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.
[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.
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