Title: God's Experience of Moses
Son-in-law of the Midianite Priest
Today's text begins like this. “Moses became a shepherd of the flocks of Jethro, the priest of Midian” (3:1). Why did Moses, the great leader of Israel, become the son-in-law of a Midianite priest? Moses was originally born to Israeli parents, but due to Egypt's policy to annihilate Israel, he was brought up as the son of an Egyptian princess after twists and turns. However, because his nanny was his real mother, he found out his roots and became involved in a murder case, eventually giving up his position as an Egyptian prince and leaving for exile at the age of 40. The place of exile was Midian, a wilderness between Egypt and Canaan.
However, the story of how Moses settled here is interesting. The story is similar to the scene where Jacob went to Haran, where his uncle Laban lived, and met Laban's daughters (Genesis 29). Jacob and Moses alike met virgins at the well. Laban's daughters also came to the well to water the sheep, and so did Jethro's daughters. Although their personalities were slightly different, the virgins on both sides had the same difficulties. Just look at Jethro's daughters. They were unable to water their flocks because other shepherds interfered with them. At this moment, Moses appeared and gave the swords to the other shepherds and watered the flocks brought by Jethro's daughters. Jethro, who heard of this saga, took Moses as his caterer, and gave his eldest daughter Zipporah to make Moses his son-in-law. It's like a novel, isn't it? It looks like something out of an American western movie. It is said that the virgins who had been tormented by the naughty male shepherds solved the problem with the help of a gentleman who suddenly appeared, and the older sister became the gentleman's wife.
But these days, Israel has become much more fundamentalistic than it was in the past. It is said that the demolition work of settlements in the ‘Gazi district’ is in full swing in Israel. A Jewish settlement was established in Gaza, which was occupied by Egypt during the 1967 Six-Day War. But this time, the Israeli government has decided to abandon it and hand it over to the indigenous Palestinians. While it may seem like a gesture of reconciliation with the Palestinians, it is difficult to expect Israel to maintain the way it lives with the Palestinians. They are withdrawing from Gaza, but are instead building a wall higher than the prison wall between the Jewish and Palestinian quarters of Jerusalem. The more human civilization develops, the more we should go toward a life of peaceful coexistence, but somehow, mankind is walking the opposite way. Of course, this problem is not unique to Israel and Palestine. In almost every corner of the world, these conflicts sometimes surface and sometimes internalize.
at Horeb
Moses now became a flock herder as the son-in-law of a priest in Midian. Moses was forty years old when he left Egypt (Acts 7:23), and when he appeared before Pharaoh again, he was 80 years old (Exodus 7:7), so it means that he had been tending sheep for 40 years. The Bible shows little interest in Moses' 40 years. The Bible puts it this way: “Moses became a shepherd of the flocks of Jethro, his father-in-law, a priest of Midian. And he led the flock through the wilderness to Horeb, the mountain of God” (3:1). Very concise, isn't it? I don't know if it's unfair for Moses to say that a third of his life has been forgotten, but the writing of the Bible is always like this. Because the Bible is interested in the drama of God, not the drama of man.
What do you think happened in Moses' “lost 40 years”? Did he blindly shepherd the sheep to save his life? Jacob, mentioned earlier, also fled to Haran and raised his uncle's flock, but he accumulated considerable wealth within 20 years, perhaps due to his excellent 'financial techniques'. However, based on the text alone, the 40 years of Moses are just a waste of time. What did he really do for 40 years, and now he came to the mountain called Horeb?
Mount Horeb is also called Mount Sinai. Horeb is called the mountain where Moses experienced God, and Sinai is called the mountain where Moses received the Law including the Ten Commandments from God. The former is a kind of 'calling' and the latter is centered on the 'law', but both are the same in that they are experiences of God. At this time, we have no way of geographically ascertaining the specific location of this mountain. It remains only as the central stage of the story that was passed down like a legend to the people of Israel. But this Mount Horeb is crucial to understanding Israel's ethnic and religious identity. This mountain is the beginning of Exathus and the foundation of Israel's written law.
But how did Moses come to know about this Mount Horeb? The Bible explains that Moses led his flock through the wilderness to Horeb, the mountain of God. Had he gone further and farther and further and accidentally came to Mount Horeb, because there was no grass and water to feed the sheep in the wilderness? It is not easy for us to follow in detail what happened at that time from the biblical text alone. People with good faith may claim that God brought Moses in that way, but to think that everything was done according to God's script is completely ignorant of the reality and meaning of history. We must try to go carefully, step by step, into the depths of the biblical text.
This sparking phenomenon is a natural phenomenon known as ‘Elmo’s Fire’. Even now, such a phenomenon often occurs. But how did Moses get to see this trembling spark? It's not a big deal to say it's a coincidence, but I have good reasons for doing so. I think the Bible always has rationality in it, even though it doesn't explicitly mention it. Earlier I mentioned that Moses was the son-in-law of Jethro, the priest of Midian. For the past 40 years, Moses has lived with Jethro. If so, wouldn't he of course also participate in the Midianite religious ceremony and receive a lot of teaching from that religion? Since the Midianite religion was different from the Israeli beliefs, did Moses ever have religious quarrels with his father-in-law? It's not like that. He must have heard many stories from Jethro about God's holy mountain, Horeb. All religions are grounded in the holy. It's a bit of a side note, but I don't agree with daughters-in-law who believe in Jesus who are conflicted over the sacrifices offered at their wedding. In fact, there are many things to learn from the ritual.
During the 40 years Moses lived in Egypt, he learned Egyptian civilization and religion, partly deepened his awareness of the identity of the nation of Israel, and during the 40 years he lived in Midian, he must have learned very deeply about the Midianite civilization and religion. The result is the discovery of Mount Horeb.
Holiness experience and history participation
What the hell happened on Mount Horeb? With the help of his father-in-law Jethro, Moses came as far as the trembling flame of Mount Horeb. There God said to Moses: “Do not come near here. Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground” (verse 5).
Why does the biblical writer refer to it as a “holy land”? Could it be that it is holy because there is a strange phenomenon that sparks but does not burn? The ‘Fire of Elmo’, a natural phenomenon that can occur anywhere, cannot be said to be holy. Rather, it can be seen that the whole ‘earth’ is holy, not just the specific place where such a phenomenon occurs. The fact that the earth is holy is also sung and painted by all poets and painters. The writer of Genesis already said that the earth that God had created was “good to see” (Genesis 1:10). Just think of it easy. Not only were our bodies made of the matter of the earth, but we still sustain life from it. Then wouldn't the earth be holy?
Moses must have already received many of these teachings from Jethro, a priest of Midian. A deep spiritual realization that the earth is holy is at the heart of God's experience. Rudolf Otto mentioned in his book <das Heilige> that the core of religion is the experience of holiness, that is, 'numinose', the holy fear. That's the correct explanation. Moses also had to take off his sandals, and he said, “I was afraid to see God and hid my face” (verse 6). If other religions have this holy experience, we should talk to them. Even if the title of a certain Absolute is different, if you have a holy experience, it is because you are ultimately connected with Yahweh God. Just as in the case of Moses, the Midianite religion became the channel through which we could experience Yahweh.
However, there is now a crucial difference between Jethro's Midianite religion and Moses' faith in Yahweh. Jethro stayed in directing his son-in-law to Mount Horeb, where the ‘fire of Elmo’ occurred, but Moses goes one step further in that very passage. What is it? Moses hears these words from Yahweh. “I have clearly seen my people suffering in Egypt, and I have heard the cry of anguish under oppression. I know how much they suffer. . . . Now I am sending you to Pharaoh, so go and rescue my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt” (verses 7-10).
Moses' holiness experience does not end there, but goes into history. It develops into a realization that the Israeli people, who are being abused as a minority in Egypt, must be liberated. This means that you will soon be part of history. The heart of Israel's faith lies here. That God is united with history. In particular, God intervened in the history of suffering human beings. God's intervention in history continues in Israel's history and is definitively completed in Jesus. Jesus is the event in which the holy God became one with a human being born on this earth just like us.
What does Moses' experience with God have to do with us? A holy experience like Moses is also valid for us. It was not the incident of Mount Horeb that happened suddenly, but the 40 years of life in the wilderness of Midian. Our whole life is such a process. Are we heading towards that experience? Are you entering the holy land, the mystery of life? Is such an experience materialized through concrete historical participation?