Wilderness Survival Kit - Hebrew Style!

Here is my journal entry from a reflection on Exodus 16, if you haven’t read it I would suggest reading it before you continue, but go ahead if you can’t control your desire for theological reflections.

It seems to me that the Israelites are beginning to learn the fundamentals of community survival in the wilderness. They are nomadic at this point and as they begin their journey, this is the first bit of wisdom they gather about who they are and what is required to survive, while holding a vision of liberated humanity.

The rhythm of collection/work, with intermittent rest, is seemingly offered by the earth itself; those who go out to gather on the 7th day, contrary to instructions, actually find nothing. I am reminded of the way that we can exhaust the resources around us, especially if we store up and still go out for more. The earth has a rhythm and a limited capacity for production. Thus we learn Sabbath from the earth, which lives in sacred rhythm and balance.

Everything the Israelites learned in the wilderness is fascinating to me because they are homeless, thus their communal values, the values which are also expressed in The Big 10 soon to come, are not based upon any concept of property or ownership. Thus, what they are held to in this covenant with Moses is wisdom they discerned in their homelessness and wilderness roots.

This wisdom taught lightness upon the earth, sharing abundance, and it was a wisdom that knew the non-sustainability and eventual ruin of accumulation and greed. All these lessons were held up again and again by the prophets to the coming centralized nation-state, which had forgotten the wisdom of homelessness, and the interdependence of the entire community.

And now, if we read these ancient words, if we listen for their truth, if we sift through the theistic, patriarchal, Judeo-Christian narrative, we might find the beginnings of an alternative society with an economy of enough for all! I think we will also find a people who lived in gratitude with a deep awareness of, and attentiveness to, the ecosystem of which they were a part.

All this learning and identity formation which is to come for the Hebrews is founded on the Sabbath, it is indeed the first lesson the people learn from Yahweh, the living Spirit of the wilderness, the Liberating One.

shalom all, Christopher Giffen