Women of the Word

Exodus 16:26 - 19




And so our band of unhappy Israelites continues, living on the Manna that the Lord has provided for them. On the seventh day of this diet, the people went out to gather more manna and found none. The Lord reminds them to follow His instructions and rest on the Sabbath, which this is. He had given them enough food for two days to tide them over. Well, they must have forgotten about this, so they went back to the encampment and rested.

Now manna , we are told, is like coriander seed, white, and made in wafers that taste like honey. It had never been encountered before, and the Lord told Moses who told Aaron to keep an omer of it so that coming generations might see the food that He has provided in the wilderness. In case you are wondering, an omer is a tenth of an ephah.

The group next camped at Rephidem, where with great quarreling and complaining, they discovered there was no water. Forgeting all that God has provided thus far, they immediately abandon all hope and decide once again, that Moses has brought them out here to die. A distraught Moses, fearing for his very life, cried out to the Lord, asking Him what to do. Moses is instructed to take some of the elders with him and, with the staff he used to strike the Nile, strike the rock at Horeb. Sure enough, water flowed from the rock. Moses called the place Masseh (test) and Meribah (quarrel) because the Israelites tested the Lord and quarrelled here.

Note here the frequent appearance of the staff. It is a sacred object, and its significance is tied into the bishop's crosier today.

Now for a complete non sequitur, Amilek appeared out of the nowhere and fought with Israel. Moses instructed Joshua, also making his debut on the scene, to choose some men and go fight Amalek. Joshua did as told, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill where Moses directed the fight. It was an all day event, and Moses grew so weary that Aaron and Hur brought him a stone to sit on and helped him raise his hands to direct the fight..

Now here is a curious thing: whenever Moses raised his hand, Israel prevailed.When he lowered it, Amalek prevailed. Why didn't he just keep his hand up and be done with the fight?

Then the Lord told Moses He would blot out the rememberance of Amalek from under heaven. Moses built an altar as a tribute to his faith in the Lord.

Next, Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, a priest from Midian, appears on the scene, having heard all that God has done for Moses and his people. We learn that Moses had sent away his wife, Zipporah with their two sons. Not nice, after all she'd done for him, saving his life and all. Anyway, Jethro apparently bore no umbrage at this, took them in, and brought them along with him. Moses greets his father-in-law warmly, but gives not so mucha as a "Hi!" to his wife and sons. He takes Jethro into his tent to they can catch up on the news. Jethro realizes from Moses' accountings that the the Lord is indeed the God above all gods and Aaron came with all the leaders of Israel to eat bread with Jethro in the presence of God.

The next day, Jethro noticed that Moses held court all day long, listening to the grievances and issues of his people. Jethro said "This is nonsense. You're running yourself ragged. You need help." So he instructed Moses to set up a sort of court system like we have today, with Moses hearing only the major cases and other wise men hearing lesser problems. And so it was.

The message of Exodus we are to perceive, is that God is creating from this ragtag people a whole new nation. They must endure trials to develop faith, to lose old perceptions and habits, and to do this they must face endless travail through the wilderness, trusting in God to pull them through. God goes from a creator God to a"hands on" God: "You will be my people and I will be you God if you keep my laws."