“A mystery”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Saturday, April 2, 2022
Exodus 2:23 – 3:15 (Forward, p. 63) CEV p. 56
I guess that it is a symptom, a vivid reminder, of the debunking and rationalistic tenor of our times when anything mysterious or seemingly supernatural is forced to have a rational, materialist explanation. Rather than credit it as supernatural and therefore inexplicable, some authors have gone to extreme lengths to ‘explain it away.’
Some authors, for instance, suggest that the burning bush was a particular species of plant called Dictamnus. They explain that this plant sometimes “excretes such a vast amount of volatiles that lighting a match near the flowers and seedpods cause the plant to be enveloped by flame. This flame quickly extinguishes without injury to the plant.” However, there are two problems to this theory. Firstly, that the plant has never been known to exist in the Sinai, and secondly, that the plant appears to be aflame long before Moses came near to it. Others have suggested that the sunlight glancing off the plant made it ‘appear’ to be on fire. But, then, would Moses have been taken in by this, such that he felt a need to come closer and investigate? These attempted explanations aside, some Sinai guides are still quick to point out a particular bush as being the probable ‘culprit.’
However, such mental ramblings do nothing to explain away so much else in the narrative that is quite plainly a mystery. Firstly, why did Moses even go there? It appears that the Midianites, the loosely organized tribe to which Moses’ father-in-law belonged, were widely dispersed through what is now southern Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, plus the Sinai. So, why, of all places, go to Mt. Sinai (Mt. Horeb in the Hebrew)? If the current and traditional ‘placement’ of the site is correct, it is probably the last place anyone would take his or her flocks for the purpose of grazing. (The land around St. Catherine’s Monastery/ Mt. Sinai, is quite barren.). Or, was it already a sacred place, a place of worship? (Certainly, archaeologists have found what appear to be early Hebrew places of worship elsewhere in the Sinai, probably in conjunction to mining operations there that they were involved in.)
And then, there is the whole matter of the conversation between God and Moses? How do the rationalistic critics explain that? God’s revelation of His knowledge of their plight, and His concern and His interest in helping them, His delegation of Moses to undertake the task of going to Pharaoh and asking for the release of the Israelites, and His revelation of the ‘divine name’, YHWH: was all of this something that Moses just dreamed up, something that was entirely in his own head? I have heard of people ‘arguing with themselves’, but if this be so in the case of Moses, it is really quite lengthy and detailed, and therefore quite ridiculous as an explanation.
All I can conclude from this is that here was something truly supernatural and mysterious—and not at all amenable to any rationalistic explanation. And furthermore, that God was truly present and truly did talk to Moses and give him a commission, a commission that no one in his or her own mind would ever ‘dream up’. Imagine, for a moment, going to Pharaoh, someone who was considered a god in his own right, and making demands of him? Ridiculous, and that from a man who’d been sought as a murder suspect under a previous regime!
No, what this says is that we have a God of the mysterious and of the supernatural, who can do wondrous things and who can and does work in incredible ways in the lives of those who know, love and serve Him. His workings may well be beyond our comprehension or explanation, but isn’t that exactly what you’d expect from the creator and lord of all the universe? Just all the more reason to respect Him and turn to Him and trust Him with our lives. Amen.
Forward notes: “Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God...God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them” (verses 23b-25).
“I am half Japanese and half African American. I have always embraced my Asian heritage. But only in more recent years have I come to appreciate my identity as a Black person.
“I have become more aware of long-lived systems that benefit some races and disenfranchise others. It has not been illuminating and interesting in the way that taking a machine apart can be, realizing how this cog and that wheel work. It’s been more like seeing how a magic trick is done: the mystery has been dispelled, and the trick has lost its power over me.
“As I think about the history of slavery and race-related violence in the United States, I can only hope that God hears the cries throughout time and eternity and that God takes notice—and that as God remembers, so too do God’s people. I pray we can remember that the world is intended as a life-giving place for all, and especially for the oppressed and neglected.”
MOVING FORWARD: “How does the story of Exodus inform your understanding of race in the United States?”
