Chapter 3 - Exodus
Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
One of the reasons that Pastor Eric and I decided to serve in this country and not in my birth country of Germany was that at the time, there was a surplus of pastors in Germany and a need for pastors in the US. The imbalance continued for many years. So our synod in Pennsylvania developed a system that would invite German candidates for ordination to come over here, do an internship in a congregation for a year, become ordained, and then serve here as a pastor. In this way, we welcomed four German pastors into our synod.
At one synod assembly, the bishop told me that he had heard grumblings. People had complained that there were “too many German pastors in the synod”. There were five amidst almost 90 clergy under call. But it was perceived as too many.
Something similar happens to the Israelites in our story today.
At the end of the Book of Genesis, Abraham’s grandson Jacob and all his sons are happily settled in Egypt. They are invited to live there by the Pharaoh because Jacob’s son Joseph had saved the nation from famine. The book ends with the “and-they-lived-happily-ever-after”-feeling of fairy tales.
The first verse in today’s readings makes all that fall apart: “Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.” A new Pharaoh had ascended to the throne who did not know or did not care about Joseph and his saving the nation. This new leader did not feel like he owed the Israelites anything.
Instead, he worried about their increasing numbers. There are too many of them! They could become a risk to national security. Something needs to be done to subdue them and limit their numbers.
To subdue them, Pharaoh enslaves the Hebrews. With increasing workloads, he attempts to tire them out. That way they would not have the energy to think of revolting.
To limit their numbers, he instructs the midwives to kill all baby boys born to the Hebrews. When that doesn’t work (because these brave midwives refuse to follow orders), Pharaoh orders his army to throw all male babies into the Nile.
Pharaoh does what so many rulers have done throughout the ages, and still do today. They feel threatened by a group within their realm, even if it be a small group and the fear not rational. They label that group, call it a security threat, and endeavor to control the group, enslave the group, limit the size of the group by genocide. This happened in the Holocaust, it happened in the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, it is happening now to the Uighurs in China and the Rohingya in Myanmar. A lot of the racism and violence being afflicted upon Blacks, Asians, and immigrants in this country might stem from the same fears: there are too many of them; they are threatening our way of life.
No wonder the Hebrews cry out for help. And God hears their cries. That is a recurring theme in the Book of Exodus: God hears the cries of his people. God hears and God responds.
In this story, God responds by calling Moses as the person who would lead the Hebrews out of slavery and to freedom in the Promised Land. The story of Moses’ birth, upbringing, and calling is amazing, but unfortunately, we don’t have time for it today.
In the name of God, Moses challenges Pharaoh to let the Hebrew people go. Pharaoh doesn’t want to. No wonder, he is getting free labor out of them. This God Yahweh Moses keeps talking about doesn’t mean anything to Pharaoh; he has his own gods, thank you very much. In fact, Pharaoh himself is considered a god.
What follows is divine warfare between the God of Israel and Pharaoh. The weapon of choice is plagues. One plague after another befalls the land of Egypt: water turns to blood; frogs, gnats and flies pester everyone; livestock gets sick; people break out in boils; and on it goes. Pharaoh remains stubborn and won’t let the people go.
Then comes the 10th plague: All the firstborn children will die. Only the Hebrew families will be spared from this calamity: they will mark their door frames and lintels with the blood of a lamb. The angel of death will not enter the houses of families marked with blood. The angel will ‘pass over’ those houses, which is where the festival receives the title ‘Passover’.
Finally, Pharaoh has had it and allows the Hebrew people to leave. Joyfully, they follow Moses out of Egypt. One can only imagine their joy and their hopes for the future.
However, when Pharaoh realizes that they did indeed leave, he regrets his decision and pursues them with his armed forces to bring them back. Over six hundred chariots go after the unarmed Hebrews. It is simply no match.
On top of that, the Hebrews are backed against the Reed Sea. They can’t get away from the approaching Egyptian army. No wonder they are scared and cry out to God for help. And God hears their cries.
First, God blocks the Egyptian’s way with the pillar of fire that had been leading God’s people.
Then, God opens a way out of no way. Moses is to stretch out his hand holding his staff across the sea, and miraculously, a way opens in the sea. The people can walk through the sea on dry foot. The water on each side is like walls as they make their way to the other shore.
When the pillar of fire lifts and the Egyptians see how the Hebrews have fled, they go after them. Into the breach in the sea, they ride in hot pursuit. However, the advanced weapons they have, that made them the most powerful army of the time, now become their downfall. The chariot wheels get stuck in the mud. Their heavy armor pulls them under when the water returns. The Egyptian army is defeated while the Hebrews all escape safely to the other side.
They are saved! They are free! Alleluia! Immediately, they break into songs of praise. First Moses sings, and then his sister Miriam picks up her tambourine and sings the verses we read earlier: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”
Scholars think that this might be the oldest song in the whole Bible – and sung by woman, no less!
That would make sense because this event, this exit from slavery in Egypt, this exodus of God’s people, is the foundation event in God’s relationship with God’s people. This liberation shows them a God who cares and who desires for all people to be free. This miracle of salvation binds them together as God’s people and makes them trust in God. This exodus event is the beginning of the journey of God and God’s people that goes on to this very day.
When God introduces the Ten Commandments, he does so with the words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other God’s before me.”
The Book of Leviticus describes how the people should live in holy ways before God “for to me the people of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 25:55).
The prophets use the exodus as an analogy for later periods of suffering in Israel (e.g., Amos 4:10 and Isa 52:4) and as evidence for the kind of deliverance of which God is capable (e.g., Jeremiah 23:7-8 and Micah 7:15).
The exodus has pride of place in any recitation of the story of God’s relationship with Israel. Such recitations can be comprehensive, such as Ezra’s prayer in Nehemiah 9, or succinct, as in Micah 6:4-5.
The exodus is a favorite topic for the psalms and forms a centerpiece of ancient Israel’s liturgical life. Some, like Psalm 106, list the exodus as the first in a litany of God’s “mighty acts,” while others, like Psalm 114, retell the story of the exodus in poetic ways.
Time and time again, the story of the exodus shows up in the Bible, as a reminder of how powerful, good, and caring God is, and as a reminder that in response to this rescue, the people owe God worship and faithfulness and obedience to the commandments. A people who has once been slaves and were then set free out of grace are expected to live in ways that promote freedom and justice and life for others.
For Christians, this story is powerful in its own right, but is also rich with symbols for what God has done for us in Christ.
Jesus’ last supper with his disciples was a Passover meal: just as the Hebrews ate bread and drank wine on the night before they were set free, so Jesus eats bread and drinks wine with us to remind us how we have been set free from sin and death.
The blood of the lamb saves the Hebrew homes from the angel of death: Jesus’ blood on the cross saves us from eternal death.
The Hebrews pass through the water of the sea towards freedom: In baptism, God’s grace reaches out to us in water and the word to bless us with freedom in Christ.
The Egyptian army drowns; the freedom of God’s people came at a cost: our freedom came at the cost of God’s Son’s life.
The freed people embark on the way towards the Promised Land: We are on the journey of faith towards God’s kingdom.
We are still celebrating the season of Easter. How can we fail to see the exodus as an Easter story? Where the people saw only death and the end of everything, God opened a way out of no way and led the people to a new life of freedom and joy and hopeful expectation.
The story of the exodus has given hope, courage, and endurance to many people struggling for liberation. My prayer is that it also helps us now in this time of pandemic. This story assures us that God hears our cries, and that God has power to save, and that God will act on behalf of his people. God will show us a way out of no way. God will open up new paths that lead to a new way of life. God will restore us and walk with us as we continue our pilgrim journey towards the kingdom of God.
Thanks be to God for that! Amen.