Chapter 13 begins with God saying once again that the Israelites must commemorate the day of the exodus, and making even clearer the importance of passing stories and traditions down to the next generation (see yesterday's post). God also says that "this observance will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead". The sign on the hand serves as a reminder to oneself (I'm forever scribbling to-do lists on the back of my hand so I don't forget anything) but the symbol on the forehead is intended for other people (unless you can write backwards and carry a mirror around with you, it wouldn't be a great place for a shopping list). Our traditions and ceremonies are not meant to be secret exclusive practices that only believers can know about. We should celebrate in public so that all can see and all can know what God has done for us.
When God leads the Israelites out of Egypt, he takes them through the desert to avoid Philistine country, where they may have faced confrontation and conflict. The desert road would not have been easy, but God knew that if the Israelites faced war they would become afraid and go back to Egypt. Sometimes we must suffer one trial to avoid an even greater one. So God leads His people through the desert, appearing to them as a cloud during the day and as a pillar of fire at night, never leaving them for a moment. He appears to them in the form most appropriate to their circumstances so that they may see Him and follow Him without hesitation. He appears to us in different ways at different times too. He won't always be as obvious as a column of flames, but if we are on the look out for Him we will see Him always.
As in the manner of all good films, things were never going to go smoothly. Pharaoh realises that he has just lost his entire slave population and changes his mind about letting the Israelites go, so the Egyptians follow them and they find themselves trapped between an aggressive army and the Red Sea (or sea of reeds). They start to lose faith, but as always God has a plan. He tells Moses to raise his hand and part the waters so that the Israelites can walk through on dry land. He does exactly that, and the people begin to cross. It was by God's power that the waters were parted, but it still needed Moses to show faith and obedience and raise his hand. He had a part to play, and so do we. God wants to do wondrous things today, but He can only do them if we believe and are willing to act on His behalf.
So the Israelite cross the Red Sea in safety, but when the Egyptian army follows, the waters close over them and they are drowned. I've always hated the idea that God could so easily kill so many people, but reading the passage this time, I noticed that once again Moses has to raise his hand over the sea in order to close the waters. It wasn't God alone that killed them. The Egyptians were destroyed because Moses allowed it to happen by choosing to use the power God had given him. God gave us free will which means he won't do anything without our permission, so before we start blaming Him for everything that is wrong in the world, maybe we should look to ourselves and ask what role we have played.
Having escaped the Egyptians, the Israelites celebrate with a song. The lyrics are pretty much what you'd expect - God is awesome, He destroyed our enemies, we will praise Him, and so on - except for one line which reads "Who among the gods is like you, O Lord?" Hold on a minute. The gods? I though Judaism was monotheistic. I thought there was only one God. Well, there is. According to a number of commentaries, the word 'gods' only means 'princes' or 'mighty men'. Remember, we might use the name God now, but in the Old Testament He was known as the Lord - back then, the word god wasn't synonymous with God. So by referring to other gods, they didn't mean there were other Gods. Does that make sense? Basically, what this verse is really saying is that God is better than all the powerful and revered men in the world.
The celebrations don't last long, though. The Israelites soon find themselves in the middle of the desert with no water, and when they finally do find water it is bitter. It's not long before they start moaning. Moses asks God what to do, and God shows him a piece of wood which he into the water, making it sweet. God then makes another covenant with the people, althouh it is described here as "a law and a decree". He says that if the people listen to Him and do what is right in His eyes, He will not bring down on them any of the diseases He brought down on the Egyptians. It sounds like God is ruling by fear - obey me or bad things will happen - but isn't that how any authority or justice system works? We accept it from the law, so why not from God? He wasn't being unfair. It's important that we understand and make our peace with the old covenant, but we also have to remember that it doesn't work like that anymore. Things are different under the new covenant of grace, but we'll come to that in time.
Having solved the water crisis, the people now start to complain that they have no food. You can't really blame them for getting a bit grumpy - being stuck in the middle of nowhere with nothing to eat can't be pleasant - but they could have been a little more proactive, praying to God instead of having a go at Moses. God hears their grumbling and devises a solution. That night the camp is covered in quail, and the next morning the dew leaves behind bread like thin flakes of frost. It's not clear if the quail comes every night, but every morning the bread (which they call manna) covers the ground of the camp, and so the people have enough to eat. God tells them only to collect as much as they need for that day, but some people try to store some, only to find that by the next morning it has gone mouldy. If they are to eat, the Israelites must collect fresh bread every day. I think this is a beautiful metapor for our relationship with God. We need to keep coming back to Him for refreshment, day after day after day. Sometime when we have a great experience of Him we try to feed off that for days or months or even years, but it's not enough. That experience may have been amazing but it was meant for that time, and while it's important that we remember it and celebrate it, we still need to keep meeting with God because He has more to give us. And the best thing about it? He's always there and always ready to meet with us. If the Israeiltes had decided they didn't want to eat one day, there would still have been bread the next. And if we don't talk to God for a day or a year or even many years, He'll still be there the day we decide to go back to Him.
The Israelites move on and again find themselves without water. And again they grumble, quarelling with Moses and questioning God. Have they not yet figured out that God is looking after them and providing for them? Why do they still doubt Him after all He's done for them? Why do we do the same thing? God of course provides them with water, but they face a new problem when the Amalekites attack. Moses sends Joshua and some men to fight them, and he stands on the top of a hill overlooking the battle, with his staff in his hand. Moses lifts his hands to God, and while he keeps them raised the Israelites win, but when he lowers his hands they start to lose. When he gets weary, Aaron and Hur hold his hands up, and eventually the Israelites beat the Amalekites. Ignoring the fact that this means yet more death and destruction, we see here the importance of involving God in our lives. The Israelites only won while they (through Moses) were appealing to God for help, because that is when they were strongest. We too are stronger when we ask and allow God to support us.
Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, comes to vist him with Moses' wife and children. Jethro is described as a "priest of Midian", which means that he worshipped someone other than God. Despite this, he praises the Lord for all he has done for Moses and acknowledges him as the greatest. Because of Moses' witness, he came to recognise God. We don't know if Jethro was converted or stopped being a priest of Midian because of this, but whatever happened later, for that moment he worshipped God. Our lives are testimony to the awesome nature of God, and simply witnessing to others, telling them about our lives, can be a powerful act.
Jethro also gives Moses some advice. Moses has been acting as sole judge of the Israelites, and it is an all-consuming job. Jethro tells him he will wear himself out, and so he suggests that Moses spread the workload by appointing other judges who can take care of the less serious cases. When God gives us a task to do, He doesn't necessarily intend for us to go it alone, because sometimes it's just too much. There is no shame in asking for help.
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