Exodus 1:8-2:10

Exodus is a clean break from Genesis. We are left with some names and what are clearly mythological stories of floods and towers, but as we'll see, the people who call themselves Jews are not sure who their God is. We will also see God speaking to people through prophets, not wrestling with them, like Jacob. We still do not see history in these stories. The Pharoah is a parody of any serious ruler. His big challenge in this passage is to keep the Israelites from being fruitful and multiplying.

As one historian put it; something happened in the Levant around this time and a people who were under Egyptian control threw off those chains and started their own, more egalitarian kingdom, unfortunately, they chronicled how they did it in a way that is completely undecipherable. There is no archeaological evidence of an "exodus", not even that much of Jewish slaves as they are described in this book. There may have been a small kingdom that combined its stories (the J stories of JEDP hypothesis) with others, some of whom may have spent some time under Pharaoh's rule (the E stories of JEDP).

I actually think it makes a better and more significant story to believe that more plausible narrative. That a tiny kingdom that may have never conquered anyone survived all the empires and maintained their history. That though flawed, drew from some of the better ideas in the region. (Unfortunately, this excellent National Geographic article is no longer online.) They later influenced the Romans, and by extension, the Western world.

I don't think we can know what they were trying to preserve with this particular story. One thing I think that gets overlooked too often is the cross-cultural and intergenerational alliance that gives us the great leader Moses. A Hebrew mother, Moses' sister and Pharaoh's daughter. These women will continue to play roles in the story.

Isaiah 51:1-6

The Isaiah passage does not give any useful morality lessons for today, but it does give us insight in to how the nation dealt with its troubles. We also get an echo of the "rock" that appears in Matthew this week. Theologians love that. Isaiah 51 is well into the post exile time period. It is a call for renewal, a harkening back to the traditions. These are the traditions that we have been reading about in Genesis this year and will continue with in Exodus. First some Abraham being called to some unknown better place. These are not easy images though, as this is a call to action. The images of Eden, of the past, are drawn to paint a future of joy and song.

Although not named, when there is talk of justice, the reference is to Moses and law. This is where they put their faith. Despite this being a time of having just been conquered, Isaiah says these ideas that came from Moses will spread over the whole earth.

Roman 12:1-8

Paul gives us a decent analogy in this chapter. After the first few verses of praise, he compares the community to a body. This is described in more detail in the book Sacred Cows Make Gourmet Hamburgers. Briefly, our body parts have different functions, and we wouldn't expect one part to do something it is not designed to do. And when we need one part to make a sacrifice for the whole, we can do that. The book I linked to uses the example of being trapped in a burning car. It might burn your hand to open the door, but you would do it. The hand is of course taken care of afterwards, its contribution to the whole is acknowledged.

Our capitalist system on the other hand, rewards individuals who have a variety of skills. If you invent something and can market it, and manage the growth of early sales into a company, you are rewarded with the profits of that work for years to come, even when others take over the details of those same skills. Sacrifices made by individuals, like working to support a family instead going to school to increase your income, are not rewarded. Those workers usually have less accumulated advantages, they weren't able to work for two or three years with no income to get a new business off the ground. These advantages are also not recognized, either as an actual payment to be made back to those who gave the advantages and usually not in the narrative about the business owner who was "self-made". And so we hold up one part of the "body" as special and forsake the others.

Matthew 16:13-20

Much has been made of the symbolism of the rock in this passage, but I don't find this a clear metaphor. We also see the Greek Hades creeping in to the story. Note there is nothing here about fire and brimstone or eternal punishment. Those words are in the bible but not directly used as a threat of punishment for regular sinners like you and me. That form of "hell" is constructed centuries later.

The rock is a symbol for God, as we just saw in the Isaiah passage. The Catholics use this passage to claim Peter is the first Pope, although again, that is something that is not invented until later. St. Iranaeus of Lyons names a second Pope, Linus, but he did that sometime around 200 AD and few scholars back that up. After that time, we can at least be more sure of the names corresponding to actual individuals, but the idea of what it means to be Pope is always evolving.

Verses like verse 20 always puzzled me. They get thrown in at a few other important times, where it seems like Jesus is making a clear statement about being God. If he had made that clear to more people at the time, wouldn't that have cleared up a lot for all of perpetuity? Yes, but only if the ministry continued, and he gained acceptance for that claim. It's highly unlikely that would have happened. It is more likely if he made a clear statements about being king of the Jews, he would have been arrested earlier. It is more likely, the parables are hard to decipher, and sometimes Jesus outright tells his listeners to keep secrets, because what he was saying was dangerous.

Those in the early church were going against their own Jewish leaders, and as a new cult, were not welcomed by the Romans either. They disagreed with laws on both sides. So I don't think there is much symbolism being used here, just practical directions. There is also something here about Simon having this revealed to him by the Father in heaven, not by flesh and blood. There are long debates about Jesus being a real person or not. That's not something I will explore in this format, but you might find interesting.