May the mumbling commence!
It seems appropriate to be reading the book of Exodus in the month of February, African-American History Month. Exodus is a book important to our brothers and sisters of color. In Exodus 1-4:17, there is civil disobedience and the pursuit of justice and a call to lead. As Exodus begins, there is a new king of Egypt that takes over that no longer remembers Joseph. The king not knowing and not remembering are important themes during the first chapters of Exodus. And this new king fears the growing population of Hebrews, so he moves to enslave, oppress and work the Hebrew people ruthlessly. When these tactics only serve to increase the problem, he resorts to ordering Hebrew boys to be killed as soon as they are born.
Enter the Hebrew midwives Puah and Shiphrah. These were two women of strong faith. Even though Pharaoh ordered them to kill the Hebrew boys at birth, they refused to do so because they feared God. When Pharaoh confronted them, they gave a seemingly lame excuse – “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women, they are vigorous and give birth before we arrive.” And Pharaoh bought it! God must have blinded Pharaoh and saved Puah and Shiphrah, who God granted families of their own. Civil disobedience in order to honor God has its rewards.
But Pharaoh decided to put the matter into his men’s hands rather in the hands of Hebrew midwives. Hebrew boys would be drowned in the Nile River. Enter Moses. His parents hid him for three months. During the three months, Moses would have been circumcised (on the eighth day). Then, Moses’ mother placed him in a water-tight basket into the reeds at the edge of the Nile River – some more civil disobedience.
As Moses’ sister, Miriam, watched, Pharaoh’s daughter found him and became attached to him. Miriam offered her mother as a wet nurse for the baby, and Pharaoh’s daughter so ordered. When Moses was old enough, he left his mother to live with Pharaoh’s court. It was Pharaoh’s daughter that named him Moses. I find that interesting. Why would an Egyptian woman give her adopted Hebrew son a Hebrew name?
Then, as Moses grew older, he came to know his ethnicity. Maybe through his name and / or through his circumcision he learned his ethnicity. And he felt a kinship with the Hebrew people even though he sat in the lap of luxury. Yes, Moses did not choose to remain in the lap of luxury. He chose to side with his people. And his actions are telling. Moses showed his ancestry by his violent action. Moses descended from Levi, one of the two brothers who massacred the town of Shechem in their deception and self-righteous anger. When Moses caught an Egyptian taskmaster striking a Hebrew slave, Moses killed the taskmaster and tried to bury the evidence. On the next day, Moses saw two Hebrew arguing and fighting. Moses judged the one in the right and upbraided the one in the wrong. The man replied to him, “Will you kill me like you killed the Egyptian?”
Then, Moses was on the run. He ran to the desert – perhaps for a time of reflection and for a time of testing. Even there he pursued justice at the well when he defended the shepherdesses. He found a wife, became a shepherd, and became a father of two sons. His first son he named Gershom, meaning “an alien here” in Hebrew. Moses felt that Egypt was home. Was he not told the stories of faith and the promise of God?
And Pharaoh died. God heard the grumbling of the Hebrew people and saw their affliction. He was going to save his people and remember the covenant that he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. God planned to free his people and bring them to the Promised Land. He told Moses all this from a burning bush, and He told Moses that he was to lead his people out. God gave Moses his name – the Great I Am. God gave Moses signs – the staff into a snake, the leprous hand, and the water of the Nile River into blood.
Still, Moses balked at leading the people. Moses asked God to pick someone else. Maybe, it was his failure in his first attempt in leadership. He didn’t think that he could do it, and he didn’t think the people would accept his leadership. But it is God who leads, who gives the words, and who creates leaders. Just as God promised to walk with Moses and Aaron, God will walk with me, with us. I give thanks for my official call to leadership at Community Church of the Brethren. May I get out of the way and allow God to lead through me…
Enough for now...
Peace Out
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