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“Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile…” Wow. This Pharaoh, as I knew he would be, is not so cool. The Israelites seem to breed like rabbits (good ol’ God’s promise), and though they are enslaved by the Egyptians, the Egyptians fear them—or maybe they fear them because they mistreat them and expect an uprising. The only logical solution? Mistreat them more.
This chapter was written in what I would characterize as the P version. Very precise, to the point, choppy.Yet it is more entertaining than a regular P, so perhaps J...
Plotz mentions the word slave, and its conspicuous absence in his version, even though the term is implied in the rest of his religion.
2
“He looked this way and that, and seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.” What? That came out of left field. What anti-climatic writing, and this is no Moses I remember. Brings up a good point. This is pre-commandments, pre-Jesus. Does anything fly? Really, up to this point, no one can be blamed for what they have done.
“The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out.” Those are somewhat more powerful, loaded words. Why does an all-powerful God need to be reminded?
Time scale given by Plotz- about four hundred years, 20 generations.
3
“I AM WHO I AM.” Why the sudden mystery in the name of god? A pretty important chapter though, with the burning bush and the promise of the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian hands. Not only liberation, but, is there a hint of reparation in there? “And so you shall plunder the Egyptians.”
4
First of all, Moses is anything but willing. The writing shows him protesting again and again to this gift of being the voice of god. People will not believe him, he cannot speak well, they will laugh at him…”O my Lord, please send someone else.” Is this a show of over-done modesty or of genuine stage-fright. Will this be part of the story, a nobody who comes up and achieves greatness , to set the pattern for countless other rags to riches tales? Or is the will of God really random, with the least deserving getting all the good roles?
There is to be no one worshipped before god, right? So then why does Moses get to serve as a god to Aaron?
So, act is set in motion, and we learn the reason for the killings of the firstborn son to come. Then comes a paragraph about Zipporah (Moses’s wife) and her son maybe going to get killed till she circumcises him, “A bridegroom of blood by circumcision.” Perhaps this is just bad editing, or maybe an attempt to show rather than tell the distinction of which newborn sons shall be killed. Clever?
5 Bricks Without Straw (cool subtitle)
Intense chapter. The Pharaoh is relentless in his cruelty and the Israelites come to blame Moses and Aaron for their increased labor. This is a theme that will be repeated again and again in human history, a core fault of humans to misunderstand on whom to place the blame. Why were we created with so little perspective?
Reading so far, I cannot help but list off the number of movies, songs, poems and books that I know of that have been inspired by the bible up to Exodus. Key words: so far, and ‘that I know of.’ The bible goes on and on, and the works that I know are hardly a fraction of what is really out there. Now I want to pay more attention just to catch those little allusions. Is there a work alluded to more widely in western culture?
6
Super genealogy.
7
Once again, Moses complains that he is not the man for the job. Once again, God tells him that he shall be god to the people, and Aaron shall be his prophet. Is this intentional literary repetition for effect or bad editing? Assuming it is for effect, the conclusion I can draw is that in a lack of displayed power, Moses still remains humble and doubts his power. Poor guy is getting promised the world but so far all he has to show for it is a mob of Israelites.
“But I will harden the Pharaoh’s heart, and I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.” God likes his build-up. He’ll make a man out of Moses yet.
First plague: water into blood. As an afterthought, we are told, “And all the Egyptians had to dig along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the river.” Cause it was blood. No big deal. The bible really doesn’t make an individual feel too special as of yet, eh?
8
Second plague: Frogs. Pharaoh, why you so mean? Crazy Egyptians…
Third plague: Gnats. No more warnings this time, now Aaron and Moses are just raining down plagues. You had your chance Pharaoh…
Fourth plague: Flies. I keep forgetting how entranced I was with the plagues growing up. What a cool idea. I knew very little about them, but I remember thinking how cruel and unusual they were, and marveled at how widespread. Does every child grow up with this idea of striking righteous plagues down on others? Of impressing their enemies with just how much they can make them pay? Or was that just me?
9
Odd chapter placements. I would assume this is for ease of reading, for those who would pick out a verse or two to read.
Fifth plague: Livestock Diseased. I also wondered the significance of the plagues. Which brings me to flies. Why flies? Why gnats? They seemed like the same thing to me. Wondering if the number ten has any significance, I found “Thus wherever ten is found this completeness of order is also seen. Ten implies completeness of order, nothing lacking and nothing over. It signifies that the cycle is complete and that everything is in its proper order. Thus ten represents the perfection of divine order.” (http://www.vic.australis.com.au/hazz/number010.html) Perhaps a wee bit of borrowed significance, and in order to attain this number, God just had to be a bit redundant.
Sixth plague: Boils. How many children have had to memorize all of these horrible plagues in Sunday school? I have a vague remembrance of my eight year old friends being able to recite the order.
Seventh plague: Thunder and Hail. “For this is what I have let you live: to show you my power, and to make my name resound through all earth.” Yeah. Founding a religion can be tough work.
Wow. Which makes me think of The Chronicles of Narnia. I remember reading these books as a kid, and hearing some vague comments about the author being a Christian and the parallel between his stories and the bible. Or something. And anyways, is Aslan (the lion…) not unlike God? Both play large parts in the beginning, sacrifice their time when needed, then have long periods of absence where they are nowhere to be found, and their people must fend for themselves, until of course, both return and save the day. I dunno. God is a lion.
10
Eighth plague: Locusts. “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand…’” Why must God act through Moses? This is confusing, as is exactly who is talking to the Pharaoh. Is it Moses, or Aaron, or God through Moses, or God through Moses through Aaron, or God directly or…or… Can He not act directly in a land ruled by heathens? Or is this just signifying the importance of Moses?
Ninth plague: Darkness. Ok already. We get it, Pharaoh is wishy washy liar. Stop listening to him? Is this the first comings of the time-honored tradition of Christian’s turning a cheek, giving everyone the benefit of the doubt? After reading this epic, I can understand why this is not as ingrained as we might wish.
“A darkness that can be felt.”
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Final Plague “Indeed, when he lets you go, he will drive you away.” I don’t know why. These lines stuck to me.
12
Passover! Woah. Love this story. Don’t know why, but origins of rituals are fascinating to me. It’s like…this is where it all started. At least, this is where we gain importance in our religion. No one may remember to not sleep with his neighbor’s wife, but god damnit if they don’t observe a holiday. This sounds harsh, but in many ways traditions are some of the strongest and most admirable things to keep a religion together, for better or worse. The very potency of such rites deserves at least a little thought.
The specifics don’t matter much. Why unleavened bread? (We later find out this is God playing time traveler, as he commands the eating of unleavened bread because as they were driven out of Egypt, the Israelites had no time to leaven their bread) So this is symbolic. But why no penis flap? Was this divinely inspired or just a random man coming up with a rule? But because it is written to us, given straight with a warning, we obey. It is no more than a test of faithfulness and attentiveness. How much are you willing to sacrifice for what you believe?
I am utterly intrigued.
“And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this observance?’ You shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord…” Maybe the question is not of sacrifice, but more of remembrance.
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