An Atheist Explores the Bible Part Thirteen: Parting the Red Sea, and lots about unleavened bread (Exodus 11-15)

Exodus 11-15

Parting the Red Sea, and lots about unleavened bread.

Welcome to another instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Bible version).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the King James Bible, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology. 

For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/2F8f9JT

For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP

And now:

Exodus 11

“But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel”

A short little chapter this; God tells Moses and Aaron that there will be one last plague, the death of the Egyptian firstborn, and that they should be prepared. That’s really about it, it’s only a few verses long, but again there’s that thorny issue of free will as once more God says that He will harden the pharaoh’s will against the Israelites.

Exodus 12

“And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover.”

Woof. This chapter more than compensates for t he abruptness f Exodus 11. And basically it is a guide to how to commemorate Passover. In the midst of the chapter the death of the Egyptian firstborn occurs, and the pharaoh finally agrees to let the Israelites go. All 600,000 of them, and we also get a figure of 430 years captive in Egypt, which seems like an awfully long time since Joseph.

But anyway, the majority of this chapter concerns itself with correct procedure and, being the bible, repeats itself quite a lot. The main aspects that I can pick out are – to kill an unblemished male lamb and mark the doorposts of your house with the blood, applied with a hyssop branch, and to roast and eat the lamb, whilst dressed ready for travel, then burn the remains. There’s a great deal of insistence that unleavened bread be used, and I was beginning to wonder what God has against yeast, but later on the reason becomes more clear – since the Israelites packed in a hurry there isn’t time for their dough to rise, plus they’d packed their utensils. So that makes sense now, as a memorial tradition rather than a judgement value on fluffy bread. It would have been less tiresome if it was written that way around – “and we left so fast we didn’t have time to wait for the bread to rise, which is why now when we remember we only eat unleavened bread.”

Hold the phone though. Lamb, served with flatbread, eaten on the move. Is this the invention of the doner kebab?

Exodus 13

“Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.”

Yeah, really, got it about the unleavened bread, thanks. You can stop now.

I’m being a bit disingenuous because not all of this chapter is about unleavened bread, but there is a sizeable chunk that goes over what was in the last chapter. There’s some more giving of traditions too, as now God demands that all firstborn male animals must be sacrificed for ever more, as thanks for, um, not doing so before. Luckily children are allowed to survive.  There are a couple of phrases here that elude me – “”all that openeth the matrix” applying to firstborn. I assume we’re not talking about Neo here, I’m guessing “matrix” as like “matrilinear”, i.e. of the mother, so like starting off motherhood. Also “frontlets between thine eyes” – a type of headwear? Clark Kent style kiss-curl?

And then the action of the piece. Moses takes Joseph’s bones with him to bury in the homeland and the Israelites head off into the wilderness. Taking the scenic route. The implication is that there is war going on in the land of the Philistines so God leads them away from it, as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, which is a cool special effect.

Exodus 14

“But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea”

A classic biblical event in this chapter that, like Noah’s Ark, you don’t have to be remotely religious to have heard about, the parting of the Red Sea. That said, the process takes longer than I recall from the Charlton Heston film, with it taking all night to actually part the sea, and about as long again to cross it, but otherwise a dramatic conclusion to the escape from Egypt.

I’ve got to say, once again the Egyptian pharaoh proves himself to be a mightily unwise doofus of a ruler, once again changing his mind and trying to re-enslave the Israelites. Do you not remember the frogs and locusts and snakes and plagues and drought and the mass infanticide? Why do you think this time is going to be any better? Really, now you’re dead Egypt can probably get on with things again.

Exodus 15

“Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.”

Having escaped the Egyptians the Israelites celebrate, and there is an uncomfortable note of triumphalism in the song they sing, proposing fear and dread for their enemies. Which makes an interesting comparison with the actions of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph who generally “triumphed” by tricking others, or working towards peace with them – the only major act of violence is by Simeon and Levi in revenge for the rape of Dinah, not in the name on nation-building. Also these men tended to act for themselves and make their own destiny, even if inspired by God. Moses’ followers have done nothing, but follow. Moses, Aaron (and God) have done all the work. I find it slightly unsettling, it’ll be interesting where this leads.

The chapter ends with the Israelites stopping at the oasis of Elim, once again following God and Moses.