“Rocks and Water” – 9.27.26

9.27.26

1INTRO

We have been following the lectionary for the past several weeks, journeying with the people of Israel into and now out of Egypt. Last week we examined what I believe is the entire message of faith – manna, which literally means “what is it?” I know this sounds bizarre, but I think the Truth of manna is the Truth of Reality. What is the purpose and meaning of life? I’d say the answer is, “What is it?” Today, we end our time in Exodus, bringing together many of our themes from previous weeks.

Exodus 17:1-7 and 8-16

From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 The people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do for this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile and go. 6 I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.7 He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

8 Then Amalek (uh-MAL-ek) came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some men for us and go out; fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’s hands grew heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on either side, so his hands were steady until the sun set. 13 And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the sword. 14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a remembrance in a book and recite it in the hearing of Joshua: I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called it, The Lord is my banner. 16 He said, “A hand upon the banner of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Let me say as I begin that the lectionary reading for today does not include the battle with the Amalekites (uh-MAL-uh-kytes), but I’m including it because it adds extraordinarily important context for all of Scripture and history, especially for the Jewish people. We will begin with this second story, where the people of Israel fight the Amalekites. 

2MYTHOLOGY

We enter our text in a rather familiar place, looking at how this story connects with other myths in the area. In our story, the Amalekites attack the people of Israel. This is where we are first introduced to Joshua, a major figure moving forward. Moses tells him to fight against the Amalekites while he goes to a nearby hill to watch.

I’ve mentioned how humorous I find the Bible, and I think this is a perfect example. As this army approaches, Moses, the leader of the people, tasks an unknown in the camp to fight the enemy, bravely choosing instead to stand on a hill a safe distance away. I can just imagine Joshua’s expression when Moses says, “Don’t worry, I’m going to help you by standing way over there with my arms up.”

Now, because we’ve heard the story, we know that somehow Moses raising his arms did greatly affect the battle. As long as his arms were raised, the people of Israel prevailed. If he lowered his arms, they began to lose. I feel like there’s a very childish deodorant joke in there, but I refuse to stoop that low for a laugh.

So, what is happening here? Perhaps, this is simply a miracle. Many interpret this as symbolically demonstrating how the people of Israel relied entirely on Yahweh. That is likely true to some extent, AND this story is also culturally relevant through myth.

In Egyptian mythology, the earth god Geb and the sky god Nut locked in an eternal embrace, pressed together so tightly that no light could enter, making it impossible for the universe to develop. Thus, the air god Shu forced “himself,” as the story goes, between them by stretching out his arms, creating separation that enabled the universe to thrive. If you look up the god Shu, you’ll likely see “him” depicted with outstretched arms – this was well-known story that would connect the people nicely to this story.

3AMALEKITES

More historically, though, there has long been conflict between the people of Israel and the Amalekites. In Genesis 25, we hear about the birth of twin boys: Esau and then Jacob. Jacob was named “Jacob,” or supplanter, because his mother, Rebekah, believed that she was told by Yahweh that Jacob would supplant Esau. But in scripture, Jacob also means “trickster” because when his brother Esau returned from a long hunt, he was famished to the point of death. Jacob wouldn’t give him food unless Esau gave him his birthright, which Esau did.

Jacob’s name was later changed to “Israel,” which is the very name of the people of Yahweh. Esau’s grandson is Amalek, the very people who give Israel’s descendants so much trouble here. Oh, family drama!

On the surface, this story seems relatively straight forward. The people of Israel leave Egypt and then settle in a new land. Of course, the land was already occupied by the Amalekites who were nomadic people. The Amalekites must have noticed how the people of Israel consumed their resources and seemingly planned to settle in their land. Consequently, they attacked them.

Let me just say that that is NOT at all the narrative told by the people of Israel. They view the Amalekites as the very epitome of “evil.” They are the archetype for “enemy.” Within the Talmud and Midrash, the Amalekites are despised, viewed as attacking helpless people for no reason. In the Midrash, Esau tells Amalek that he tried to kill Jacob and couldn’t so now it is Amalek’s turn. He supposedly ends his conversation with Amalek by saying, “Be relentless and do not show mercy [to the Israelites].”

The battles persist after our text, too. King Saul was told to annihilate the Amalekites, including women and children. Saul, instead, spares the best animals for himself and captures the Amalekite king, Agag. The prophet Samuel tells Saul that Yahweh has left him because Saul didn’t kill all the Amalekites.

The Jewish holiday, Purim, is another important event in the saga. In the book of Esther, the villain, Haman, attempts to kill all the people of Israel during the Persian Empire. Haman is a descendent of the Amalekite king, Agag. Thanks a lot, Saul!

This contentious division reaches into modern times. The Talmud is a Rabbinic collection of religious law, teachings, and interpretations written and compiled between the 3rd and 6th c. CE. In one passage, Esau’s descendants are addressed, saying, “Germamya of Edom, which if they were to go forth, would destroy the entire world.” This was a reference to the northern part of the Roman empire, or what today is Germany. Nazism and the holocaust are often interpreted as the outcome of this warning written hundreds of years before. And all of this is traced back to Esau and Jacob.

4ROCKS

I share that because the context of history, particularly biblical history, is so important. If we aren’t careful, we’ll miss critical details, neglecting to see how complex relationships are. We’ll also miss how outrageous Jesus’ call to “forgiveness” really was and still is today.

But for our purposes, that part of our reading functions as context for something that I think is much deeper and more profound, though still interconnected with Amalek.

Just prior to the battle with the Amalekites, the people are yet again complaining to Moses about how they wished they had stayed in Egypt. So, Moses prays and Yahweh tells him to strike the rock of Horeb. It’s good to remember that Horeb is where Moses was told that the Divine’s name is “I AM.” Now they are back, and the people are thirsty. Moses strikes the rock, and Yahweh miraculously provides water.

A quick detour here. Some geologists think this is actually quite possible, through what is known as an artesian well. These are found in areas where the well’s reservoir is at a higher elevation than the well. This creates pressure from below, enabling water to flow without a pump. The water fills porous rocks like limestone, sandstone, and shale, that can release water when punctured. This region had all those rocks. There’s a famous rock in this region called “Split Rock of Horeb,” which some claim is the rock from this story. You can find an image on the back of the bulletin.

But let’s look a bit closer. The text tells us that Yahweh has miraculously been feeding the people, now bringing them into a land that was habitable. Verse 1 says the place is called Rephidim (REF-ih-dim), which literally means “rest,” “stay,” and “place of support.”

Let’s wait here a second. Yahweh led the people into an arid and desertous land, an uncomfortable place, hot, and seemingly desolate without water – AND it’s the place for them to stay and rest in. This barren land that seems to stretch on forever, this place that they feel stuck in, desperate for relief, is called a place of support.

But rather than wait and rest and Be, the people complain because their situation was too “difficult.” Yahweh was supposed to make life easier, right?!? Isn’t that the whole point of this? Why can’t we just have what we want? We want and even need water, therefore, we should get it. And this I find funny: the people’s complaining gets so bad that Moses just changes the name of the entire region from Rephidim or “rest” to Massah and Meribah, which mean “testing” and “quarreling.”

I love that so much because it’s such a parent move. “What’s that, you don’t want to clean your room? Oh yeah, well it’s my room now. You can sleep on the couch.” “You don’t like Rephidim. Okay, well I’m going to call it ‘land of complaining’ because you’ve ruined it. Now everyone who comes through here will know how rude you were.”

5WATER

You all probably already know this, but many cultures, particularly indigenous, have rites of passage that include abstaining from water. Water is viewed across cultures as a symbol of Life, and by abstaining from it, people undergo a physical, spiritual, and psychological “death,” leading to new Life with new eyes to see the deeper Truth.

This moment seems to me to be an invitation into a liminal space for the people of Israel and for us, releasing an old set of resources for something more profound. It is a dying place.

If we’re not careful, though, we’ll cling to our current way of thinking, our comforts, our politics, and our beliefs, so tightly that miss out on new Life. We might begin to believe that we already possess what we need, and the only reason we have trouble in the world is because of “those people” who oppose us. We return to that “once/then” mentality. Once we get ____ then we’ll finally be happy.

Thich Nhat Hanh tells a story about when he was helping refugees escape Vietnam during the war. He had multiple boats filled with people and supplies. As they all fled for safety, Thich Nhat Hanh was detained because it was illegal to sail through international waters without proper paperwork.

So, there Thich Nhat Hanh stood, on the docks in a foreign country, with all these people counting on him for their safety. Everything around him was collapsing. Hope was fully lost.

He says that in that moment, a moment of total despair, he realized that if he could not find peace amidst the chaos and pain, then he never would. 

The people are trapped in a desert, surrounded by rocks and sand. What good is a “rock” when we need water? Why are we constantly surrounded by lifeless rocks?!

And it is here that I AM is revealed. The people only see rocks, the very symbol of their problem. But I AM asks, “But what is it?” It is lifeless! It is worthless! It can’t help us! We need to get out of here!

But what is it?

It’s impossible! It’s my finances or family or health or politics or whatever; this is rock bottom. It’s too much! Relieve me from all this suffering!

But what is it?

This is key, and it’s the theme woven throughout Exodus:

The rock, the hard place, the dry and desolate wasteland, IS life-giving water.

It’s only a lifeless, frustrating rock if we say it is – if we believe it is. But somehow, mysteriously, the rocks in our lives – those places we struggle with and wish away – are the water that we seek.

What is it? By refusing to answer the question, by fully accepting the question as the Truth, we free ourselves to move effortless into and out of all of Life.

What is it? It is. Or, said otherwise, it is I AM. And this is the fullness of Life, the “secret” to life:

What is it? I AM.

So, may that become our very breath, inhaling “What is it?,” and exhaling “I AM.” May that be our rhythm and heartbeat, open wide to what is and how we are therewithin. Amen.