Exodus: The God of the
Desert
Michael A. Rizzotti
Genesis, the first book of the Bible, does not limit itself
to the creation narrative. Adam and Eve go on to have children, among them,
Cain and Abel. In some respect they typify the consequence of the fall: the
evil and the good.
The story of the two brothers is a further allusion to God's
preference for herdsman-ship over agriculture. Cain's fruit offering is
disregarded by God who looked favorably upon Abel's flock offering. As we know,
this arouses Cain's jealousy and causes the killing of Abel.
The text goes on with the patriarchal genealogy of the first
couple's descendants.
As the generations of "men" multiply on earth, it
saddens God to see that they are all wicked and evil. As a result, he decides
to destroy humankind in a flood. But among the corrupt God finds favor with
Noah. He tells him to build an ark in order to save his family and the animals
of the earth.
Soon after the flood life begins anew. The narrative goes on
with the enumeration of Noah's descendants. Meanwhile, the epic of the
Patriarchs unfolds. Among the principal heroes are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The narrative depicts successively their own unique relationship with their
God.
The saga depicted in Genesis ends with the people of Israel's move to Egypt to escape the famine that ravaged
their lands. A fortunate turn of events allows them to be invited to Egypt by Joseph, Jacob's son, who was
sold as a slave to an Egyptian by his jealous brothers. Because of Joseph's
uncanny ability to interpret dreams, he had soon been noticed by the Egyptian
court and was promoted to a prestigious position among their ranks.
But before we begin with the "epic" of Exodus,
Genesis inaugurates three important Old Testament themes:
Abraham...........God's
promise and alliance
Isaac.................the
spared sacrifice
Jacob................the
struggle with God; i.e. Israel
These themes are but a prelude to what is the centerpiece of
the Bible: Exodus.
*
Exodus is a unique and invaluable account that discloses the
birth of a religion. Everything evolves around the significant experience of
the people in the wilderness. In many ways Genesis, which precedes it, simply
acts as an introduction to the important excursion of the people of Israel.
The flight out of Egypt and the revelation of Yahweh in the
desert are the fundamental points which reveal Israel's origin and identity. The fashion
and context in which the journey took place is a remarkable trait that
discloses its essence: Moses typifies the semi-nomadic and tribal experience of
the "fathers".
The people's isolation in the desert and the transient
quality of the journey toward the promised land did
not favor the development of a stable culture usually associated with agriculture
and the fertility cults of the goddess. In other words, the unique experience
of Israel was a product of its isolation
which also gave birth to the exclusive and jealous nature of Yahweh. Being
secluded from other gods and cultures favored the unique cult of a single and
exclusive God. What followed that experience favored the fierce opposition to
other gods as well as to the goddess.
The identity of Israel is, in a sense, closely related to
the idea of flight, movement, and seclusion. The isolation of the desert was
providential to its historical development where the three entities identified
as Moses, Yahweh, and Israel came together in a fateful fashion.
*
Several generations of Hebrews had lived in Egypt since the time of their first
arrival. These "people" now felt less and less welcomed in their
adoptive land. Their lives were increasingly threatened by oppressive
conditions imposed by the Pharaoh.
Among the Egyptians the Hebrews
were a "people" without a leader. Moses, it turns out, was a prince
without a kingdom. When he is told by God of his destiny on Mount Sinai the revelation links the leader to
the people. He saw the apparition and heard God's voice revealing to him the
"oath" he made to the Fathers before him.
Israel's identity as a people, as a
religion, and as a nation is recreated with that revelation. The exodus in the
desert further consolidates that identity. Apart and away from the
"other" gods and "other" cultures living in Egypt, the setting is favorable for
Yahweh to inaugurate a new bond. Yahweh characteristically describes himself as
a jealous God, he is unconditionally opposed to
"other" gods. As the story shows, the wilderness is an ideal place to
forge such an alliance.
The introduction begins with the description of Moses'
birth. But the "epic" soon shifts to the hierophany. God reveals his
presence by the burning bush and the sound of his voice. The encounter takes
place on Mount
Sinai,
also called Mount
Horeb. According to the traditional lore
of the time, the site was, significantly enough, referred to as the "Mountain of God" or the "Mountain of the
gods". The sacred place was known locally as an area where mysterious
phenomena often occurred. It was commonly believed that divine beings lived
there. Coincidentally, the place could not have been more appropriate for
Moses' spiritual initiation.
the setting............Egypt and the wilderness
the hero...............Moses
the quest.............the "promise"
the obstacle.........the Pharaoh and other gods
the mentor...........Yahweh
the outcome.........the ten commandments; Israel
*
The setting underscores the geographical and historical
context that led to the exodus. It is an underlying factor in the plot. The
spatio-temporal circumstances for Exodus rely on the departure out of Egypt and the movement toward the quest
for the promised land.
Exodus is the second book of the Pentateuch. These books are
also referred to as the Torah, also known as the Law or Instructions. Early Jewish
and Christian traditions believed Moses to be the author of these texts, but
biblical scholars discovered that Exodus is not the work of one author but
rather a compilation of at least four literary sources known as the Yahwist -J,
the Elohist -E, the Priestly writer -P, and the Redactor -R. As we have
mentioned already, these sources were put together into one narrative by a
single editor identified as the Redactor. 2 We will come back to
this mysterious editor later.
According to biblical accounts Moses' parents were from the
tribe of Levi, one of the many tribes that lived in Egypt. These people were also called the
Hebrews. The name "Hebrew" has many etymological origins, and none of
them certain. It may have been derived from the word Habiru,
a variant of Hapiru or Apiru,
which was a designation for a class of people who made their living by offering
themselves as hired help. According to biblical tradition, the Israelites had
been in Egypt for numerous generations and
apparently had become a threat to the Pharaohs because of their ever growing
population. 3
In addition to the Hebrews, there were a great number of
slaves from different countries who were brought in as prisoners of war and
lived all over Egypt to serve in different capacities.
Many became free persons within the Egyptian society and several were found at
various levels of rank in the Egyptian court.
Many of these "foreigners" immigrated to Egypt because of its prosperity. As in
the case of the Hebrews, some fled the recurrent famines in their own
countries. The overwhelming ethnical diversity did cause some problems. One
document, The Admonitions of Ipuwer, conveys the distress felt by the Egyptians by the
presence of an increasing number of aliens:
Foreigners have become people everywhere...Robbery is
everywhere...the desert is [spread] throughout the land...Barbarians from
outside have come to Egypt...4
The great number and diversity of these cultures were
matched by their respective religious beliefs. Historically though, the Egyptians
had been very tolerant of different cults and other gods.
There is little archaeological evidence that corroborates
the facts described in Exodus. The Pharaoh in the account, for instance, is not
identified. However, we know that the drafting of foreign labor began with the
reign of queen Hatshepsut
and her son Thutmose III. The forced labor was later continued by Seti I and Ramses II, circa 1300-1225 bc. It is possible that the "Hebrews"
were drafted in large number into forced labor for the building of fortified
cities on the north-eastern frontier of Egypt. This part of history is
nevertheless filled with conjecture. Yet there is one chronicle that depicts
the Hebrews suffering at the hands of the Egyptians. The text can be found on
the great Rekhmire's tomb who was Thutmose III's vizier. It describes how the
Egyptians,
...treated their Israelite slave with ruthless
severity...setting them to work on clay and brick-making.5
However, the most quoted evidence of the existence of the
Hebrews in Egypt is the inscription on a Merneptah
stele which reads:
Israel is desolate, it has no seed left.6
As for the period in which the exodus took place, most
scholars today support the dating to be around the thirteenth century BC.
Before the exodus the Hebrews, like many other semi-nomadic
tribes, had come to Egypt to escape the famine that ravaged their lands. From
the time of their arrival in Egypt to the time of their departure the
conditions of their lives changed; presumably because of shifts in the policies
of the Egyptian monarchy.
From a predominantly agricultural and mercantile society Egypt emerged into a more aggressive
militaristic power. The victory over the Hyksos marked the coming to power of a
great new dynasty: the Eighteenth. With its fortunes of war Egypt entered a new
phase in its history. And the New Kingdom, spanning from 1550 to 1307 BC, is in all probability the
setting for Exodus.7
*
There is still a lot of debate about the historicity of
Moses. There is no clear archaeological evidence proving his existence. Despite
this, we cannot deny a "truth of faith" about his character.8
We cannot dispel either the importance that Moses had
on the history of Israel and the development of religion in
general.
Curiously, the hero has an "Egyptianized"
name which has a twofold etymological origin. On one hand, the name Moses is
derived from the Egyptian verb msy which means "is born" or "to give
birth". The expression could be found in names like Thut-mose,
meaning "Thoth is Born",
and also in Ramses or Re-mose, which means "Re
is born". On the other hand, the Hebrew etymology for Moshe, associated in
Ex. 2:10 with mashah,
means "drawn out of the water". These two etymological origins bear
the dual nature of Moses' ethnical background which is an intrinsic part of his
identity.9
Acts 7:22 And Moses was
instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words
and deeds.
The narrative begins when Moses' life is providentially
saved from the Pharaoh's command to "cast" all the Hebrew newborn
males "into the Nile". The Hebrew women had become so fertile that
their growing number was viewed as a threat. In order to save Moses from the
hands of the infanticide ruler, Moses' parents, Amram
and Jochebed, hid their child for three months. When
they could not conceal him any longer, his mother put him in a watertight reed
basket and set him afloat on the Nile. The Pharaoh's daughter, while bathing in
the river nearby, found the child and recognized him as one of the Hebrew
children. Meanwhile, Moses' sister watched her brother's safe destination. She
then approached the princess and proposed to let a Hebrew woman nurse the
child. Arrangements were made for Moses' mother to nurture the child until he
was grown, and then he would be returned to the Pharaoh's daughter.
Mose Moshe
"is born"
"draw out of the
water"
Egyptian
princess' Hebrew mother
adoptive son
In the course of his life fateful events would confirm
Moses' ethnical identity. A determinant episode describes the hero's killing of
an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew. As a result, he identified with the
plight of his people. But because of his action Moses feared the wrath of the
Pharaoh who had heard of the murder, and fled to the Midian
desert. His deed made him an outcast of the Egyptian society and he was unable
to return until the Pharaoh's death.
While he was in the desert he came across a group of women
who brought their flock to water at a well. They were the seven daughters of a
local tribal priest. As several shepherds attempted to chase them away he came
to their rescue. When their father found out about the "Egyptian's"
conduct he invited him to share a meal. The dinner apparently went well since
the father gave his daughter Zipporah in marriage to
Moses. Jethro, the father-in-law, was a Kenite,10 a tribe reputed for having priests and
scribes among its members.
Moses' marriage into the Kenites
would prove beneficial for his mission. Priests, particularly scribes, had
important roles in royal courts, especially in dealing with the commercial and
legal matters of growing tribes and large kingdoms. In that era, the art of
writing was closely associated with the scribal and priestly office. Their
functions may be compared to the role that accountants play in our society
today. These scribes held the highest offices and were part of a privileged
caste in the king's court. The knowledge of their craft was closely kept in the
family from generation to generation. They acted as clerks who kept records of
finances and took inventories of livestock and goods. Rulers depended on them
to account for their wealth. In that function they were held in high esteem. In
Egypt, scribes were even divinized. Among the first to be honored was Imhotep who was a minister and an architect.11
Scribes were legal experts as well. They kept records of
alliances and tribal agreements between the sovereigns and their vassals. They
performed tasks similar to what lawyers do today. Consequently, the scribes
were critical to any potential leader. In these circumstances, Moses' marriage
into the Kenites was useful. The priests and scribes
of his adopted tribe would be invaluable during the exodus. They helped to
consolidate the religious, social, legal, and economical activities of the
"people" of Israel. The revelation and then the application of the ten commandments are a perfect example of how the association
between the priests and Moses turned out to be essential for the collective
management of Israel.
*
Until his marriage the hero lived the life of an outcast.
But soon, God would call him out of the burning bush to reveal his identity and
tell him of his destiny. The primordial encounter establishes the foundation of
a triune relationship between Yahweh, Moses, and Israel; ie,
God, the leader, and the people.
Ex. 3:8 "...and I have come down to deliver them out of
the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and
broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey..."
Although there is no special term for the word
"promise" in the Old Testament, the idea is conveyed by a various
range of Hebrew expressions, among them are
"speak", "speech", "say", and "swear".
Because Yahweh is regarded as the faithful one, His word is enough to guarantee
the fulfillment of the promise.
The principal term used in Hebrew for land is 'eres. It is
the fourth most used term in the Old Testament. As far as theological
interpretation goes, the concepts of land and the covenant are so closely
connected that it is almost impossible to describe one without talking about
the other. The land is described as Yahweh's gift, which he first promised to
Noah, and then to Abraham and his descendants.
Israel was chosen by Yahweh to be his
"people for his own possession".12 The
word possession is used in the same manner in which God owns the land. When
Yahweh refers to his people he refers to them in terms of his property. Herein,
the term is used to describe Yahweh's "special" possession of his
people in the sense of an acquired property.
The concept of the promised land is
described in terms of alliance between Yahweh and Israel. The emphasis is laid on the
closeness of the relationship between God and his people. God is the owner of
the land in the same fashion that he owns his people. And Israel's possession
of the land depends on her faithfulness to God. Yahweh as the land-lord allows
the possession of the land by his people only if they remain faithful to his
word.
Lev. 25:23 "The land is mine; for you are strangers and
sojourners with me."
*
In the thematic sequence we have identified the Pharaoh as
the obstacle that is also closely connected to the gods of Egypt.
Once out of Egypt the Hebrews
were free to be Yahweh's chosen people. The narrative goes on to recount the
tribulations of their journey in the desert. A particularly crucial episode is
described through Moses' outburst of anger when he saw the idolatry of the
people as he came down from the presence of God on Mount Sinai. At the sight of
the idol, Moses threw and broke the tables of the ten
commandments upon the "molten calf". This incident typifies
his determination to keep Yahweh's cult free from any foreign influence. This
is especially true in the case of the worship of the golden calf. The
underlying antagonism is fundamental to the whole biblical narrative. This
theme may be the key to understanding why "monotheism" has supplanted
all other forms of worship in Judaism, especially in connection with the
fertility cults of the Goddess.
Ex. 32:8 "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought
you up out of the land of
Egypt!"
According to the excerpt above, the golden bull-calf is linked
to Egypt. But according to E who wrote this account, the "molten
calf" relates to a specific episode of heresy that flourished in the
cities of Dan and Beth-El in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of
King Jeroboam to whom E was opposed.
Soon after King Solomon died, the northern kingdom of Israel, under the reign of Jeroboam,
seceded from the southern territory of Judah. The division occurred primarily as
a result of the unpopular policies of missim: a burdensome tax paid in the form of forced labor.
Instead of appointing the hereditary priest whose lineage traced back to Moses
to the temples in Dan and Beth-El, Jeroboam nominated his own officials for
ceremonies related to the golden calf. The "molten calf" was intended
to represent the symbolic pedestal as a throne to the invisible Yahweh.
But for the great number of Canaanites living in Israel at the time, the golden bull-calf
was the visible manifestation of the animal associated with the fertility cult
and the goddess Asherah.
It is from this heresy that the whole antagonism to the
"molten image" stems. Especially in connection with the Canaanite
worship of El and Asherah that we have outlined in the former chapter. The
golden calf is also associated by tradition to Baal and her companion Baalat, which
could be translated into "lord" or "owner", and "owneress". These cults were popular among the
Canaanites who lived in Israel during the time of King Jeroboam.
E, who wrote this passage, in all probability lived
during the time when these events took place.13 The account reveals
his outrage at Jeroboam for not having appointed a legal priestly heir to the
temple to which priestly order E most likely belonged himself.
This is one interpretation of the event. The narrative,
however, links the worship of the "molten calf" to Egypt.
If we go along with the story and believe that the golden
calf really originated in Egypt, then we might try to find
parallels of the golden calf in Egyptian religion.
Several scholars believe that Ramses II and his son Menerptah were
the probable oppressors of the Hebrew people.14 When Ramses II made
peace with the Hittites following the disastrous battle of
Kadesh, a great number of deities
such as Anat, Astarte, and
Asherah became popular in Egypt. Archaeological findings show that
the Canaanite gods, particularly the goddesses, had an extraordinary
"fluidity" in taking the shapes, forms, and names of other deities.15
This is especially the case in warfare and conquest
where acculturation becomes widespread among the different cultures and the
divinities assume the identity of other gods. This is the case in regards to
the Canaanite goddesses Asherah, or Astarte, and her
Near Eastern counterpart Anath.
There were numerous bull cults in ancient Egypt, most of them minor divinities.
Among them were, the black Apis
Bull, the white Min Bull, a symbol of virility, and Mont-Re. But none of these
cults was more important than the one portrayed by the cow-goddess. This
divinity was found in a very early stage of Egyptian religion and became
prevalent throughout Egypt. The most famous cow-goddess was Hathor.
One of the more popular goddesses in Egypt, Hathor
was a sky-goddess and a symbol of fertility. As the sky-goddess, she was the
Eye of the Sun god Re. In that quality, she
personified the sky. She was known as the Beautiful One and the Golden One; the
joyous goddess of love, music, and happiness. Gold was her sacred metal and Hathor was described as the "Gold of the Gods".
She was also called "the Lady of the Sycamore". As we have seen in
the former chapter the tree is also the symbol of Asherah. Hathor
was especially popular among women. She incarnated the principles of beauty,
love, and fertility. As such, she typified the Mother Goddess. Hathor was especially concerned with birth and babies. As a
"cow" she suckled the baby kings and protected them through
childhood. Her protection even extended to kings in their old age. Throughout
Egyptian history, the Golden One remained a very popular goddess.16
There are some striking similarities between the golden calf
from Exodus and the Golden One, the goddess of fertility. In addition, the
reference in the text to the "play" and the "sound of
singing" among the worshippers when Moses came down from Mount Sinai
points to an additional likeness between the two deities. Hathor
was the bringer of happiness, and the goddess of music and love.
The "molten calf", however, was dealt a hard blow
by Moses. Yahweh is indeed a jealous God. He allows no other God but himself.
Following Moses' destruction of the idol, the worshippers who did not repent
were all killed by the faithful Levite priests. Loyal to their functions, they
made sure the worship of the forbidden image would be completely eradicated.
Ex 20: 3 "You shall have no other gods before me. You
shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is
in heaven above...for I the lord your God am a jealous
God..."
*
The narrative is particularly explicit about Moses' inquiry
of God's identity. The name that is revealed to Moses, Yahweh -YHWH in the un-vocalized
Hebrew- is so sacred in Jewish tradition that it is not pronounced; instead,
God, Adonai,
El Shaddai,
or the lord is regularly substituted for it.
Ex.
3:14 "I am who I am"
"Ehyeh-asher-ehyeh"
As Martin Buber points out, God's
name is not meant to be esoteric.17 It is
not made to avoid any question about God's identity or to withhold any
information about his being. Instead, the twofold ehyeh
-I am- implies God's presence and closeness with whom he has chosen. In fact,
Yahweh is so close to Moses that he is his "mouth":
Ex. 4:12 "Now therefore go, and I will be with your
mouth and teach you what you shall speak."
Furthermore, as we
have already seen in the first verses of Genesis, God is once again an individuum vaguum, the
imageless voice speaking out of nowhere. Yahweh's revelation to Moses is also
meant to be the "sign" or a visible expression of God's presence.
When Yahweh asks Moses to say to the people of Israel: "i am has sent me to you", God literally implies his
overwhelming presence in Moses. His mouth is Yahweh's mouth. Moses is the
"sign" sent by Yahweh.
Ex. 3:12 He said, "But I will be with you; and this
shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you:"
Therefore, the essence of the name of God becomes in effect
secondary, since the name merely underlines God's presence; the God of the
Fathers is present with Moses as he was present with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Yahweh is present with Moses as the historical manifestation of God's promise
he made to the Patriarchs. God's revelation to Moses is made in order to
deliver the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt.
The "I AM WHO I AM" becomes clearer in conjunction
with Moses' realization of his identity as the spokesman. He is the historical
manifestation of Yahweh's promise made to Israel. The same promise he made to
Abraham is related to Moses; yet according to Yahweh, it is the first time his
name has been revealed.
Yahweh is Moses' mentor. Moses is chosen by Yahweh to embody
the verbal promise. However, Moses needs additional help in his mission. Aaron,
his brother, becomes the heroes’ spokesman in his dealings with the Pharaoh. In
the text God commands Moses to "Say to Aaron".18 The reason being that Moses, who has some kind of speech
impediment and may have been a stammerer, is inflicted with such a dread to
speak to the Pharaoh that he refuses to obey God's command. He argues
stubbornly with God and arouses his anger. Yahweh finally agrees to let Moses'
brother be his spokesman. Aaron, in effect, becomes Moses' "mouth" in
the same fashion that Moses is Yahweh's "mouth".
Further help is needed for the favorable outcome and the
final release of the people from Egypt. The plagues are an additional and
necessary force to convince the Pharaoh of God's will. Yahweh uses the plagues
as a powerful sign to break the ruler's obstinacy. One at a time, the plagues
are announced by Moses through Aaron. The account of the
plagues are for the most part ornamental. They symbolize Yahweh's
control over nature, since Moses does not have the Pharaoh's military might.19
The
plagues:
1) the water into blood
2) the frogs
3) the gnats
4) the flies
5) the murrain
6) the boils
7) the hail
8) the locusts
9) the darkness
10) the death of the first-born
*
The outcome of Exodus is profiled by the quest of the promised land. As we will see, what is at issue here is as
much the quest underlined by the "promise" as the actual possession
of the land itself.20
But as we get closer to the denouement, Moses is faced with
a dilemma. He is concerned about the future of the people's faithfulness to
Yahweh. The Israelites, in the course of their exodus, lived a nomadic way of
life and the relationship between Yahweh and his people thrived in the desert.
The idea of a fixed settlement in Canaan puts an end to those ideal conditions.
In the wilderness God took care of his people, guiding them like a shepherd
that brings his cattle to grazing lands. There is a certain amount of nostalgia
and preoccupation at the end of the journey as to the future of this unique
relationship. In the promised land the people would no
longer live in the isolation of the desert with one God, as one people, but
among foreign cultures and alien gods.
Deut. 7:1 "When the lord your God brings you into the
land which you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many
nations before you, the Hittites, the Gir'gashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Per'izzites, the Hivites, and the Jeb'usites, seven
nations greater and mightier than yourself, and when the lord your God gives
them over to you, and you defeat them; then you must utterly destroy them; you
shall make no covenant with them, and show no mercy to them. You shall not make
marriages with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their
daughters for your sons. For they would turn away your sons from following me,
to serve other gods; then the anger of the lord would be kindled against you,
and he would destroy you quickly. But thus shall you deal with them: you shall
break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Ashe'rim, and
burn their graven images with fire.
"For you are a people holy to the lord your God; the
lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all
the peoples that are on the face of the earth."
It is paradoxical, in these circumstances, that Moses will
never set foot in Canaan, the land he yearned for so long. Only the people of
Israel led by Joshua will.
Canaan was populated by natives who worshipped different
gods. Unlike in the isolation of the desert, Yahweh would be surrounded by
other gods. Among the people living there were the Canaanites who, as we have
already outlined, were worshippers of Asherah, the goddess of fertility.
History reveals that the people would eventually intermarry
with their Canaanite neighbors and be influenced by the settled and
agricultural ways of life associated with fertility cults, despite the evils
associated with agriculture and the slavery suffered in Egypt which are vilified in Exodus.21
Once settled in the promised land,
Yahweh's exclusivity was forever threatened. The danger was always present that
the people of Israel would forgo and forget their bond with Yahweh. A worrisome and perhaps challenging prospect for God and his
prophets. More so, for the scribes and priests who wrote these texts.
The antagonism of Yahweh to any other form of worship is
fundamental to Israel. Yet it is an underlying principle of all religious
reality. The greater the opposition to other gods, the closer
the relationship with God. The stronger the antagonism
between Yahweh and the other cults, the stronger Israel's religious
identity.
The stronger the identity, the greater the belief, etc.
sacred vs profane
Yahweh vs Asherah
one God vs other gods/goddesses
The journey out of Egypt is the beginning of Israel as a
people and as a religion. And the revelation of Yahweh on mount
Sinai inaugurates the worship of an exclusive God. Although there was no word
in biblical times for "religion", the beliefs associated with the
entity of God, his Kings, priests, prophets, and his people were perceived as
one single reality.
This was made possible by the covenant that Yahweh made with
the Patriarchs and, finally, with Moses. What begun in Exodus is promulgated by
faith and verified by history, notably in the "story". For Israel,
the self-fulfilling words of God are tied to the faith in the unfolding events
of history which are related to Exodus. The covenant sealed the destiny of
Israel to the promise. The "ultimate concern" lies in the hope that
the exclusive alliance will not fade with time. Attached to the covenant is the
unbreakable character of the relationship that is stressed upon Israel in the form of the ten commandments and the law.22
With the law, Exodus inaugurates the legal, the social, and
the "religious" aspect of Israel as an inseparable reality. Under one God Israel becomes one entity, one identity.
Another paradox is that Yahweh must rely on his people's obedience
as much as they on his guidance. Without his people Yahweh could not survive,
and for that matter he would not exist. Therefore, Israel is the chosen people of Yahweh as
much as Yahweh is their chosen God. In other words, the people of Israel have chosen a God that has chosen
them as the chosen people, and vice versa. This exclusive alliance sets the
people apart from other people as much as Yahweh is set apart from other gods.
But in the outcome, the law and the "word" become
the ultimate legacy and the monopoly of the priestly hierarchy. The divine
ordinances regulate and keep the community together. With the liturgy, the
cults, and the rituals, the priesthood becomes the ruling order of religion. In
effect, "man" is under the priest's regulatory supervision for his
access to God. The hierarchy of the sacred becomes the medium through which
"man" can have access to the holy.
Ex. 19:5 "Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and
keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the
earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy
nation."
Exodus illustrates literally how the "story", or
the creative power of the word as outlined in Genesis, is the creative agent of
Israel's identity and history. In fact, the historicity of
Exodus is not as important as the "truth of faith" that generates the
actual belief of its own sacredness.23
*
* *
As we have explained, Exodus stems from four different
literary sources: E, J, P, and R which were edited by the Redactor. The first
three sources were written much later than the actual exodus, most likely
between 922 and 608 BC. And the Redactor, in all probability, compiled the texts
during the fourth century BC, more than eight centuries after the actual events
described in Exodus
took place. It would be revealing at this stage, to find out more about this
elusive character who is responsible for the compilation of the most important
book ever written in Christendom.
If we were to gather all the data available concerning the
identity of this obscure and uncelebrated editor, we would probably end up with
a portrait that would look a lot like Ezra.
In 587 BC, the southern kingdom of Judah was defeated by the Babylonians and
its inhabitants were sent into exile. The city of Jerusalem was devastated and the temple
destroyed. Providentially, Babylon was later conquered by the Persian
King Cyrus in 539 BC. He apparently had no religious beliefs of his own and he
did not particularly care to impose any creed upon others. He allowed the Jews
to return to their land and worship their God. With his assistance, a second
temple was built in 515 BC. Not surprisingly, the king was hailed as the right
hand of Yahweh and a good shepherd.
Ezra 1:1 The lord stirred up the
spirit of Cyrus king of Persia.
With the new temple being built, hope was on the rise. Under
the new Persian rule, a Jewish exile called Nehemiah was appointed as the civil
governor of Jerusalem. He needed additional help in
religious matters, so he asked for another official from the Persian courts.
This man was Ezra. He was a priest of Aaronid descent who was described as the "Secretary of
State for the Jewish Affairs", and the "scribe of the law of the God
in heaven". The reference of "God in heaven" was a title
commonly given to Yahweh by the Persian regime.
Ezra came with a specific goal: to put religious order among
the ruins of Jerusalem and Israel.
He did not come empty handed. He brought with him the copy
of an intriguing law-book, which in all likelihood was a copy of the Pentateuch
as we know it today. Not surprisingly, Ezra stands out at the end of the Pentateuchal law of the Old Testament in the same fashion
as Moses stands at the beginning of it. He was presumably a man of great
authority. As such he applied the law scrupulously and with great discipline.
Ezra 7:6 He was a scribe skilled in the law
of Moses which the lord the God of Israel had given.
Upon his arrival in Judah, he was struck by the religious
heresy of the Jewish people. He soon forbid the common
practice of intermarriage between Jews and their non-Jewish neighbors. He even
persuaded already married Jews to divorce their Gentile consorts.
Neh. 9:2 And the Israelites separated
themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the
iniquities of their fathers.
Religious laxity had spread among the Jews during the
Babylonian rule. Apathy for their God was adamant. During the exile, numerous
communities who were scattered all over the Babylonian empire had turned their
back to the scrupulous observances demanded by Yahweh. While the temple of Jerusalem lay in ruins, Jewish communities in
Egypt and elsewhere lost their urge to worship Yahweh as
the law demanded. Loin des yeux loin du coeur -far from sight the
heart grows distant.
Worse yet the name of Yahweh was
freely associated with the goddess Anath, whose
identity is closely related to Asherah and Astarte,
names that are repeatedly interchanged in the Bible.
The reference to "the queen of heaven" mentioned
in the quote below shows how popular the worship of the goddess Asherah had
become. When the people were exhorted by the prophet to return exclusively to
Yahweh, a group of women retorted:
Jer. 44:16 "As
for the word which you have spoken to us in the name of the lord, we will not
listen to you.
But we will do everything that we have vowed, burn incense to the queen of
heaven and pour out libations to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our
kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem;
for then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no evil. But since we
left off burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to
her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine."
Ezra was understandably outraged to see Yahweh rivaled by
the profane reality of the Goddess. More so to hear such
profanity. He took upon himself to forcefully inaugurate a temple-state
"hierocracy".24 He put the temple of Jerusalem back at the center of Jewish
religion just as it was before. Patriarchal order was soon restored. The
priestly monopoly of the law was reinstated.
Herein lies the background of the
Bible.
For ages it was believed that the Pentateuch was written by
Moses. Even today some still believe it. It only goes to show what a great job
the redactor did when he arranged the different sources together.
What is so amazing is how successfully he put into a single narrative often contradictory accounts. A
close scrutiny of the text, however, reveals some important discrepancies
between the different sources. In J's account, for instance, God personally
descends on Mount
Sinai,
while in P's God does not. In both J's and E's Moses sees God, not in P's. J
and E repeatedly describe Yahweh as merciful whereas P never uses the word
"mercy", but describes the lord as the God of justice and anger.
To make matters worse, the different sources challenged each
other's priestly authority. E backs the Levitical
priestly family of Shiloh, and J is a patron of the descendants of Zadok.
Whereas, P and R are supporters of the Aaronide
lineage who are openly critical of Moses.
Why then, did the Redactor put these contradictory accounts
together? Probably because each individual text was considered sacred and
popular among the segment of the population from which it emerged.
In addition to his editorial savvy, R was also an astute
theologian. By arranging different versions into one single account, he leaves
the final authority regarding matters of theological interpretation to the
priestly office. No single truth can be asserted. Every aspect can be
challenged by a contradictory version. Therefore, any interpretation of the
text can always be questioned, leaving the monopoly of authority in matters of
faith in the hands of the priesthood.
*
It is one of the greatest paradox
of Exodus that Moses did not set foot on the promised land. Yet this paradox
may confirm an underlying principle of religious experience: that the quest is
the essence of belief, not the object itself. In other words, it is the
expectation and hope rather than the fulfillment of the promise that is the
essence of faith. The promised land is the metaphor
for the quest.
Another important principle lies in the obstacle to the
quest. An underlying opposition to the profane reality of other god(s) and goddess(es) must be enforced in
order to maintain the exclusivity of the holy. Concurrently, when God changes
Jacob's name to Israel, he reveals a fundamental tenet of
the religious reality:
Gen. 32:28 Then he said, "Your name shall no more be
called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and
with men, and have prevailed."
Israel literally means "He who
strives with God" or "God strives". Hence the very essence of
the word Israel lies in the antagonism to the
profane reality of the other god(s) and goddess(es) in order to fortify its sacred identity.
___________________
1 Mountains are privileged places where the sacred appears.
See Martin Buber for the Mountain of God in, Moses, Oxford, Phaidon Press Ltd, 109.
2 Richard Elliott Friedman, Who
Wrote the Bible, New York, Summit Books, 1987.
3 Martin Buber, Moses, Ibid., 20.
4 Ian Wilson, Exodus, The True Story Behind the Biblical
Account, San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1985, 56.
5 Ian Wilson, Ibid., 81. Another
clue may be the cities of "Pithom" and
"Raam'ses", mentioned in Ex. 1:11, which
are known to have been constructed during the reigns of Seti
I and Ramses II.
6 F.F. Bruce, Israel and the Nations, London, The
Paternoster Press, 1963, 13.
7 Ian Wilson, Ibid.
8 Raffaele
Pettazzoni, Essays on the History of Religions, Leiden, Brille,
1967, 21.
9 According to S. Freud, Moses was an Egyptian,
see Moses and Monotheism, New York, A.A. Knopf, 1939.
10 He is also called Reu'el in
Ex.2:18 and Hobab in Jg.4:11. See also Max Weber for
more on the scribes and priests in, Ancient Judaism, New York, The Free Press, 1967, 336-343.
11 Régis Debray, Le Scribe: Genèse
du Politique, Paris, Grasset, 1980, 33-36.
12 Deut. 7:6.
13 Ex. 32:1 to 33:1.
14 It is believed that during his long reign -1301 to 1234 bc- Ramses II ordered the construction of numerous temples
with colossal statues of gods and of himself. The four deities behind his
temple at Abu Simbel show that he was placing himself
at the same level as the three dynastic gods of Egypt: Ptah,
Re, and Amon. It is during the successive reign of
his son Menerptah -1234-27 bc-
that we have the famous inscription about Israel: "Israel is desolate; it has no seed
left."
15 William Foxwell Albright,
Archaeology and the Religion of Israel, Baltimore, The Johns
Hopkins Press, 1968, 71 f.
16 See, Barbara Watterson, The
Gods of Ancient Egypt, New York, Facts On File Publication, 1984.
17 M. Buber, Ibid.,
192-195.
18 Ex. 7:19; 8:5; 16.
19 The last plague, the one that finally convinces the
Pharaoh to release the Israelites, may have an underlying significance that is
of some interest. There is a parallel between the Pharaoh's killing of the
Hebrew male infants in the beginning of the narrative, from which Moses
escapes, and the death of all the Egyptian first-born including the ailing
Pharaohs' child (Ex.11:1-12;). The meaning of the last plague can be related to
the "blood revenge" of the ancient customs of the Semitic tribes:
"eye for eye, tooth for tooth" (Ex. 21:24, Deut. 19:21, Mt. 5:38),
described in the law of retribution of the Covenant Code. See Max Weber,
Ancient Judaism, New York, Macmillan Co., Inc, 1967, 61-62.
20 In Hebrew the word for covenant is berith.
It has the same significance as bond or agreement. Many social relationships of
the time were agreements also known as covenants between Kings.
21 See Michael Walzer, Exodus and
Revolution, New York, Basic Books, 1985, 101. Also
Deut.11:10.
22 The wilderness period was the constitutional age, the
time of Israel's beginning, the time when God's
commandments were made into law. In Exodus -Ex.34:28, Deut.4:13,10:4- the term "ten words" has been replaced by
the more common appellation of the "ten commandments". The expression
"ten words" refers to a group of prescriptions of cultic nature. It
is used in the OT to describe a group of divine commandments written down by
Yahweh and given to Moses.
23 The most revered and holy place for the Israelites during
their exodus was the tabernacle, inside which the ark contained the copy of the
sacred tablets containing the ten commandments. Again
the legacy of the written "word" remains the most sacred religious
reality for posterity, handed down from generation to generation.
24 F.F. Bruce, Ibid., 109
