Map of life expectancy at birth from Global Education Project.

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Sunday Sermonette: Jehovah the psychopath

The character of God in the Old Testament is the most morally repugnant being imaginable. This seems inexplicably untroubling to the faithful -- the rabbis and theologians don't seem to worry about it much. But I have certainly noticed it. Let's pay attention to what's going on here, in Exodus 7, as the story finally picks up some speed.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you.
 So it seems Pharaoh, if left to his own devices, might be perfectly willing to let the Hebrews go, but God will "harden his heart" to make sure he doesn't, in order for God to have the opportunity to punish the Egyptian people, for no apparent reason.
Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”
Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them. Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
At least these ages aren't biologically impossible, but it was extremely unusual for people to live that long in the third millennium BC, or really at any time in human history until the 19th Century. As far as I have been able to determine, nobody has figured out exactly why the early books of the Torah consistently give people these preposterous lifespans. I believe I may have mentioned early on in this project that it may have had to do with faulty transliteration of numbering systems.
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”
Remember that this proposal has already come up a couple of chapters back, but a lot of other business intervened. Again, it appears the scribes have compiled various stories and versions of stories about Moses into a single document, giving us this disjointed narrative.
10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. 11 Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: 12 Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13 Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
KJV has "7:13 And he hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said." Again, the translators of the NIV seem to be trying to clean things up. 
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. 16 Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. 17 This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’”
19 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels[a] of wood and stone.”
20 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.
Of course, this is an event that can happen in fact, an algae bloom. It wouldn't affect all of the streams and canals as the story has it, and the red tide isn't literally blood, but this could have been inspired by a historical event. 
22 But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts,
Huh? I guess the point is supposed to be that Pharaoh isn't all that impressed since his sorcerers could also have done this, but I don't see that as very logical.
and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. 23 Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart. 24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river.
25 Seven days passed after the Lord struck the Nile.
Now think about this. The Egyptian people did not enslave the Hebrews or refuse to free them. As a matter of fact, it isn't even Pharaoh that refused to free them, it's God, who controlled Pharaoh's actions. But let's ignore that latter fact. This may seem to make moral sense to the tellers of this tale because political cultures of the era conflated the ruler with the populace. He essentially embodies the national existence. L'etat ce mois. But it is the Egyptian populace, not Pharaoh, who are made to suffer.

8 comments:

Don Quixote said...

Man, that whole "L’état, c’est moi" thing is so very disturbing in light of what my own country, the United States of America, is experiencing now. It seems the deranged, paranoiac, malevolent ramblings of one man trump--pardon the expression--the entire populace and the rule of law. No matter what it is, arms sales to corrupt Middle Eastern regimes, terrorizing immigrants, abusing women and children--it just goes on and on because of one evil man.

I wonder who hardened that motherfucker's heart?

Don Quixote said...

And of course it goes on and on with the willing participation and support of people like Bill Barr; like that creepy motherfucker--whathisname, the media guy who never shaves who helped get Shitler into office, oh yeah, Bannon--and Mitch McConnell and his analogs in the general population, all insecure, malevolent people who want to feel superior to somebody so they can feel "good" about themselves, and minorities and women and children and the environment are the easiest targets.

My god, there are a lot of ugly, hateful people in this country. Spiritually ugly, emotionally sick, intellectually bankrupt.

Dr Porkenheimer said...


A serious question:

Do you personally know someone that supports President Trump?

Co-worker? Friend?

Anyone here can answer.

Cervantes said...

I do personally know people but not as far as I know any coworkers. As you might imagine, he is not very popular in schools of public health. I live in a rural community. People of my acquaintance who are supporters of the resident are not exactly personal friends, but I do interact with them.

Because Mr. Trump is a pathological liar, a sadistic psychopath, a malignant narcissist, a racist, misogynist, ignorant idiot and bully, it is kind of hard for me to relate to people who like him. But I guess that's just me.

Don Quixote said...

Yes, I do ... unfortunately, people do. A guy I know who's just kinda been Republican all his life, self-employed, blue collar ... he makes excuses for Shitler, as many people do. If you comment, say, on the unprecedented number of lies the man tells, my acquaintance says, "All politicians lie" ... it's kind of like saying, "We're all crazy, you know--you, me ... Charlie Manson was crazy ..."

I've met others. I've worked blue-collar jobs and I knew a guy in a catering kitchen where I worked ...

Many military people probably do, which is inexplicable to me but there it is.

Don Quixote said...

However, I believe that so many people now see through the man for being the utterly transparent megalomaniacal asshole that he is that the only way for him to win, and stay out of jail, in 2020 is with the help of Russian hackers and Republican-owned voting machine companies. And good 'ol voter suppression. And even then ... I can't believe he'll come anywhere close to those other "lying politicians" [sic] like Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg ... of course the whole thing is incredible because without the sycophantic Republican ignoramuses and hucksters in the Senate and the House, he'd have been impeached a long time ago. This is how nations turn into fascist states.

Dr Porkenheimer said...


How is it that you hardly know anyone that supports Donald Trump and yet he has an approval rating of 42% per Reuters/Ipsos and 44% per Rasmussen?

It's clear that you don't have an understanding of those supporters.

Cervantes said...

I don't take your point. I said that I know quite a few of them, but they aren't people I would be likely to be close friends with. That's because I do understand them, all too well. DQ is saying exactly the same thing.