The reading plan I’m following has me in Exodus among other places. This morning amidst crossing the Red Sea, I pondered the rioters and demonstrators way down in Egypt-land, seeking relief from yet another heart-hardening oppressor. Wouldn’t they rejoice to see the waters “stand as an heap” if only in solidarity with them. Actually, that phrase “stand as an heap” had me puzzled as to where it was, for as much as I remembered it when I thought of the story, I couldn’t find it in the Exodus account, nor in Moses’ song, nor in Miriam’s song. I was pretty sure this was not something I had made up, so I went hunting in the Psalms, and sure enough Asaph uses that phrase in his depressing history lesson in Psalm 78. A strange correlation by the way, with what I witnessed outside my window this morning in the wake of the blizzard last night: waters stood in wave-like wind-swept heaps of snow everywhere! And my kind Canadian neighbor, puffing all the while on the cigarette between his lips, valiantly sought to stand the waters in even higher heaps so as to allow us all passage on dry ground, only to break the shovel. I became aware of all this as I was reading. Funny, no?
This is a wonderful post. I've been in Exodus too and have also thought about the Egyptians then and now. I like the connection you've made. And in terms of the text, the hardening of Pharaoh's heart is always disconcerting, especially since it seems the other Egyptians are not with him ("knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?"). Complex stuff. Good to think about.
ReplyDeleteThe really disconcerting thing to me is the following accounts of those so remarkably rescued and fed and led responding not with belief but with hard hearts. Heart hardening scares me.
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