INTRODUCTION
Some
resist their marching orders, however, preferring present surroundings to a
new, unknown environment. It is not easy to trade the comfortable security of
the known for an uncertain future. But what if God gives the order to move?
Will we follow his lead? Exodus describes a series of God’s calls and the
responses of his people.
Exodus is
the second book of the Bible that relates the departure of the Israelites from
Egypt and their wanderings through the desert up to Mount Sinai. Exodus
means exit, and is used to designate the deliverance of the Israelites from
Egyptian bondage in the 13th century BC and their safe passage
through the Sea of Reeds under the leadership of Moses. Being the fifth book of
the Pentateuch, it presents the themes of slavery, liberation, exodus, and
journey to Sinai, arrival at Sinai and theophany, Sinaitic covenant and
inauguration of the Israelite cult.[1] This
paper is concerned with the exodus experience of the Israelites; the match out
of Egypt and the plight of the migrants. However for the context of this work
and for a better understanding, it is necessary I state the situation in Egypt
that brought about the necessity for an exodus.
THE SITUATION IN EGYPT
Under the regime of Pharaoh Ramses II of Egypt, the Hebrew
people are enslaved and forced to work on state building projects. They escape
Egypt under the leadership of the Hebrew prophet Moses. In about 1270 b.c the Hebrews’ journey to Mount Sinai
and into Palestine.[2] Israel’s
mistreatment by the Egyptians provides the background and impetus for their
redemption.
According to biblical tradition, the Israelites’
clans migrated to Egypt
because of a famine in the land of Canaan. With Joseph as a prime minister in
Egypt they were favoured. The Israelites who were highly favoured in Egypt
turned slaves after the death of their brother and prime minister of Egypt, Joseph.
Four hundred years had passed since Joseph moved his family to Egypt. These
descendants of Abraham had now grown to over two million strong. To Egypt’s new
Pharaoh, these Hebrews were foreigners, and their numbers were frightening.
Pharaoh decided to make them slaves so they wouldn’t upset his balance of
power. As it turned out, that was his biggest mistake, for God then came to the
rescue of his people.
Through a series of strange events, a Hebrew boy
named Moses became a prince in Pharaoh’s palace and then an outcast in a
wilderness land. God visited Moses in the mysterious flames of a burning bush,
and after some discussion and being commissioned by God, Moses agreed to return
to Egypt to lead God’s people out of slavery. Pharaoh was confronted, and
through a cycle of plagues and promises made and broken, Israel was torn from
his grasp.
THE EXODUS EXPERIENCE AND THE
PLIGHT OF MIGRANTS
According
to Sebastian in his The Pentateuch, the
actual exodus began only when the Israelites left the land of Egypt, but the
plight of the people started with an increase in their daily burden following
the request of Moses and Aaron to have the people released. The people blamed
Moses and accused him of putting a sword in the hands of the Egyptians to kill
the Hebrews.
The
exodus experience presents the journey from the desert to the Promised Land. After
the last of the ten
plagues inflicted on the Egyptians, Pharaoh allowed Moses
to lead Yahweh’s people out of Egypt. Tradition ascribes to Moses the basic
features of Israel’s faith: a single God, called YHWH, who cannot be
represented ironically, bound in a covenant relationship with his special
people Israel, to whom he has promised possession of the land of Canaan. [3]
God did not let them take the road to the philistines’ territory, although that
was the shortest, ‘in case’, God thought, ‘the prospect of fighting makes the
people change their minds and turn back to Egypt’. Instead, through Moses God
led the people a roundabout way through the desert of the sea of Reeds (Bible
exodus 13:17-18). Pharaoh with a hardened heart went after the Israelites in
the company of his officers, chariots and horses. With the furious Pharaoh and
his army behind and the sea in front, the Israelites were said to be in a
situation that Sebastine Kizhakkeyil describes as ‘between the devil and the
sea’. In this situation the people despaired and accused Moses of bringing them
out of Egypt to have them killed. With a weak faith, the people believed they
are coming to a disastrous end.
The
constancy of God’s directive power and concern is displayed notably in the forty
years of Israel’s wandering in the desert, when Israel was tested and tempered
not only by hardship but also by rebellious despair that looks back longingly
to Egyptian bondage. God sends the people manna (bread) from heaven and Quail
for their sustenance and through Moses brought forth hidden sources of water.
One
of the plight of the migrants is they had to face war against different
nations. At Rephidim the people were attacked by the Amalekites. Joshua and the
people engaged the battle while Moses, Aaron and Hur was on the hilltop and Moses
arm brought victory for the people as long as it was raised. Setting out from
Rephidim the Israelites reached the desert of Sinai. On Sinai the people
pledged a communal obedience to Yahweh and the commandment was given to them by
Yahweh through Moses. On a particular instance when Moses spent longer time on
the mountain with God, the people incited Aaron and had a golden calf molded
for them before which they offered sacrifices. Yahweh’s anger was kindled and
Moses interceded for the people, but on getting down from the mountain and
seeing the golden calf, he blazed with anger and shattered the tablets he was
holding at the foot of the mountain. For the atonement of their sin and
breaking the covenant, the Israelites were made to strip themselves of their
ornaments, and Moses burnt the molten calf, grinded it, spread it in water and
made the Israelites drink it. And at Marah the people were subjected to bitter
waters.
Within
the exodus experience are some remarkable event in the life of the Israelites which
include: Sinaitic covenant, the Decalogue, the covenant code, and the
inauguration of the Israelite cult and rituals. There are several occasions
that showed Israel as a rebellious nation: they rebuked Moses at the sea of
Reads, they murmured against Moses at Marah, they murmured against Moses and
Aaron in the wilderness of Sin, they disobeyed God and kept manna overnight,
and also gathered manna on the Sabbath against God’s command, they murmured
against Moses at Rephidim, and their act of making for themselves a god, the
molten calf.[4]
CONCLUSION
It was not an easy task to mobilize this mass of
humanity, but they marched out of Egypt, through the sea of reeds, and into the
wilderness behind Moses and the pillars of cloud and fire. Despite the continual
evidence of God’s love and power, the people complained and began to yearn for
their days in Egypt. God provided for their physical and spiritual needs with
food and a place to worship, but He also judged their disobedience and
unbelief. Then in the dramatic Sinai meeting with Moses, God gave them His laws
for right living.
[1] S.
KIZHAKKEYIL, The Pentateuch: An Exegetical commentary, St Pauls publications,
Mumbai, 2009, 218.
[2] Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.
[3] Biblical literature.
Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia
Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia
Britannica, 2014
[4] S.
KIZHAKKEYIL, The Pentateuch: An Exegetical commentary, St Pauls publications,
Mumbai, 2009, 291
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