Exodus 3: 16-22: “Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God. And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.”
Moses wouldn’t have been able to anything to deliver Israel from slavery without the support of their leaders. Even though they were slaves, they still retained some structures in their society and knew who would represent them to Pharaoh or his administrators if they needed to work any problems out. These people would still have their ethnic identity and their ethnic memory so they would remember the stories about the ancestors, especially Joseph who was still a hero in Egypt. After all, it was only four generation since Joseph and the time his family went down into Egypt (see Gen 15: 13-16, “And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”)
They would also remember the promise that God made to Abraham and would have been secretly hoping for this time of deliverance. Moses reminded them of these things and they were willing to accept his word because it was the same as the things they knew from their parents and grandparents. They had been slaves and worked for no pay for a long time so the Lord told them to borrow silver, gold, jewels and whatever else they could so that they would be paid for the years of slavery.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
No comments:
Post a Comment