Bible in a Year – Day 21: The Wrong Side of Right
Jan 21st
Today’s Reading: Exodus 10, 11 & 12
The Bible tells us that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart as he was experiencing all of these horrific plagues. But my question is this: Where is Pharaoh’s head? This guy’s so stuck on himself that he no longer cares if he loses everything – he just wants to win some kind of philosophical argument with Moses and Aaron.
When I was in High School, I discovered that I had a knack for seeing both sides of just about any argument. Later, in a college debate course, I learned to effectively articulate even a position that I completely disagreed with. In essence, we played an age-old debate game. The object was to convince your peers that your point of view was correct – regardless of whether you actually believed it. I was a champ. I could become red hot about almost any subject. I could spout facts and figures and make convincing arguments for even the most ridiculous of positions. I was good at winning. But it was winning for the sake of winning – arguing for the sake of arguing. It was a game and it didn’t really matter who was right. All that mattered was who won.
This is the state the we see Pharaoh in here. Remember, God is still hardening his heart, even as the consequences get worse and worse. But by now, Pharaoh is too far into the game to give in. He’s got too much invested. In fact, even without the God-initiated heart-hardening, Pharaoh would have probably still refused Moses’ requests. He would have refused, not because he didn’t believe that the God of Israel was real and powerful or didn’t believe that they did, in fact, want to go worship that God, but because he wanted to win.
Some of us would do good to heed the lesson that Pharaoh learned the hard way through this experience: There are some battles you are not going to win, some foes too strong to overpower and some arguments too solid to defeat. We know this on some level. Most of us have been in situations where we knew or suspected that the position we were taking was not the “correct” one, but found our selves too deep into the argument to bow out gracefully. And so, we fought on – all the while taking blow after punishing blow – clinging to the hope that maybe the other person would just give up and we could win.
Well, it didn’t work for Pharaoh and it probably won’t work for you or me. Sometimes, we’re just on the wrong side of “right.”
Bible in a Year – Day 20: God’s Pawn?
Jan 20th
Today’s Reading: Exodus 7, 8 & 9
The interactions between Pharaoh and Moses make up one of the most famous stories in the Bible. This story has been depicted in movies, satirized in comic strips and used by Sunday School teachers around the world as a warning for what happens when you mess with God. But a closer examination of the story suggests that there’s something deeper happening here – something more complex and nuanced that is taking place.
There are two things that jump out to me in these verses. First, God tells Moses exactly what’s going to happen. Now, admittedly, that’s not a huge feat for the all-knowing God. But there’s something about the way he says it that sounds a little less like “I’ve looked into my crystal ball and here’s what I’ve seen” and a little more like “Here’s the plan I drew up.” In fact, God tells Moses that he (meaning God) will harden Pharaoh’s heart. In other words, God doesn’t say, “but Pharaoh is a fool and a wicked man and won’t listen.” Instead, God says that he will play an active role in making sure that Pharaoh doesn’t listen. So, does that mean that Pharaoh is just a pawn in God’s little game?
Perhaps, but Pharaoh’s not exactly an innocent bystander either. In fact, it’s Pharaoh’s own ego and illusions of grandeur that cause him the most trouble. Moses and Aaron come to him with their staff-into-a-snake routine and he shows them that his hired guns can do the same. (It was a strange and different world back then!) OK, no harm, no foul. Aaron’s snake swallowed up the others and then, presumably re-formed itself into a staff. (I wonder if the re-formed staff had grown in size after eating all those snakes.)
Then, Pharoah’s ego starts to get the best of him. When Aaron succeeds in turning the waters of Egypt into blood, Pharaoh again calls in his minions and we’re told that they “did the same things.” Now, I’m not sure what water they turned to blood, since Aaron seemed to have already taken care of it all. Maybe it was just water in a jug or something. At any rate, here is Aaron performing a miracle which is destructive to the Egyptian people – contaminating their water supply – and in his egomania, Pharaoh asks his men to perform the same destructive act. A sensible ruler would have, perhaps, asked his magicians to turn the blood back to water. But Pharaoh is anything but sensible.
He has a God-complex and more money and pride than he has sense. He has surrounded himself with people who have convinced him that he is essentially a deity – that he is all-powerful. And so, when someone comes to him with a claim that there is this God who is more powerful than he, Pharaoh has no choice (in his mind) but to prove that he is up to the challenge. Here is a man who would rather kill his own people than to admit defeat, not unlike many of the tyrannical dictators in the world today.
And so, did God use him as a pawn in a story that would be told and retold as a prophetic and legendary symbol of both the past and the future? Sure! Did Pharaoh make any attempt to buck against the role he was asked to play? Not a chance. God, I guess, allows us to be who we are, for better or worse, and makes it all work for his plan.
Bible in a Year – Day 19: Not the Norm
Jan 19th
Today’s Reading: Exodus 4, 5 & 6
It’s part of our conditioning, I guess. When we’re young, our parents establish a “norm” with us that when people do what they are supposed to do, good things happen. And, conversely, when people do bad things, bad things happen to them in return. It’s understandable, then, why Moses is a little miffed at God. (By the way, take note of Moses’ special relationship with God throughout the book of Exodus. He dares to say things and ask questions that most of us would never consider. There is something about that relationship that is unique.)
“Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me?“
That’s Moses’ question to God – he’s trying to understand why, even though he did the “right” thing – the thing that God asked him to do, the people are now being worked even harder than before. Why did Moses doing “good” result in the people of Israel being on the receiving end of even worse behavior by the Egyptians. It’s a valid question!
And it’s a question we still ask today: Why do bad things happen to good people? The long answer is probably more complex than we can ever fathom. The short answer? Because people are broken and God isn’t. He gives us free will and then works through the decisions that people make. It makes for a messy situation sometimes, but it’s what makes us human. And only when we have a chance to step back (or, rather, many years forward) and see things from a different perspective that we can see how God uses both the good and the bad in order to facilitate his plan for the world. I guess we should just be glad to have a part to play!
Bible in a Year – Day 18: Victims of Circumstance
Jan 18th
Today’s Reading: Exodus 1, 2 & 3
The opening chapters of the book of Exodus offer us the tiniest glimpse into the early life of Moses. But before we jump into that, it’s interesting to note the series of events that have taken place to get us to where we are. First, Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt. Then, he rose to power (even though it took a while) and moved his entire extended family to Egypt, giving them the best land and resources. With those resources, Joseph’s family and their offspring managed to do pretty well and become quite a force to be reckoned with.
Then, within one generation, after Joseph had died, the Israelites went from being guests of honor to being slaves in Egypt. So, depending on your perspective, you could reach any of the following conclusions:
1. That Joseph’s actions ultimately led to the enslavement of the people of Israel.
2. That Joseph’s brothers actions ultimately led to the enslavement of the people of Israel.
3. That without the actions of Joseph and those of his brothers before him, there would be no people of Israel.
You see, the land was in famine. If Joseph’s brothers hadn’t sold him, he would never have ended up in Egypt. If he hadn’t been in Egypt, he would not have interpreted Pharaoh’s dream. If he never interpreted the dream, he wouldn’t have been put in the position he was in. If he wasn’t in that position, he wouldn’t have been able to offer his brothers food, let alone invite them to the more fertile land of Egypt. And, without being in Egypt, it is possible that all of Israel’s people would have died.
Now, I think it’s a legitimate question to ask whether it’s better to die or to live in slavery, but in the long history of Israel, their slavery (and the events before and after) not only saved their nation, but forged a certain identity which still exists today. Through this series of events, the people of Israel came to discover what we still have to rediscover every day – that we view the world from a limited perspective. We don’t really know the repercussions of our actions and we don’t know the ultimate outcome of our current circumstance. It may be that our day of darkness is preparing us for the future.
Now, let’s take a quick look at Moses, because here is yet another example of a series of unfortunate circumstances subsequently leading an individual into exactly the right place at the right time. In fact, if not for Pharaoh (the new one) insisting that the baby boys of the Israelites be killed, Moses would probably have never ended up in that basket and would not have had the educational opportunities that he had, which would serve him well later in life. In fact, if he head not been in that place at that time, he might not have had the desire or opportunity to kill the Egyptian, which led him to flee to Midian. You get the drift – whether ordained by God or simply used by him for good, the events in the lives of people like Moses and Joseph (and you and me) are not insignificant.
Where we came from and what we came through determines where we will end up. So, embrace where you came from, what you’ve been through and where you currently are. Who knows, God may be using those things to get you to where he needs you to be. Oh, and, if you run across any burning bushes with a booming voice, you might want to stop and listen!
Bible in a Year – Day 17: Flip-Flopped Blessings
Jan 17th
Today’s Reading: Genesis 48, 49 & 50
In today’s reading, we see the passing of two of the major characters of the Bible: Jacob (also called Israel) and Joseph. What is interesting to me, though, is a series of events that happens just before Jacob’s death. In previous posts, I talked about the chaos of Jacob’s family and how odd it was that this family would be the “chosen ones” of God. In today’s reading, you’ll notice that some of the same chaos is revisited on the next generation.
From our earlier reading, we know that Abraham, after he was told that he would be the father to many nations, had a son by his wife’s servant, Hagar. This son, Ishmael, was Abraham’s eldest son and, therefore, should have received Abraham’s birthright and blessing along with the highest place of honor among Abraham’s children. However, that was not God’s plan for Abraham and, instead, allowed Sarah, Abraham’s wife, to have a child. This child, Isaac, would be the one to receive God’s blessing and would be the one through whom God would fulfill his promises to Abraham. In this, God essentially flipped convention on it’s head by giving the blessing and authority to the younger son.
Then, later on, Jacob and Esau were born to Isaac and his wife Rebekah. In that famous story, again, the birth order was flipped on its head as Jacob, the younger brother, received the birthright and blessing that his brother Esau should have received. In our current context, we may not fully understand the significance of these events. What was happening here was not only a slap in the face to the traditional way of doing things; it was essentially telling a child, “You are no longer my firstborn, no longer the oldest and no longer have the privileges you once had.” It meant that these older brothers lost a significant piece of their identity.
For the younger brothers, however, this was like winning the lottery, the World Series and the Super Bowl all at once! And the upside-down blessing that Isaac, through God’s intervention, received, he passed on (unknowingly) to Jacob. Jacob then, through no effort or choice of his own, would see Joseph (son number 11) rise to power and rule over his brothers. Even in his blessing of his sons in today’s reading, he actually curses his firstborn, Rueben.
But the thing that I think is the most significant in these chapters is his blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh. Here, Jacob again signals the blessing of the younger over the older. But this time, Jacob is intentionally choosing the younger. Gone is the deception that Jacob used to get his blessing from Isaac. Gone is the sibling envy that served as a precursor to Joseph’s rise to power. Instead, here is a grandfather choosing the younger grandson. His son, Joseph, even tries to correct him. But Jacob indicates that he knows what he is doing and that his desire is to bless the younger son.
So, why is this so significant? Simply put: because we need it to be. The lives of these patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would serve as models and illustrations from that time until now (and beyond). They would be used to tell two stories: the first was the story of God choosing the nation of Israel. They were, in essence, his firstborn. He gave them the inheritance, the blessing and the protection. And he gave them a Savior.
But he did something else. He began to write the second story : a story where the forgotten son – the one born to a servant girl, the one thrown into a pit and sold into slavery – was given the blessing. When God began to send missionaries into the Gentile communities claiming “son-ship” and “daughter-ship” for those people, the “first-born” Jews were incredulous. They were losing their birthright, their blessing and part of their identity. If anyone could be God’s chosen, then who were they?
The good news – for the ancient Jews, modern Jews and all the rest of us – is that, unlike earthly fathers, God has enough blessing to go around. The kingdom is upside-down, but even though the “last shall be first” and the “first shall be last” in the kingdom of heaven, there’s no indication that either group isn’t allowed in. And so, whether first-born or last-born, slave or free, Jew or Gentile, God has made room for us all!
