CHAPTER 1
Moses and the Confrontation With Pharaoh
Exodus 1:1–11:10
Claim Your Story
Where there are people there will be conflict. Where there is conflict leaders will arise. Whether in a local parent/teacher organization, in a church council, or amidst a local softball league, conflicts occur. How they are resolved can make all the difference in the future of the group in question and in the relationships of all those involved. There can also be injury and deep resentments. There can be resolution and healing. Indeed, when dealt with appropriately, conflicts can be occasions for great growth.
How do you react to such situations? Do you simply ignore them and go another way? Do you wait for someone else to take charge and resolve the problem? Do you assume that you have no power in the circumstances, no skills to contribute, or nothing really at stake anyway? Would you rather run than fight? Not everyone can be the leader, but everyone can participate in reaching a solution.
Often leaders are "made" by the people they are asked to serve. People recognize that one of their friends or someone in the group has the personality and skills to guide the group in the midst of the difficulty being faced and they ask that person to take the lead. Other times, someone emerges because he or she doesn't like what is going on and decides to try to do something to change the situation. Often the leader doesn't realize that he or she is the leader until after the fact. So as you think about how to deal with the conflicts when they arise, whom might you ask to lead? Do people ever ask you to do something special in the midst of controversy? How strong is your own dismay at the reluctance of people to own up to a bad situation and to do something to correct it? Might you, could you, would you consider taking on a leadership role or becoming an active participant in the efforts to resolve the problem? These are some of the questions that this chapter prompts us all to consider.
Enter the Bible Story
The Bible preserves for us a number of stories about people who were called to lead in times of stress or conflict. The story of the people of Israel begins amidst great conflict in Egypt, where they lived in slavery, awaiting a Moses to lead them out of their misery. The Book of Exodus (in Hebrew tradition, the name of the book is shemot, "names," from Exodus 1:1) preserves the account of the events of this deliverance.
Pharaoh's Egypt
Israel's life in Egypt began on a positive note. Jacob (whose other name was Israel, Genesis 32:28), with the help of his son Joseph, who had risen to a position of authority in Pharaoh's court (Genesis 41:37–47:31), brought his family to Egypt to escape the ravages of famine in Canaan. The family prospered until "a new king came to power in Egypt who didn't know Joseph" (Exodus 1:7-8). Then Israel's life in Egypt took a negative turn.
Because the Israelites had increased in number, the new Pharaoh worried that they might join with other enemies of the court in a revolt. What's more, were the Israelites to escape, Egypt would be deprived of a cheap labor force on which they depended (Exodus 1:9-10). The Hebrews, who began their life in Egypt as shepherds caring for their flocks and offering assistance in the care of Egyptian livestock (Genesis 47:1-12), were conscripted to assist in the construction of two large supply centers, Pithom and Ramses, being built for Pharaoh (Exodus 1:11). Driven by his fear of the Israelites, Pharaoh and the Egyptian taskmasters "enslaved the Israelites. They made their lives miserable with hard labor, making mortar and bricks, doing field work, and by forcing them to do all kinds of other cruel work" (Exodus 1:13-14).
Surprising Leaders
In an effort to stem the population growth of the Israelites, Pharaoh decided to institute a program of infanticide. He decreed that every male infant born to a Hebrew woman was to be killed at delivery (Exodus 1:16). This massacre of their newborn sons along with the increase in forced labor that was imposed was intended to keep the Hebrews in line.
In this threatening situation, however, surprising leaders emerged who led in a silent but effective protest. They were two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, persons of little power, directly involved in the births in the Israelite community and accountable to Pharaoh to carry out his directive. It would have been expected and understandable for them to comply. After all, Pharaoh was the leader of the most powerful nation of the time.
Shiphrah and Puah, however, were women with a strong moral conscience. Thus they chose to disregard Pharaoh's order (Exodus 1:17). When the number of Hebrew boys did not decline, the midwives were called in for questioning. They calmly explained that the Hebrew women were strong and completed their birthing before the midwives could reach them to carry out Pharaoh's order (Exodus 1:19). Because of their regard for God, they refused to carry out what they deemed an immoral royal directive. As a result, both the midwives and the Hebrew people flourished (Exodus 1:20-21).
These women did not set out to be leaders; but because of the situation, they assumed an unexpected role in the story. They responded to their circumstance. And in the course of their actions, their names have been remembered; while that of the tyrannical Pharaoh has been lost to history. Leadership can emerge when least expected and from the most unlikely of sources.
Moses: From Pharaoh's Court to Midian
Pharaoh's daughter found the infant Moses in a wicker basket in the reeds along the Nile (Exodus 2:5). Moses was placed there by his Hebrew mother, who sought to preserve him from another decree of Pharaoh that anyone who found a Hebrew baby boy should drown the child by casting him into the Nile (Exodus 1:22). Pharaoh's daughter (whose name we don't know) took pity on the baby, arranged to have a Hebrew wet nurse (unknown to her, the nurse was his birth mother!), and raised the child in Pharaoh's court as her son (Exodus 2:6-9). She named the boy "Moses," which was a play on a Hebrew word meaning "to draw out" (Exodus 2:10).
Despite his place of privilege in the royal house, as Moses grew to adulthood, he became aware of his Hebrew kinfolk and of their ill treatment at the hands of their Egyptian taskmasters. One day, in a moment of righteous indignation, Moses struck down an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew. Soon, however, realizing that his deed was known and fearing that Pharaoh would kill him, he fled Egypt and went east to Midian (Exodus 2:11-15). There he was welcomed into the home of a Midianite priest named Reuel (Exodus 2:18; also called Jethro, 3:1). Eventually Moses married Zipporah, one of the priest's seven daughters (Exodus 2:21-22). Only later would Moses return to Egypt to lead the Hebrews out of their bondage.
God's Charge to Moses
Some leaders are directly commissioned by God. Moses was such a leader. It happened this way. Moses was in the wilderness caring for the flock of his father-in-law Jethro/Reuel when he observed an amazing phenomenon: a bush brightly burning but not being consumed in the fire (Exodus 3:1-2). When he approached to examine this more closely, God stopped him and commanded him to take off his sandals in recognition that he was standing on holy ground (Exodus 3:3-5). God declared that he was "the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (Exodus 3:6, NRSV). God had heard the outcry of the Hebrews in Egypt and had decided to rescue them. God chose Moses to lead the people out of Egypt and take them to "a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 3:7-9, NRSV). To empower Moses, God did something very special: God revealed his personal name, "I am," to Moses (Exodus 3:14-15).
The substance of God's charge to Moses was that Moses was to return to Egypt and confront Pharaoh with the demand that he allow the Hebrews to leave Egypt in order to worship God at a place of God's choosing (Exodus 3:10, 18; 4:22; 6:10). Moses' immediate reaction was to object. He had not been raised as a Hebrew in the first place and had long been in Midian; thus he doubted that either the Israelites or Pharaoh would pay any attention to him (Exodus 3:11-12). Further, Moses considered himself "slow of speech and slow of tongue" and thus unqualified to serve as God's agent before Pharaoh or the Israelites (Exodus 4:10, NRSV). Knowing the great power of Pharaoh, Moses could not see how he was to prevail in carrying out the divine commission.
To each excuse or objection, God responded with assurance that with divine help (which included God's sending Aaron, Moses' brother, with him), Moses would be able to carry out his assignment (Exodus 3:12; 4:12-16; 4:2-5, 17). We should note that Moses and Aaron were not young rabble rousers when they were directed to carry out God's plan. The text tells us that "Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83 when they spoke to Pharaoh" (Exodus 7:7). Age was neither a qualification nor disqualification before God. God didn't ask Moses to volunteer; God instructed Moses to go. Moses was well equipped even though he did not know it. He knew Pharaoh's court, could speak Egyptian as well as Hebrew, and had experienced the pain of the Hebrew people. Sometimes leaders such as Moses are developed over time. At other times, circumstances dictate immediate decision, as with Shiphrah and Puah. Sometimes leaders are prominent people; other times they are ordinary folk. Sometimes they are young; sometimes they are older and experienced. Whatever the case, the leaders God calls forth are always assured of God's help and presence. This is demonstrated repeatedly in the unfolding story of the Bible, true with Moses and continuing with Jesus and his disciples.
God's Outstretched Arm
The confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh is understood as a conflict between God, the Lord, and a tyrant, who considered himself god-like and alone worthy of obeisance on the part of his people. Throughout the conflict, it is clear that Pharaoh makes his own choices, demonstrating repeatedly a kind of stubbornness that the account describes as hard of heart (Exodus 7:3; et al., NRSV and NIV). At the same time, it is clear throughout that the Lord will be the ultimate winner in this confrontation of "gods."
To overcome Pharaoh, God pledged a series of "amazing acts" and assured Moses that God's outstretched arm, a symbol of divine power, would prevail (Exodus 4:21; 6:6). These marvels are described in terms of a series of "signs and wonders" (Exodus 7:3, NRSV and NIV). There will be ten, and the first in chapter seven is illustrative of all but the tenth. Pharaoh ordered Moses to do a wonder. Aaron cast down Moses' rod, which immediately and wondrously became a snake (7:9-10). The contest would seem to be over, with the Lord the winner. But not so! Pharaoh's wise men, sorcerers, and magicians "by using their secret knowledge" were able to duplicate this wonder (Exodus 7:11-12). Aaron's staff-snake proceeded to "swallow up" the other ones; but Pharaoh's mind and heart were already set, and he "wouldn't listen to them" (Exodus 7:12-13).
As already noted, there were ten demonstrations of God's power before Pharaoh finally conceded. The land was overrun with frogs, then gnats, then flies. Boils afflicted both people and their animals. An infestation of locusts followed a disastrous hailstorm. The ninth wonder saw Egypt engulfed in deep darkness, despite the fact that one of the major deities worshiped in Egypt was Re, the sun-god. The tenth, the death of the firstborn of every human and animal, was the most terrifying and will receive additional comment below.
These "signs and wonders" are generally described and remembered as the ten "plagues." Certainly the devastation that Exodus describes is like that known to us in the ravages of famine in parts of Africa or the terror associated with the AIDS epidemic. But the term plague is not used in the biblical texts. There is a word sometimes accurately translated as "plague" (which actually means "strike"), as in Exodus 7:17 in the NRSV. To translate that same Hebrew term in Exodus 8:2 as "plague," however, is not accurate. The Nile has been known sometimes to be overtaken with a red algae-like infestation that looks like blood and might cause fish to die, which in turn might bring gnats and flies. But to try to explain the "signs and wonders" by connecting them to such natural phenomena is to ignore the repeated insistence in the text that these are the works of God. They are the "signs and wonders" by which the Lord intends to convince Pharaoh, the Egyptians, and the Israelites as well that the Lord alone is the one Sovereign of the universe and is thus alone worthy of trust and worship. From the point of view of the narrator of Exodus, these are "miraculous signs" performed by Aaron and Moses by the power of God, as they repeatedly ask that Pharaoh let God's people go.
The Tenth "Wonder"
The tenth battle in this contest of Pharaoh "god" against the LORD God is both tragic and marvelous. In light of Pharaoh's refusal to release the Hebrews, God had Moses warn Pharaoh that at midnight, "Every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the female slave who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the livestock" (Exodus 11:5, NRSV). The wailing of the Egyptians would be great, but the Israelites would be untouched (Exodus 11:6-7). Surely, this would be sufficient to convince Pharaoh, yes? But no, such was not the case. Again we read that Pharaoh's heart was hardened and that he would not let the people go (Exodus 11:10). It would only be after the awful event actually took place that Pharaoh would relent and tell Moses to take his people and leave Egypt (Exodus 12:29-31). They did, and they took much wealth with them (Exodus 12:32-36; see also 3:21-22).
There are at least two issues that trouble contemporary readers of this account, both Christian and Jewish. In the first place, what does it mean that God is involved in the hardening of Pharaoh's stubborn resolve? We have here an irresolvable tension between human freedom and the inscrutable will of God. We believe that both are real, but they stand in tension. In the midst of this enigma, the events we call "history" emerge.
The second issue for many is the great loss of life envisioned in this account. How can it be fair that so many "innocents" should be consigned to death by God in order to convince one stubborn ruler? This can make sense only if it is remembered that this action is in response to Pharaoh's decree that all Israel's newborn males were to be killed (Exodus 2:18-22). Pharaoh's crime is punished with the tenth "wonder." To the first hearers of the story, a people who had known enslavement and what it meant to be victimized, the punishment did not sound too harsh.
In the course of these events, Aaron and Moses served as leaders of the people. They stood up before Pharaoh. They took great risk. Their actions sometimes brought greater distress to their own people (Exodus 5:10-23). It was neither easy nor pleasurable to exercise leadership, facing the difficulties that they did. Nonetheless, they served as they were instructed; and their work provides us with a solid model of what servant leadership looks like. For this we can be thankful.
Live the Story
Where does one begin? Few of us will ever be in a position to lead as Moses did. Few of us will receive a direct word from God telling us to do something on God's behalf. But most of us will have opportunities on a smaller scale to exercise responsible leadership. So how do you get ready to meet such challenges?
First is the whole matter of ethics and morals. Some things are simply wrong and need to be resisted. You can take action as did Shiphrah and Puah. You know your community, your school, your family; and you know whether something is wrong. Will you speak out when someone in the community is wronged? How can you bring attention to the problem and work with others to correct it? Is a teacher in your school browbeating students? Are some students bullying others? Consider ways to make your concern known to those in position to take action. Are there parents or teachers or students whom you can enlist to deal with this situation? Is someone in your family mistreating another family member? Is an elderly person being abused in some way? What resources can you call upon to help rectify the matter? A social worker? Your pastor? Other family members? The worst you can do is nothing.
Second, and at a totally different level, there are always opportunities for service if one looks around. What are your interests? Your skills? If your interest is in music, you might organize and/or lead a singing group or musical ensemble to perform at a local center for senior citizens. Or if you have skill with math, you might join or create a group that will help people prepare their tax returns. There are always programs that can use volunteers from giving one-on-one attention to elementary school children with their reading to participating in Dare to Care or Habitat for Humanity. Service is directly related to leadership. So look for opportunities to lead by service; thereby you will be participating in God's work in our world.
