[Originally posted in 2012 when we first started this website. The author has since passed on to her Spiritual Sinai. This article is part of a doctoral dissertation entitled, Dramatic Ironies and Illusions in the Book of Exodus: A Profile of a Nation’s Identity, Responsibility, and Destiny, written by Sinaite ELZ@SK6.]
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The perception that represents what is perceived in a way different from the way it is in reality is called an ‘illusion’. Illusions are reflected in man’s culture or man’s system of understanding his own predicament. What makes them illusory is that while they look to be true, they are actually false.
Man’s False Concept of Himself.
Moses’ vision of his position and power caused him to attempt to liberate and thought that a few blows of his might would emancipate his people.
His illusory estimate of his knowledge and power deprived him of his self-fulfillment. All the learning of Egyptwas not enough to equip Moses for his life-work. All who have done anything great in the world have graduated in God’s college. It took him another 40 years of humbling experiences in the Midian desert to realize this. By spending much time alone with him in seclusion and solitude, his eyes of faith were opened to God’s timing and plan. God’s workers may take their arts course in the world’s universities, but they must take their divinity course alone with God. For one to be used in the service of God, he must be set apart from the world and its system, characterized by Egypt, and be thoroughly immersed in the instruction of God.
Man’s Illusory Concept of Social Status.
In the encounter between Pharaoh and Moses, the Shasu, an Egyptian term which meant “to wander around” serves to illuminate the social attitude of the ancient Near East. Moses, fierce-eyed, face sun-baked, and creased, his robe woolen, his beard full, his hair unruly and his smell goat-ish, was identified as one of the landless people who lived at the edge of more sedentary civilizations, the nomadic folks who wandered the wilderness in tents. They were infinitely lower than the social refinement of the Egyptians.
The Egyptian myth of the divine being born in pharaohs is evidently a delusion as the events of the plagues show. What grips the attention is the slave hut by theNile, where Moses and Aaron were born, rather than the pyramids where the Pharaohs were buried.
Man’s Wrong Notion of Time.
It is remarkable how the Pharaoh fixed his promises of “tomorrow” each time he was asked to let go of the Hebrews that they may serve God. His inability to trust the God of Moses was born out of his hardened heart. The illusory idea that he is still in control is manifested in his repeated delaying tactics. It would have been quite easy for each plague to have been removed on the very day Moses spoke to him. Man’s time is always tomorrow, but God’s time is always today as his name “I AM” signifies. He uses smallweapons of frogs, lice, flies, and locusts to humble the pride of man.
Man’s Vision of Predicament.
The fleeing Israelites found themselves in between two mountains and the Red Sea which blocked their forward progress. The burden of their numbers and their helplessness was viewed as a sweet prey by the frustrated Egyptians. This predicament created an illusion of the perfect trap. Hence, the Pharaoh and his company of chariots were tempted to pursue them as God intended.
Rulers tend to magnify their power and capability by single-handedly controlling the affairs of their domain. Moses attempted to do just that. It was from his father-in-law’s divinely given wisdom that he delegated the work among able men who fear God, men of truth who hate and discourage covetousness. They became rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. God modified his system by the appointment of the 70 elders.
Man’s Delusion of God.
When Moses had been away for 40 days on top of the mount, an incredible change took place on the spirit of the people. In their hearts, they wished to return to Egypt; and as if to prepare for this, they took steps to institute a form of worship similar to that of the Egyptians. The worship of the bull was notoriously common in Egypt and the bull represents the god Osiris, the embodiment of strength and endurance. There is the pervading illusion of paying homage to a tangible god, a popular desire that is connected with the mysteries of religion. It is difficult for humanity to realize that God is spirit.
Man’s Fantasy of Freedom and Service.
That Israel is destined for service in the Promised Land is illusory. This is sufficiently indicated in the people’s inadequacy at Sinai, their sin of the golden calf, and the actual progress of Israel’s history. The years in the desert describe a long drawn out courtship between God and Israel, with covenants, infidelities, and reconciliations. These people gave themselves to something that they would not fully enjoy-knowing the Promised Land only in promise.
After the song of Moses and the Israelites in Exodus 15, the hosts of liberated people were still dwelling in the illusion of freedom. They had not yet sensed the situation into which they were plunged. The riches of Egypt were behind them, and the poverty of the desert was before them. The satisfaction of plenty to eat in the land of Goshen would soon be exchanged for the near-hunger of the desert. The activities of a busy life, even though forced, would soon be reversed in the idleness of a wilderness with its lack of food and pasture.
Consequently, the dramatic ironies in the book of Exodus consisting of the Pharaoh’s plan, the divine appointment of Moses, the election of a people, the divine revelation and power are all directed to matters of the soul that have sacred and immortal worth. The promises of God to the patriarchs of Israel had to be fulfilled in spite of man’s calculations and manipulations. The discussions of the illusions of man’s false conceptions of himself, his time, his social status, his life situation, his freedom, and his God all redound to the truths that are unfolded in the text. A profound understanding of man’s fallibility and inadequacy as illustrated in the dramatic ironies and illusions eventually accentuates the moral and ethical imperatives in order for man to fulfill the divine obligations set forth in the covenant with God.
ELZ@S6K
In Memoriam
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