God rescues the Israelites from Egypt  

Waaaay back in the first third of Abraham's story, before he even had any kids, God spoke closely with him told him not only about the promise of wealth and a nation of descendants and the land of Canaan and blessing the whole world, but God told him how his descendants would go to Egypt and become slaves there, before God brought them back out.

At the end of Genesis, the Israelites are in Egypt, and Joseph, a man in tune with what God is doing, tells them that when they go back to Canaan, to take his bones with them. The two Exodus posts so far readied us for the moment the Israelites would leave Egypt. Now, with Moses having warned Pharaoh about the consequences of ignoring God, that time has come.

Synopsis

God fills Moses and Aaron in on the details of what's next: Each Israelite family will sacrifice a good 1-year-old lamb, put the blood on their doors, eat bread with no yeast for a week, party all week and God will kill every first-born in Egypt, skipping over the Israelites. These instructions are repeated a few times, including after the deed is done, as God emphasizes what an important holiday this is going to be--for members of Abraham's covenant only--as the Israelites remember what God has done forever.

Pharaoh summons Moses during the night while the Egyptians are discovering their tragedy, and tells him and the Israelites to get out! The Egyptians give their Israelite neighbors lots of gold and silver as God predicted and 600,000 men, plus women and children, along with lots of other non-Egyptian (not sure if they're in the count) leave Egypt together, ready to fight, after being in Egypt for 430 years.

Moses grabs Joseph's bones on their way out, and God personally leads them towards Canaan (taking the long way around to avoid battle) with a pillar of cloud during the day and by fire at night. They end up trapping themselves against the sea so that God can show how he will provide for them.

Pharaoh regrets letting the slaves go and goes after them with his army and chariots. As he's closing in, the Israelites panic and lash out at Moses and God, saying they'd rather be slaves in Egypt than dead in the desert. Moses ain't having it, telling them to trust God, who separates them from the Egyptian army with the cloud/fire and spends all night splitting the sea to provide a dry path for the Israelites to walk through.

They do walk through, and as Pharaoh's army follows them, God throws their army into confusion, with wheels falling off and the like. The army begins to retreat but God sends the sea on top of them and drowns them all. The Israelites mike it to the other side scratch-free.

Israel sings a beautiful song about God's love and faithfulness to Israel, that God is the greatest of all, that he defeats his arrogant enemies, that God is forever king. They continue their travel and in the Desert of Shur God provides water for them miraculously.

Analysis and Response

From my cultural perspective, the first question to ask is, why does God bring so much hardship on the Egyptians, why does he kill babies, and why does he destroy a whole army that's retreating? For a God that seems to hate murder, this seems extraordinarily cruel.

I'm still processing this idea; it's not a conversation for just one blog post, I don't think, but some of my initial thoughts relate to a cultural superiority complex--that we think the way we think is the best. For one thing, we think that there is nothing on earth worse than death, that it is the worst thing that can happen to a person under all circumstances. To the ancient Israelites, there were plenty of things in the world worse than death. We also feel we have a great degree of control over our comfort and safety and rarely feel serious physical hardship, while the ancient Israelites knew hardship as a foundational element of life.

Another thought is that God has a very large plan of restoring order and harmony to earth since man screwed it up and a big part of that plan is his promise to use the nation of Israel, so he's simply on their side and is doing what needs to be done to work them into his larger plan. He is for them, in other words.

Also, we are an individualized culture--we think every person exists in a vacuum, while the Israelites existed more as a unit than as individuals. To the Israelites and Egyptians alike, there is no question as to why all Egypt pays for Pharaoh's stupidity. That's an especially interesting point, considering the whole "freeing the slave" element. What we often forget when reading this story is how radical God's salvation for Israel is. This is pre-englightenment slave-freeing. No one on earth thought that the Israelites had a right to be freed because of their unchangeable human rights and their salvation tells just as much about God's radical love and faithfulness for Israel as it does about how he wants to stop oppression.

These are some initial thoughts on how I can wrestle with the murder of every firstborn in Egypt. For me a counter-point to these thoughts is, "Sure, our cultures are different, but our culture has a better handle on these points, so why is God so far behind the curve?" Like I said, it's not a conversation for just one blog post and I hope to continue to process it over the next month as we move through the Torah.

One point that needs no argument is that the ending point of this story is that God is good, loving, powerful, and just. The perspective of Exodus, of Moses and of the Israelites is pure wonder and appreciation and excitement for what God has done for them, and the love that he has demonstrated. You might disagree but that is certainly Exodus' point.

Finally (there's a lot packed into these few pages!), just as God brought Abraham, Jacob, and Jacob's sons through a journey of doubt of him to trust in him, he seems to be repeating the same pattern here. Moses might already be on the end side of that process, as he doubted bigtime before what God would do but after the plagues has enourmous confidence in God's provision even when a sea is in the way.

Pharaoh is certainly on the end side of that process, but he demonstrates what continued stubbornness and antagonistic attitudes toward God lead to: You will know his power in the end, but it won't be good for you.

The Israelites are going to be on a longer trajectory, and I don't just say that because I know the next 1300 pages will be about the nation's up-and-down relationship with God. Already there are signs that despite God's faithfulness they will be unfaithful over and over again, as they've already started complaining about water. This could be a long process.