People Groans and God Hears

Exodus 2:23-25

Groaning of the people as a tool of resistance

Again, God takes notice of the groaning of Israelites. From here on, the text consciously uses the term Israelites in place of Hebrews. It is nothing but to make explicit the theological intentionality of the Exodus as an event initiated by the redeeming power of God. The groaning becomes more vocal in this period of transition in the history of Egypt. A pharaoh dies and it anticipates the succession of a new one. The occasion of the death of the king offers an opportunity for the discontinuation of the discriminatory social patterns and the possibility of a new social order. The biblical narrator also describes this time as a time for the Israelites to make their groaning more vocal. Brueggemann observes, “when such pain is voiced, it takes on energy and becomes an active agent in the process of public power.”^[1] Further, Brueggemann notes that the cry involves the “rage, protest, insistence, and expectation concerning an intolerable situation.”^[2] The empire always preferred a silent mass of slaves, who would not create any administrative inconvenience for its bureaucracy. The silence of the slaves is also a mark of their conceding of the oppression. But those conventions are fiercely challenged by the loud cries of the slaves and the eventual breaking of silence. The point may the that they have reached a limit of absorbing pain and insult and now has come the time to rebel, assert, and initiate some alternatives in relation to the existing situation of oppression.

God hears and acts on the groaning

The good news is that their cries haven’t gone in vain, but heard by God. God is moved in decisive and powerful ways by the groaning of the people. In verses 24 and 25 we see God as the subject of well-directed actions, namely, hearing, remembering, seeing, and knowing. God remembered their connection to the promise bearers of the book of Genesis; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Also, God knew the present pain that the people are going through. This transitional text connects the readers well with the definite and sovereign purpose of God to save his people from slavery.

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^[1] Brueggemann, W. (1994–2004). The Book of Exodus. In L. E. Keck (Ed.), New Interpreter’s Bible (Vol. 1, p. 706). Nashville: Abingdon Press.

^[2] Brueggemann, W. (1994–2004). The Book of Exodus. In L. E. Keck (Ed.), New Interpreter’s Bible (Vol. 1, p. 706). Nashville: Abingdon Press.

God prepares Moses to be a Deliverer

Exodus 2:11-22

Moses’ Violent and Confused Adulthood

Moses is a grown-up adult by now. His life at this stage is being narrated at two different locales; Egypt and Midian.

2: 11-15 is the Egyptian scene. Moses’ young, adventurous, and inquisitive mind engages in the exploration of the outside world. Bible tells us that “One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and saw their forced labor.”^[1] He was trying to grasp the dynamics of forced labor and had seen an Egyptian beating a Hebrew man. It is an instance of Moses coming in intimate knowledge of the abusive strategies of oppressing and killing the slaves. The sight was deep that it exposed the worst part of it. It was the systemic oppression imposed on people by the imperial power through mandatory hard labor. Hebrews are depicted by the biblical narrator as Moses’ brothers/kinsmen. It shows Moses’ clear solidarity with the Hebrew slaves though he was part of the life in the royal palace. He was not ignorant about his ancestry as that knowledge would have driven him straight to see the plight of his people. Moses easily identifies the aggressor in this unjust relationship and interferes to strike the Egyptian aggressor. But his identity was not acceptable for both Egyptian taskmasters and the Hebrews alike. Since Moses was a Hebrew by origin he would have racially discriminated among the Egyptians. On the other hand, as he was brought up in the palace and not part of the salve community, his acceptance into the community turns out to be a problem for the Hebrews. It was in fact this identity crisis of this young adult that makes him the subject of deadly, violent crime of killing the Egyptian taskmaster. The fight between the Hebrew slaves is also explained as because of the unresolved violence in their life. They cannot strike back at the master who oppresses them badly, but they attempt to vent anger by directing that resentment against their brothers. When Moses interferes to pacify them, the fellow Hebrew shouts at him, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”^[2] This brings to Moses the realization that he is cut off both from his belongingness to the Egyptian royal family as well as his solidarity with the Hebrew slaves. The fact is that solidarity is very essential for any liberation to happen. He is alone and is in fear of his life. Moses is a criminal in the territory of Egypt and his crime is against the royal throne. His fear is so real that the Pharaoh issues a death sentence against Moses, he has no options but to flee from the reach of the imperial power of Pharaoh. But this conflict was inevitable as the Egyptian ways and the ways of the Hebrews are also highly conflicting too.

At last, Moses finds a home

This fleeing from Pharaoh lands him in Midian, the land where God prepared him to take up the role of leading God’s deliverance for the people. Midianites are usually referred to as a nomadic group and hence an exact identification of the geography is not a possibility. Another problem is in wait for Moses in Midian. The seven daughters of the priest of Midian had issues with the rogue shepherds of the territory. Moses interferes and “snatches them out” from the injustices of the shepherds. The word used to rescue has a resemblance to the rescuing acts of God to “snatch” God’s people from the clutches of Pharaoh. The excited daughters return to their father in joy and report the incident. An interesting thing to note here is that the daughters of the Midianite priest also identify him as an Egyptian (v.19). His features were not that suits a Hebrew man. He needed to transform himself by identifying with the pain and struggles of ordinary folks out in the fields to take up the mantle of a leader for the deliverance of his kinspeople. Reuel directs his daughters to invite Moses for a meal. The meal turns to be an occasion of settlement between Moses and Reuel. Zipporah was given to him as his wife. Moses for the first time in his life finds a home in Midian. Egypt has never been a home for him as it had never been a home for any of the Hebrew slaves. This is reflected by the naming of his first child as Gershom meaning “a stranger there.” But Midian invites him into the inner core of its fellowship and life. He is one in the family of the Reuel the Midianite priest. Moses in Egypt was a nonperson, a foreigner without status; here in Midian, where he belongs, and always has belonged, he is at home.^[3] He is among a people who worship their God in freedom. This sense of freedom in worship will definitely inspire Moses to initiate a deliverance for his people to worship their God in absolute freedom.

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^[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (Ex 2:11). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

^[2] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (Ex 2:14). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

^[3] Durham, J. I. (1987). Exodus (Vol. 3, p. 24). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

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^[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (Ex 2:11). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

^[2] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (Ex 2:14). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

^[3] Durham, J. I. (1987). Exodus (Vol. 3, p. 24). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

The Unnamed Women defending the power of death to preserve life

Exodus 2:1-10

The Unnamed Women defeating the power of death to preserve life

Baby Moses’ miraculous escape from the death sentence

Exodus is not a hero story. Moses is not the real hero of the narrative, but the narrator seems to conceal God in Moses’ life. God’s presence is not that explicit or visible very often, but Moses is anointed to represent it.

Moses’ miraculous escape from death is the theme of this text. Chapter one ends with the death-dealing decree of the Emperor to drown all the Hebrew baby boys in the Nile (1:22). It is a distortion of the Nile, which is characteristically a power of life for the whole land. Pharaoh is an arrogant distorter, a distorter of the life of people who are all around him. As he had distorted the peaceful life of the Hebrew slaves, he is continuing to distort the life-giving power of Nile. In spite of the decree of the emperor another birth happens. Every birth of the Hebrew babies is an act of defiance of the distortive power of Pharaoh.

Birth as an act of defiance and harbinger of a new beginning

The mother sees the baby be a fine baby (v.2), reminds the readers of the goodness that God as the creator sees in the creation and comments about while reviewing his creative activity. The same Hebrew root wordtob (טוב) is  used in both these places. As creation was an act of bringing order out of chaos, this birth suggests the beginning of a new order in the life of the Hebrews. The baby cannot any longer be hidden as he grows bigger, active, and noisy. But the unnamed mother of the baby seems to be up to the crisis, she plans a rescue act for the baby. She makes a waterproof basket out of bitumen and pitch resembling Noah’s ark of redemption in the book of Genesis. To be creatively imaginative in times of life-threatening crises demands daring courage. In a way, the mother is not defying the decree to throw the boy into the Nile, but she being greatly imaginative turns that act into a life-preserving motherly act.

Being Imaginative and courageous in perils is important to experience salvation

The basket placed among the reeds flows to the place where the pharaoh’s daughter was bathing. Baby seems to flow from one crisis to the other. Being Pharaoh’s daughter, she is expected to replicate the rage of his father towards a Hebrew baby boy. But to the surprise of the reader, when she sees the baby after the basket being opened and identifying him as a Hebrew baby, she feels compassion for him. She decides and prepares to be his protector. Brueggemann says that she has entered into an alliance with the baby.^[1] An alliance to defend life in a context of raging, intimidating power of death. She knew exactly the ramifications of her actions and yet risked herself to be the preserver of the baby’s life. The people who are involved in the rescue act are three unnamed women. Moses’ mother, sister, and Pharaoh’s daughter. Now it is the turn of the sister as she brings a nursing mother for the baby. She very deliberately makes herself present physically, mentally, and imaginatively through the crisis. She was not simply lamenting the “unfortunate” fate of the baby or ready to give up her watchfulness over all the incidents. Overwhelming anxiety can close oneself to the realities and the opportunities out there. She is very much composed and is in perfect control of her emotions. She was daring to go out and talk to the princess about the availability of a Hebrew nursing mother. The baby who is under death verdict is turned to be a baby who is spared by the compassion of a royal family member. One of the kinds of “vigorous and productive Hebrew women” (Ex. 1:19) nurses the baby for the princes. Now, when Moses grows up into an adult, she brings him back to the princess and the latter adopts him as her own son. Adoption is a great lifesaving act. It is difficult to say which act of these women was most crucial in the redemption of Moses. Surrogacy, adoption, and brokering; all with the sole purpose of saving a life is seen as equally lifesaving and intertwined acts of women filled with motherly and sisterly love. He was named Moses to mean that he was drawn out from the water. The name also indicates the future acts of God in the lives of the Hebrews. God will draw them out from slavery in Egypt to the freedom of the promised land.

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^[1] Brueggemann, W. (1994–2004). The Book of Exodus. In L. E. Keck (Ed.), New Interpreter’s Bible (Vol. 1, p. 700). Nashville: Abingdon Press.