By Regina Shands Stoltzfus, assistant professor of peace, justice and conflict studies
This week’s theme: Restore us, O God! We thirst.
Is the Lord among us, or not? Moses, in a leadership role he did not request and argued at the beginning that he was most unqualified for, is in full-on leadership mode as the people journey from the wilderness. (For those reading English translations of the Bible, note that the word ‘sin’ used in Exodus 17:1 is a transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning thorn; it does not refer to the English word sin – transgression against God.) While it is often easy to assign the quarreling Israelites the role of recalcitrant children who complain too much and too often, we would do well to think seriously about their plight. They have no home. They have no water. They are legitimately weary and frightened about leaving the known for an uncertain future, even if the ‘known’ was enslavement.
They ask: is the Lord among us, or not? Moses, as weary as the people he is leading, and perhaps with similar doubts of his own, is at his wit’s end. Is he certain that Yahweh God will come through? Perhaps. What we are able to observe is that Moses does not shy away from being honest about his fears and frustration. Moses is given a solution: strike the rock, and water will come out of it. But embedded in the instructions are words that speak to Moses in his leadership capacity – that he is to take the elders, and use the same staff used to strike the Nile. Embedded in this miracle of life-sustaining water is a message concerning life together amidst hard times – community and memory. Take the others with you. Remember how you were sustained before. Remember.