Exodus

A Metanarrative of Emancipation

Ultimately, we are disciples of Jesus. However, He so often comes to us clothed in flesh and blood! I dedicate this article to one such person - Walter Brueggemann. I have found Walter to be a deep well of life from which I have had the privilege of drinking. I have been discipled by his authorship of so many perspective changing works. Thank you Mr Brueggemann! Thank you, Jesus!

As a sixth form student studying art history my class went on a trip to London to visit the Tate Gallery. In the mid-seventies a trip to London was a rare experience, even more so having the opportunity of visiting an art gallery of international renown! Our art teacher gave us clear instructions on how to appreciate what we were going see, “Stand back from the painting, look at the painting as a whole before you get engrossed in the detail”. As an art lover I’ll never forget standing before so many great masterpieces that I had only previously seen as small colour plates in a book, plenty of them took my breath away. This is a lesson that I have tried to apply to the reading of scripture. What I hope to do in this article is help us to stand back and take a look at the size, statue and beauty of the book of Exodus as a whole, before we start looking at the carefully crafted individual details. This book is truly a masterpiece and as you come to understand its message be prepared for it to take your breath away.

The book of Exodus is more than simply the story of Israel’s captivity in Egypt, God’s deliverance of His people from their slavery, the giving of the law and the instructions for the tabernacle! The underlying or overarching narrative is one that finds an echo in many other books in the bible including the New Testament. Understanding this underlying message in this book will provide us with keys that help us to unlock much of the rest of scripture. Ultimately the story sets the scene for the work of Christ and His inauguration of the Kingdom of God. In effect, the Exodus account tells us as much about Christ and His work as it does about Moses, Aron and Pharaoh or any other character in the book. As we will see, the true Exodus story comes alive in the person of Jesus – He is our Exodus. In future articles I hope to show you some of the many ways much of the New Testament pulls on the history recorded in the chapters of this remarkable story.

The book has two primary messages, the first fifteen chapters tell the story of Israel’s emancipation from slavery under the domination of Pharaoh, the chapters that follow give us great insight into how God established a community of faithful Yahweh worshipers. Pharaoh is the dominant character in the first fifteen chapters - we read much about his social, economic and spiritual mastery - but by the end of the book Pharaoh is diminished and Yahweh, who is in many ways un-noticed in these initial chapters, re-establishes Himself as the Lord of Heaven and of Earth. Whilst I’ve highlighted these two big themes, in this article I will only share some reflections on the first of these two big messages. The story prepares the stage for the entrance of the ultimate deliverer – Jesus.

The Story of Emancipation (Chapters 1-15)

I grew up as a young believer in the 70’s and 80’s reading this book with a Western evangelical/charismatic mind-set, often looking for evidence that pointed to its literal authenticity and attempting to  identify ways to defend the story as a historic, scientific reality. My bible reading default setting was also set to explore the literary detail of a passage rather than stand back and understand the whole literary canvas. My analytical approach resulted in me seeing lists and sequences rather than the overarching narrative. This pursuit and approach is not necessarily wrong but it can draw our attention and so we fail to see the size, scale and significance of the picture God is wanting to unveil before our very eyes. So, let’s leave this approach for a moment, let’s stand back from the masterpiece and take a look at some of the key themes in these first fifteen chapters.

The dominant figure in the early chapters of Exodus is Pharaoh and the oppressive Egyptian social and economic system. The people of Israel, the whole nation, are held captive in Egypt by possibly the world’s strongest power of its day, embodied in its leader called Pharaoh. Pharaoh had an insatiable appetite for material wealth, military strength, power and control. His vision of success by any standard, was totally awe inspiring. He had a building programme the like of which the world of its day had never seen and probably hasn’t been repeated until the 20th century. To enable this wealth creation he needed labourers, in fact what this vision really demanded, was slaves. He therefore enslaved the people of God in his system of mass production. Exodus chapter 5 tells us that Pharaoh’s demands kept increasing and increasing as the people made bricks for the extension of his empire. He demanded higher and higher quotas. He wanted more and more for less. There was a relentless production schedule and he had high expectation and aspirations, he was never satisfied, never content.

In the early years of my Christian walk I saw him as a type of the devil and Egypt was a metaphor for the world. I understood the message of salvation as being forgiven for the sins that I had committed. Sin, in my mind was the individual things that I had done wrong that God disapproved of, the lies I had told, my lustful thoughts, the bad language I had used etc. What God had done for me at the cross was to save me from the world of ‘sin’ which I understood as the world in which wrong things were done.  Of course this is true, but there is more for us to understand of God’s plan to rescue the human race. Pharaoh is not simply an archetype of Satan but he is also, if not more, a metaphor for a predatory system of sin that is enslaving of humanity. We humans lose our freedom to this predatory system and become slaves to its power. Sin therefore is not only or simply the things we have done wrong that God disapproves of but it is a system to which we have given our allegiance and to which we have become slaves.

The Predatory System

So, what is this ‘predatory system’ of sin and what does this mean?

Pharaoh, Egypt and its myriad of gods stand for and exemplify the world of commodity. The mantra of these god’s is based on an underlying belief that success is measured by the accumulation of wealth which in turn is authenticated and attested to by their associated symbols and badges. Pharaoh’s obsession with bigger and better leads to an insatiable level of productivity where more is required for less. The treadmill of work to which we all refer on a regular basis is clearly present in the Exodus story. This treadmill is empowered by the god of consumerism and is clearly present in this narrative, summoning endless desires and needs that are never met but always require more effort. So, Pharaoh is the master of a socio-economic system where the aim is very akin to that of the 21^st century – Private Profit and Personal Gain. The ambitions of such an all-consuming enterprise demand hard labour and ultimately requires that people give their lives to satisfy its insatiable appetite for more. Work as God originally designed it, is degraded by this predatory system resulting in slavery. Mammon, the god of ‘stuff’ or ‘things’ becomes the object of worship. Israel were burdened by the yoke of a commodity orientated system resulting in them being weary and heavy laden.

Jesus alludes to this same system in of sin in Matthew 6 when He says;

‘No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.’

The metaphors Jesus uses are uncannily similar to that of the Exodus story – mastery and slavery. Mammon, the god of wealth (a consumer-based economy), seeks to master humanity and is by very nature enslaving. This verse makes it clear that it demands our devotion and undivided affection. Jesus calls us to make a choice, to whom shall we swear our allegiance? At which altar will we worship? The god of commodity or the only true God – Yahweh? This choice, whom shall we serve, whom shall we worship, which god/God we love remains Christ’s challenge to every generation. Mammon’s mantra calls for our enhanced performance, it demands we work harder and longer and achieve endless productivity gains in order to meet the desire it supplants in our hearts for more ‘stuff’. How do we know that we are participators in this predatory system? Jesus helps us, He makes it clear that anxiety (an absence of peace), restlessness (an inability to stop) and fear (of loss) are just some of the symptoms that are present in the lives of Mammon worshipers. Intentionally or unintentionally many of us have become devoted to the god of Mammon. In addition, Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, a Jewish academic, makes some remarks that may help us. He asserts that Israel’s slavery in Egypt had robbed them of both their time and identity. Imprisoned by servitude, time was not their own and as such they had no control over it. The tyrannical system of labour also made rest impossible. Not only that, through their enslavement they were divested of their identity both individually and communally. In the act of liberating Israel from Pharaoh’s oppressive capitalist style system, God restores their identity by covenantal promise - making them His people. He also gives them back time - marked by the start of a new calendar and the gift of Sabbath rest.

It seems to me that nothing changes! A post-modern generation has its senses dulled by an obsession with things. Reality becomes, as Abraham Joshua Hechel calls it; ‘thinghood’. As such, consumerism has become an opiate, it diminishes our sense of moral, social and economic value by our pursuit of more ’things’. The acquisition of ‘things’, finding a spouse, having children, buying a bigger house, owning the latest technology, finding a church that suits, having a better prayer life etc etc, these belong to the world of ‘thinghood’, and based on the definition of consumerism, appear to carry the promise of happiness. Even God becomes a commercial proposition, a commodity to possess – a thing, part of our world of ‘thinghood’. Commodification of life is the result of our devotion to Mammon, it’s the shackle that holds the whole of humankind across the globe in bondage.

One of the primary questions that we must ask ourselves as we close this first section of our exploration of the underlying narrative in Exodus is, have you and I and we the church, been enculturated by the ethos of consumerism?

The contest

God hears the cry of those enslaved by this commodity driven system of endless production. His plan is to liberate His people, He wants His people back, He wants to redeem a people lost to the service of the god of mammon and recover for Himself a worshiping, covenantal community.

Moses, God’s appointed leader leaves the glamour and luxury of Pharaoh’s palace to view the pain of the Israelites. This small step on Moses’ part changes not only his life but the course of Jewish history. This headstrong yet hesitant, inarticulate criminal is selected by the Lord to confront the very system he grew up in and benefited from. Yahweh sends him to challenge the huge and apparently successful ‘consumer system’ represented metaphorically in the form of his father the Pharaoh. A plague narrative process describes the contest between Pharaoh, his system and the Lord. Finally in chapter 8 the Lord makes Nat’s (whose?) and Pharaoh’s magicians, (as Walter points out, magician could equally if not more accurately be translated scientists, as this is what the word literally means) come to the end of their technological capacity. Pharaoh’s technology, imagination and control run out. Metaphorically speaking this spells the beginning of the end of a Pharaonic world system. Hope for a different and better future has to be sought elsewhere. What the bible is about and is particularly exemplified in the Exodus narrative is the endless discovery that the dominant, social, political, economic and technological system cannot deliver security and happiness. We too are discovering that the presiding political economy and social ideals cannot make us safe or happy, in fact they do the opposite, in creating anxiety and fear.

This contest is repeatedly, endlessly being re-applied in our world. All of us are constantly tempted to imagine that the centres of power, wealth and wisdom will make us happier and safer and all the time we are disappointed.  Exodus is a reminder that there is an alternative.

Thousands of years later this Exodus story finds its ultimate culmination and conclusion in the life of Christ. Throughout the Gospels we observe on numerous occasions that Jesus’ life and teachings draw on the Exodus narrative. The most striking of all these is the passion story, a narrative that is inextricably linked to the Passover Festival and the accompanying communal meal, that reminds its celebrants of how Yahweh liberated Israel from slavery to the Pharaonic system of Egypt. The cross becomes our Exodus, our liberation from the tyranny of labour. ‘Works’ cannot offer us salvation – doing more, working harder, better and smarter are forms of currency that cannot buy satisfaction for our souls. The acquisitive ideology of the West lays out a table spread with hopes and dreams of a better life. Most of us partake - even gorge ourselves on the bounty it provides - only to find that whilst our soul’s hunger is temporarily satisfied, we become mastered by the system and are frequently plagued by worry and fear that the supply will run out.  The truth is that the bread that the whole of humankind is looking for, comes not as a result of our own labour, but is the gift of God. It comes down from heaven.

Miriam is the final figure at the close of these first fifteen chapters. There is little capacity in the soul for the creation of melody and song when Pharaoh and his system is your master. The restoration of singing and dancing are the hallmarks of emancipation – the liberation from the domination of Pharaoh. Bruegemann says “The Exodus story is the account of how you get from domination to dancing”. In the concluding chapters of this section of scripture the larger-than-life character of Pharaoh who dominates the early parts of these chapters, is diminished as Yahweh is exalted as Israel’s redeemer and rescuer.

A New Testament Song

Fast forward again, this time to the Gospel of Luke. In the beginning of his Gospel, Luke captures the song of Mary, it holds so many similarities to that of Miriam’s. John Howard Yoder notices the true revolutionary nature of the gospel, he writes.

‘Catholic tradition knows it (the song of Mary) by its opening word Magnificat, “My soul doth magnify the Lord”. The song goes on to speak of dethroning the mighty and exalting the lowly, of filling the hungry and sending the rich away empty. Mary’s praise of God is that of a revolutionary battle cry.’

Yoder goes on to point out the ‘the old word, the technical term for the change that Mary was rejoicing in is “gospel”. The gospel of which Mary sings is a very different egg to what I came to understand it to be, when I answered that call for ‘salvation’. For many it remains just that, the invitation for an individual to receive the forgiveness of sins and the subsequent call to “evangelise” the world.

However, Mary’s song knows no such limitations, it was a declaration that the stranglehold of the presiding rule, the empire and its systemic oppression was coming to end. Mary was rejoicing in God’s salvation - the Gospel - the good news. Whilst personally placing our faith in God is essential, it gets no particular mention in this momentous song! The crucial message held in and heralded by the arrival of the Christ child, was to have social, political and economic repercussions. Ultimately it looked forward to the un-convicted and innocent Son of God, sacrificed at the hands of Roman rule, pouring himself out in the greatest act of self-giving love. An event in history that became a pivotal moment for humanity and the world in which they inhabited. This is what John imagines in the opening lines of his gospel - the recreation of all things through Christ, the eternal Word made flesh. The incarnation of Christ, his life, death and resurrection became the means by which God began making all things new. As the Word becomes flesh and moves into the neighbourhood, chaos in all its forms is confronted by the Word that is embodied in Christ. Ultimately this new order, this new Kingdom is inaugurated in the bodily resurrection of Jesus.  The ramifications are far reaching and I’d contend, are less about securing ‘me’ a place in some form of future paradise, but rather a new order for the whole of creation. It’s therefore as much about a present hope as it is a future hope. The apostle Paul tells us that creation itself awaits the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. The work that God began, captured in the opening lines of the creation story, where the Word brought order where there was chaos and light where there was darkness find its consummation in the gospel. It is through the gospel that human agency is re-imagined. The core human calling to serve God as master through the stewardship of creation, is recovered through the kenotic love made plain at the cross. In so many ways Mary’s song echoes that of Miriam’s, in that all that is ‘Pharaonic and Mamonic’ is going to be finally diminished and defeated, as Yahweh reveals His plan for the emancipation of all creation by ultimately exalting the Christ child as humanity’s redeemer and rescuer

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