I realize that I haven’t posted in a while. I have been journeying through the land of Egypt and into the Promised Land (Canaan). This is both figurative and literal as I have been reading through Genesis and am now halfway through Exodus. More personally, I have also been trying to settle into a routine with readings. I find it easiest to read when there is peace and quiet (don’t we all!) and in pandemic life that is a bit harder to find. I will never outrise my early riser (5am!) and while I enjoy reading in the evening, I struggle to string together coherent sentences of reflectionn at that time of day. So, finding the time and space to be with the Word has been a journey of trying different paths.
Jacob moved to Egypt along with the rest of his family to be near Joseph. Generations later his descendents have grown and are being oppressed by Pharoah who demands the same amount of bricks without the same amount of resources. Even in ancient times cost-cutting is a thing. Pharoah then demands that the male first borns be killed, which leads to the story of Moses. Moses who was placed by his mother in a basket and found by Egyptian woman. Moses who will lead the Israelites out of Egypt and towards the Promised Land of Canaan. During all of this God brings the plagues and while there are various ones, the worst the death of the first borns is the same as what Pharoah demanded of the Israelites. During the journey there is much back in forth about how the Israelites can depend on God (food) and God provides manna and quail. It is interesting to witness this back and forth between the Israelites who are concerned about their basic needs and God who seems to be more concerned with the bigger issues, and Moses is stuck between them as intermediary. I find this is particularly relevant currently with the pandemic, I am not so worried about many things, but I am concerned about the basics and taking it all one day at a time, although I do hope my wandering does not last another 40 years.
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