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Ah, yes; the parting of the Red Sea. Most of us are so familiar with this story and the way it ends that we don’t ever really stop to think about what it actually would have been like for the Israelites. After the chaos of the ten plagues and their rushed exodus from Egypt, chapter 14 finds the Israelites several days into their journey. Undoubtedly, they were anxious and afraid when they’d first set out, but after about a week of traveling without incident, I can imagine them beginning to let their guard down, possibly even feeling the first real glimmers of hope. They’d become so confident in their success, in fact, that they decided to take a break from running away and rest by the Red Sea for a little while.
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There’s a fairly common narrative that’s told in certain parts of our society. It says that women frequently make false accusations against men as a way of social climbing or gaining notoriety at the man’s expense. Although researchers and law enforcement data say that this isn’t actually an especially frequent occurrence, a lot of people still embrace this narrative wholeheartedly. Stories like the one in today’s reading certainly don’t do anything to discourage this thinking - here we have a woman accusing a man of sexual advances that he did not make in order to get him in trouble and pull him down from a powerful position within the household. This story could be read as a cautionary tale about the inherent deceitfulness of women.
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The first time I encountered the prosperity gospel was in seminary. I remember watching a video about this so-called Christian movement with my jaw on the floor. The idea that God rewards faith, positive thinking, and regular tithing with financial wealth was counter to everything that I’d ever learned about God up to that point. It’s God-as-a-cosmic-vending-machine theology on steroids. By the time a pastor with the actual name Creflo Dollar showed up on the screen to defend this theology, I was convinced that the whole thing had to be either a joke or a cult. Everybody knows that God isn’t in the business of trading blessings for obedience, right?
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