Moses
(This is an essay I wrote and presented for my Christian Spirituality and Prayer class I took in Feb. 2009. The purpose of the paper was to take a person in Christian history and talk about how they tie into Christian Spiritually today. We were suppose to take from a rather safe list of people from the book Thirsty for God. I asked for and received permission to do Moses.)
Moses
What I am about to write is absolutely true. I know it’s true because it is so written.
Without Moses’ story and those of others in the Old Testament the life of Jesus would be just another man who taught peace and love for his neighbors – like Buddha. Religions steeped solely in the Light are rarely taken seriously, but back that Light up with dark and cruel times far removed from current audiences and the Light is brighter by contrast, more appealing and easier to digest. “That was then. That was them, not I. I can do better.”
So it begins…
Many, many years ago, in Egypt, sometime around 1100-1300 BC (Judaism, Wiki), a woman needed to get rid of a child for his own protection; for Pharaoh had ordered all the male children of a certain age and younger, including newborns, to be killed. But after three months of concealment she could no longer hide him and so took the baby and placed him in a basket and left him in a place, down by the river, to be easily found.
The baby’s sister stood watch over the basket until the daughter of Pharaoh, found it while taking a bath. Pharaoh’s daughter needed a wet nurse to feed the child and the baby’s sister, who had been watching all along, said, “I know someone.” Naturally she chose her mother for the task. (Exodus 2:1-10)
And with this humble beginning Moses was raised by Egyptian Royalty and yet was still Hebrew (but never fully embraced at first) and the stage was set for historical events that shaped future nations for thousands of years to come.
But first, Moses had to kill an Egyptian taskmaster. Naturally the Pharaoh found out and sought to kill Moses but he had already fled into the land of Midian (more on them later) and escaped. (Exodus 2:11-15)
This turned out to be a good thing for Moses because not only was he not killed by Pharaoh he also received the daughter of a Midian priest as his wife. On top of that he learned the trade of tending flock. This is a skill that would come in very handy, very shortly.
One day, Moses rounded a boulder and a bush was on fire. In that bush God told Moses to go back to Egypt and free the Hebrew people for the Pharaoh of old had died and a new Pharaoh was in power. And don’t worry I have your back. Moses turned to go when God said, “Oh, Moses.”
“Yes, I AM THAT I AM?” replied Moses. (Exodus 3:14)
“Make sure you take some gold and silver when you leave Egypt. You’ll need it for your journey.” (Exodus 3:1-22)
And thus Moses went back to Egypt to speak with the new Pharaoh. And so took place some serious negotiations involving rods that turned into snakes, plagues, fire, frogs, locust, a river of blood, and several one on ones with Pharaoh but Moses still couldn’t convince him to let his people go. And so God, inspired perhaps by the Pharaoh himself, killed all the first born of Egypt. The very next day the people were freed and they left in a great mass of humanity out of Egypt, with asses, oxen, carts, food, gold, and silver. (Exodus 3-12)
Then… well you’re familiar with the rest: parting of the Red Sea, two sets of commandments, The Law, and forty years wandering in the desert until the Israelites finally reached the Promised Land.
But really what does any of this have to do with Christian Spirituality? For Christian Spirituality, as seen through the eyes of the “fathers” of the faith, is the purpose of this writing. I have heard it many times, in public, in private, and in classes on history; that the history written therein is superseded by the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus. Why focus so much attention on Moses when it is said the Old Testament is not relevant to the lives of today’s people? The world in the time of Moses was harsh and this is the explanation for why God comes across as vengeful and cruel. So why then did the constructors of The Bible, at the Council of Nicaea and so many others who followed, choose to leave the Old Testament in place? Why keep old scripture for Christianity’s future generations if we aren’t suppose to follow their teachings?
The Israelites were a stiff-necked people and difficult to reach with the word of God as passed to them by Moses. Moses had to play the Big P parent - stern, powerful, the disciplinarian, for the children of Israel were young and newly freed.
It is the duality of Christian Faith that binds the Old and New Testaments together and makes it a powerful force. The Bad Cop, Good Cop routine that prepares the follower for the light and salvation of the New Testament and the message of Jesus Christ – the Little P parent of love and salvation.
Religions around the world, currently at over 4,200 adherent groups (Adherent), have been powerful forces in the social structures that govern people. There is hardly a nation on Earth that does not have a religious influence in its history. The approaches are varied and reflect the subtle differences of ethnic groups and still do. In the time of Moses, life was harsh, life was cruel, and the nation of Israel was taking its first steps into freedom and self determination. Their training as a people was at hand.
And so…
Two years after leaving the land of Egypt Moses was commanded by God to build an army. He also was commanded to dictate laws and the myriad of tributes that would be offered up as offerings to God. (Numbers1-10)
But the people were not happy with walking and often murmured against God. Fortunately for them Moses usually talked the Lord down. To be fair, taking orders from a pillar of smoke at a tabernacle, as God often appeared to Moses and his trusted priests, could be difficult for some when you have no food, water, or shelter and your children are starving. And so it was that when they finally came to the land of the Canaanites and saw the land heavily fortified on all sides by many different peoples and they could go no further – and they essentially refused to fight and put their trust in God - the LORD had had enough of their whining and handed down his famous 40 years punishment sentence to the Israelites. (Numbers 13) Paraphrase – “Only your children may enter the Promised Land, but you will die out here in the wilderness.” This was a convenient turn of events for Moses and the other leaders of the twelve tribes.
Having read this passage I couldn’t help but think that perhaps something else was going on here. Now whether this came from God or Moses someone had to realize there weren’t enough people to yet fight the Canaanites and the only course was to turn his people around. Indeed the people themselves were afraid and said as much. We may never know, but no leader would sacrifice their people unnecessarily and certainly not against an unbeatable enemy and certainly not against the giants, the son of Anak, whoever they were.
But the Lord had already commanded it.
Numbers 33: 53 does say “And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein; for I have given you the land to possess it.”
And God gave a stern warning about leaving behind survivors shortly thereafter (Numbers 33: 55):
“But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain, of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein you dwell.”
“Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them.”
So the orders were given, ‘We, the people of Israel, will conqueror the land of Canaan and take it all for ourselves or else.’
But what is a leader to do when faced with such a predicament? Clearly they could not win and the people where not to be moved.
From an academic stand point this is how it could be viewed. From a religious faith based position of a believer of Christianity, one could gather that if you anger God and don’t listen to His chosen speaker you will be very sorry and great misfortune will come to you. But when you follow God the reward will be just as just and fulfilling. This is a very powerful psychological position for believers of the faith to absorb even if it is only told as a necessary build up to Jesus’ birth. Thus it was that the people of Israel were made to wander the desert for forty more years before entering the land of Canaan and taking the Promised Land.
Let us examine the Ten Commandments story which occurred in Exodus 32 for further insights into the rule of Moses as driven by his Lord.
Moses was on the mountain speaking with God during the time the Ten Commandments were created. The people at the foot of the mountain got restless since he was gone a very long time and created, with the help of Moses’ brother, a golden calf to worship.
Moses came down from the mountain, saw what was happening and ordered the Levite priests to slaughter all the men and women in the camp from “gate to gate”. The Levites swept through the encampment and killed the three thousand men and women who had danced naked in front of the golden calf. Because the victims were naked there was little resistance and the slaughter was rather quick so that the next morning the survivors moved out of camp. But just to drive the point home God plagued them with a sickness anyway. (Exodus 32: 19-35)
Moses was clearly justified in ordering the deaths of the three thousand people who had sinned against the Lord. He had just spent weeks with that very Lord working on the Ten Commandments and the very first Commandment was “Don’t worship anyone else but the LORD!”
The seriousness of disobedience needed to be set so all could move forward as a singular people. Those who weren’t strong enough to keep their faith had to be removed. The Big P parent had to manifest itself for the good of the people, and rightly so. There could be no nation without it.
It should be noted, again, that times were tough back then, unlike today, and the people were stiff-necked and weren’t very appreciative of all that was done for them. For then according to the Bible, they got easily bored and it took several more treatments of plagues, poisonous snake bites, and thirst to continually keep them in line. (That and waiting for the dying off of the original generation that left Egypt.) This was all needed to toughen up the people for the battles and conquests ahead in the land of Canaan. For if they did not fight for their own existence they could be easily wiped out. Moses was leading his people through harsh and dangerous times after all and they were still small and weak as a people.
Eventually Moses wrote a second set of Commandment tablets with God’s oversight on Mount Sinai and everyone was commanded to bring offerings for the LORD. The list of acceptable offerings is rather long and can be found in Exodus Chapter 35, sections 5 through 19. (As an aside gold and silver were the first items on the list.)
The pattern of violence in the Old Testament is not isolated to the life and story of Moses but his examples are some of the most powerful and effective for righteous reasons. They needed strength (and people) if they were to be lead into the Promised Land. A situation which may explain this event as detailed in the book of Numbers.
The army of Moses, with the assistance of God, gathered 12,000 men among the 12 tribes of Israel to fight the Midianites. They slew the Kings of Midian, and their sons and their… well let’s hear from the Good Book.
Numbers 31:
15 And Moses said unto them, (He’s speaking to his captains and princes of the army.) Have ye saved all the women alive?
16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.
17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
Numbers 31 continued:
32 And the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught, was six hundred and seventy five thousand sheep
33 And threescore and twelve thousand beeves,
34 And threescore and one thousand asses,
35 And thirty and two thousand person in all, of women that had not known man by lying with them.
The list continues with the totals for sheep and other tributes like gold and silver. But as you read this list it’s easy to skip over the amazing revelation that Moses ordered the killing of all the men, boys and women of an entire people and kept 32,000 young girls as child brides for his officers and priests. (Dawkins) These are not specific things often mentioned in church, or Sunday school, but the overarching concept of “You don’t cross the men of God.” is.
Faith and obedience. Fear and sin. These are the concepts drilled into the collective psyche of followers of the Christian faith via the Old Testament. (To be fair it should be noted this isn’t unique to the Christian faith alone.) And that’s the point. The Spiritual conditioning of faith comes in stages and examples are a primary source of understanding for people. The key to this understanding often starts as a child.
The brightly colored Sunday school books depicting the lives of Biblical characters in the Old Testament, particularly the epic tale of struggle and triumph of Moses and the chosen people of Israel being lead out of Egypt, are techno-colored renderings glossing over the true events of the history depicted in the Bible. But the message of obedience, don’t sin against God, and the unwavering faith of scripture as explained to you by your priests, is still processed, absorbed, and conditioned by the mind.
This duality, this ying yang, to borrow a term from Eastern Philosophy, of Old and New Testament is the cornerstone of Christian Faith and has been used throughout history by men of power and influence, since the Council of Nicaea, through the times of the Inquisition, conquest of South America, the Puritans of North America, the Catholic and Protestant Churches and countless others who draw in followers with fear and the guilt of sin, but offer the only path to salvation and heaven through the eternal Light of Jesus. The Dark times of Christianity are all the more dark when compared to the overwhelming spans of time of peace and love expressed in the Light times of the Faith.
Life was so harsh back then, not like today. The tactics of violence, punishment, and war, to control a people, are things of the past but with Jesus all things can be washed clean. This enlightened view is expressed in Church history and the evolving doctrine of Major Christian faiths from its start in approximately 12-30 AD until today. The power of religion, particularly Christian Spirituality, is its ability to continually adjust and then properly re-interrupt the Word of God for the times of its people. To use that knowledge and this dual psychology of spirit to shepherd the flock and lead them to the correct path as outlined in the Bible; from the Wrathful Vengeance of the Old Testament to the message of Love and Salvation of the New Testament as spoken through the word and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. A man who became God by the decree of his followers after the proper understanding of the Word. A Man-God whose sacrifice was given freely so the evils of the past would never happen again and the Church could take its rightful place, guiding the lives of people around the world as an unwavering beacon of hope, love, justice, and the primary source of salvation for all of Earth’s people.
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“It is the accepted Divinity of scripture that compels the masses to struggle and seek understanding in its text.
It is the mental oblivion of history that keeps them wandering.” - Sterling
Works Cited
Adherents.com, World Religion Statistics Geography Church Statistics,
<http://www.adherents.com/>
BibleGateway.com, A searchable online Bible in over 100 versions, King James Version used, <http://www.biblegateway.com/>
Judaism, Judaism 101: Moses, Aaron and Miriam,
< http://www.jewfaq.org/moshe.htm>
Richard Dawkins, “The God Delusion”, September 2008
Wikipedia.org, Moses – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses>