Moses’ personal identity dilemma (Hebrew or Egyptian? Slave or Prince? Bondsman or Freeman?) reflects the bigger national identity crisis that is about to face Israel.
After Moses kills an Egyptian for mistreating one of his Hebrew brethren, Pharaoh wants him dead. Clearly there is conflict within Moses’ adoptive family about his true identity – as much from his Grandfather Pharaoh’s perspective as from his own. Moses flees to Midian, marrying Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro the priest. Then, like Joseph before him, Moses names his children after the experiences he has had: ‘Gershom’ means “I have been a stranger in a strange land” (Exodus 2:22), and ‘Eliezer’ means “God… mine help”; specifically in delivering Moses “from the sword of Pharaoh” (Exodus 18:4).
Interestingly, we are not told Moses’ original Hebrew name. It is Pharaoh’s daughter who names him Moses, saying “‘…because I drew him out of the water’” (Exodus 2:10).
Even God calls Moses by this name, calling to him out of a burning bush,but then connecting Moses’ identity to his Israelite genealogy by reminding him of his forefathers: “‘…I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’” (Exodus 3:6). God seems unconcerned by the dual aspects of Moses’ existence and experience, seeing him rather as the perfect advocate for Israel; someone who can stand before Pharaoh and demand the release of the enslaved nation within Egypt’s borders. God does have a point; Moses has been raised in the palace of Pharaoh and so understands Egyptian culture and language. He also is an Israelite by birth, aware enough of his Hebrew heritage to kill an Egyptian for smiting one of his brethren. From this point onwards Moses is defined by his Israelite identity, allowed by God to take Aaron – his older Hebrew brother – with him to speak before Pharaoh.
The story of Israel’s departure from Egypt through the Red Sea can be read in Exodus chapters 5-14. What is important to observe is the pattern of their escape and how it mirrors Moses’ name, and his escape from Pharaoh’s death sentence. The nation of Israel shake off their false identity as Egyptians, as slaves, as bondsmen and women by passing through the waters of the Red Sea. God has already ‘passed over’ them, not smiting any Israelite firstborn, but killing every Egyptian firstborn, mirroring the mass slaughter of Hebrew babies in the River Nile. Now the Israelites are delivered by passing through the waters of the Red Sea; a foreshadowing of the ritual of baptism. They are then ‘drawn out of the water’ just as Moses was as a baby. Israel experiences birth as a nation in this event, the waters that had held them in the womb of Egypt breaking before them, unable to contain their growth any longer. God commands Moses to “‘…lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it’” (Exodus 14:16). The Israelites walk through the sea on dry ground, but “all the host of Pharaoh” are covered by the waters (Exodus 14:28). For the Israelites, the waters represent birth, deliverance, cleansing and a new identity as God’s chosen people. They are drawn out of the waters, passing through them unharmed. For the Egyptians, the waters are not symbolic. They are real and terrifying, closing over them in death, subjecting them to the fate they had chosen for Israel’s sons. The mass drowning of Pharaoh’s chariots, horsemen, and host shows the Israelites God really does see them as His “firstborn” (Exodus 4:22).
For Moses personally, God establishes his identity in this great deliverance. He is no longer a Hebrew slave, nor yet an Egyptian prince. He is now, according to Exodus 14:31, God’s “servant Moses”.
Author
thinkspeakrun@gmail.com