Wax on, wax off. Anybody get the reference? This is an “how old are you” test. The line comes from the original “The Karate Kid” movie. Okay, so there is this high school young man played by Ralph Maccio who moves to Southern California and runs afoul of the rich kid bully. You gotta hate those rich kid bullies. Wait! That doesn’t seem right. You have to love them. But I digress. Ralph’s character meets Mr. Miagi who agrees to teach him karate only if he will agree to do whatever he is asked to do. So, Mr. Miagi sets the young man on several seemingly meaningless chores; like waxing his car. Wax on, wax off. After some time; after feeling as if he is being taken advantage of, he explodes in anger and yells at Mr. Miagi for having him do all these meaningless chores. Then Mr. Miagi shows him that the meaningless chores were actually training his body to respond with certain motions. Even though it felt as if he had been going backward, he was learning karate. But he had to trust his instructor to get there. It’s kind of like that on a much bigger scarier scale.
Exodus 14:1-4 is all about backward motion; about seemingly pointless wanderings. Through Moses, Yahweh tells the people to turn back. He takes them to the edge of the wilderness; to the point where it is unlikely that Pharaoh will follow and then tells them, “Well, that’s far enough, let’s go back into that nice man Pharaoh’s land.” Again, the place names cannot be identified with certainty, though many a source will tell you exactly where God led them to. We are given four points of reference, which was known to the original readers and may have even added to their understanding of what is going on here. And although the exact location may not be available to us, we can know that they were shut in. The name “Migdol” is sometimes translated “tower”. Because of this some have suggested a towering rock or mountain. They are between Migdol and the sea. The point of all this is that Yahweh seemingly led them back to the worst possible place. I wonder if some questioned why they headed backward. I mean, as you are being set free from slavery; as you are heading toward the land flowing with milk and honey promised to you by God, backward seems counter intuitive. And then when they made camp in this area that blocked them off on three sides, did some of them realize the danger? God led them right into a trap.
No. He is leading Pharaoh into the trap. The Israelites are the bait. Even if God told them the plan, would it have felt okay to them? “So, you have brought us to this place in which if the Egyptians show up we will be cut off from any escape so that you can teach those Egyptians a lesson. Well, okay then. Good plan God!” And the plan? God knows that word of their route will be relayed back to Pharaoh and it will look like they are a bit perplexed. The word “wander aimlessly” means to be confused. Pharaoh is going to review the situation and think “Those Israelites have been in the sun too long and have become addled minded.” No one, having been set free from the great nation of Egypt will be on the very verge of escape only to turn back and wander into a perfect trap. Crazy Israelites have stumbled into an area where the wilderness itself has shut them in.
And Yahweh knew that as soon as Pharaoh recognized all of this, that his heart would become hardened one more time. Yahweh lead them on this circuitous route through the desert in order to harden Pharaoh’s heart. For what it is worth, I believe Pharaoh maintained his free will through all of this. But God knows the heart of man; He knows what will lead to the choices we make. So, he baits the trap knowing that Pharaoh will not be able to resist; that his heart will become calloused against the Israelites. But why? The same old reason; so that Yahweh would be glorified or have weight with Pharaoh and the Egyptians; so that they will know that he is the Great I Am. And even thought the text doesn’t mention it, it seems likely that he is also training his people to trust in him.
In order to make your arms respond in battle, you train them with repetitive and maybe even seemingly meaningless movement. You want your hands, arms and feet to almost respond without a thought. Yahweh is exercising the faith muscles. And this is often painful and perplexing. And sometimes the very things in our lives that feel like backward motion are the things that are training us to trust; to have faith in God. We boast, not in our abilities, but in our weakness so that God receives all the glory. And if it takes backing up until I’m between a rock and a hard place. Bring it on. To God be the glory! Walter