In the movie “Napoleon Dynamite” the character Uncle Rico is a man who is stuck in the past. If his coach would only have given him a chance to play quarterback in the decisive game, his whole life would be different. He would have thrown the winning touchdown pass. He would now be playing for the NFL instead of living in his van making videos of himself passing a football. And he wouldn’t have bought a time machine on the internet. Some people are stuck in the past and they miss the now; blinded by pain; floundering in a pool of what ifs and failed dreams. We know this isn’t good. And then there are others who are so intent on making their dreams come true that they miss the now as well. Missed performances and half hearted apologies become routine; casualties for the greater good, for the dream. We know this isn’t good either. The now, by itself, is also not the answer. The now, without the past to guide and teach, can lead to selfish mistakes played out over and over again; leaving a trail of wounds without a clue as to why the wounds should be there at all. The now, without hope, can lead to despair; leaving nothing to live for. The goal is to live in the now, learning from the past, and hoping in the future.
Exodus 1:1-7 focuses on the continuation of past promises. The first six Hebrew words are the exact same six words found in Genesis 46:8, where we are given the list of names of those who came to Egypt, along with their families. The Hebrew name of the book of Exodus is “These are the Names”. The original readers would most likely have picked up on the connection. This is a continuation of the story. It is the same twelve tribal heads and their families; the same seventy people who came to Egypt to escape starvation. These are the names of stories past.
But the Book of Exodus is not about these seventy who first came to Egypt. The author starts here because he wants to emphasize that his story is founded upon the previous story; a continuation of past events. And this is more important than we sometimes admit. Our story is also founded upon previous stories. And those previous stories shape our stories, regardless of our desire to deny it. There are people who have preceded us; whose successes and failures form our life attempts. The Exodus story is not about some random people. It is about the descendants of the original seventy people. But the past generation has all died out. And this is mentioned almost as an aside. “O, and by the way, the tribal heads and their families are all dead now”. But it is more than an inconsequential tid bit. This story is founded upon the past, but it has moved on. The past has all died out. And this is also significant to the story. You see, our story is founded upon the past, but it is important to let the past to be the past; to die.
And then we are told emphatically that the sons of Israel were blessed with reproductive aptitude. Five times, in verse seven, we are told of how their numbers increased: they were fruitful; they swarmed (a word used for teeming frogs or fish); they multiplied; they became exceedingly numerous; and the land was full of them. Do you get the idea that the author wanted to make sure his readers got the idea that there were a lot of Israelites in Egypt? And why is this important. For two reasons. It is the fulfillment of a promise made to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:5; 17:1-8) and it is intended to inspire hope. If God is in the process of fulfilling the promise of multiplying the descendants of Abraham; making them as numerous as the stars, then you can count on him keeping the promise of land. These promises are connected. Abraham’s descendants will be a swarming, teeming, multitude and God will being them to the promised land. God never intended for them to be numerous and stuck in Egypt.
The story of Exodus is the story of God keeping promises. It looks back to the patriarchs because it was to the patriarchs that the promises were made. It looks forward to the hope of a promise that had been made, but was not yet kept. And this is our life isn’t it? We remember the story of Jesus on this earth; of the apostles; of the early church. We do our best to follow Jesus, but we cannot live the life of an apostle or of the early church. Time has marched on and they have all died. And in our more immediate reality, we have the story of our ancestors; the stories that shape our present, good and bad. Don’t get stuck there, but learn from those stories. And God has kept his promise of redemption hasn’t he? We live in a time when we are washed clean by the blood of Christ. Promise kept. But we are not yet in heaven; not yet home. So, we live now, learning and formed by the past, hoping in the future; longing for home. Shalom, Walter