With All Your Soul

The second test that the Israelites face is in the very next story.  They set out from Elim and the Desert of Sin and begin following God from place to place.  They arrive at Rephidim and voice their displeasure, once again, with the lack of water.  As far as what we're given to work with directly in the passage, we're not told a whole lot about “the story behind the story.”  However, Jewish thought claims to find some hints in the text.

The Jewish reader finds a hint in the Psalms that tells us about the condition of their hearts during this test.  In Psalm 78, Asaph writes of the experience in Exodus 17.

They willfully put God to the test
    by demanding the food they craved.
They spoke against God;
    they said, “Can God really
    spread a table in the wilderness?
True, he struck the rock,
    and water gushed out,
    streams flowed abundantly,
but can he also give us bread?

In Asaph's psalm, he says that Israel was putting God to the test, trying to see if He could prove Himself as the great provider.  While this isn't in the Exodus story, it does fit the words of Moses, who says, “Why do you quarrel with me?  Why do you put the LORD to the test?”

Moses warns the people, but they persist.  And so Moses cries out to the LORD, saying, “What am I to do with this people?  They are almost ready to stone me.”  Which most of us read as Moses being slightly overdramatic.  Yet, I think he may be telling the truth.  The word that the Text uses for “cry out” is the same cry that went up from Sodom and Gomorrah.  It is not a whine or a cry of complaint.  It is not a frustration or an angry cry.  It is a cry that comes from the belly of the oppressed.  It is a cry that God always hears.

To echo the teacher that taught me this story, I love God's response to Moses' cry.  The first words out of God's mouth are, “Walk in front of the people, Moses…”  Moses is fearful and scared for his life and God tells him to trust the story that He is telling in the world and put himself out there.

You see, this test is about whether they will love the LORD their God with all of their soul.  The last test was about their heart — that is, their will.  The “soul” refers to the whole essence of the being.  It is your very life.  It is everything that makes you — you.  God is asking them if they will love Him with their whole lives. 

Israel is saying no.  They are saying, “No, God.  You don't get us.  You don't get us unless You can prove Yourself.  You want my soul?  Prove it.”

Moses knows that this crosses a very clear line.  But God sees it differently. 

First things first, God wants to know if He has Moses' worship.  “Do you love me with all your soul Moses?  You think you're going to die?  Walk in front of the people that want to kill you, Moses.  Put your soul, your life, yourself, in My hands.”  And he does.

Second, God wants to make a statement to Moses.  He tells Moses to take his staff and walk to Mt. Horeb.  Now, depending on where you think Rephidim is, that is quite a walk.  Mt. Horeb refers to the mountain range of Mt. Sinai.  God asks Moses to walk miles ahead of the people and go to the “mountain of God.”  He tells Moses that He will stand before him at the rock and he is to strike the rock.  Now, a couple points about the Hebrew language here.  The phrase “before you at the rock” would be best understood as “between you and the rock,” and the word “strike” is the word that refers to striking to kill.  There is a metaphor here.  God is saying, “I want you to go to My mountain and I want you to strike ME, Moses.  I know that the people deserve to be struck, but this time, I want to take the blow for them.  Strike me.”  I think God is trying to say something to Moses about leadership.  And yes, obviously, I think there are some allusions to the character of God, as seen in Jesus.

Third, I think God is making a statement to the people.  He tells Moses to walk in front of them so they can see, taking some of the elders with him.  God wants them to see what He's up to as well.  God is willing to take the blow in order to teach His people a lesson.  He is testing them and every test is an opportunity to learn.


A brief P.S.:  The midrash teaches that when the Israelites left Rephidim, that they took the rock that was struck — the rock of God — and put it on a cart.  They say that they took the rock everywhere with them and that Miriam used the rock to provide water for the nation of Israel in the desert.  It sounds like a silly story.  Except for the hints in the Text.  The Israelites will not complain about water until the death of Miriam.  Also, we have the interesting words of Paul to the church in Corinth.

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.  (1 Corinthians 10:1–4)

Just some juicy tidbits to let marinate as you consider this story and God's invitation to trust it.