Poor Management Skills

June 18, 2009, 9:11 am by dc-agape.

Image via Wikipedia

Exodus Chapter 5:1-21

Moses does exactly what YHWH, the omnipotent supreme being, tells him to do.  He goes and lies to the Pharaoh.  He tells the Pharaoh that they only want to have a three day weekend celebration.  Can you guess what happens?  The situation gets worse!  Now did the situation get worse because he lied or because this was how YHWH planned it?  We know that YHWH was going to harden the Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 4:21), and we know that the purpose of the plagues was to show the Egypt YHWH’s glory (Exodus 9:13-14).  So, yeah, YHWH planned on making his people suffer even more before he rescues them.

As soon as Moses has made the plea, which YHWH told him to do, it peeks the Pharaoh’s anger.  He decides that the Israelite slaves should make brick without the starting materials.  Now they have to go and get the straw that is used as a binder in the brinks.  But the manufacturing of bricks is quite informative.  Kiln fired brinks were not made in Egypt until the time of Rameses II.  I bring this up because sun dried brinks can only be made right after the spring floods, when the mud and the straw are available.  Another interesting thing about straw bricks is the amount of straw required to make the bricks.  It has been estimated that it would require 60kg to make 100 bricks.  Yet a single brick-maker can make 3,500-5,000 brick per day.  So you can see why the Israelites could not keep up production.  Yet due to the time constraints of a short “brick season” you can also see why the Pharaoh was upset about the slow down. 

But the slow down would not be noticed immediately, without a kiln it would take at least 25 days to dry the bricks in the sun.  It was at least a month before the beatings started.  So here again we see “YHWH works in his own time”.  For over a month the Israelites were struggling to get the straw required to keep production up, and then the beatings started.  The whole time Moses, Aaron, and YHWH sat on their little fannies while the average Israelite worked their asses off. 

Two things remind me of modern work conditions.  Notice that both YHWH and the Pharaoh are identical to industrial managers.  The Pharaoh was not concerned that he was causing a slow down by the additional work.  It did not even cross his mind that 3,000kg of straw per day per brick-maker.  But YHWH is no better, for an entire month he left his “chosen people” to suffer attempting to meet quotas.  He was waiting for the proper time to make his own move!  You would think that modern day Christian managers would remember this story for its managerial moral conclusion, instead of just the “trust in YHWH” bull.

Even better is that after the month of extra work the foremen find out that it is Moses and YHWH’s fault that the workload has increased.  They are furious with the real men but do not blame the supernatural agent that initiated the suffering.  How typical of the religious not to blame the true agent of their suffering.  And I don’t mean that it was YHWH’s fault, I mean that it was Moses’ belief in YHWH’s command that was at fault.  Moses believed he was following supernatural guidance and that belief caused great suffering to the innocent people of the Israelite tribes.

Posted in Exodus, Personal Responsibility, Readings | Print | 1 Comment »