3rd page of 10 pages
Remarkable Words in Exodus 3:1-5
What strikes me most are:
- the verb sur, to turn aside
- the messenger of Yahweh
- the burning bush (v. 2)
- the holy ground (v. 5)
2.1. A To turn aside (sur)
And Moses said, "I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. When Yahweh saw that he turned aside to see, ....
Moses wants to turn aside and Yahweh watches him, how he turns aside. In the Bible a singular situation. An example Deuteronomy 2: Moses wants to pass the country of the Amorites with the Israelites. He talks with the king Sihon:
So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon the king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying, 'Let me pass through your land. I will go only by the road; I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the left. You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink. Only let me pass through on foot, ...
What sounds at first as a modest offer to the king, is destroyed by Yahweh. For Yahwe himself hardens the king's spirit (Dt 2,29), so that king Sihon says No to the offer of Moses. Instead of keeping peacefully the Israelites brawl through this country and execute the ban against all men, women and children (V. 34), i.e. they murder all the people in the name of God. Then the text continues:
Only the livestock we took as spoil for ourselves,
with the plunder of the cities that we captured
(V. 35).
Genocide and greed is here theological program.
Contrary to the narrative of the burning bus to turn aside (sur) among the Israelites is also used in the sense of "apostatise". "To turn aside the way, Yahweh has given" is used for example in the story of "the Golden Calf" (Ex. 32): Because the Israelites put pressure on Aharon, he makes a Golden Calf at the foot of the Mount Sinai. This Calf is worshiped by the Israelites, while Moses receives the Ten Commandments by Yahweh at the top of Sinai.
And Yahweh said to Moses, "Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'
As punishment Jahwe let slaughter thousands of Israelites by his priests.
(Ex 32,7f.)
The Golden Calf as well as the Serpent belonged to the cult in Israel and Judaea before the destruction of Samaria (722 B.C.) and Jerusalem (584 B.C.) The narrator of "the Golden Calf" arranges the Calf as a idol, while the serpent is an ambiguous figure. In the Garden Eden it is the seducer and punished by Yahweh. In Exodus 4 it is an attribute of Yahweh, in which he demonstrates his power.
In the narrative of the burning bush the dangerious aspect of Yahweh isn't simply gone, but it is shown in Exodus 4,6ff. Here Yahweh demonstrates his ambivalent character making Moses leprously and cursing him again.
Again, Yahweh said to him, "Put your hand inside your cloak." And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then God said, "Put your hand back inside your cloak." So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. (Ex. 4,6-7)
The ambivalence of Yahweh can also be demonstrated in the comparison of Moses and David in Exodus 3 and II Samuel 24
| Exodus 3 | II Samuel 24 |
|---|---|
| God leads Moses with the appearance in the temptation | Yahweh is angry with the people of Israel and orders David for a census. |
| Moses turns away from his way | David enforces the census against his followers, because he was anxious to accomplish the order of Yahweh. |
| Yahweh looks at him without doing harm. In contrary, Moses is elected to bring up the Israelites out of Egypt. | Yahweh wants to punish the people for it with pest. David however buys Aruna's field and builds an altar on it for Yahweh and can appease Yahweh with sacrifices. |
2.1.B Theological background of 'to turn aside' ("sur")
The expression "to turn aside" (sur) has a long tradition in the Old Testament and means Israel's disobedience against Yahweh. Prophet Hosea describs the relationship between Yahweh and Israel as a marriage. Israel and Yahweh should have spend a happy time in the desert (1), but when Israel put her foot on the cultivated land, she was addicted to deception and adultery against Yahweh (Hosea 9,10) (2). According to Hosea, Yahweh will allure Israel and bring her into the wilderness again:
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and(AI) speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. "And in that day, declares Yahweh, you will call me 'My Husband,' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal.' For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know Yahweh. (Hosea 2,14-20).
Followers and spiritual heir of the prophet Hosea began to write the books Deuteronomy to II Kings. Today they are called "Deuteronomic Schoool". They create a "Federal Formula" from the name of a child of Hosea, who was named "Not-My-People" (Hosea 1,9). The Federal Formula has clear determination, which shall attest Israel's loality, i.e. to stand to the commandments with all the heart and with the whole soul. But the stories in Judges to II Kings are describe of continuous misconducts of the people and their kings. These misconducts evoke the judgement of Yahweh. According the Deuteronomic- Deuteronomistic School the judgement of Yahweh was executed, first in the destruction of Israel at 720 B.C. At this time the Deuteronomic School fled to Jerusalem, where they and their successors, the Deuteronomist, were continuing their scriptual work. The destruction of Jerusalem und its temple (586 B.C.) was realized as the second and the ultimate Judgement of God (3).
In the Babylonian Exile the idea of Israel's repentance to Yahweh and
Yahwe's new attention to Israel developped. The Deuteronomist was a
great
advocate of the repentance. A fine example is Salomon's prayer to the Yahweh.
The Deuteronomist put King Salomon, the representant of his people, words of
regret and the desire of repentance in his mouth.
If they sin against you - for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near, yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, 'We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,' if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them for they are your people, and your heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, (from the midst of the iron furnace). Let your eyes be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, giving ear to them whenever they call to you. For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be your heritage, as you declared through Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Yahweh, GOD. (I King 8,46-53)
The mention of "Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Yahweh, Yahweh" in Salomon's prayer shows that this text must be late.
The prophet Zechariah, who also lived in the 6th century BC., called for the reversal of the evil ways:
Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Yahweh of hosts: Return to me, says the Yahweh of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Yahweh of hosts. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, 'Thus says the Yahweh of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.' But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the Yahweh. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? So they repented and said, As the Yahweh of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us." (Zechariah 1,3-6)
Text and Design: Esther Keller-Stocker, Horgen-Zürich
(Switzerland)
Last correction on 04.02.2010.
I'm looking forward to your comments and your suggestion!
Contact me at esther@estherkeller.ch
