Standing Strong |
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Beshalach—When He Let Go
Exodus 13:17– 17: 16 Judges 4:4– 5: 31 Mark 4:35– 5:20 1 Corinthians 10:11– 13 |
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This week’s parasha has many things that can come to ones attention: Pharoah’s deciding to pursue the Hebrews; the positioning of the Hebrews to make it so only G-d could save them; the pillar of cloud and fire; the walls of water and the destruction of Egypt; the testing at Marah; the feeding with manna; striking the rock to produce water; and the war with Amalek. Each has its own lessons to teach and each is worthy of pondering.
I am choosing to write on relying upon what we see and what we know.
Even after having the bitter waters turned sweet at Marah and being at the oasis of Elim having good water the people want more. “Are we to die by famine?” Had all of Israel eaten all of their flocks and cattle they had taken with them during the 45 days since leaving Egypt? It is not likely, but they had come to rely on their masters to supply them with food. They coveted the meat pots of Egypt. They knew what was to come at the end of each day. It may have been bad but it was comfortable in its consistency. Mankind likes to operate in what it knows and sees by its own eyes and feels with its own hands. G-d once again creates a test for the people to learn to trust him completely. He provides manna but give stipulations on how much to collect on each day and not to try to save any. The people fail. What they try to save stinks and becomes infested with worms. After five days of this they know that the manna only lasts one day and now, now, G-d says to collect enough for two as there will be none on Shabbat. But the people have seen that it only lasts one day. Imagine what must have been going through their minds. “I’ve seen this stuff turn to maggots and stink up my tent. I’m not going through that again. I collected two days before and I know where that got me.” Still some followed what G-d said and sure enough it lasted through the Shabbat, but others went to look on the next day and as G-d said there was none to be had. I suspect those that did not put up a two day supply, confident in their knowledge of what they had seen, knowing it would not last for two days and having seen it on the ground for each day of a full week, went hungry that day.
This year Tu B’Shevat falls on this Sabbath and I went to eat some fruit of one of the trees of the seven species. I chose a pomegranate. I love pomegranate and was looking forward to this treat. I don’t eat it often and this feast gave me a reason to indulge. I cut the pomegranate in half and was disappointed to see very few seeds. (You eat the seeds.) There was a thick skin almost all the way through. I was disappointed but still hopeful. Maybe I cut it at just the right spot to miss the seeds and only see membrane, I’ll cut it again. I cut again and saw….. more membrane and almost no seeds. I was let down. This is Shabbat and there is no way to buy another fruit. My special treat I was going to enjoy on this feast showed a thick skin and heavy membrane. I was tempted to just throw the whole thing in the trash. But a small voice inside me said, “Be satisfied with what you have and enjoy the little bit.” I wanted to rebel. To eat just a few seeds, enough to let me know how much I like this treat and not have enough to fully indulge myself seemed to be a self torture. I know what a thick skin and thick membrane means. After all, I have eaten a few pomegranates since coming to Israel. I’ve seen very full fruit with an abundance of seeds. I had the chance to enjoy this treat the L-rd provides for me. One cut with the knife showed dark red juice dripping from the insides of fabulous fruit and this didn’t look like that at all. But I went ahead and bent the fruit back to extract the few seeds I saw. The membrane split and…. WOW, the quarter of fruit was brimming with seeds. The membrane was thick enough to hide what was just behind it. Each quarter of the fruit was full of plump ripe juicy seeds. The taste… spectacular. And I had almost thrown it all away because of my experience and trusting to my eyes. Only by wanting to observe the feast and eat of the seven species on this day did I get the treat I so looked forward to. By not relying upon my eyes and going forward to enjoy even a little I received so much more. What a lesson to show G-d’s ways. Pomegranate is not manna but I must admit I had to learn my lesson in the same way.
G-d does not always operate in the ways we “know.”
Selah |
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Isaiah 11:6 2 Thessalonians 2:15 |