I must admit, I am surprising even myself with my adherence to the daily bible readings. It has been nearly a month and I am still going strong. Not all of my resolutions go so well… dare I say I have graduated from doggy-paddling through Genesis to the front-crawl in Exodus? I have had a full week of Exodus, the triumphs of God over the magic of the Egyptians with the culmination of the building of the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was especially exciting for me as when I was a kid one of my and my sister’s favourite movies was “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark”. It had everything: Angels, Turks, Nazis, melting faces and archaeology. It is still one of my favourites, I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good show!
Exodus starts with Moses and Aaron bringing the plagues of the Lord to Egypt. God differentiates here between Israel and Egypt with who is affected by the plagues. Importantly, God hardens Pharaoh’s heart against letting his own chosen people out of Egypt. The scripture points out again and again how God hardens Pharaoh’s heart; at times Pharaoh seems ready to give in and strike a bargain, but suddenly thinks better of it and changes his mind as God hardens his heart. This did bother me a little, I couldn’t figure out why God was causing so much strife when he is all powerful and could push Pharaoh to agree with Moses and have his people peacefully leave Egypt to worship in the wilderness. The answer to this question and the other of why God would want to sacrifice so many Egyptian lives in the closing of the path through the Red Sea, I found in Exodus 8:15-16. “For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” Is this to prove a point to God, to the Egyptians or to the tribes of Israel? Both, I think. All are witnessing God’s power, all are involved in the delivering and experiencing of the plagues. Exodus 10:2 explains that God wants Moses to take his son and his grandson into Pharaoh to hear Moses witness how harshly God has dealt with Pharaoh. Perhaps this is allegorical as well for the lord to want Israel to pass on the story of His power and wrath from generation to generation. Here we are engaging with the story of God’s power and wrath via the internet 3000 years later.
Exodus 19:16-25, the Lord descends to Mount Sinai in a cloud of smoke and fire with a trumpet blast. The Lord also lead the Israelites out of Egypt with a pillar of smoke and fire. This is perhaps the first form of incarnation, the Lord must inhabit matter and exist within the laws of thermodynamics to be present to his people in the world. Rather than sending down plagues or messengers of thunder, hail and frogs, the Lord is descending to Earth to govern his people from a cloud of smoke and fire; temperature and molecules convey His word to humans. Can we extrapolate this to other matter? Can we as Christians then see the word of God in a candle or bird? Does this hinge on idolatry, or can we rely on these signs as the love and word of God manifest in our world?
In Exodus 24-27 there are exhaustive instructions for the building of Holy things and places of worship. It is very interesting to me that God specified that there should be a separation for the people of the Holy from the Most Holy. The Ark of the covenant is to be hidden from the rest of the tabernacle by carefully specified curtains. Is this again so that the Israelites will not become to accustomed to this most holy Ark? Is it to preserve is exoticism, to keep it from seeming an everyday object, to keep it as regarded as the utmost sacred gift from God? They say familiarity breeds contempt, is this why it is hidden?
The myriad instructions in Exodus for building the tabernacle, etc. speak to me in a few different ways. The first is that each word was recorded for millennia because God said it. Each word of God, no matter the subject or context, is so precious to us as His children that the quantity of cubits and colours of yarn have been honored as sacred for thousands of generations. If a man had said it, likely it would have been summarized in the recording, if a woman had said it, it may not have been recorded at all. In Exodus 19:15 the Lord instructs Moses to speak to the people to be ready for the 3rd day and not to go near a woman. This, I believe is a call for celibacy, a sexual fast for 3 days before they are to hear the word of God passed down as commandments. But what stands out for me here is that the “people” are instructed not to go near a woman, meaning women are considered apart from people. Women are not included in the group intended to receive God’s word. A powerful implication.
The next is that our traditions at St. Andrew’s-Wesley of the beautiful hangings of Mae Runions’ creation may stem directly from these passages. There are instructions for adornment of the tabernacle with cherubims in hanging cloth, but masterfully embroidered cherubims. The beauty of her hangings in the church are her gift of God’s love coming through her fingertips in service to her brothers and sisters in Christ; this is infused with yet more depth when one reckons back to the inclusion of hangings with needlework and cherubims skillfully worked in God’s instructions for his people in the wild to build their first Holy place and learn to worship.
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