records are fragmentary, but they’ve apparently been there for centuries and are so numerous that the pharaoh wants to engage in widespread infanticide.  Yeah, I know there’s tons here that, well, let’s just say it takes a leap of faith to believe much of it, and this is certainly is one of those points.

At any rate, all this is here for is to set up the big birth of Moses.  Oh, and the midwives try to get around the planned infanticide.  They say Hebrew women are so robust that they give birth before the midwives arrive.  (Then how can the midwives keep their jobs?) Anyhow, the pharaoh doesn’t see through this transparent lie, but the pharaoh sets a new rule – all newborn males are to be thrown into the Nile.  Jeepers!  The Bible doesn’t say this applies only to the Hebrew, but it must.  Still, the whole kill-all-sons is too damn melodramatic for me to take seriously. 

CHAPTER 2

OK, now that the preliminaries are out of the way, now time for the main man of the Torah: Moses.  Interestingly, his parents aren’t named at all: “Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman.”  The father is never mentioned again.  (Especially odd, just last chapter made sure to name the Hebrew midwives – Shiphrah and Puah – but Papa Moses?  Nope).  Clearly, they didn’t know the dad’s name and Moses’ childhood isn’t the point.

This whole story is just something mythic, though.  There are plenty of stories of Important People who begin with them being abandoned – Romulus and Remulus, Cyrus the Great, Sargon of Akkid, Oedipus, etc.  Some scholars have said it’s to give the Important Person the right parents.

Getting back to Moses, his mother puts the baby in the basket in the Nile and sets him down, where he soon comes to the daughter of the pharaoh.  The pharaoh’s daughter sees the baby and wants to help, then sees a Hebrew woman nearby – Moses’ actual mom – and hires her to nurse the baby.  Does the pharaoh’s daughter realize it’s the birth mother?  Regardless, the birth mother nurses Moses until that’s not needed anymore, when she gives Moses to pharaoh’s daughter to become her son.  That’s sad.  The birth mother got to spend a few years with Moses anyway, but he’ll not remember her at all. 

So does this mean that Moses is actually an Egyptian and the story of his birth just concocted?   Eh, I just have a lot of trouble taking these opening stories too seriously.  What’s interesting is why the stories were created.  I flatly don’t believe there was any genocidal order against newborn Hebrew males.  But the Bible indicates that Moses had a place in a high-ranking Egyptian family but threw his lot in with the Hebrew.  Why would the Bible put him with the pharaoh’s daughter if he didn’t come from high ranking Egyptian circles?  Alternately, why would Moses identify with the Hebrew if he were a high-ranking Egyptian?  I’m probably badly overthinking this.  The real answer is probably pretty simple.  The Bible wanted to give Moses a high and mighty upbringing to befit the Important Person he became, while still having the Hebrew as a badly oppressed enslaved race.

At any rate, he grows up and the first action that he takes on his own is to kill someone.  (Good thing it’s still pre-10 Commandments!)  Oh, he kills a bad person – a bad person oppressing a Hebrew.  Moses sees an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, and strikes him back, killing him.  A little later on, Moses sees two Hebrew fighting and tells them to stop.   One gets surly – “Who has appointed you ruler and judge over us?” (Nice foreshadowing, Bible!) and then throws the murder in Moses face – “Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?”  Moses freaks that people know about this and flees. 

He goes to the Midian, and apparently they are descendents of Abraham, from the wife he took after Sarah died.  As is often the case in the Bible, Moses meets women at the well and ends up married to the daughter of the priest of Midian.  His wife is named Zipporah and they have a son, Gershom. 

The last bit of the chapter might belong in the next one.  The pharaoh dies and God hears the children of Israel moaning.  He’s about to do something about it.

CHAPTER 3

Here it is – here’s where the ball really gets rolling in Exodus.  Have bush, will burn.  Moses is tending the flock of father-in-law Jethro (previously called Reuel – go figure), when he sees a bush burning but not being consumed by a fire.  It’s an angel of the Lord come to summon Moses.  (By the way, nice parallel with Genesis, where Jacob spent years tending his father-in-law’s flocks).

I immediately like Moses here.  As soon as God calls out to him, Moses has a great reaction.  He hides his face and was afraid to look at God.  The comes off like a typical, modest person, someone used to tending flocks and sure as hell not ready for the massive, world-shaking responsibility pushed upon him.  He spends two chapters trying to talk God out of making him the man of the moment.  And speaking of God, I really like this line to Moses at the outset: “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”  Holy crap that’s awesome!  I gotta start using that. And it’s God saying that about meeting God!  I love that.  It’s up there with “I am the one who knocks!”  in great lines.  It’s God saying, dude – I spoke to you, so be blown away!  ‘cuz he’s so incredibly God like that.

This is also a great moment of Biblical studies, too.  As noted, the Torah is made up of four main writers: referred to as D (who handles Deuteronomy and nothing but), P, J, and E.  Well, to date, neither E nor P have said God’s name.  According to their narratives, this is the first time anyone’s ever heard God’s name.  In J, he’s been using it all along – since at least the time of Seth.  So the amalgamation of E, P, and J we’ve been using waters down the moment, but that’s why it’s played up so big when we get here. 

For Moses asks, if you want me to tell the Israelites that I’m your prophet, who shall I say sent me?  I AM WHO I AM.  Apparently, there is some wordplay in ancient Hebrew between Yahweh (God’s name) and “I am.”  His name is something like “I am” or “I creates” or something. Which if you think about it, is a sensible name for God.  So Moses should tell the Israelites I AM has sent me to you. 

Then God tells him that God has sent me to you to deliver you away from the afflictions of Egypt and into the land of milk and honey at Canaan.  God tells Moses to task the pharaoh for three days travel into the wilderness to sacrifice to God.  And then something interesting happens.  God says, I know the pharaoh will deny this, so I “will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wondrous deeds I will do in it midst.”  God has a plan here.  More on that as we go along.

CHAPTER 4

But Moses wants more than just a name to drop.  He tells God, what if they don’t believe me?  How will I prove it?  -- By the way, Moses is the first person to negotiate with God since Abraham.  Neat. I knew there was a reason why I liked Moses.  Anyhow, God gives him a sign.  Through down a staff, and it’ll become a snake.  Now grab it by its tail, and it’s a staff again.  That’s a neat party trick – provided you can grab the tail.  Second, put your hand in the fold of your garment and pull it out – and your hand will be covered in scales.  Now do it again and I’ll change back to flesh.  Yuck.  I wouldn’t like that proof at all if I was Moses.  I’d be worried about the damn signal system breaking midway through.  Third, pour out some Nile River water on dry land, and it’ll turn into blood.  Man, God has some creepy signs of proof.  Remember the good old days when he would invent rainbows and stuff? 

But Moses is still uncertain.  He’s gotta be the most tentative prophet in the Bible.  Part of his charm, actually.  Moses points out he’s a lousy speaker – slow of speech.  God is apparently getting a little annoyed here I guess because he points out that the ability to speak comes from God so don’t worry, “Now go, I will assist you.”  Get on with it!  But Moses gets another concession from God – Moses’ brother Aaron will help and serve as his spokesperson.

Wait – let’s pause here for a logistical question.  Moses has a brother?  How did this happen?  Moses was sent adrift down a river and raised by the pharaoh’s daughter?  Is Aaron a brother by blood, and if so how would Moses know him?  Was Aaron also raised by the pharaoh’s daughter, and if so, would that make him Egyptian?  Eh, I always thought that whole opening story about Moses’ birth and the attempted mass intifanticide was some post-facto bogus mythic junk, and this makes me feel that doubly so.

Getting back to the narrative, Moses now agrees to accept the burden placed upon him.  He’s done a nice job working a deal for himself.  He’s got God’s name, three proves to take back, and a spokesperson to work with him.  He’d have none of that if he accepted God’s initial offer.  (Note: as is often the case, I got this point from Plotz in his book).

So Moses has to set out, but first he’s got to tell father-in-law Jethro.  So he lies.  Huh.  Moses tells him he just wants to meet with kindred in Egypt and see if they’re still living.  I wonder why he lies.  My hunch – Jethro is still head of the household Moses lives in, so he needs his permission to leave.  And if Moses says the real reason, Jethro might think it’s too much or think Moses is crazy and refuse permission.  Moses probably feels justified in asking what he’s asking for because, y’know, Lord and all said so.

God talks to Moses again and the story gets a bit uglier.  God lets on a bit more of his plan, and this isn’t so pleasant.  Earlier the Lord just said the Pharaoh would refuse, and God would do wondrous and amazing things to make him.  Now God says, “I will harden [the pharaoh’s] heart and he will not let the people go.  So you will say to Pharaoh, Thus says the LORD: Israel is my son, my firstborn.  I said to you: Let my son go, that he may serve me.  Since you refused to let him go, I will kill your son, the firstborn.”  Whoah, whoah, whoah – “I will harden his heart”? I will harden his heart?  If this whole thing is predicated on God hardening the pharaoh’s heart, then here’s a thought – don’t harden his heart!  All the pain inflicted on Egypt – including, as just explicitly stated, the killing of first born sons – is not simply a punishment by God on Egypt, but God’s design all along!  Holy cow, that is ugly!  That is nasty.  See, it’s stuff like this that gives cause to the old Mark Twain joke: “The God of the New Testament is the God of the Old Testament after he gets religion.” 

Oh, and that’s followed by the single strangest moment in the entire narrative, maybe the most inexplicable moment in the entire Bible.  4:24: “On the journey, at a place where they spend the night, the LORD came upon Moses and sought to put him to death.”  WHA?????  He just, he did, he – WHAT?? Among other issues, he’s God – if he wants to put Moses to death, shouldn’t he be dead?  Well, Moses is apparently saved by his wife, who does a circumcision of their son. (The footnotes say it’s the only circumcision by a female in the Bible).  This is a deeply rattling and disturbing moment, in which neither Moses nor God looks good – especially not God.  Doesn’t he do any research on his would-be prophets?

One theory.  I don’t know which Biblical source created this story, but I have my notions.  Let’s see the J and E were the priests of the divided kingdom days, one set from Judea, the other Israel.  (I forget which was J and which E, but I think E was Israel).  Both sets of priests traced their lineage to Moses and Aaron – I forget which was which.  Well, after Israel ceased to exist, many flooded south to Judea, where both sides came in contact with the other’s holy writings.  And the Aaron priests were stuck with a bunch of nasty things about Aaron.  (I think Judea was the Moses place and the Israel priests were supposedly descended from Aaron, but I could be wrong).  So some stories were written about Moses to take him down a peg at least. I think these came out in the P source, which was written later. Something like that – I’m a bit hazy on the particulars.  I do know that this is how modern Biblical scholarship explains things like how Moses becomes disfigured at Sinai and why he can’t enter the promised land.  I guess this is another part of that.  If that’s not what’s going on, then I really can’t explain it.

Anyhow, Moses and Aaron meet up and convince the Israelites that they are who they say they are, thanks to the signs God gave Moses.

CHAPTER 5

Moses meets pharaoh and requests “Let my people go” on behalf of the Lord.  Nah, says the pharaoh.  He calls them lazy and instead requests that they no longer be given straw for brick making. They still have to make as many bricks though, but now they got to scrounge up resources as well.  They can’t and get beaten by the pharaoh’s men as a result. 

The Israeli foremen complain to Moses.  The hell man, we’re getting beaten up around here!  What is God going to do about it?  Moses turns to the Lord – “Why did you send me?” and asks the Lord for help.

Not too much to this chapter, but man, shit is about to get real.  

Click here for the next part of Exodus.