“Gracious Sea, Dreadful Sea” – 9.13.26

9.13.26

1INTRO

We continue our journey with the people of Israel out of the “narrow place,” or in other words, out of Egypt, resuming our theme from last week. And I hope you did your homework. After the plagues and Passover, the people headed east, only to be trapped between the quickly approaching Egyptian army and a large body of water. We pick up the story there.

Exodus 14:19-31

19 The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. 20 It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. 24 At the morning watch the Lord, in the pillar of fire and cloud, looked down on the Egyptian army and threw the Egyptian army into a panic. 25 He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”

26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea.28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. 29 But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

There is so much to discuss that I think it best to jump in headfirst! Let’s begin with some historical context.

2SEA OF REEDS

We’ve all been exposed to this story through old movies like Charlton Heston’s “The Ten Commandments.” I cannot explain to you how sad I am that I do not have the ability to show you the many pictures of Heston from that famous movie, because they are quite glorious. It’s very hard to appreciate how far CGI has come until you look back at these classic movies.

Nevertheless, the Exodus story says around 2-3 million people of Israel crossed the Red Sea on foot, lugging with them their household items and livestock. The narrow part of the Red Sea is about 9 miles wide, and experts have determined that it would take about 8-10 hours for everyone to cross.

So, is the Red Sea portion of the story just another example of the grandiosity of myth? In short, no. The original Hebrew here does not even say they crossed the Red Sea but rather the Sea of Reeds, a much smaller delta region of the Nile. My Rabbi friends tell me that Jewish people have never thought it was the Red Sea.

That part of the story came much later during Roman occupation when the Hebrew scripture was being translated into Greek. Legend tells us that 72 scholars were chosen, 6 from each of the 12 tribes, to translate the text. Each one went into their own private room, and when they finished, all 72 translations were identical! This, of course, gave the new translation great authority, enabling it to be viewed as trustworthy.

This Greek text became known as the Septuagint, acknowledging the 72 scholars in the title. And to help the reader, smaller geographical sites were often replaced with larger, more identifiable landmarks. In this case, the translators chose to replace “Sea of Reeds” with “Red Sea,” giving the readers a more specific area for the story. Indeed, the “Sea of Reeds” is not one particular place but rather means a waterway covered by reeds, or marshland.

3MYTHOLOGY

There was also syncretism happening around storytelling. As we discussed last week, myths often adopt elements from local stories, weaving together narratives that are relevant to their given context.

Last week we discussed that the book of Exodus seems to have been compiled, edited, and preserved in writing during the Babylonian exile around the 6th c. BCE. What is fascinating is how Babylonian myths were used during this same time to help the Persians defeat the Babylonians, which took place in 539 BCE, exemplifying just how important and ubiquitous these stories were to the people.

The last Babylonian ruler, Nabonidus (nay-BON-ih-dus), wanted to return the Babylonians to their old gods. The problem was that the people preferred their newer pantheon, with the god Marduk (mar-duck) at the top. According to their creation myth, Marduk started as a storm god – sound familiar? – but then rose in power when the sea monster, Tiamat (tee-uh-mat), began wreaking havoc. The old gods called on Marduk to rescue them, saying they’d promote Marduk to supremacy if Marduk prevailed, which is exactly what happened.

But Nabonidus chose to revive the old moon god, replacing Marduk as the highest god. The people’s unrest with his decision coincided with Persia’s impending war with Babylon. Persian leader, Cyrus the Great, in a very clever move, claimed to have been chosen by Marduk to restore the Babylonians and Marduk, essentially saving the people by defeating them. It’s pretty brilliant.

In the Babylonian myth, Marduk defeats Tiamat by splitting open Tiamat. The Persians and Babylonians would have immediately recognize the crossing or splitting open of the Sea of Reeds as an allusion to Marduk and Tiamat, in this case with Yahweh defeating not only the Egyptian gods but also all water gods of chaos in the process.

Stick with me a second because I have a bit of a tangent for us. Interestingly, and maybe that word is only relevant for me, a version of this watery myth is in the Judeo-Christian creation story as well, where Job 41 introduces the readers to a similar sea monster, Leviathan, that is then read into Genesis 1 as primordial chaos. These myths overlapped and intersected on purpose, making the Exodus story relevant and contextual.

So, no wonder it is so difficult for us to understand these stories today! It’d be like if I said the rushing waters of the sea were as loud as Neyland on a Saturday. Fast-forward 4,000 years, and the people or AI robots reading our version of the story will assume Neyland is a waterfall or some other waterway that only flowed on Saturdays.

4JOY AND SORROW

So, besides affirming Yahweh as the true God and Liberator, what else is happening? 

Let’s start by trying a thought-experiment. Besides ideas of “God,” can you think of anything that is completely and wholly “good”?

A few years ago, Heather’s friend told her about these two really good things in her life: her dog and her robovacuum. Who doesn’t love a dog, and who doesn’t love a vacuumed floor? What a time to be alive!

Oh, but like every-thing that exists, no-thing is entirely good. One day, the darling dog, this loving companion and faithful friend, had an accident in the house. Shortly thereafter, the robovacuum started its chores, conveniently spreading the accident throughout the house. I actually put a picture of this on the back of your bulletin (joking).

There’s a basic fact of existence – everything, including us, is embedded in a system of goodness and badness, which is sometimes called “evil.” Nothing is wholly good and nothing is completely bad. All actions – every single action – includes both outcomes.

For the people of Israel, the crossing of the Sea of Reeds is not pure joy. This is not viewed as a complete victory. In the Talmud, there’s a story about the angels rejoicing as the Egyptians drown. Yahweh interjects saying, “The works of My hand are drowning in the sea, and you desire to sing a song before Me?” In other words, this “victory” is also a “defeat.” Indeed, the very idea of victory necessitates the reality of defeat.

During the Passover Seder, many Jewish people include a section where they spill a drop of wine from their cup for each of the 10 plagues, signifying that the cup of joy cannot be full when their salvation required the suffering of others.

So, just for a moment, let’s consider this story again. Joseph brings his family to live in Egypt, in a foreign land, due to a severe drought. After hundreds of years, the Egyptians have enslaved the people of Israel. Surely, that is a bad and evil thing, right?

There’s an important ancient text that helps provides some context to the idea of “slavery”:

“As for male and female slaves whom you may have, it is from the nations around you that you may acquire male and female slaves. You may also acquire them from among the aliens residing with you and from their families who are with you who have been born in your land; they may be your property. You may keep them as a possession for your children after you, for them to inherit as property. These you may treat as slaves, but as for your fellow [people], no one shall rule over the other with harshness.”

Surely, God was correcting this evil view of enslavement with the Exodus, right? Unfortunately, this text actually comes from Leviticus, in the Hebrew scripture. In other words, slavery was not considered “bad” or “evil” to the people of Israel either, especially when enslaving foreign people, which they did practice. According to Hebrew law, the Egyptians had every right to enslave the people of Israel. Let that sink in.

5OPPOSITES

And this is the challenge we are invited into today, and it’s a big one, particularly for this church filled with activists and community leaders. In our complex word of good and evil residing together, how are we supposed to know what Justice is? In other words, what is the “good” we are being called to do?

Emma and Carl Jung, 19th century analytical psychologists, argued that “evil…is nothing but the privation of good.” In other words, the idea of “good” is only and always locally constructed. When those local views of “good” are then prescribed and imposed on everyone else, “evil” is created.

I want to propose something very controversial. Are you ready? I don’t think it’s going to be popular. But here we go… Because “goodness” is only and always locally defined, then that means “badness” and “evil” is embedded in every act, regardless of how hard we try to avoid it. Therefore, there is no such thing as True Justice. Indeed, there are only degrees of injustice.

We cannot fall into the trap of believing that we are solely on the side of “good” and others are on the side of “evil.” That duality privatizes our morality, making our notion of morality more and more rigid, which inadvertently creates more and more “evil” in the name of “goodness.”

Life is messy. The more we fight against it, the more we increase chaos and evil in the world. Our goal isn’t to clean up life but rather to rest more deeply in it. We are invited to fluidly move into and out of celebration and mourning, joy and sorrow, peace and despair, and all other dualities, viewing them as the same movement of Life.

Jesus sums up the possibility for justice, or at least the way to inflict the least injustice, with two directives: love god and love neighbor. I think this charge has unintentionally perpetuated evil rather than love because of the idea that loving God is somehow separate from loving neighbor and self.

Jesus’ imperative should be read as saying: to love neighbor and to love self, in all their complexities and messiness, is to love God. There is no other way to love God, in fact.

The Sea of Reeds is both victory and defeat. It is overflowing with joy and mourning. It is infused with myriad emotions and truths, all wrapped into a single story. And that is how we are called to live – unattached to our privatized ideas of “goodness,” so that we can effortlessly love others and ourselves unattached to our narrow view of Justice.

So, may we never assume we possess or even know what is ultimately good but rather seek to love ourselves and all those around us extravagantly. May we jump headfirst into the mess of Life, refusing to whitewash the negative ways even our best intentions contribute to injustice. And may we not fall into the trap of believing that because things are difficult in our lives that that means things are bad. Help us to rest easy in the mess. Amen.