GEMS FROM JEREMIAH (55) sharing God's burden III

 

“Then the Lord said to me: Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go!  And when they say… “Where shall we go?” you shall say to them:

…Those destined for pestilence, to pestilence,
    and those destined for the sword, to the sword;
those destined for famine, to famine,
    and those destined for captivity, to captivity.” (Jer. 15.1-2)

     As he undertook the 40-year journey that would ultimately lead him to Mt. Nebo, Moses and the rescued slaves – the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – approached Mt. Sinai.  Even before having received the 10 Commandments, Moses was functioning as the sole judge and arbiter for the people.  His father-in-law, Jethro, saw the toll that this was taking on Moses and advised him to “share the load” with others who were capable of settling disputes among the people (Ex. 18.13-23).  Already, at the outset of his desert pilgrimage, Moses is realizing just how burdensome his task will be.  His mission had always been tightly wrapped up within the purposes of Yahweh, the God who had called Abraham.  When Yahweh had decided to rescue his people from slavery, he had told Moses to go and “deliver my people” (cf. Ex. 3.7-10).  Indeed, the weight of the load will steadily increase – from the golden calf incident (Ex. 32) to the people of God’s constant bickering and complaining – both for lack of food (Ex. 16) and water (Ex. 17; Num. 20); add to this their frequent questioning of and rebelling against Moses’ authority (Num. 12, 14, 16), not to mention their oft-expressed desire to return to “the comfort of” Egypt (Ex. 14.12; Num. 14.3-4; cf. Ps. 95.8-11) – there seemed to be no end to the grumbling, to the stubborn refusal to trust Moses…or God.

     Indeed, the incident with Jethro would not be the last time that Moses buckled under the weight of the burden that God had laid upon him – that of leading his people, not only out of slavery, but also out of a slave-mentality – a mindset that preferred the predictability and “security” of a slave’s existence to the chaos and danger of a life of freedom and responsibility.  On another occasion, when the Israelites were complaining that all there was on the menu was “manna” (cf. Ex. 16) and pining after the sumptuous variety of foods they had enjoyed in Egypt, “the Lord became very angry, and Moses was displeased” (Num. 11.10).  This is fascinating – Moses shares the emotions of Yahweh.

“…the fundamental experience of the prophet is a fellowship with the feelings of God, a sympathy with the divine pathos…which comes about through the prophet’s participation in the divine pathos…prophetic sympathy is the assimilation of the prophet’s emotional life to the divine…the emotional experience of the prophet becomes the focal point for the prophet’s understanding of God.  He lives not only his personal life, but also the life of God…”[1] 

     As the Israelites were gathered at the foot of Mt. Sinai, Yahweh had said: “…I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Ex. 19.4; cf. Is. 40.31).  While the divine “wings” may have borne the people of Yahweh to Sinai, it was Moses who, during the wilderness wanderings, would often feel like he was the (only) one “carrying” the people (Num. 11.11-12; cf. Is. 40.10-11).  Indeed, when the Israelites complained about the manna, Moses’ despair reached such a point that he asked God for death rather than continue to “bear the burden” of his people (Num. 11.14-15).  In a striking image, Moses asks God if he (Moses) is Israel’s mother –

“Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a wet nurse carries a nursing child, to the land that you promised…to their ancestors’?” (Num. 11.12). 

In response, and as Jethro had done previously, God advised Moses to select 70 elders to assist him in his task of leading the people and to thus share the burden with him (Num. 11.16-17).

     Moses would indeed “carry on” and conduct the people of God to the very borders of the Promised Land.  As he surveyed Canaan from the summit of Mt. Nebo in Moab, on the eastern side of the Jordan, Moses must have experienced a moment of particular intimacy with God during his final moments of life (cf. Dt. 34).  Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906—1945), a German pastor/theologian who was executed by the Nazis for his involvement in a plot to assassinate Hitler, composed a poem called “The Death of Moses” about 6 months before his own death.

“…O Lord…I became your chosen one, your friend,

your mouth, the source of holiness so pure,

your eye to take in sorrows of the poor,

your ear to hear your people’s sighs and woes,

your arm to break the might of all our foes…

God, who punishes and then forgives,

this people I have truly loved now lives. 

It is enough that I have borne its sorrow

and now have seen the land of its tomorrow.

Hold me fast!—for fallen is my stave,

O faithful God, make ready now my grave.”[2]

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[1] Abraham Heschel, The Prophets, New York: HarperCollins, 2001 [1962], p. 31.

[2] From A Testament to Freedom: The Essential Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, New York: HarperOne, 1995 [1990], pp. 519-20; Bonhoeffer had been in prison for about 18 months when he wrote this poem.  He had often felt that his life would not be a long one – indeed, not only had he been an outspoken critic of the Nazi regime, but he had struggled for years to convince the church in Germany to take a stand in favour of the Jews and to resist Hitler’s attempts to use the church for his own purposes.  Bonhoeffer had sought to “carry” the church of Germany during the turbulent years of the Third Reich (1933—45), writing, teaching and providing leadership to those pastors who refused to swear loyalty to Hitler.  When the Nazis hung him on April 9, 1945, Bonhoeffer was 39 years old.