In the story of Exodus, God has freed a people, but they are not yet his people.  After the Passover, most of the liberated mass would not be able to single out Yahweh in a lineup of deities.  Their devotion is an “I’m with him” and not an “I’m for him.”  I am working through all of scripture sifting out the imperatives, the commands issued by God.  Sometimes I stop off to examine imperatives given by humans, but as we just read in Exodus, even a man-god’s commands don’t amount for much.  What will God do with this new people leaving Egypt?

Exo 13:2 “Consecrate to me all the firstborn.”  The verb for consecrate is the verbal form of the word holy or set apart, qodesh. The people inherently are “set apart” in the ancient world.  The rag-tag group of Hebrews are the only group of freed slaves running around.  They had no identity.  The temptation to blend in would have been palpable.  But God turns up the awkwardness, “The world looks at you as different, but be even more set apart.”

The rest of chapter 13 is instructions from Moses on how to behave in the future.  God only need to say, “Be holy to me” (v2).  The rest falls in line, much like the “be blameless” of Gen 17:1.  One imperative is enough.

Exo 14:2 “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp.”  The command is for Moses to tell the people the plan.  God hasn’t forgotten Pharaoh.

Exo 14:13 Moses exhorts the whiny people, “Stand firm!  See the salvation of the LORD!”  The phrase “fear not” is not a true imperative.  Obviously, the people are already fearful.

Exo 14:15-16 “Tell the Israelites… Lift up your staff… stretch out your hand… divide the sea.”  All these powerful commands are given to Moses after God asks, “Why Moses do you cry to me?”  The tone sounds similar to Mark 6:37, “You feed them.”  Notice, this is another staff-hand pattern miracle.

Exo 14:26 “Stretch out you hand…. so that the waters may come back.”  God reminds Moses, “Don’t forget to close the door.”

Exo 15:21 “Sing to the LORD.”  Miriam is the first worship leader.  Moses has commanded the ex-slaves to prepare meals and pack light, but Miriam’s short song commands the community to do what they were made for.  Moses’ song is all “me and God.”

Exo 16:12, 16 “I have heard the grumbling… speak to them… Gather of it as much as you can eat.”  The quail and manna are a novel give-and-take of God’s commands and the people’s desire.  The goal: after God has filled them, “Then you shall know that I am Yahweh your God.”  Yahweh is going to stand out in the lineup.

Exo 16:23, 25 “Bake… boil… lay aside till the morning” (v23).  Moses is teaching the people how to prepare for Sabbath.  Six days they walk outside their tents and depend on God’s provision of manna and quail.  For the seventh day, they get ready for a different kind of provision, God’s rest.  “Eat it today” is the command for the manna that miraculously lasts through the night to the Sabbath (v25).  Notice that the day to day provision consisted of God creating, the Sabbath provision consisted of God making something not face decay and destruction.

Exo 16:29, 33 “See!… remain each of you in his place” (v29).  God commands the people to observe what he has done and rest in it.  “Take a jar, put an omer of manna in it, and place it before Yahweh” (v33).  Three of God’s commands spoken by Moses give ceremony to the “See!” of v29.  Like Noah’s rainbow, God creates the best memorials.

Exo 17:5 “Pass on before the people… take the staff… and go.”  The people don’t realize how near danger they are.  “Why do you test Yahweh?” (v2).  The verb “pass” is the same verb from Exo 12:12 “I will pass through the land of Egypt at night, and I will attack.”  God addresses their grumbling for water by showing the leaders his presence, “I will stand before [you and the elders] on the rock” (v6).

Exo 17:14 “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it.”  God has commanded a new thing, writing.  Notice again that God creates his own memorials.  The word “recite” is a form that usually means place (Gen 2:8 God “places” man in the garden).  The verb is more about where the word lands and less on the manner of speaking.

Exo 18 deals with Jethro and the administration of the people.  God does not directly speak.

Exo 19:12, 15, 21.  God is concerned with proximity, but Moses and the priests are concerned with purity.  God commands two true imperatives in this passage, “You will say, ‘Take care/guard yourselves from going up” (v12) and “Go down!  Warn the people, lest they break through to the LORD” (v21).  Getting too close to the mountain is dangerous.  How does Moses convey this to the people? “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman” (v15).  God had just commanded Moses to tell the people how to setup a boundary and all Moses says is, “Get ready.  Don’t have sex.”

God creates his own memorials.  That is a good thing to, because his people are on the move.  Geographically they are moving, but their identity also is shifting.  For the first time in Exodus, the Hebrews have a clue as to who they are following.  This Yahweh does strange and marvelous things, but unlike the Hebrews’ last god, Yahweh’s biggest command so far has been rest.  Next time, God will add ten more commands.