13.33 “Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.” This is a great image, metaphorical as well as concrete (Northrop’s languages). The lord does provide security for his people.
15.20 “The Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.” This repetition is surely intentional, as it creates a very rhythmic reading of the entire chapter.
17.14 “…I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” Ouch. Them’s is fightin words.
18 Pretty cool, the first court system in the bible, ordained by the bible. I didn’t know this would be mentioned.
In Exodus, the Lord really wants to prove himself. Yet, I can’t help but picture the women, children, asking “Why?” “Why did our father die chasing the Israelites?” “Why must this plague be upon us?” The bible sacrifices itself to the injustices of the world, giving itself up for a greater good. Why? Because God is trying to prove himself. Not in the critical way I, and Plotz, might first believe, but in a way as to offer an answer to the question. The best answer we can hope for is that all of the suffering, the wrong-doing, the pain, is caused not needlessly, but for a reason. We can try to believe in some grander scheme that we are blind to as of yet. The bible offers up a master of this scheme. Perhaps from the beginning the authors knew or hoped that at some point, readers would criticize God and his ways, call him frivolous and egotistical, come to blame him for the wrong in their lives. They hoped even more that we would come to understand He is merely offering himself up as a scapegoat, so that we may have faith in our times of trouble. That we may understand we do not know all.
For me, the medium—or characterization—of the Lord is unimportant. It is important only that I understand there is something greater, something with meaning, something to catch us when we fall.
Another example of a gracious god is the continual complaining of his Israelite people. They don’t stop, after multiple examples of his benevolence, just like the Pharaoh didn’t stop after the demonstrated threats. A god that will put up with all that and still provide is admirable. My only hope is that we haven’t been taking advantage of this?
The Prophetess Miriam. Plotz mentions her, as leading the singing and dancing when the Israelites finally cross the Red Sea. Her actual part so far in the bible was a small blurb, a mere mention. Does she appear later on? Even if she does, the small characters in this book are enough to build a story on. The writer in me wants to re-portray her dancing and singing in a bit more detail. But I suppose then there would be no room for the enthralling description of the tabernacle, the building of the tabernacle and the consecrating of the tabernacle.
This precise step by step process that eats up the last few chapters of Exodus must be somewhat important. Is it so descriptive so that we can duplicate it or admire it?
So. The commandments. Plotz notices something interesting about them that crept into my thought as well: as much as I had thought they were how to live morally, they are simply, as Plotz writes, “designed for keeping order.”This is an interesting observation, as this follows the first description of a court system, and precedes the more detailed rules about settlements for killing, stealing, ect. This is a very institutional section, as if showing the Israelites not how to live on their own, but how to live together as a society. The author repeatedly suggests a union of the tribes, in both J and P parts. This leads one, while reading the bible as literature, to keep in mind not only its merit in prose or literary allusions, but in the world of the people who take it as law, such as Jacob in The Slave. This is the book they read not only for faith and inspiration but for daily rituals and models for social institutions..
And as in any book, much is left to interpretation of the reader, no matter how specific the author thinks she is being. As Plotz notes, the verse on miscarriage/abortion can be read as both a prochoice and prolife supporter.
And the end. Exodus is fin.
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