(The people of Israel are fleeing Egypt. The Egyptian army is pursuing them. The people get as far as the edge of the Red Sea. They are trapped. God, who has been going ahead of them as a guiding pillar of fire and cloud, moves around to a place behind them, to keep the two camps apart all night and keep the people of Israel safe. The next day God opens a dry path through the Red Sea for Israel to cross over. The Egyptians see this, begin to follow, get bogged down by the weight of their chariots in the mud, and then as they flounder, the waters of the Red Sea close on them and drown the whole army.)
What a sad story this is!
How can we not, when we read it to the end, just cry over the fate of the Egyptians, even as we rejoice with the people of Israel?
A colleague in ministry has written,
“told from the point of view of a people under constant stress from many
external enemies, this story elicits a sense of security and trust. But what of the Egyptians? Did God not care about them too?”
Good question. And another good question is, who am I (are
we) in this story?
If we are (like) Israel -- i.e.
oppressed, enslaved, in need of a saviour-liberator (which in some ways,
everyone always is), then this is a story that encourages a sense of security
and trust in God who is able to be that, and do that for us. And certainly the Christian community and the
Western world have for centuries interpreted the story this way, reinforcing a
sense of entitlement, divine protection of our interests, trust in God to be on
our side, etc., etc.
But … if we are (like) Egypt -- i.e.
oppressive, dominating, controlling, in need of a saviour from ourselves (which
in some ways, maybe everyone also always is?), then this is a story that
encourages submission to a higher power, acceptance of limits on our own power,
and a willingness to live in peaceful and respectful (i.e. supportive but hands-off)
relationship with others.
Because ... if Egypt had only stopped
at the edge of the sea, and let the people of Israel go ... if they had only
finally taken seriously and accepted what they could see of the hand of God and
of the clear direction that history was taking against them ... all would have
been well.
God did all God could ... showed Egypt
sign after sign of how this was going to turn out (ten plagues, for goodness’
sake!!), even upping the ante each time to help them maybe finally get the
point ... and then when Israel was finally on the run, God intervened personally
and kept the two people apart with that awe-ful pillar of fire and cloud,
giving the Egyptian army time and even an excuse just to let Israel go ("Really,
pharaoh, there was this big pillar of divine fire and cloud! We tried, but there was no way we could get
to them.").
The way God opened through the
sea was meant as a way for Israel, not Egypt, to follow, but Egypt insisted
on everything being for them and about them ... and look where it got them.
A basic problem about Egypt, empires
and emperors, is that they think they're the good guys, they think they're
always right (even when they can see and have to admit that they “used to be
wrong”), and they think they (need to) have (and to be) the answer for everyone
else's problems ...
If at some point along the way – even as
far as the very edge of the Red Sea, Egypt had finally been able to
"rejoice with those who rejoice" (to quote Paul from last week’s
reading) -- i.e. sit down and be happy at
last (even if somewhat ruefully) for the people of Israel getting the freedom
they had needed for so long (like shaking hands at the end of a hard-fought
game with the team that beat you) ... and had been able to "bless those
who cursed them" (to quote Jesus) -- i.e. had been able to wish Israel
well on its journey-just-begun, even while knowing that Israel was probably
only cursing them as they went on their way, and would probably curse them for
generations yet to come for what they had done to them while they were slaves in Egypt... then all would have been
well.
So ... even though there are ways in
which we are Israel, encouraged to a sense of security and trust in God to help
free us from what enslaves us ... are there also ways we are Egypt, encouraged
to step back, let go of control and power, recognize the evil we do (have done, and still do) in our
dominance, and do what we can to live in respectful, supportive, hands-off,
peaceful relationship with those we are tempted to control, whose separate
journey is also a gift of God and part of the on-going flow of life?
An extra note: There is an old Jewish legend that as the people of Israel, after 40 years in the wilderness, finally stood on the east bank of the Jordan and were preparing to enter the Promised Land, God told Moses he would not be entering the land with them, and would not set foot in it. After leading them all this time and all this way, he was to die and be buried just outside the Promised Land. Moses, taken aback, asked why.
In reply, God asked Moses if he remembered the day way back at the beginning when the people of Israel were led through the Red Sea, and then they turned around and saw the Egyptian army overwhelmed and drowned in the same sea they had just passed through. Moses said yes, he remembered that day. And God said, "You smiled."
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