Biblical Reflection (4): Exodus 1-19, The Chosen People’s Hard Path
Exodus is a continuity of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Genesis, which through the life of Moses, God continue to fulfil His promises to His chosen people, the sons of Israel.
A great example would be the 430 years of slavery for the people of Israel in Egypt (Ex 12:40), which corresponded to God’s words to Abramhan that his descendants would be slaves in a land that was not theirs and oppressed for 400 years (Gen 15:13). “God chose Abraham and made a covenant with him and his descendants. By the covenant God formed his people and revealed his law to them through Moses” (CCC 72).
Same as previous chapters, the LORD was so eager for his chosen people, the sons of Israel, to have full trust and faith in Him. The LORD answered to the cries of hundreds of thousands of Israelites, by rescuing them from the slavery in Egypt, but He did not immediately give the promised land to them. Moses led his people in the wilderness for more than forty years, which in the meantime, they were constantly thriving, suspecting, dissatisfied, quarrelled, rebellious etc. God showed them miracles over and over again, i.e. bitter water made sweet (Ex 15:25), manna from heaven (Ex 16:4), and defeating the Am’alek (Ex 17:13) and hope that they would “recognize him and serve him as the one living and true God, the provident Father” (CCC 62).
Israelites being the chosen race, which God established the covenant with, were being gradually instructed by God Himself through these different trials so they “might acknowledge him and serve him in holiness” (CCC 781). God’s salvation for the Israelites were not only to deliver them “out of the house of bondage” (Deut 5:6) but also from their sins. The crossing of the Red Sea also represented the liberation wrought by Baptism (CCC 1221), hence, the Israelites became “more and more aware of the universality of sin, will no longer be able to seek salvation except by invoking the name of the Redeemer God” (CCC 431).
This article was written by Joni Cheng.
Published on O Clarim, November 10, 2017
Published on Regnum Christi Live, December 11, 2017