NL 404: God's Name Revealed - Exodus 2:23-25; 3:1-15; 4:10-17
image: PxFuel
October 3, 2021
Exodus 2:23-25; 3:1-15; 4:10-17
Initial Thoughts
Skips Moses’ troubles with Pharoah. He was raised as a prince, apparently knew that he was a Hebrew. He fell out of favor after murdering an Egyptian who was treating a Hebrew harshly.
“Moses is a lost soul.” Amy Merrill Willis - Raised by Hebrew mother. Adopted by Egyptian princess. Murdered an Egyptian worker. Rejected by fellow Hebrews. Flees his homeland, and is identified as an Egyptian by the woman he soon marries. Now working for his father-in-law, his curiosity leads him to an incredible encounter.
The ultimate call story. Moses going about his day-to-day business of tending the flock when he encounters something incredible.
“The story of the call of Moses has long fascinated the community of faith, particularly the burning bush. In my mind’s eye is a composite of numerous efforts by Bible storybook artists to depict this incident in full color. As is so often the case however, the picture stays in the memory but the content of Moses’ encounter with the divine remains hazy.” (Terence Fretheim, Interpretation: Exodus, p. 51)
Bible Study
Begins with God hearing the cry of the Israelites - God hears, looks, and “knew”
How much do we long to be known? Especially in the midst of suffering and pain?
Interesting connection to last week - “Who are you?” asked by Isaac to Jacob (disguised as Esau) is the central question of Jacob’s story
Much work has been done, both theologically and psychologically, explaining the importance of hearing someone’s pain, of seeing someone’s suffering, and beginning to understand what someone is going through
This is a central issue of anti-racism work - can we hear the true stories of the pain and suffering that was inflicted and continues to wound, marginalize, and oppress people of color?
Once we hear, see, and begin to understand we should, like God, be moved to action.
God hears and remembers the covenant, but it will take a LONG time for God’s act of redemption to take place
Moses has to leave, get married, burning bush, etc and doesn’t actually begin his conversation with Pharaoh until chapter 5, and it won’t be until chapter 14 that the exodus actually happens.
Encounter happens in midst of everyday life
Horeb means “Wasteland”
“It would not be the last time that God chose a nontraditional, nonreligious setting for a hearing of the word.” (Freitheim, p. 54)
Moses’ curiosity draws him into the encounter. Not until Moses inquires about the strange fire does God intervene - and it is then revealed that it is not just a messenger of God, but God in the fire.
The fire is not an otherworldly vision. Moses is awake, conscious, and aware of what is going on. The ground must be felt at his feet to reaffirm that this is “real life.”
God is clothed by the fire, but is not the fire. God’s presence is obscured by the created world, but God is intimately involved in the midst of that world.
The holy ground was made holy by God’s presence. God is not limited by sites, shrines, temples. God has access to anywhere, and when God is there it is holy.
“The ground is now holy because of God’s appearance, not because it was already holy. There is no holiness inherent in the place as such… That which is part of the natural order is sanctified, set apart for special use by God.” (Fretheim, p. 56).
Memory and Sight
The act of sight is an important first step in the encounter.
First, God sees. Then, Moses must see God.
God appears to Moses (3:2). Moses tries to see the bush (3:3). Moses is afraid to look (3:6). God says “I have observed the misery of my people…” (3:7). “I have seen how the Egyptians oppress them.” (3:9).
The act of remembering and forgetting will be an important theme throughout Exodus, and the rest of the Hebrew Bible.
God connects Moses to his past “God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (Ex 3:6).
When Moses asks about who to say sent him, God’s response ties the past and present together “I am who I am.” (3:14). Then God again recalls the tradition of the patriarchs (3:15).
Mission and Objections
God’s Action: “I have come to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (3:8).
Moses’ mission: “So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
Moses: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?”
God: “I will be with you”
Moses: “What am I going to tell the Israelites? Who should I say sent me?”
God: “I am who I am.” (NRSV)
“One of the most puzzled over verses in the entire Hebrew Bible.” (Fretheim, p. 63)
“I will be what I will be.”
“I will cause to be what I will cause to be.”
“I will be who I am.”
“I am who I will be.” “This seems to be the best option, in essence: ‘ will be God for you.’ The force is not simply that God is or that God is present but that God will be faithfully God for them.” Fretheim, p. 63)
“Without pursuing the endless critical opinions about the origin of the formula, it is enough to see that the formula bespeaks power, fidelity, and presence. This God is named as the power to create, the one who causes to be. This God is the one who will be present in faithful ways to make possible what is not otherwise possible.” (Brueggemann, p. 714).
Altogether, there are five objections that Moses raises. Each one pointing to a past reality. Each solution of God points to a new future. (Walter Brueggemann, New Interpreter's’ Bible, v. 1, p. 713)
Moses rejects God’s commission
These are the last 2 of Moses 5 reasons why God should choose someone else
Ex 3:3 - I’m not good enough
Ex 3:13 - I don’[t have all the answers
Ex 4:1 - People won’t believe tme
Ex 4:10 - I can’t speak well
Ex 4:13 - Send someone else
“Heavy mouthed” and “heavy tongued” - commentators are split on whether this is an actual, physical speech impediment or whether Moses is just a bad public speaker. Considering the speeches that Moses makes later - it seems this is a hyperbolic excuse for God to choose someone else.
Also possible that God “cures” his speech impediment in this moment v. 12, though there is no direct evidence of that.
Send someone else
This is a strange connection between Aaron and Moses, because there is no indication they had ever met, much less known they were related
However, later Aaron will be overjoyed to meet Moses in the wilderness. Perhaps this is because he knows Moses as sent to him by God or perhaps he knew (because Miriam told him) that Moses was their brother
Thoughts and Questions
Don’t be afraid to tell your call story. No, preaching isn’t about the preacher, but it is a little. It is good to let people know - or even remind them - of how you were called to preach. Did you have a burning bush? Too many people think that call only comes through miraculous intervention. Fact is for most, call comes again and again. Someone might hear their own call through your story. And remember, the story skips over the part where Moses objects, bargains, and tries to get out of it, and God equips Moses to fulfill the call.
“See and Remember.” When God saw the oppression of his people, he could no longer sit idly by. When sharing his identity, it was tied intimately with the past. Part of our role as people called by God is to see and remember. See the pain in the world that God would want us to heal, and remember that God is in our midst.
Moses task seems great, and his objections are numerous and reasonable, but at each objection, God has an answer. Moses (like Peter in the above passage?) keeps thinking in human terms, fearful of failure and death. God though, is thinking as God, knowing that new life comes through death.
Opening music: Misirlou, One Man 90 Instruments by Joe Penna/MysteryGuitarMan at MIM
Closing Song by Bryan Odeen