The Faith of the Covenant Community

The Faith of the Covenant Community

Kim Hae Rang

Egypt was a desert area and for agriculture to succeed human relations were the priority condition. In such a situation, agriculture required a massive input of labor. The Pharaoh ruled as son of the Sun God, thus, he had complete control of the irrigation system, religion, judiciary and the military. The farmers were merely his property and slaves.

The people who made up the lower stratum were the lower classes of free citizens and the foreigners who were sold to the free citizens after being captured at war. They made up the stratum of slaves who were also private properties. The slaves were used for construction and farming. They were subjected to extreme exploitation and persecution.

The nation of Israel began as a people mobilized for construction and forced to suffer greatly. These people were identified as "Hapiru." In the historical materials we find that "Hapiru" – which later became Hebrew – was not an identification of a nation, or a people of one unique nation. Rather, it referred to either people who belonged to the lower strata of the society (lower than the original settlers), or the original settlers who did not have land, thus, without rights and subjected to expropriation for forced labor for the state or mobilization for wars, or those who lived outside the law and who survived as thieves or robbers. "Hapiru" therefore referred to not only such people in Egypt, but also all the People of the lowest strata throughout the ancient Middle East.

At a time when the people of Israel were prosperous, a new king who did not know of Yahweh was enthroned. The new king mobilized the people of Israel for huge construction works and forced them into wretched labor. In doing so, he was able to extract labor from them and at the same time keep control of them.

The Exodus event is a story of the "Hapiru" and the God of the "Hapiru" – that is, the slaves and the God of the slaves. It is a story of the direct action of God for the liberation of the slaves. Yahweh is a God who holds up the suffering people, raises them in grace and engages them in an act of salvation.

Women of Fear and Faith

We meet in the early pages of the Book of Exodus two wise midwives. They were ordered by the Pharaoh to kill all Israelite children as they were born. For the two midwives whose work and joy in life was assisting and facilitating the birth of new lives, this order, or obedience to this order, meant more than their own death. Yet for them who were engaged in the work of bringing up new lives, the destruction of life was unthinkable. The order of the Pharaoh was a demand for the destruction of humanity. The women who loved life and brought prosperity to Israel were determined to protect life even if it meant giving up their own lives. So they resisted the destructive order of the Pharaoh with all their wisdom. Acting in solidarity with the women of Israel, they said, "the women of Israel, unlike the women of Egypt, are so strong that they give birth to children before the arrival of a midwife." The endeavor for the protection of life encompasses the actions to raise the newborn to become mature and strong. The Exodus describes and confesses this as an "act of fearing God." And God enabled such people to prosper and multiply.

However, for the Pharaoh the increase and prosperity of the Israelite community became a growing threat. He then planned

child murder against the Israelite children. The Pharaoh ordered, “When a Hapiru gives birth to a female child, she can live; however, all male children must be thrown into the river”. The society was strictly a Patriarchal society. It was natural for the Pharaoh to believe that the destruction of male children would bring about the decimation of Israel. Perhaps women who love life, raise life, and struggle with their lives to protect life, were to him not worthy of his attention.

It was under these circumstances that a woman was forced to think of one last means to protect the life of a child. She applied all her care with a strong wish for an "event of salvation." Although she did not know what this would bring, in faith she did the last attempt for the protection of the child. The box, which was to carry the child, was applied with various substances for protection. She used pine-oil, which even Noah was not able to use for his ark. The mother who was determined to protect life drew out all her wisdom for the child. And she believed that an "event of salvation" would take place. The act of killing life is inviting destruction to oneself; therefore, such action cannot be maintained for long. The sister and mother of the newborn child believed this and, based on this belief, they carried out their actions of resistance against the order of the Pharaoh.

Then the "event of salvation" was realized through the daughter of the Pharaoh. Pity and love for the crying child in the basket, the child who had escaped the orders of the Pharaoh, her father, were marks of the princess' love for life. It brought the princess to employ the mother of the child as nurse and consolidated her courage for love, for life and for raising the young child.

The Man Moses

The awakening of young Moses took place at the sight of terrible suffering and violence experienced by his own people. It

was here that Moses identified the corruption and the violence of the social system, which was intent on degrading humanity. What he was awakened to was the structural violence of an unjust society. In response to what he saw, Moses undertook an action of violence caused by an irresistible anger. However this did not gain the support and sympathy – solidarity – of his own people. It also resulted in the greater determination of the Pharaoh to eliminate Moses.

Moses was therefore forced to go in exile away from the Pharaoh to save his life. And in "rising up" and "helping" the women shepherds who were being forced out from the Midian well, Moses began a new experience of becoming one with them. The 40 years of Moses' life in Midian brought a new awakening to him. He learned that being with the Hapiru people required the courage to hold on to the tail of a snake and the patience of a leprosy-inflicted person to be severed even from the family.

Then God appeared before Moses from a bush and called on Moses, promising to be his strength in saving the Hapiru people from the pains of suffering and domination. And with this promise, Moses was sent back to Egypt. Moses declared the promise of God, the realization of the vision of liberation, the return to the promised land of Canaan, and the liberation from slavery under the domination of Egypt.

Moses confronted the Pharaoh by acting out the evidence of God's presence before him. This confrontation was the unshackling .of the yoke of submission, the uprising of the Hapiru people against the oppressors, and the embrace of the vision revealed to them by Yahweh.

The snake whose tail was caught in the hand – the Egyptian empire – appeared invincible; however, once the surface appearance of plenty and stability was shattered it was but empty. The hands of the leprosy-inflicted person and his recovery – the

liberation from slavery – was the sole path to the recovery of the original image of human beings. The transformation of the waters of the Nile River into blood – the blood shed by the Hapiru people – was sufficient to turn the dry desert land into a stream of blood.

However, when the Hapiru were tempered and strengthened by the vision of liberation, the violence of the oppressors became even stronger. The oppressors forced the Hapiru to more severe labor to prevent them from turning their eyes, ears, and minds to the new vision. And this was the beginning of the fuller confrontation and conflict between the Hapiru and the oppressors symbolized by the Pharaoh. The magicians and the wise men that represented the existing system of oppression and plunder engaged in a confrontation with Moses, the representative of the Hapiru people.

The vision of new community and the promise of liberation given by Yahweh was the genuine demand of the oppressed people but the oppressor would rather go by deceit and false promises. The stick brought by Moses swallowed up the stick prepared by the oppressors. But the oppressors were not prepared to give up their control over the Hapiru who made up the foundation of the oppressive system which ensured their prosperity and stability. Nevertheless, Yahweh pronounced the disasters on Egypt and demonstrated that all things were in sovereign control, and that human liberation could bring to full realization God's divine "self-revelation."

The Exodus

Then at last, the Hapiru people were able to leave Egypt. It was the result of the battle undertaken by Yahweh where all the idols of the brutal Pharaoh were destroyed and his first offspring, the eldest son, was brought to death. The Hapiru people gathered the bones of their ancestors and escaped from Egypt before the dough had time to rise. In the beginning, there was fear of the newfound freedom, anxiety about the uncertain future, and confusion

caused by complaints, conflicts and resistance. Thus, the time in the wilderness was a time of crisis. However, there was also the grace, love and guidance of Yahweh.

The early avarice (greed), disobedience and betrayal arising from a perception of threat to their survival due to lack of food and water, were slowly transformed into a new community spirit in the embrace and patience of the motherly love of God who raised, nurtured and cared for her children. This new spirit led to the establishment of a self-governing organization. On the basis of Moses' father-in-law's suggestion, leaders of the community were chosen from every 10, 50, and 100 persons to deal with the problems and issues confronting the people, to strengthen and also share the leadership shouldered by Moses. This measure also brought about participation that is more self-reliant and action of the people in the determination of their lives, activities and relations.

The new spirit also led to the establishment of a new economic order. The story of the manna (Exodus 16:18) describes people going out to the hills to collect their food out of God's provision. Whether a person had collected more or less than others, God's will for sufficiency always prevailed. This was the beginning of the understanding and realization of an economic order of equality. In this new order, accumulation was out of place. This new order was a system that arose from the determination to prevent economic relations between the people themselves and between the people and labor and products from becoming a tool of oppression and exploitation as in the situation in Egypt. The economic order of equality based on the total sovereign ownership by Yahweh created a system of obtaining (working) materials and food according to people's need and ensured a day of rest, the Sabbath.

The new spirit also elevated the role of women so that there are many events and incidents recorded which demonstrate the importance of women. However, the independent actions of women

such as Zipporah (wife of Moses), the midwives, Miriam (Moses’ sister), the daughter of Pharaoh, and especially Miriam’s challenge of Moses which are seen as activities of women for the consolidation of their role in the new community from the previous restricted roles, are perceived in the recordings as threatening and negative.

Source: Seoul National University

The Covenant Community

The new Israel created by and composed of the Hapiru people whose ancestors were nomadic (without settled roots) in the ancient Middle East was bound by a common experience of

suffering, escape from Egypt and a new birth. And the society they built was not modeled after the stratified societies of Babylon or Egypt. They consciously built a society of equality for all people. Their laws were based on the total agreement of all people and a covenant to follow the laws of Yahweh. The covenant law became a social contract for the Hapiru people who took part in the liberation work of God. The social contract was a concrete expression of the Hapiru for the establishment of a new society, the vision that maintained them through the ordeals of the escape from Egypt, the long journey before the establishment of the new society.

The social contract thus produced by the Hapiru people based on their liberation experience contained a special emphasis on the protection of the weak. This was a special guarantee arising out of the spirit of the liberation of the oppressed, the vision for the equality of all people, the abolition of class discrimination and oppression, the upholding of the integrity and the rights of the poor, the protection of the migrants, and the liberation of slaves. It was also a purposeful social mechanism for the maintenance of the new society to guard against the influence of the dominant ideology of the neighboring societies in Canaan.

The objective aspired by the Hapiru in the creation of Israel was a determination to abolish in their new society all the atrocities caused by greed and abuse of power that they experienced as slaves in Egypt. The system of a community of 12 tribes can be seen as a system of comprehensive regional autonomy, self-government, social equality, and collective, common and equal distribution of land. It was a radical alternative system compared with the existing system at the time in the Middle East. And it was inspired by their liberation experience through the guidance of Yahweh. To examine its features, see Tables 1 and 2.

Table 1

The Radical Alternative Community

System	Character	Features
Politics	Alliance of regionally self-governing tribes	No kings; no central state power; anti-imperialist community; alliance of regional autonomous and self-governing tribes
Military	No standing army	Aspired for non-military culture; self-reliant efforts of the priests and people themselves at times of difficulty
Economy	Collective ownership of land	Equal distribution according to people’s need; prohibition on private ownership
People	Originally propertyless	The people of the lowest strata of the ancient Middle East; their socio-economic character is more significant than any bloodlines that may have existed; those who were not protected by law, without citizenship rights, nomads, mercenary soldiers, etc.

Table 2

The Social Contract Law of the New Community

Law	Substance
Prohibition on slavery	System of no interest on loans; prohibition on collateral for loans; and periodical cancellation of rights to debt (promissory notes)
Protection of slaves	Sabbath, sabbatical year and jubilee year
Protection of the weak	7^th year appropriation for widows, orphans and priests who do not hold land; collection of the 10^th of income every three years for the poor
Redistribution of property	Land, house and property that had been subjected to dealing returned to the original holder in the jubilee year; and return to equal relations and status.

However, these laws in the new community did not give any special attention to women. The situations and rights of women considered in these laws were only the following:

a. when there is no man in the family for the necessary socio-economic function (women inheritor);

b. when women request for special protection (widows);

c. sexual crimes where women are involved (adultery, remarriage, multiple marriage);

d. when special limitations exist based on gender, or

gender-specific status or role (women slaves, wives of war prisoners, mothers, women magicians);

As shown earlier, the women were not seen as equal and integral subjects of the liberation community but as dependents of men. This indicates the continued influence of patriarchy. There is one radical idea in the social contract law. The women slaves are given special legal protection based on their gender. However, this did not reflect a changed understanding or perception of the status of women but was a consideration arising out of socio-economic and biological concern.

And so indeed, the Exodus describes the new journey, struggle and movement of the oppressed people for freedom and equality. It is a confession of faith arising out of the experience and struggle for liberation and for the realization of a new community which upholds the spirit of liberation.

It is here that the orientation, perspective and the basic concern of the Bible can be found. The Bible is a kind of manifesto, a confession of faith of the oppressed and property-less people made in the process of their struggle for liberation from all kinds of oppression and discrimination, and for building a new society.

However, the oppression and exploitation of women based on sexual discrimination need also to be considered in the process of identifying the basic principles of the liberation event of Yahweh. And from this perspective, the significance of the covenant laws must be re-examined.

Suggested Procedures

1. Let the group silently read the Exodus story then plan to re-enact it to get a feel of what it was like for the Israelites – the object of this exercise is to empathize (to put one's self in their shoes).

2. As the drama/re-enactment is done, take note of the aspects of faith highlighted, e.g. the ups and downs in their faith development.

3. Proceed with the Bible study presentation here.

4. What experiences, if any, in your context resemble that of the Exodus event?

5. What sort of Exodus event do you hope to have for your people today? As students or SCMers, what is your participation like for it to happen?