Drawn Out

The story of baby Moses seems to be long ago and far away when we read it. What could be more foreign than the reeds along the Nile River, and a baby set afloat in a basket? Actually, Moses' story is our story, too; and this sermon may help you to see the connection!

Names are important. They aren’t just labels, stuck on us willy-nilly. No, our names tell us who we are and remind us of the meanings that our lives have! Your own name probably has a meaning attached to it. Is your name the same as a beloved ancestor? (My name is one like that.) Or your name might be the name of someone else who was important to your parents – a close friend, or a mentor. Or it might even point to a bigger truth that was important to your family. Names like Grace, Faith, and Hope connect us not just to each other, but to our God, as well.

Baby Moses had a name that had a special meaning to his mother. The biblical text even tells us what that meaning was. “Moses” (“Moshe” in Hebrew) means “drawn out,” because Moses was “drawn out” of the waters of the Nile River when he was rescued by the Princess of Egypt. That was one of the most important memories that Moses’ mother cherished. Being “drawn out” of the Nile was what saved Moses’ life when he was only three months old and in danger of being killed by one of Pharaoh’s men.

I imagine that Moses’ mother smiled to herself whenever she remembered that day (Exodus 2:1-10). Pharaoh had given orders that all Hebrew baby boys were to be thrown into the Nile River as soon as they were born. When baby Moses was born, his mother could only hide him for three months. And then, she put her baby boy exactly where Pharaoh had told her to put him – into the Nile River! Pharaoh, of course, had meant for the Nile to be the death of that baby; but being put into the Nile was what saved his life in the end. Little Moses was soon floating safely in the river with his sister watching over him, waiting to be rescued by a sympathetic Egyptian woman. That woman turned out to be none other than Pharaoh’s daughter herself. Isn’t the irony wonderful? Moses was “drawn out” of the river by the daughter of the man who had commanded that he be killed.

But the meaning of Moses’ name goes a lot deeper than just the sympathetic rescue of one baby boy. If we read the Hebrew words that are used to tell the story, we catch a glimpse of a larger symbolism to the name “Moses.” What kind of a container did Moses’ mother use to keep him safe while he was floating among the reeds of the river? Why, a basket, of course. We all know that. But the Hebrew word for the container that held little Moses is actually “tevah.” That means “ark,” and the word “tevah” is used in only one other story in the whole Hebrew Bible – the story of Noah! God tells Noah to build a “tevah” – an ark – to save him, his whole family, and all the world’s animals from the flood that was about to come. By building a “tevah,” Noah saved the whole human race from annihilation.

Is the author of this story in Exodus trying to say something like that about Moses? Does the “tevah” that holds baby Moses also preserve someone who will save a whole race? Of course, it does! That baby floating among the reeds of the Nile River in his ark was destined to save the entire Hebrew nation, although they didn’t know it at the time. When that Egyptian princess drew Moses out of the water, she drew out the person God planned to use to rescue all of God’s people! What better name than “Moses” to remember his escape from death by being “drawn out” of the Nile?

But the symbolism of the name “Drawn Out” is even deeper than remembering the rescue of a baby who will save his people. The name “Moses” speaks to the entire human condition of difficulties, despair, and hope. To understand why that is, we first need to investigate how the writers of the Old Testament felt about water.

Water is necessary for life – and no one knew that better than the Old Testament writers who lived in the arid climate of the Middle East. If the winter rains didn’t fall, the crops didn’t grow, and starvation was a real possibility. But too much water… that wasn’t good, either. Too much water brought flooding and disease. In Israelite legend, water was always a little bit dangerous. The Mediterranean Sea was a place of dragons and demons where the chaos monster lived, the monster that only God could control. No, it was never a good idea to go too close to the water, because it was a dangerous place! And so, “water” – the water of rivers and lakes, and especially the water of the sea – became associated with danger. Land was a safe place. It was solid and structured. You can stand on land and feel secure. But not water. Water was the place of chaos.

Let’s apply those insights to the story of Baby Moses who was “drawn out” of the Nile River. If water is a place of danger and chaos, then the picture of Baby Moses floating on the Nile River in his little ark is frightening. Dangers lurked all around him in the river – unexpected waves, big fish, crocodiles. And just like baby Moses, we all live surrounded by threats. Unexpected violence seems to be the norm in our world today, whether it comes from a tornado, an earthquake, or a terrorist group. The little arks in which we travel are sturdy and have been built with hands of love, but they carry us through treacherous waters.  There is always the possibility that our boats will tip over and we will drown in the water on which we float.

But we don’t have to stay there, floating forever at the mercy of the Nile River and threatened by its dangers. We, like Moses, have been “drawn out” – drawn out of the waters of chaos by One who is all too ready to rescue us. Moses may have been drawn out of the Nile River by a Princess of Egypt; but we have been rescued from the waters by the Prince of the Universe itself – Jesus Christ. He is the one who draws us out as we are tossed about on the waters of chaos and are about to sink. Why, we could all claim the name “Moses,” because we have all been “drawn out” of the water by the love of God and the grace of Jesus Christ!

And we have something else in common with Moses, the one who was “drawn out” of the river. Moses may have been rescued by a princess, but he wasn’t destined for ease and comfort. No, Moses was destined to save his people – to lead them to the Promised Land through forty years of dust and sweat and work. Just like Moses, God draws us out of the water not for privilege, but for service. God draws us out of the water with the intention of molding us into people who will go bravely to Pharaoh and demand with God’s authority, “Let my people go!” When the chaos of life threatens to overcome us – to tip our little boats and plop us right in the middle of the dangerous river – that’s when we should remember that God will draw us out of the water. And when the chaos of the world around us seems too big and too complicated to ever be able to solve, that’s when we should remember that God is, right now, drawing someone out of the water who will go about doing his work, fighting greed and violence and oppression and evil.

“Moses”: “Drawn out.” My goodness, what a marvelous name! And what a wonderful work that our God does for us, drawing us out of the waters of danger and chaos to stand on solid ground; even while God is drawing others out of the dangerous waters, as well. Yes, indeed, “Moses” is our name, too. And thanks be to God that it is!

 

Resisting Pharaoh

The world these days seems to be full of tyrants, dictators, and terrorists. And thus it has always been. When the book of Exodus begins, the tyrant of the day was Pharaoh, who was so threatened by the Hebrews that he began a program of genocide against them. All newborn Hebrew baby boys were to be killed. But not everyone went along with his murderous program. Two brave women resisted Pharaoh; and brave people all over the world still resist our modern-day Pharaohs. Maybe this sermon will encourage you to join them.

Pharaoh. He’s a bad egg, isn’t he? We know what to do when we hear the name “Pharaoh.” We boo, and we hiss, and we give the “thumbs-down” sign. Of all the characters that we meet in the Bible, Pharaoh is surely one of the most evil. In fact, throughout the biblical text, the title “Pharaoh” becomes a symbol for oppression and misused power.

There are lots of “Pharaohs” in the Bible. The king of Assyria who conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 720 BC and deported all of its inhabitants was one of them. So was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon 250 years later. He conquered the southern kingdom of Judah in 587 BC, destroyed the Temple, and burned Jerusalem to the ground. And, of course, in the New Testament, we hear about the evil King Herod. In an effort to get rid of any competition for the title “King of the Jews,” Herod ordered that all the boy babies who lived in Bethlehem were to be killed. We hear about all kinds of Pharaohs in the stories that the Bible tells.

I would be delighted if I could tell you that Pharaoh has disappeared into the mists of the past. But, of course, I can’t. There are still plenty of pharaohs around today. Vladimir Putin of Russia certainly qualifies for that title. Ask any family member of one of the passengers on Malaysia Flight 17 that was shot down over Ukraine by a Russian surface-to-air missile. Was Putin involved? Probably. Another modern pharaoh is the group Boko Haram. Boko Haram is the terrorist organization that abducted over 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria just a few months ago, forcing them to convert to Islam and selling them as brides, since – in their worldview – girls are only fit to marry and bear children. They should never be educated. Over the past 12 years, Boko Haram has been blamed for over 10,000 abductions and deaths in the African countries of Nigeria, Cameroon, and Niger. And, of course, we can’t forget ISIS, the army of Islamic fundamentalists who formerly called themselves “Al-Qaeda in Iraq.” They were actually expelled from Al-Qaeda because of their brutality! Their goal is to exterminate all non-Muslims and to establish an Islamic state extending across Turkey, Syria, and Iraq; and they have gained control of a significant amount of territory in the Middle East over the past few months. Oh, yes, Pharaoh is still alive and well, even though he may be called by other names these days.

But although Pharaoh strikes terror into the hearts of most of us, there are always a few who are willing to resist him. These brave souls refuse to be a part of persecution and oppression. In this morning’s story (Exodus 1:1-22), those resisters were two Hebrew midwives named Shiphrah and Puah. You can always tell when someone in a biblical story is important, because the most important people have names. These two don’t look especially important. After all, they are women, and women weren’t considered to be important at all. But these women are the most important people in this story; because they’re the only two who are willing to resist Pharaoh’s persecution of the enslaved Hebrews. “Kill all the baby boys!” commands Pharaoh; and these two brave midwives ignore his order completely. When Pharaoh calls them on the carpet for their actions, they lie through their teeth without even missing a beat. “Why, those Hebrew women are so healthy,” they say, “that we can’t even get there in time to help with the births! They whisk those babies away and we never even get to see them!” And Pharaoh buys it, hook, line, and sinker. Their actions set the stage for the birth of a special Hebrew baby who is hidden in the bulrushes of the Nile by his mother, and rescued by no less than the Princess of Egypt herself. But that’s next week’s story. Today, Pharaoh still has center stage.

And the Pharaohs of the world think that they always have the center stage. No one would dare to resist them, because they have all the power; and they can do whatever they want. Right? That’s what Vladimir Putin thinks, even in the face of economic sanctions from the West – that he can do whatever he wants. That’s what Boko Haram thinks. As recently as yesterday, the group killed or abducted all the men and boys in a fishing village on the shores of Lake Chad in northwest Nigeria. A witness described the scene: “They were shouting ‘Where is your pride? You people used to be warriors. Today you are all just women, not as brave as we thought.’” And that’s most certainly what ISIS thinks! After all, who is going to resist them? The Iraqi army is in a shambles; and the minority groups in Iraq aren’t armed. All those poor people can do is run away and hide before the ISIS butchers catch them.

But there are still those who resist, people who speak out against Pharaoh’s terrible oppression and persecution. The United Nations Security Council, for example, adopted a resolution just two days ago stating that it “deplores and condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist acts of ISIS, its violent extremist ideology, and its continued gross, systematic and widespread abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law.” They added that those who finance, recruit or supply weapons to the insurgents might be formally sanctioned in the future. Our own United Church of Christ and its global partners have been providing food, water, trauma counseling, health kits, and cash assistance to refugees in the area that has been overrun by ISIS. Our mission funds also support Global Ministries’ closest partner in the region, the Presbyterian Church of Iraq. (You may be surprised to learn that the Presbyterian Church of Iraq was founded by one of the UCC’s predecessor churches, the Evangelical & Reformed Church.) And lest you mistakenly believe that all Muslims agree with the actions of ISIS, I found this post on the Facebook page belonging to the group Muslims for Progressive Values: “ISIS is the supposedly ‘Islamic State.’ We prefer to call them ‘International Scum.’ They have told Christians in Iraq to convert, leave, or die. We stand in solidarity with the Iraqi Christians.” I responded to that post, thanking the person who posted it for their compassion to Christians in the Middle East; and I received this reply: “I am a Syrian Muslim, and the majority of my friends have either posted this or made it their profile photo as part of the campaign that is called ‘We are all Christians.’ What ISIS is doing is horrifying beyond expression. We feel helpless, and Facebook campaigns are the least we can do in the face of this monstrosity. I wish I could do more. I pray for peace, and I believe all people who truly know God’s love do the same, regardless of their religion.”

Can Pharaoh really do whatever he wants? Perhaps. It certainly looks that way at first glance. The Pharaohs of the world run roughshod over anyone who stands in their way. But I am very sure that right now, in all kinds of places all around the world, in Russia and in Africa and in the Middle East, there are thousands of Shiphrahs and Puahs quietly opposing them – common people, ordinary folks who simply will not stand by and tolerate persecution and oppression. Jesus talked about this kind of situation once. He said that God’s kingdom of peace and love grows from beginnings as tiny as a mustard seed. Do you remember that parable? Jesus told us that a mustard seed is so little and looks so useless that some people throw it out with the trash! But when it takes root, it grows until it is so big that it shelters birds in its branches and animals in its shade. From tiny beginnings emerge astonishing outcomes!

So don’t be discouraged by Pharaoh and by his evil. In the end, he will be defeated, brought down by his own greed and arrogance. Don’t be discouraged, because God has always been on the side of the persecuted and the oppressed, and that’s where God is today! Don’t be discouraged, because into the life of every Pharaoh will eventually come a Moses, someone who is called by God to lead the people out of the shadows of captivity into the light of freedom. What does the spiritual say? “Oh, let us all from bondage flee, and let us all in Christ be free.” Let my people go, Pharaoh! You won’t win in the end! Thank God that it is so.