The trip to Sinai starts off with the complaining continuing. We saw the theme of grumbling before the salvation in the Sea of Reeds/Extinction and here we see it again. It is important that it is directed at God and His anointed (Moses) because you will see the same thing happened to His anointed one (Jesus). It all began back when Moses killed the Egyptian and tried to break up a fight amongst the Hebrews. But that grumbling response of the Hebrews was in stark contrast to the reception that Moses had from Jethro's daughters when he saved them (Exodus 2:11-20). In this section we will see Jethro again. This time his reception is in contrast to the grumbling nation of Israel but even more in contrast to the Amalekites. Amalek was the son of Esau's concubine (see our discussion of Genesis 36:12).

The verse after the Song of Miriam mentions that Israel had gone for three days without water in the desert (Exo 15:22). When they finally found water it was bitter (Exo 15:23). So the people grumbled against Moses (Exo 15:24). God turned the bitter water into sweet water. God had Moses throw a log into the water and then the water became sweet (Exo 15:25). This is a picture of the gospel movement from death to life. It is the movement from diseased to healed. The LORD tested them (Exo 15:25). He tells them that if they listen to Him (literally 'listen to the voice of,' which is an idiom for obey) then he will not visit them with the diseases he brought on Egypt (Exo 15:26). Thus if they disobey the plagues will fall upon Israel. This eventually happened and ultimately happened for Christ.

To summarize -- grumbling about water, God tested them.

Then theme of grumbling continues as the word tells us, "And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness" and they accused Moses and Aaron of bringing them into the wilderness to starve when they were full back in Egypt (Exo 16:2-3). They have a selective memory.

And the LORD tested them to see "if they will walk in [His] law or not" with "bread from heaven" (Exo 16:4). On the sixth day they got a double portion but the first five days of the week they would get a day's portion. Since they have accused Moses and Aaron of brining them into the wilderness to starve, Moses tells them that this bread from heaven will show that the LORD brought them out of Egypt and into the wilderness. Moses tells them that they have been grumbling against the LORD. He says, "For what are we, that you grumble against us?" (Exo 16:7). Meat in the evening and bread in the morning will show them that grumbling against Moses and Aaron is really grumbling against the LORD (Exo 16:8). And they got quail in the evening and bread from heaven in the morning. They called the bread from heaven "manna" meaning, "What is it?" because they did not know what it was (Exo 16:15).

The manna was a test because when they tried to keep some left overs they bred worms and stank (Exo 16:20). God was training them to trust Him for their daily bread. And the double portion on the sixth day did keep for the seventh day without going bad so that they could keep Sabbath. It is instructive that they were required to keep Sabbath before the giving of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments was a summary of the law from creation. But that first Sabbath after the Exodus Event they went and tried to gather manna and the LORD said, "How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?" (Exo 16:28). It is significant that the manna tasted sweet like wafers made with honey because the Promised Land was a land flowing with milk and honey. Thus the manna was a reminder to them of where they were going and of God turning the bitter water sweet. And they kept some manna as a reminder to all generations.

To summarize -- grumbling about food (complaint that they were brought into the wilderness to starve), God tested them.

The next chapter begins with the same grumbling: "the people quarreled with Moses" about water to drink (Exo 17:2). And they again accused him of bringing them into the wilderness to kill them -- this time with thirst. Moses asks them "Why do you test the LORD?" (Exo 17:2). Here Moses brings water from the rock by striking the rock where the LORD was standing.

To summarize -- grumbling about water again (complaint that they were brought into the wilderness to die of thirst), Israel tested God (Exo 17:2 and 17:7).

This is something we see in the gospels as Satan and then the elders and chief priests, etc., all tested Jesus. It is instructive that Moses notes that the people are ready to stone him (Exo 17:4). And because the wilderness wandering began and ended with water coming from a rock (see Numbers) the tradition arose that the rock followed them in the wilderness. Paul tells us, "the Rock was Christ" (1 Cor 10:4). This is not a stretch since we call God our Rock all of the time. Paul says that these examples were written down for us "for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come" (1 Cor 10:11). The lesson is that we should not grumble in our wilderness wandering but know "God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1 Cor 10:13). And this Paul ties into idolatry and the Lord's Supper. We are in the wilderness with one big difference -- we are not under God's wrath (compare Psalm 95 and the quote of Psalm 95:7ff in Hebrews 3:7ff).

The other part of this section shows us the contrast between the Amalekites and Jethro. In Exo 17:8, the Amalekites came and attacked but in Exo 18:5-7 Jethro comes and greets. In both Exo 17:9 and 18:25 men are chosen for a specific task. In Exo 17:12, Moses sits on a stone and in Exo 18:13 he sits to judge. Both activities are said to commence on the next day and last all day until evening (Exo 17:12; 18:13-14). And in both Exo 17:12 and 18:18 Moses is said to be tired, with help provided in each instance. See Enns commentary, 367).

The judgment of the LORD on the Amalekites is a total ban -- "Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven" (Exo 17:14). See our comments on Genesis 36:12. Jethro blessed the LORD and showed that he had learned the lesson of the plagues and Exodus event saying, "Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods" (Exo 18:11).

At this point Moses had to tell the people the law of God and how it applied to particular situations, he was deciding every case brought before him and Jethro saw that he would get burnt out quickly. So Jethro wisely suggested this: "warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do" and then appoint judges (who "hate a bribe") to decide the easier cases (Exo 18:20-21). This is the climax of the transition to the giving of the law before they arrive at Sinai. The theme of testing Israel has carried the idea throughout this section.

Labels: amalekites, exodus, grumbling, jethro, law, manna, plagues, salvation

Book Nine is about the descendants of Esau. The really strange thing is that it has two heading statements: "These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom)" (Gen 36:1) and "These are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir" (Gen 36:9).

The first half of the book ends with the aside "Esau is Edom" (Gen 36:8). This is an obvious example of inclusio, a common feature of biblical narrative. The second narrative also ends with a statement forming an inclusio with the second heading: "these are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of Edom), according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession" (Gen 36:43).

So the structure is this: first heading, first narrative (genealogy), second heading, second narrative (five genealogies in three groups), epilogue. The epilogue serves, like all of the epilogues, as a transition to the next book: "Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan" (Gen 37:1). This is in contrast to Esau (that is, Edom) in "the land of their possession" in the hill country of Seir (Gen 36:43). As God retells it in Joshua, "And I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt" (Josh 24:4).

Esau made a mistake marrying any Canaanites, let alone two of them, and then he compounded it by adding a third wife (an Ishmaelite). The author of Genesis shows this cleverly through the use of names. In Gen 26:34 and 28:9 the names are Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite; Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite; and Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. But in Book Nine the names are Adah, daughter of Elon the Hittite; Oholibamah, daughter of Anah, granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite; and Basemath, daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. For example, in Book Nine the first wife "Adah" (the name of the first wife of evil Lamech, the seed of the serpent in Book One) is the daughter of Elon the Hittite when earlier in Genesis the second wife Basemath was the daughter of Elon the Hittite. Another example, in Book Nine the third wife is Basemath, daughter of Ishmael, when earlier in Genesis the second wife Basemath was the daughter of Elon the Hittite and the third wife Mahalath was the daughter of Ishmael. Thus the names in Book Nine are all mixed up to clump the cursed women together. (Waltke shows this with a chart you have to examine).

And he separated himself "from his brother Jacob, for their possessions were too great for them to dwell together, the land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock, so Esau settled in the hill country of Seir" (Gen 36:6-8, ESV, punctuation altered). Esau could have settled elsewhere in the Promised Land, but chose to leave. His mistakes set him apart from Jacob who did not marry the cursed women of the land and who sojourned in the Promised Land rather than settling permanently elsewhere.

The second narrative has five genealogies.

The first one begins, "These are the names of Esau's sons" (Gen 36:10). There are twelve grandsons mentioned. Amalek, because he is the son of the concubine Timna, the reader is not to count. Samuel would later command Saul to exterminate the Amalekites, not protected as part of Edom, because of what they did to Israel during the Exodus journey. A descendant who survived was the ancestor of Haman who tried to destroy Israel in the day of Esther.

The second one begins, "These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau" (36:15) and ends, "These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs" (Gen 36:19). There are fourteen chiefs. The Amalek here is different than the previous genealogy. Each son of Esau follows the same pattern. "The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: the chiefs:" (Gen 36:15) and "these are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah" (Gen 36:16). "These are the sons of Reuel, Esau's son: the chiefs" and "these are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife" (Gen 36:17). "These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife: the chiefs" and "these are the chiefs born of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife" (Gen 36:18). In the middle of the first pair are the names of seven chiefs (Gen 36:15-16). There are four in the middle of the second pair and three in the middle of the third pair. Again, this totals fourteen.

The first two are to be grouped together as the final line says, "These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs" (Gen 36:19) concludes "These are the names of Esau's sons (Gen 36:10) and "These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau" (Gen 36:15).

The third one begins and ends with an identical list of seven chiefs of the Horites in their line of succession. The rest of the opening and closing are slight variations. "These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom" (Gen 36:20-21). "These are the chiefs of the Horites: the chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, chief by chief in the land of Seir" (Gen 36:29-30). Between the inclusio, are names of the sons of each chief. The only commentary is "he is the Anah who found the hot springs [translation of "hot springs" is debated, the Targum and Jewish tradition says it means "mules" (he was the first to cross the horse and donkey)] in the wilderness, as he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father" (Gen 36:24). Two women are mentioned. The first chief had a sister: Timna, Eliphaz's concubine and Esau's wife Oholibamah was the daughter of chief Anah, the son of chief Zibeon. These Hivites should be cursed (descendants of Canaan) but the text gives us seven chiefs.

The third genealogy stands alone. This political system would become integrated into Edom.

The fourth one begins, "These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites" (Gen 36:31). Each one follows the same pattern: Bela the son of Beor, Jobab the son of Zerah, Husham, Hadad the son of Bedad, Samlah, Shaul, Baal-hanan the son of Achbor, and Hadar. For Bela, it says "reigned in Edom" and for each king thereafter it says "reigned in his place." In the third position most of them mention a city or place the king was from: "the name of his city being Dinhabah," "of Bozrah," "of the land of the Temanites," "the name of his city being Avith," "of Masrekah," "of Rehoboth on the Euphrates," none for the next king, then "the name of his city being Pau." Since they have different capitals this suggests that Edom elected their kings. It is the only such list known in the ANE. In the fourth position is a death statement except for the last one, which says, "his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab" (Gen 36:39). The only commentary in this genealogy was to say concerning Hadad, "who defeated Midian in the country of Moab" (36:35). As Bruce Waltke notes, this shows how great David is when he conquers Edom.

The fifth one begins, "These are the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their dwelling places, by their names" (Gen 36:40) and ends, "these are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of Edom), according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession" (Gen 36:43). Clearly this genealogy is according to their dwelling places.

The last two are to be grouped together. Book Nine shows the sons and chiefs of Esau developing into the nation of Edom with kings and chiefs. This reflects the later development of Israel (hinted at with such lines as "before any king reigned over the Israelites" (Gen 36:31)). Waltke's commentary is helpful on this point (and was the starting point for all of the reflections of this post).

So what are we to make of this extensive discussion of Esau's descendants? For one thing, despite how they develop we know that one day they will serve their younger brother Israel (fulfilling the first poem of Book Eight). It also means that some of the Canaanites will not be exterminated but serve the true sons of Shem (fulfilling the poetry of Book Three). But looking even further into the future, today these brothers of Israel can be reconciled to their brothers in Christ (fulfilling the first poem of Book Six). Jesus would even heal a Canaanite woman's daughter (Matt 15:21-28).

Labels: amalekites, canaanite, edom, esau, Genesis, horites, inclusio, kings, seir