Moses Takes on God And the Winner Is October 9, 2005 Rev. Karen Buck Nelson From the sermon title alone, you can tell that we re going to be dealing

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1 1 Moses Takes on God And the Winner Is October 9, 2005 Rev. Karen Buck Nelson From the sermon title alone, you can tell that we re going to be dealing with conflict this morning. Conflict between Moses and God. And from the way that I ve set it up, it looks like there s going to be a bout. In this corner, weighing in at 130 lbs, at the age of 80 plus years, in the long robe and carrying a staff Moses. And in this corner, larger than life, exact age and gender yet to be determined, with the veiled face, known for speaking through burning bushes and pillars of cloud and fire, the great I AM WHO I AM God. Well, eventually, we will get to the heart of the conflict, but let us first understand what brought God and Moses to this point of tension. Their relationship, according to the scriptures, has been an interesting one. There s God who, with this acute sense of hearing, hears the Israelites cry out for help as they are in bondage as slaves in Egypt. Hmmm, thinks God, whom shall I send? Then there s Moses. Born to a Hebrew slave. Put in a basket and placed in the Nile River for safety, pulled out by Pharaoh s daughter, and raised by his own mother in Pharaoh s house. Moses speaks both Egyptian and Hebrew. He knows about both cultures Egyptian and Hebrew. He flees Egypt after he kills an Egyptian soldier who was beating an Israelite slave. So, he hides from his past by becoming a shepherd in a foreign land. So we have the Israelites in bondage crying out for help. God thinking, Whom shall I send? And a bilingual and bi-cultural shepherd who spends his days looking after lost sheep. It only made sense that God would choose Moses. So God appears to Moses in a burning bush on Mount Horeb and asks Moses to go to Egypt to ask Pharaoh to let God s people go. And Moses reply was nothing like, I will go, Lord. Send me. From the moment God called him into ministry, Moses fought God s call. Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? (3:11) But suppose they do not believe me or listen to me, but say, The Lord did not appear to you. (4:1) And even, O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. (4:10)

2 2 (Moses is quite the quick-thinker when trying to come up with an excuse.) Nonetheless, God assures Moses that God will be with him, that God will put words in his brother Aaron s mouth to do some of the speaking, and God gives Moses a powerful staff to use to show both the Israelites and Pharaoh the power of God. Now, Moses no sooner leaves for Egypt when something strange happens in scripture: God tries to kill Moses or Moses son. It s unclear which one or even why God would want to do so. But it was Moses wife Zipporah who prevented this from happening with a circumcision ritual. (Ex. 4:24-25) In light of this incident, one might presume that there might be a little tension in the air between the great I AM and Moses. But Moses continues to do what God has asked of him. He makes the request of Pharaoh to let God s people go, but instead Pharaoh doubles the workload of the slaves and takes away the straw, a vital ingredient in brick making. And perhaps it is in frustration that Moses turns to God and says, O Lord, why have you mistreated this people? Why did you ever send me? Since I first came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has mistreated this people, and you have done nothing at all to deliver your people? (5:22-23) And later, The Israelites have not listened to me, how then shall Pharaoh listen to me, poor speaker that I am? (6:12) But God provided a way and brought about many plagues in the land of Egypt. And Moses and God seemed to have a relatively good relationship through the plagues as Moses did as God commanded. It was after enduring 10 plagues that Pharaoh finally let God s people go. Out of Egypt and across the Red Sea they went. The Israelites witnessed the destruction of Pharaoh s army, and they knew of God s protection in the pillar of cloud that led them by day and the pillar of fire that led them by night. But it was in the wilderness that Moses started having problems again with the Israelites. They were thirsty, so God made sweet water at Marah. Then they were hungry, so God provided a daily bread of manna and gave them quails to eat. Again, the Israelites are thirsty and they begin complaining against Moses. And Moses cried out in frustration to God, What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me. And God, proving to be patient, merciful, and attached to the Israelites, provides water in the wilderness again. God also provided safety and victory to the Israelites when they battled the Amalek tribe in the wilderness. And Moses did as God commanded so that the Amaleks were defeated.

3 3 God did a lot for the Israelites, and God wanted them to remember all that God had done. So God told Moses (on many occasions) write this down as a reminder, have the Israelites promise me, hold this festival on this day to always remember what I have done So Moses did just that. And irony will come into play soon. When Moses and the Israelites reached Mt. Sinai, Moses followed God s directions and consecrated the Israelites made them God s own. Then Moses went up Mt. Sinai. There Moses received the 10 Commandments and many, many other ordinances from God. And Moses was on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights. (24:18) Give or take. Remember the number 40 in the Bible is representative of a long, long time. And these consecrated people of God at the bottom of the mountain are getting restless. They haven t seen Moses or heard from Moses. For all they know, Moses is dead scripture says delayed. (32:1) So, they gathered around Aaron and asked him to make gods for them. Undoubtedly, Moses has been on the mountain long enough for the Israelites to forget about the acts of God that Moses has used to bring them out of slavery and through the wilderness. And Aaron, agrees seemingly without protest to make these gods. And so he collected their gold and fashioned for them a golden calf to worship. Now, remember God has this acute sense of hearing. And just as God had heard the Israelites cry out in bondage, God now hears them cry out in revelry at the base of the mountain as they worship the golden calf. And God s anger explodes. God turns to Moses and says, Go down at once! Your people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely (32:7) God has disowned the Israelites. Not because they have broken Commandment Number One they haven t received them yet cause Moses is still on the mountain with them. God is ticked off because the Israelites are saying to and about the golden calf: These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt! God is infuriated because time and time again Israel has been told Remember. Remember how God saved you from death with a Passover meal each year. Remember how God provided daily bread in the wilderness. Remember how God quenched your thirst. Remember how God saved you from Pharaoh s army. Remember how you watched Pharaoh s army drown as they were swallowed up by the sea. Remember God s presence is with us in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. But the Israelites seem to have easily and quickly forgotten all of this.

4 4 And God finally sees what has frustrated Moses all this time and God says: I see NOW what kind of people THEY are. I m going to kill them. And I m going to start all over with YOU, Moses. Moses, of YOU, I will make a great nation. And Moses, after leaving his quiet job of tending sheep for his father-in-law; after returning to Egypt, the place from which he fled, and facing so much of his past; after dealing with plague after plague; after leading God s people out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and into the Wilderness; after listening to these same people complain and complain and complain for what had been years on end; after all that he had done for God and gave up for God Moses seemingly stands tall in his corner of the ring, gathers the years of frustration and dedication, and turns toward God and says: O Lord, why are YOU so mad at YOUR people? YOUR people, the ones whom YOU brought out of Egypt with great power AND a mighty hand. (Moses rule number one when arguing with God: Remain self-defined. Continue to remain an I while remaining connected. Know who you are and what your job was.) Moses had not forgotten that it was God who had called him into ministry; it was God who had given him the words to use when facing Pharaoh; it was God who had worked through the staff to bring about plagues, divide the sea, bring forth water from rocks, and defeat an army. Nor had Moses forgotten that the Israelites were God s people, and that he was just an instrument of God. O Lord, why are YOU so mad at YOUR people? YOUR people, the ones whom YOU brought out of Egypt Then, Moses continues to self-define to the point of reclaiming the role given to him as mediator to begin with a role that the Israelites had rejected and God had forgotten in God s anger. Moses puts himself back in the place between God and the Israelites. He bargains with God on behalf of the Israelites. And Moses works to help God see what others would think: O Lord, you know if you really did kill the Israelites now, the Egyptians would say, Look, our enemy is destroyed by the very God who once saved them. And those evil Egyptians would continue to spread lies about you. They are going to say you did things that you didn t even do. And who would people believe after you do what you say you want to do? And then Moses turns it up just a bit more. He rebuffs the offer of God to make a great nation of him and reminds God that God already has made that promise before to the ancestors of Israel. And Moses appeals to God to keep that promise to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.

5 5 And God changed God s mind about destroying God s people. It was a bold thing for Moses to do to challenge God, to confront God by reminding God of God s past history with the Israelites and to confront God with what God s actions might mean for God s future and God s future people. It was a bold thing for Moses to do. One might say that Moses had a moment. Because if we were to continue to read the following verses, we find that Moses descends from the mountain, sees the Israelites in their revelry, and in his anger smashes the tablets containing the Ten Commandments. So, Moses takes on God and the winner is Well, here s the scandalous part us. I think that this passage of scripture gives us a huge insight as to who God is. Scripturally, we see that God is NOT some indecisive God who wants to destroy his people on a whim in a fit of anger and then later changes her mind. Instead, what we learn about God is that God s justice is tempered with mercy. And when justice and mercy clash, mercy wins. It happened that way with the Israelites, and it happened that way when Abraham bargained with God at Sodom in Genesis 18: On another level, this passage shows us how God continues to grow with us. After Adam and Eve ate of the fruit in the garden, they realized that they had a choice in life choose God or not choose God. And God since that time, God has struggled, watching God s people choose. Sometimes choosing wisely. And sometimes choosing poorly. Everyday we continue to struggle with that same choice choose God or not choose God. Choose wisely. Choose poorly. And everyday we God and God s people work and grow in our relationship together. What a gift to have been given such insight on the God whom we have never met face-to-face except in each other. What a gift to have been given such insight on the God who calls each of us God s own. What a gift to have been given as we seek to listen for God still speaking in our lives today. Amen.