Exodus Pt 4

 

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Firstborns, Pillars, and Water

I've got to admit that sometimes I find the word choices i this book to be less than ideal. For instance, the word “consecrate” is a pretty big player in Chapter 13, which opens with the Lord telling Moses that since he did the Israelites a solid by killing all the firstborn in Egypt, the Israelites now owe him their own firstborn.

“…whatever is first to open the womb among the Israelites, of human beings and animals, is mine.”

        Right there, Chapter 13, verse 2.

        Then verses 3 through 10 give us an unleavened bread tangent that is mostly a rehash of old material.

        The firstborns come back in verse 11, and starting in verse 12 God tries to clear up what he means by “is mine”.

“All the firstborn of your livestock that are males shall be the Lord’s. 13  But every firstborn donkey you shall redeem (there’s another word that keeps popping up) with a sheep; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. Every firstborn male among your children you shall redeem.”

        So now we have the question of just what “redeem” means, and if it means the same thing for human children as it means for sheep and donkeys. Is it the same as “consecrate”? If so, that doesn’t really help me much since I’m still not sure what “consecrate” means here. Is it the same as “sacrifice” and if so does that meaning only apply to animals and for kiddos it means the child has to do or wear or say something special to remind him (always a him) that he belongs to God? And what’s with the whole breaking a donkey’s neck business? In the verses that follow the Lord gives us a bit of an explanation, making it kinda-sorta sound like the animals get killed but the kiddos don’t and there is something about an emblem on the forehead but mostly he just talks about how the reason he wants all this redeeming done on a regular and ongoing basis is so everyone remembers what a tough guy he was when it came to handling those darned Egyptians.

        Next, we learn that the Israelites have been provided with a couple of guides in the form of pillars that will lead them to the land of milk and honey that belongs to other folks at the moment. By day there is a pillar of cloud that they follow, and by night there is a pillar of fire they’re supposed to follow. In verse 21 it says these two guides are there “so that they might travel by day and by night.” Not sure when they made camp. Six hundred thousand men and however many women and children, tramping along twenty-four hours a day sounds like a formula for mutiny, or at least a lot of grumbling.

        It’s been an entire chapter since God has had an excuse to whomp on some Egyptians, so in Chapter 14 he tells Moses to make his people march in a sort of zig and zag—or serpentine, if you’re a fan of the movie “The In-Laws”—manner, like they’re confused, and then make camp (see! they do make camp after all!) as if they’re getting discouraged, so as to attract Pharaoh’s attention; you know, make him think they are ripe for bringing back into the Egyptian labor force by giving them the old “The Pharaoh you know is better than the crazy guy with the snake-staff you only think you know” speech. As a backup plan, he’s bringing along six hundred of his best charioteers for muscle.

        The Israelites see Pharaoh and his posse and get worried. Moses asks God what to do, and God tells him to hold his staff out over the waters of the Red Sea and we all know what happens next because they made a movie with Charlton Heston and Yvonne De Carlo all about it. God makes a mighty wind part the Red Sea, the Israelites hoof it on over to the other side, the charioteers follow them with bad intent, and the waters come back together just in time to drown every single Egyptian. Honestly, it’s wonder Pharaoh has anyone left to govern at this point.

        And then, in Chapter 15, Moses sings a song that goes on for eighteen verses all about how God saved the Israelites by drowning the charioteers and scaring the bejesus out of the populations of Philistia and Moab and Edom and Canaan. Then Miriam, who is described as a prophet, which is quite an accomplishment for any women in this society, and who also happens to be Aaron’s sister, which I’m thinking should also make her Moses’ sister, and which could suggest at least a bit in the way of nepotism regarding her title of prophet…anyway, Miriam and women get a whole verse to sing their musical contribution.

“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;

horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”

The remainder of the chapter recounts another episode where the wandering Israelites find themselves short on provisions, this time specifically water, and they “complained against Moses”. This happens in a spot called Marah where there actually was water, but it tasted nasty and nobody wanted to drink it. God has Moses toss a hunk of wood into the water and that makes the water taste good. Charcoal filtration perhaps. They keep going until…

“27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they camped there by the water.”

        Sounds like a lovely little oasis, doesn’t it? But I just can’t get the “six hundred thousand men” plus women and children figure out of my head, and twelve creeks and seventy trees just seems a little inadequate to me.

 

Next time on “Book by Book” we’ll see exactly what Manna from Heaven is all about, and Zipporah’s dad Jethro will share some excellent advice with his son-in-law.

 

*Yes, that’s the Boss, Bruce Springsteen. We saw him in March at Footprint Center in Phoenix. Great show, but last time we subject ourselves to an arena concert.