Yesterday on Shabbat Jews and other Torah oriented folk who follow the weekly cycle of Torah readings (Parashot) began the second scroll of the Torah, namely Exodus or “Shemot” in Hebrew. In Hebrew the books of the Torah take their names from the first key word of the opening line, in this case “These are the names (Heb shemot) of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each coming with his own household (Exodus 1:1).
Likewise, each Torah reading, week by week, takes its name from the first words of the first line of a given section or division, so in this case, the name of the first Torah reading from the book of Exodus is the same as the book itself–Shemot/Names, and runs from Exodus 1:1 through 6:1.
It is a rather amazing prelude to the Exodus story, not only providing the account of the birth of Moses, the greatest Prophet of human history (see Deut 34:10), but it quickly covers, in summary fashion, his life up to age 80 when he is tending the flocks of his father-in-law Jethro, in the area of Horeb, which is most likely known today as Paran, in the NE Sinai peninsula. At age 80 one would think, given the history of Moses’s flight as a fugitive from Egypt, and his 40 years in the household of Jethro, that his life was basically set with the main events now past. Yet the rest of the Torah recounts the final 40 years of Moses’s life, that proved to be more critical than any of his previous 80 years. At the core of his subsequent story, and at the absolute center of his experiences, was his initial encounter with YHVH, whom he encountered as mysterious voice emerging from a flaming bush that was somehow not consumed but kept burning brightly as he got closer. Then he heard, “Moses Moses,” and one who identified himself in the first person: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses took off his shoes and hid his face–for the ground itself was holy through this unprecedented manifestation of YHVH.
It was this fateful encounter that changed the history of the world. Moses is called in the Torah the “meekest man in all the earth” (Numbers 12:3), and he considers himself wholly inadequate for the awesome task God assigns to him–namely to go to the Pharaoh of Egypt and tell him face to face–YHVH, the God of Israel, commands you to Let My People Go.”
It is difficult to read these words today without putting this familiar story into the category of a “Bible story,” far removed from the real world of nations, peoples, and governments such as ours today. Step back and actually try to imagine Moses as a shepherd in the desert, following the extraordinary life experiences of his past, long ago having given up on any significant role to his life beyond his family–and suddenly having this encounter that turned everything around and ended up changing everything–setting the stage for the Mt Sinai encounter and revelation, the greatest even in human history. One has to think back to Abraham, who in Genesis 12, also heard a voice, the manner of which is not reported, but is told to leave his country and kindred to a land that he would be shown–to pull up everything and become the first “Hebrew,” or wandering one who had left the civilization beyond the River (Euphrates) following a vision and a voice in his head that promised him a destiny that would change the world.
When you think about it, Abraham and Moses, and their two encounters with YHVH, both decisive in their own way, become the foundation of all that subsequently follows…