The Israelites set out from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month, the day after the Passover. They marched out defiantly in full view of all the Egyptians, who were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had struck down among them; for the LORD had brought judgment on their gods. – Numbers 33:3-4

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 19, 2018): Numbers 33

I have to admit that I believe that the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt cannot be contained in a single event led by the law-giver Moses. For me, there are hints all the way through the story that this is not true. The Exodus was both an event and a process. And on the process side of the Exodus, the people of Israel had been leaving Egypt for a long time. Much like the story of Moses early life, they got into trouble or simply met with an opportunity, and they chose to disappear. The process side was likely just a trickle. An unconnected troublemaker here, or a family there, simply slipped away into the night, never to be heard from again.

Part of the reason why I believe this to be true is that when Israel actually gets to the Canaan and enters into the land that had been promised to them, they are already known and feared. Not only that, there is evidence that the inhabitants of Canaan, worshippers of other gods, know and fear the God of Israel. Somebody had been telling the inhabitants of Canaan the story of Israel and their God. And while there are a few suspects as to who those storytellers might be, the most obvious storytellers are the brothers and sisters of the former slaves who, in the dark of the night, simply left Egypt and began their lives somewhere else. These escapees from Israel likely adopted the practices and even the religions of those who already occupied the land but, when the darkness of the night returned, they told the age-old stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to anyone who would listen. And they banded together with other descendants of Abraham and Isaac, but not Jacob, who already occupied the land. Here they made their home.

But that is not to say that the Exodus of Moses didn’t happen. While those who slipped away in the dark of the night were part of the process of the Exodus, Moses was the main event. While the process of the Exodus was gradual and only involved a few of the people, the event of Moses was a “leave no person behind” proposition. When Moses led Israel out of Egypt, all of Israel left. And in the Moses’s led Exodus, no one slipped out of Egypt in the dark of the night as others had before them. Under Moses, Israel stood up defiantly and walked out of Egypt while the Egyptians watched helplessly from the sidelines. Under Moses, Israel left as conquerors, and not as escaping slaves.

And this event of the Exodus only magnified the stories that would be told in Canaan over the next forty years. Stories about this group of people wandering around in the desert. The knowledge of how Israel left Egypt increased the pride of those who had slipped away. After all, they too were members of this people. But it also increased the fear of those who worried that Israel would someday come their way. And all of this increased the mystery that surrounded these people who were once slaves.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 34