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The Desert: The Chaos of Formless Earth
Yahweh is first and foremost, a God of the wilderness. Kenneth Leech Christian prayer is a preference for the desert, for emptiness, for poverty. Thomas Merton We have seen that it was YHWH’s stated intention that Israel should go out “3 day’s journey in the wilderness” to worship (Exodus 3:18). This, of course,…
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Bitter Water: Bitter Hearts
Then Moses led Israel forward from the Red Sea, and they marched out to the wilderness of Shur. After traveling for three days through the wilderness without finding water, they arrived at Marah, where they could not drink its water, because it was too bitter. Hence this place was called Marah. As the people grumbled against…
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Panis Angelicus: Man Ate the Bread of Angels (Ps. 78:25).
Then the LORD said to Moses: I am going to rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not. On the sixth day, however, when they prepare what they bring in, let it…
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Pushing it with God
From the wilderness of Sin the whole Israelite community journeyed by stages, as the LORD directed, and encamped at Rephidim. But there was no water for the people to drink, and so they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you…
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Amalek
Then Amalek came and waged war against Israel in Rephidim. Exodus 17:8 The Hebrews find themselves in the middle of terrifying landscapes, vast terrains bereft of anything hospitable, but filled with deadly circumstances such as poisonous water, no food, or no water at all. Now they faced an even more unforgiving foe, the Amalekites. Nature…
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Jethro of the Desert
Moses listened to his father-in-law [Jethro] and did all that he had said. He picked out able men from all Israel and put them in charge of the people as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. They rendered decisions for the people in all routine cases. The more difficult cases they…