The Bible: Commentary and Controversy

Left to smolder about how the Israelites and their God have treated him and his people, the Pharaoh has another change of heart. Actually God makes that happen, saying “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he shall follow after them; and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host: and the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah.” There He goes again. “I’ll teach those dratted Egyptians a lesson, and they’ll find out how powerful Jehovah really is.”

So Pharaoh gathers his armies and tells them to chase down the escaping slaves, slaughter them all, and retrieve all the valuables they took with them. “And the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon.”

Seeing Pharaoh’s army drawing near, the Israelis were naturally frightened. With the army behind them, and the Red Sea in front of them, there was no place to run. They appealed to Moses, who appealed to God. Then the pillar of fire moved behind the Israelites, preventing the Egyptian army from attacking. “And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Jehovah caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.”

In addition to the cloud and pillar of fire, which are two pretty good miracles, there are actually two immense ones here: 1) parting the Red Sea and 2) drying and firming the ground that had lain under it, making a road for the Israelites to walk across. The Egyptians pursued, but Jehovah hindered them, knocking off their chariot wheels, making the going so difficult the Egyptians said “let us flee from the face of Israel; for Jehovah fighteth for them.”  But  before they could escape, Jehovah told Moses to stretch his hand over the sea “so the waters would come against the Egyptians, their chariots, and their horsemen.”

Moses stretched out his hand, and the sea returned, and “covered the chariots, and the horsemen, even all the host of Pharaoh that went in after them into the sea; there remained not so much as one of them.” The entire Egyptian army slain in the blink of an eye.

“And Israel saw the great work which Jehovah did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared Jehovah: and they believed in Jehovah, and in his servant Moses.” So I guess there was some kind of method to His madness, even if it necessitated killing tens of thousands of people.

The Israelites then spent 40 years in the desert (there’s that 40-year time frame again), eating manna that Jehovah sent from heaven, drinking water that Moses made sweet or brought forth from rocks.

When they reach Mount Sinai, Jehovah calls Moses to the mountain, and gives him three days to “sanctify” his people, saying He will appear in a cloud, so “the people will hear in My speaking with thee.”

On the third day Moses brought the people out and stationed them at the base of the mountain, whereupon Jehovah appeared as fire and smoke, and the mountain trembled. Moses spoke, “and God answered him by a voice.“ There’s considerable disagreement about this line. The Cambridge Bible interprets it not as a voice per se but as thunder, which was taken by the people to be God’s voice. Matthew Poole says the voice spoke in plain, distinct, and audible words, so the people might hear. Gill’s Exposition says God’s voice was “a still and gentle one, in order to encourage and comfort him (Moses).” The word kole apparently works for any of those interpretations, and many more, so what kind of “voice” God spoke with is evidently up to the reader.

At any rate, God calls Moses to the top of the mountain and gives him a long list of laws and covenants, including the ten commandments. While Moses is receiving this, his people become bored, and ask Aaron to make them some gods to worship. So he gathers all their gold, evidently melts it down, and casts a golden calf.

God, seeing this, is angry, and threatens to destroy them. Moses intercedes for them, and God relents. He gives Moses two tablets He has written, bearing the laws, and tells him to go down and set his people straight. Moses goes down the mountain and, seeing what his people are doing, becomes angry and smashes the tablets.

Then he calls the Sons of Levi to him and tells them to go through the camp and kill the most egregious offenders, no matter who they are. They found them in abundance, killing three thousand men. But evidently no women, showing us again how unimportant women are in the old testament.

A little later God and Moses have a conversation, and when God decides to leave, he covers Moses with His hand as He passes by, shielding him, because man cannot look in His face and live. When He has passed Moses, he lifts his hand and Moses sees His back, but not His face.

The Lord tells Moses to hew two new tablets, and He writes the commandments on them. Then a rather strange thing. Jehovah descends in the cloud, and proclaims what a wonderful god He is, saying “Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth; keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”  Which to me, at least, doesn’t jibe with the God I’ve come to know so far. But that’s just me, I guess.

Then in interminable conversations with Moses, God defines an endless procession of laws, regulations, and guidelines for building an ark, and altars, and tables, and robes, unclean animals, and purification after childbirth and death, and much, much, much more. Among them is the admonition to “love thy neighbor as thyself,” which Jesus will repeat much later.