YHWH’s Big Mistakes

Exodus 18

In this chapter Jethro, Moses father-in-law and a Midianite priest of YHWH, comes to visit.  It begins as a family reunion with a burnt offering.  Moses shares the sacrifice with all the elders of Israel.  During this time, Moses tells Jethro about everything that has happened since he left to return to Egypt.  Jethro is impressed by the hideous atrocities that YHWH and Moses performed in Egypt.  He also reconfirms his loyalty to YHWH.  Two things are of interest in this section.  One is the advice that Jethro gives Moses on leading the people.  The second is how YHWH repays Jethro for everything the man has done for Moses, Israel, and YHWH. 

This is the first incidence of seeing how the “government” of Israel is carried out.  Moses spends the entire day passing judgment on the people’s disputes.  He alone takes on the entire load of governing 2,000,000 people.  The advice Jethro gives Moses is to teach the people:

Exodus 18:20 Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform.

Further, Jethro recommends dividing the work of judgment among numerous YHWH-fearing men.  But here is the catch, he recommends dividing the people into: thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.  We can assume that the children will be looked over by their parent, which is a common practice in the modern world, right (sarcasm)?  But even at the slightly smaller number of 1,200,000 this would lead to:

1,200 judges of the thousands

12,000 judges of the hundreds

24,000 judges of the fifties

120,000 judges of the tens

Out of 2,000,000 (1,200,000 adult) people there would be nearly 160,000 leaders.  What exactly would constitute the encouragement of these men to judge properly?  What test would be involved to ensure they judge indiscriminately?  There is no police, no investigative department, only 13% of the population acting as judge, jury, and executioner.  And yet we still have the golden calf issue (Exodus 32).  Of course, we also have the problem that no laws or decrees have been provided by YHWH yet.

The second thing that seems to be overlooked about Moses family is how YHWH treats Jethro and his people, the Midianites.  Remember that Jethro is a priest of YHWH, yet:

Numbers 31:3 So Moses said to the people, “Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites and to carry out the Lord’s vengeance on them.

Is this the way to repay the man who advised Moses how to run the government of Israel?  Is this the way to treat the man who was the father of Moses wife?  Is this the way to treat a priest of YHWH?  Yet, for some unknown reason, the entire Midianite community has been rejected by YHWH.  Our only glimpse is one single verse:

Numbers 25:3 So Israel joined in worshipping the Baal of Peor.  And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

The problem with this is that Peor was a Moabite community, not a Midianite community.  Of course, the other problem is that the Israelites chose to follow the Moabites.  Yet YHWH blames the wrong community for the acts of his own people!  He punishes the Israelites, but he also causes great suffering for the Israelites for many generation.  The Midianites become a thorn in Israel’s side:

Judges 6:3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other eastern peoples invaded the country.

If you remember correctly the Amalekites were the ones that YHWH promised to “blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven” (Exodus 17:15).

The Book of Judges takes place after Joshua dies at the age of 110.  He most likely was near twenty years of age when he began to be Moses’ aide.  Add to this time the number of judges after Joshua and Judges Chapter 6: 47 years.  About 150 years after the promise to blot the Amalekites for memory and from the time that Moses lived with the Midianites, YHWH had still not fulfilled his promise.  I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait 150 years for YHWH to get around to fulfilling promises.  Worse is that YHWH has not dealt with the Amalekites even in King David’s time! 

So here we have examples of YHWH’s failures.  He holds a grudge against the wrong nation, he punishes an nation that actually worships him, and he does not fulfill his promises.  YHWH is worse than a cruel arbitrary god of mythology; he is a monster that no one should even believe exists.  The Midianites were never a threat to Israel, yet YHWH causes the conflict that will cause his people trouble for generations.  Great going super being!

This entry was posted on July 7, 2009, 7:10 am at 07:10 and is filed under Exodus, Inerrancy - My Ass, Family Values?, Readings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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