Today’s Bible Society Lent reading was about all the stuff given to the temple. Now I know there is a verse in Exodus that says about how the Egyptians gave gold, silver and jewelry, etc to the Hebrews after the last plague, but there is an awful lot of stuff here.
I think we have always been led to believe from various Hollywood depictions and various sermons, that those descendants of Jacob, Moses’ family, lived in appalling conditions of starvation and over work. But then early on in the Exodus they are moaning about not getting certain food types, which means they must have enjoyed those foods not just picked up scrapings from the ground. Then in the reading today it says
with him [Belalel] was Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan – an engraver and designer, and an embroiderer in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen
Exodus 38:22
Where did Oholiab learn to be an engraver and designer and embroiderer? Or for that matter Belalel learn all he knew? We are often made to believe that when the Spirit of God feel on them suddenly they were able to do these things. Or that as these dirty smelly lowlife slaves were leaving the city suddenly very rich people were thrusting their riches on them to get rid of them.
I think those people who gave the gifts didn’t just give it to get rid of the Hebrews and hope to stop the disasters [the plagues] that were going on but I think they gave them because these were people who had worked with and for them, who they knew and trusted and who were leaving them.
Too often we see slaves as dirty, mistreated, doing menial jobs, living in squalor because this is what Britain and other Western European counties in the 17th-early 20th Century did to Black Africans and their descendants, but if one reads about the ancient civilizations they had servants who ran their businesses, were in high standing positions, were respected though owned members of their households.
To me though this gives a very different impression of the Hebrews leaving Egypt and why they were so quick to moan as they crossed this bleak wilderness between Egypt and the Promised Land. Maybe they weren’t going because the conditions were awful. Maybe they were going because they were suffering religious persecution for one, but maybe the big thing was that they believed they had been promised the area that became known as Israel. Maybe they left because they didn’t want to be slaves any more but wanted their own autonomy?
To me this fits in with thoughts on “Are Christians That Different?” and my own journey of following Jesus and learning that I am unconditionally loved by The Creator of the Universe. It was about a freedom from things that held me back from being free to be fully me, to have autonomy in my life, to not be held in slavery by having to fit in, etc, etc, etc. It is about learning to trust The Creator rather than myself.
For me now thinking that it is more to do with leaving something that was actually ok and going on a journey of trust and acceptance makes so much more sense to me than wondering why those Hebrews in the story moan so much in the desert. They were slowly learning to trust.
We’ve a friend who has long covid, is only in his late 30s, can only work 15 hours a week and isn’t able to socialise much because he’s exhausted, but says that now he understands about how “God works all things to the good of those who love him”. He’s had to go through that hardship to come to that place. He’s come from the good and being self-sufficient to walking with next to nothing but now believes he fully knows God’s love.
To me this fits in with the Hebrews being well-cared for slaves and leaving that behind to wander in a desert place trusting God for their next meal. Makes so much more sense to me.
I also think that whether we would say we are Christians, of other faiths or none I think there comes a point where we need to travel that road away from the comfortable, away from fitting in with the status quo, and need to be thinking our own thoughts, listening to our own hearts, having our own autonomy, and I think that will take a wander through things that are a bit dry and barren so that we can come to our Promised Land. [Richard Rohr calls it part of maturing in his book Falling Upwards]
Aspirational Adventures 