When did you last read the Bible? Or do you only read it if you’re in a church? I try to read it each day—one chapter with my morning coffee. I start at the beginning (Genesis) and go right through to the end, then start again. It’s surprising how much I don’t remember! It’s like wellies standing in water—nothing sticks. I have now started to make notes—a few sentences for each chapter, to try and make myself notice what I am reading. So far, it’s working, and it stops me ‘skim-reading’ and makes me think.

This week, I read the bit about Moses returning to Egypt to tell Pharoah to release the Israelites—and it made me think. I am reading it as a theological text—so I am not concerned with whether it’s historically accurate or not (it might be, it might not be). I want to know what the author was trying to explain about the God/human relationship. It’s hard to know what the point of this narrative is.

In brief:[1] Moses eventually obeys God and returns to Egypt to tell Pharoah that he must let the Israelites leave (they are currently slaves). First he goes to the Israelites, shows them some miracles and tells them his message, and they are very excited. At last, after centuries of slavery, God is going to save them. Everyone is happy. Then Moses (and his brother Aaron) go to Pharoah and tell him the same message. Pharoah is angry and sarcastic, and increases the workload of the Israelites, punishing their overseers. The people are so disappointed. Instead of releasing them, Pharoah has made everything harder. So now they feel abandoned (again) by God, and angry with Moses for raising their hopes. God gives Moses another message for Pharoah, and he wonders what the point is—he tells God that he (God) has made everything worse, and now Moses doesn’t even have the backing of the Israelites, so what is the point? I wonder this too—what was the point?

There would, I assume have been elderly Israelites, who after hearing that God was going to release them, saw everything get worse, and then they died. What did this message teach them about God? What did it teach anyone? When God said: ‘I am going to do this,’ people tended to think it would happen soon. But actually, usually in biblical texts, it did not.

The Israelites were told they would be released, and returned to Canaan. Canaan is the land promised to Abraham centuries before. Abraham never received it. He was also promised a son, and he did eventually have a son (Isaac) but not until years later than he expected.[2] (Abraham actually had eight sons, but only Ishmael and Isaac are talked about.)

What are these texts trying to teach us? Perhaps that God can be trusted, but things might not happen fast, or in the way we are expecting? That when all looks like it is going wrong (a bit like the world today) there may be a plan we don’t understand? And if that is the message, the hidden lesson behind the words, then what do we do with that? How does it help to know that people have their hopes raised, only to be disappointed, but eventually it turns out okay. I’m not sure. It is certainly reflected in real life—I have seen lots of people ‘sure’ they understand what God wants, only to discover they are wrong, things don’t happen as expected. Sometimes things (businesses, ministries, churches, charities) fail, despite people being sure that this is what God wants. I don’t know why.

Perhaps (and it’s only a ‘perhaps’ not really an answer) it is to teach us that we do not control God. God is God, and we might sometimes share some of the plan, but never the whole story, and we should not forget that. Perhaps the text teaches us to trust God. Nothing else, just trust. In real life, that is not easy. Humans like to plan for the future. What do you think?

I hope you cope well with any disappointments that happen this week. Thanks for reading.
Take care.
Love, Anne x

anneethompson.com

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[1] Ex.4:27—5:23.

[2] Gen.17 and 21.