Lecture 24: Exodus 11-15: Escape from Egypt History-telling in the Bible Last session we began exploring the book of Exodus and its story of the

Transcription

1 Lecture 24: Exodus 11-15: Escape from Egypt History-telling in the Bible Last session we began exploring the book of Exodus and its story of the deliverance of the descendants of Israel (Jacob) from Egypt, as that is told in chapters To this point we have explored the story of Moses' life and its integration with the story of Jacob's descendants in Egypt, leading to the confrontation with the Pharaoh. In particular, we noted the way that P modifies the storyline of the base narrative (J) so as to infuse it with an elevated role for Aaron, the priest, and to include an assertion about the revelation of the Tetragrammaton only in the age of Moses. The same pattern of P infusing the base narrative with the themes important to it arises in the story that follows the array of plagues, the last of which results in the Pharaoh expelling the people from the land. But of course, as you know, the Pharaoh has a change of heart and sends his forces to corral the fleeing Hebrews. The narrative of that confrontation stands in Exodus 14, whose most prominent features I want us to consider. E.g. notice what kind of action is assumed by these words in red in v. 21: The LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land. If a body of water is driven back by an east wind that blows all night, the result we expect is that the water will be driven back, exposing the sea floor, even as the rest of the sentence states: it turned the sea into dry land. What s peculiar, then, is the result depicted by the remainder of the verse: and the waters were divided. 22 the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. This description assumes a very different physical result: walls of water, with a passage way down the center. This difference is best accounted for, once more, by considering J s narrative and P s supplements to it. It appears that J read as follows: 10 As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the LORD. 11 They said to Moses, Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. 13 But Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the LORD will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to keep still. 19 The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. 20 It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the

2 Lecture 24, Exodus 11-15: Escape from Egypt p. 2 cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night. 21 The LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land. 22 The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground. 23 The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. 24 At the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. 25 He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, Let us flee from the Israelites, for the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt. 27 and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the LORD tossed the Egyptians into the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. 30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. If this is the core of J s narrative, then what did P add? Most obviously, P supplied the feature of splitting the sea to form walls of water, as at the end of v. 21: and the waters were divided. And then again, after the first half of the next verse: The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. Finally, towards the end of the story, in v. 29, P adds, 29 But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. P makes the story more dramatic by making Israel s escape run through a tunnel dug through the waters of the sea. The likely reason for P adding this feature to the narrative involves a good deal of complex argumentation (which I won t go into), but it has to do with the story in Joshua 3 (v. 13) about Israel crossing the Jordan river, whose waters are said to have been cut off and stood in a single heap: When the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan flowing from above shall be cut off; they shall stand in a single heap. But P added another feature, beginning with vv : 15 Then the LORD said to Moses, Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. 16 But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. 17 Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. The question, Why do you cry out to me? is abrupt. The pronoun you is singular in number and, thus, is addressed to Moses alone. And yet, nowhere in the narrative has he called for divine aid. The only voices of desperation have

3 Lecture 24, Exodus 11-15: Escape from Egypt p. 3 been those of the people; Moses has voiced only confident expectation of the LORD s deliverance. But this is really just a prelude to the LORD s command to Moses to get the people on the move and to get busy himself: Tell the Israelites to go forward. But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. And yet, this stands awkwardly after Moses just concluded exhortation to the people: 14 The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to keep still. I.e. just stay where you are and watch. So why all of a sudden does Moses receive a command to move em out? We could explain this by saying that Moses needed more information about how the LORD wanted to go about this, and those specifications involved the people moving rather than just standing there. And yet, notice how well vv accord with the notion of the people watching passively as the LORD fights on their behalf: 19 The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. 20 It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. Here we have the LORD acting on the people s behalf, without them lifting a finger. And, of course, it is then the LORD, without any human agency, who sends an east wind to drive back the sea during the night, so that the people can escape. By contrast, the LORD s command to Moses in vv tells him to get the people moving and has him stretch out his staff, which becomes the vehicle for God splitting the waters. And that theme of Moses role in the deliverance at the sea appears twice more, once at the beginning of v. 21, which reports, Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The second time is in v. 27, where Moses brings the walls of water tumbling down again: So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. So while J s narrative tells of a deliverance accomplished by God directly for Israel, P makes Moses the mediator of that deliverance and embellishes it by creating walls of water between which the Hebrews fled. The core narrative that begins following the poetic version of the story of that escape from Egypt narrates Israel s journey into the wilderness, to the site of Mount Sinai, to receive the Torah. After that they journey to the Jordan river, only to be forced into a 40 year period of wandering for having a faith too faltering to take the land promised them. The majority of that story, however, takes place as the people are camped around Mt. Sinai, and most of it reports the legal codes given by God through Moses, which we ll deal with separately. First, however, I want to look at the narratives concerning the people s trek to Sinai and their journey from there to border of the land promised them.

4 Lecture 24, Exodus 11-15: Escape from Egypt p. 4 Three features characterize the bulk of these narratives: the people s murmuring over their situation (sometimes justified), their rebellion against the LORD, and Moses role, especially as an intermediary between God and the people. Let s start with the first of these: the people s murmuring/complaining. The first thing to get out on the table is that their murmuring is not always condemned by God. That s illustrated well by the first episode (attributable to J), at the end of chapter 15, where the people complain about a lack of water: 22 Then Moses ordered Israel to set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter. That is why it was called Marah. 24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? 25 He cried out to the LORD; and the LORD showed him a piece of wood; he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. V. 22 sets the stage for this event by reporting that the people had traveled three days without finding water, and the water they finally found was bitter. In that context, some complaining seems reasonable, and they are not faulted for it in the narrative, even by the LORD, who meets their demand without objection. This pattern is actually rooted earlier in the narrative. We find it already in chapter 14, where the people, having spotted Pharaoh and his army approaching complain to Moses, 11 Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. As I noted earlier, Moses response displays confident faith: 13 But Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the LORD will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. But strikingly, even prior to that, when Moses first showed up in Egypt and made a plea to Pharaoh to let the people go, the people s reaction to the news that Moses and Aaron s plea had resulted in an increase of their workload was to say to them, 21 The LORD look upon you and judge! You have brought us into bad odor with Pharaoh and his officials, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us. 22 Then Moses turned again to the LORD and said, O LORD, why have you mistreated this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 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. As early as chapter 5, then, we find this theme of the people complaining against Moses and, quite strikingly, there Moses agrees with their complaint, doing his own complaining (to God, no less) that God hasn t pulled through the way Moses

5 Lecture 24, Exodus 11-15: Escape from Egypt p. 5 thought he would. And here also the LORD responds to both Moses and the people without faulting them: Then the LORD said to Moses, Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh: Indeed, by a mighty hand he will let them go; by a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land. Thus, the incident at the conclusion of chapter 15 does not introduce a new phenomenon. The only, and yet significant, difference between this and the episode of complaining at the sea in chapter 14 is that Moses no longer handles their complaints with equanimity, but cries out to the LORD. As I think is apparent already in English, the verb translated cried out (q(acf) connotes a shout of distress. A similar chain of events appears at the outset of chapter 16: 1 And Israel came to the wilderness of Sin on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2 The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron. 3 If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, In the evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your complaining against the LORD. For what are we, that you complain against us? Again, having traveled for two months without food could make one a little grumpy. But Moses seems to view this complaint as more than just a reasonable request for provisions, alerting the people that their complaint is really directed against the LORD and with some reason, since they are accusing Moses of bringing them out of Egypt into the wilderness to die when, in fact, the LORD has identified himself as the one who brought them out of Egypt. And so this complaint is ultimately aimed at the deity. And yet, the LORD himself makes no reprisals and reveals no displeasure in providing food; this complain issues in no rebuff from the LORD, only the provision of what the people say they need. The next episode involving complaints arises in chapter 17: 1 [Israel] camped at Rephidim, but there was no water. 2 [They] quarreled with Moses, and said, Give us water to drink. Moses said to them, Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD? 3 But the people complained against Moses and said, Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst? 4 So Moses cried out to the LORD, What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me. 5 The LORD said to Moses, Go on ahead of the people ; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile. 6 I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will

6 Lecture 24, Exodus 11-15: Escape from Egypt p. 6 come out of it, so that the people may drink. Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us or not? Notice that this conflict again escalates the tension for Moses, who does some complaining of his own, asking the LORD what to do, given that the people are about ready to kill him. Moreover, Moses again characterizes the people s complaint as actually directed against the LORD, since their complaint has to do, once again, with being taken out of Egypt. And what s more, the narrator tells us at the end that the people were questioning whether the LORD was really among them. Consequently, this time Moses explicitly characterizes their complaint as testing the LORD. And yet, notice again that the LORD refrains from that type of characterization. But while Moses becomes increasingly frustrated with these complaints, never does the LORD respond that way. Instead, each time he provides whatever the people demand. It isn't until the people's complaint in Numbers 11 that the LORD loses patience, and in an abrupt manner: 1 Now when the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, the LORD heard it and his anger was kindled. Then the fire of the LORD burned against them, and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. 2 But the people cried out to Moses; and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire abated. The Lord's response through Moses is decidedly vindictive: " 18 Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat. 19 You shall eat not only one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, 20 but for a whole month until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you because you have rejected the LORD who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, Why did we ever leave Egypt? The essence of their complaint that spurs such wrath is stated in vv. 4-6: 4 The rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, If only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at. As I pointed out previously, this parallels the people's demand for food in Exodus 16: " 2 The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. In both narratives the LORD grants the request for food. However, the petition of Numbers 11 is voiced by a group of ne er-do-wells, identified as the rabble. In Exodus 16 it was The whole congregation of the Israelites.

7 Lecture 24, Exodus 11-15: Escape from Egypt p. 7 Note, secondly, this request is further branded illegitimate by characterizing this rabble as having a strong craving, marking their complaint as self-indulgent. And that fits with the words attributed to them: If only we had meat to eat! there is nothing at all but this manna to look at. Their words cast them as malcontents, dissatisfied with what the LORD has provided. This, furthermore, gives a different spin to the people s recollection of the food they used to have in Egypt. Whereas in chapter 16 their recollection of food in Egypt was simply that they had plenty (as opposed to their lack of it now), in Numbers 11 the contrast is between the manna they are stuck with and the fine cuisine they were used to in Egypt: the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. However, this complain doesn't fit what has been reported previously. For in Exodus 16, the LORD provided more than just manna: 12 I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God. 13 In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. According to Exodus 16, the people have already been given a daily ration of meat, and it s the same meat quail that is assigned by the LORD in Numbers in response to the complaint of the rabble. So why does the rabble say they have manna and no meat? And why is it only Moses that gets miffed in the initial episodes of complaint, while the LORD takes the lead in anger in the complaint stories of Numbers 11 and on? The answer has to do with the second motif characteristic of the wilderness narratives: the people s rebellion. You ll recall that the first example we looked at of the people s complaints was about not having water. J subjoins to that episode, rather abruptly, this challenge: There the LORD made for them a statute and an ordinance and there he put them to the test. 26 He said, If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in his sight, and give heed to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you. Notice that this challenge is described as God putting them to the test. If they rise to the challenge, by doing what is right in his sight, and giving heed to his commandments and keeping all his statutes, they will escape the sorts of punishments he inflicted on the Egyptians. But by implication, if they fail the test, they will incur those types of tragedies. J includes this challenge as part of this scene not only by the word there, but also by reporting (in the following verse) the next stage of the journey in a way that embraces it securely within this unit: Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they camped there by the

8 Lecture 24, Exodus 11-15: Escape from Egypt p. 8 water. The journey from the spring of Marah to a place having 12 springs effectively deals with their concern over thirst, thus providing a fitting capstone to this passage and sealing the divine challenge to keep the LORD s statutes and commandments within this scene. The challenge has been tendered and the test arranged. How do things play out? It is in the context of the next complaint, in chapter 16, having to do with lack of food, that the answer begins to be revealed. Just after the LORD informs Moses, I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day, he adds, In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days. Here is the means by which God will gauge Israel s willingness to heed his commandments. The results of the test are spotlighted in the people s actions on the 6th and 7th days: 22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 he said to them, This is what the LORD has commanded: Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy sabbath to the LORD; bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning. 24 So they put it aside until morning, as Moses commanded them; and it did not become foul, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is a sabbath, there will be none. But then follows this report: 27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, and they found none. 28 The LORD said to Moses, How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and instructions? 29 See! The LORD has given you the sabbath, therefore on the sixth day he gives you food for two days; each of you stay where you are; do not leave your place on the seventh day. For the first time in these narratives, the LORD gets upset, and it is due to people disobeying his commandments. The people have failed the first test or at least, that's how the text now reads. But there are some peculiarities about the test embedded in this scene. First, the LORD s exclamation, How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and instructions? is quite peculiar, given that this is the first time they ve been put to the test. The adverb phrase How long implies this is just another in a series of failures. In fact, the first mention of a test or of the LORD s commandments came only at the end of the previous chapter: 25 There the LORD made for them a statute and an ordinance and there he put them to the test. Also peculiar is that we find the LORD responding twice to the people s complaints. The first response comes shortly after the people s complaint: Then the LORD said to Moses, I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each

9 Lecture 24, Exodus 11-15: Escape from Egypt p. 9 day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. The second response occurs in vv and lacks any recognition that the LORD had addressed the people s complaint previously: 11 The LORD spoke to Moses and said, 12 I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God. Why does the LORD twice respond to the people s complaint? Let s recall also the problem this passage creates for Numbers 11, where the people speak of having only manna to eat, while they long for the meat they enjoyed back in Egypt. And the LORD s response to their craving for meat in that situation is to give them quail in abundance. So why are quail promised as a provision each night in Exodus 16? The resolution to these problems lies in a distinction between the foundational stratum of this narrative ( J) and material added by P. Here, first, is what I consider the original narrative, beginning with the people s complaint: 2 The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days. 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, In the evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your complaining against the LORD. For what are we, that you complain against us? 13 and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, What is it? For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. 16 This is what the LORD has commanded: Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents. 17 The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less. 18 But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed. 19 And Moses said to them, Let no one leave any of it over until morning. 20 But they did not listen to Moses; some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul. And Moses was angry with them. 21 Morning by morning they

10 Lecture 24, Exodus 11-15: Escape from Egypt p. 10 gathered it, as much as each needed; but when the sun grew hot, it melted. 22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers apiece. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 he said to them, This is what the LORD has commanded: Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy sabbath to the LORD; bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning. 24 So they put it aside until morning, as Moses commanded them; and it did not become foul, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is a sabbath, there will be none. This narrative portrays the episode as involving a test, one in which the people fare not too badly. In fact, even when some of the people do not obey Moses directions about not keeping any of the manna until the next morning, the worst that happens is that Moses gets angry with them. There is no mention of God s response. More important is what happens after Moses has given them instructions about what to do on the seventh day: they put it aside until morning, as Moses commanded them; and it did not become foul, and there were no worms in it. The people show complete compliance, and the narrator underscores the different result by reporting that on this occasion the manna remained fresh. P s contribution at this point, however, is to emphasize the sanctity of the sabbath. First, however, let s notice how this episode plays out, according to the base narrative: 25 Moses said, Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is a sabbath, there will be none. Notice that the identification of the seventh day as the sabbath is, to a certain degree, of secondary importance here, as is clearest in v. 26, where the phrase which is a sabbath simply defines what the seventh day is. But even in v. 25 notice that the identification of this day as a sabbath to the LORD explains not why the people shouldn t look for the manna on this day, but why they should eat what is left on this day. I.e. the emphasis is not on the sanctity of the Sabbath, per se, but on the use of the food. Now let s look at P's emphasis on Sabbath in its contribution to this passage: 27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, and they found none. 28 The LORD said to Moses, How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and instructions? 29 See! The LORD has given you the sabbath, therefore on the sixth day he gives you food for two days; each of you stay where you are; do not leave your place on the seventh day. 30 So the people rested on the seventh day. Whereas the LORD gave no response when the people kept some of the manna over night so that it became putrid, here he responds abruptly with the question about how long they will refuse to follow my commandments and instructions.

11 Lecture 24, Exodus 11-15: Escape from Egypt p. 11 And it is only the violation of the Sabbath that seems to set him off; he makes no comment about the earlier infraction. Moreover, he speaks of the Sabbath itself as primary. It is because the Sabbath is given to the people that the LORD has also given them double provisions on the sixth day. And the issue brought to the fore in the people s disobedience is that they failed to rest on the Sabbath, as indicated by what the people do after the LORD s rebuke. This focus on the Sabbath as primary concern and the gift to the people that occasions the extra food, the elevation of some people s search for manna on the seventh day to a profound breach of the LORD s commandments and instructions, and the emphasis on the seventh day as a day of rest mark these verses as P s contribution to the narrative. Equally from P are vv. 8-13a earlier in the narrative: 8 And Moses said, When the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, because the LORD has heard the complaining that you utter against him what are we? Your complaining is not against us but against the LORD. 9 Then Moses said to Aaron, Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, Draw near to the LORD, for he has heard your complaining. 10 And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 11 The LORD spoke to Moses and said, 12 I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God. 13 In the evening quails came up and covered the camp. Notice that v. 8 is essentially a reworking of vv. 6-7: 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, In the evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your complaining against the LORD. For what are we, that you complain against us? Notice the repetition of the final phrases of v. 7. Moreover, notice that the oblique imagery of evening and morning in v. 7 terms placed in parallel clauses in a way imitating Hebrew poetic style so as to say that the LORD will make manifest his presence to the people day and night notice that P has assigned to each of those a specific phenomenon: the arrival of quail at night and the gift of manna in the morning. Notice also that in what follows, Moses directs Aaron to speak to the people, at variance with what happens elsewhere in this narrative, but certainly in line with what we ve seen do elsewhere in giving Aaron the lead. Moreover, what Aaron tells them has to do with the gift of meat and bread, while the outcome is reported in terms of quail covering the camp, after which we pick up the main narrative with its report of the gift of manna. The upshot is that it is P that creates the problem for Numbers 11 by integrating

12 Lecture 24, Exodus 11-15: Escape from Egypt p. 12 the gift of quail into this narrative. But more important, it is P that inserts the statements indicating the people s rebellion with regard to the seventh day, finding them deeply at fault for breaking the Sabbath. In the base narrative, there is no great rebellion or fault found by the LORD. Prior to Sinai, the people, while complaining, do well. Next time we'll explore the incident at Sinai where the people first go astray in an egregious way.