Moses Among the Idols by Amy L. Balogh

Author:Amy L. Balogh [Balogh, Amy L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fortress Academic (R&L)
Published: 2018-09-03T16:00:00+00:00

Why “Uncircumcised of Lips” (Exod 6:12, 30)

The content and creation language of the opening chapters of Exodus make it clear that the Hebrew people “were fruitful and multiplied” (cf. Gen 1:28; Exod 1:7) in the centuries prior to and during their slavery in Egypt.11 The first half of YHWH’s covenant, the promise that innumerable descendants would come from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is well underway (Gen 15:5; Exod 1:1–12). As 400 years of slavery draw to a close (Gen 15:13–16), it is time for the second promise of the Abrahamic Covenant to be fulfilled—Israel must possess the Promised Land (Gen 15:18–21; Exod 3:7–18) and it is Moses who is going to lead them.

Moses’s task is to initiate and orchestrate the fulfillment of this second promise by bringing the people out of Egypt and into the land of Canaan (Exod 3:8). He is to do this by going to Pharaoh and communicating the word and power of the divine presence that accompanies him (3:10–4:17). However, his mouth proves unable to achieve the desired effect. When Moses first speaks with Pharaoh on behalf of his commission, the confrontation results in a worsening of the quality of life of the Hebrew people and threatens their future presence in the land. In response to Moses’s request to let the people go into the wilderness for three days to sacrifice to YHWH, lest he bring pestilence or violence upon them (5:3), Pharaoh increases the burden of the Hebrews (5:7–9), who are beaten both verbally and physically when they cannot meet the new demands (5:16–17). Furthermore, the people are “scattered throughout all the land of Egypt” (5:13), which prohibits the organization of an exodus, let alone a journey to the Promised Land. In his conversation with Pharaoh, Moses’s mouth inadvertently acts like “those uncircumcised” discussed previously, those who violently threaten Israel’s well-being and possession of the land in other parts of the Hebrew Bible. Moses’s attempt to bring the people out of Egypt pushes them deeper into its grasp.

What keeps Moses from success is not a matter of his will, the idiomatic stiffness of the back of his neck (Deut 10:16), but of initiation. Within the course of the burning bush narrative, Moses asks YHWH repeatedly and in different ways to ensure that he is capable of affecting the desired change in the lived experience of the Hebrew people and each time YHWH makes a promise that ensures Moses’s success, whether it be the promise of his own presence (Exod 3:12), the trust of the people (3:18), miraculous displays of YHWH’s power (3:20), or a series of signs for Moses to perform (4:1–17). When Moses’s initial efforts before Pharaoh fail (5:1–22), the trust of the people is broken (5:20; 6:9). However, YHWH reasserts his promise of deliverance, commands Moses to repeat it to the Hebrews, who now reject him (6:1–9), and demands that Moses approach Pharaoh yet again (6:10–11). Moses’s objection to returning to Pharaoh is not a refusal of his commission, but

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