Week 4 (Moses & the Exodus) – Day 1: Birth of Moses

Day 16 – Birth of Moses - Exodus 1:1-2:25

This week we read through sections of the liberation narrative describing the events of the Israelites leaving Egypt.  We move from the story of one family to the story of one nation.  The readings focus on Moses, who is chosen by God to lead the Hebrews.  One challenge we face is to read this without relying on our memory of scenes from The Ten Commandments, which often varies from scripture.

The first section of today’s reading focuses on the overall situation of the Israelites.  This places us in the context of the upcoming battle theological battle which includes elements of socio-economic and political critique.  Egypt, the great imperial power of the time, represents slavery and death.  God will take action when the Israelites “cry for help”.  (Ex 2:23-25) 

The liberation narrative was and is central to the Israelite identity.  The main Jewish festival, Passover, is a remembrance of this story. These same events resonated with the African American slaves.  For many of us, we may have difficulty relating to these events as an oppressed group may read them.  What people do you see today in our society and around the world, for which these events may bring great hope?

These verses give us some detail of Moses’ life.  We learn later that about eighty years of Moses’ life are covered, forty in Egypt and forty in Midian.  (Midian is probably located on the eastern side of the Gulf of Aqaba in what is today the far northwestern corner of Saudi Arabia.) 

Through this all, Moses identity seems unclear.  He is educated as an Egyptian, but is also seen as an Israelite.  In Midian he is considered to be an Egyptian.  He seems like a man with a conflicted identity.  But we see one constant in his life.  Moses champions the underdog:  intervening in the beating of a Hebrew (Ex 2:11), intervening on the side of a wronged Hebrew (ex 2: 13) and helping the daughters of Reuel against the shepherds (Ex 2:17).  Love for justice seems to be at the center of Moses’ identity, no matter his identity within society.  If you reflect on your own identity, who would you say you are?  And how does this differ from how others see you?

In Christ,

Randy