The story
The first steps forward of the gathered Hebrews are closely guided by the ever attentive Lord. A sense of haste directs the pace, maybe an unspoken understanding that the unpredictable Pharaoh could change his mind at any moment. Nothing makes you move forward faster than the thought of being pursued.
I’m sure in the mind of Moses, and I’m sure Gods, was that each step away from the life in Egypt would make those wavering in their decision to leave see no realistic way back. There would have been a very much perceived risk here, many of those hearts filled with ‘but what if’s ‘ ?
What if this turns out worse than we had before?
What if this God can’t be appeased?
What if this God is bringing us out to punish us for our unfaithfulness?
And perhaps even more terrifying what if just like Pharaoh this God doesn’t really care about us….about me?
But God does care, and He knows that they aren’t yet formed enough to withstand walking the shorter distance and facing the challenges that lie in the more seemingly easier route, God knew their limitations, the fragility of their faith in Him, just as He does ours.
What’s happening with Moses?
The Lord also knew that there were others to be rescued, the 600,000 wasn’t enough when there were still some of His children slaving in the copper and turquoise mines just outside Sukkot. Each soul was as important as the rest, just like the Shepherd who leaves the 99, God the Father sends Moses to bring all His children into the fold. There would be no crossing the Red Sea until every willing child was invited to start the Journey to freedom.
I think Moses had walked this route before with the flocks of Jethro, I wonder if he saw how the Lord had formed him and trained him before entrusting His people to His care?
Maybe Moses reflected on this when things were calmer, when they had passed dry foot through the sea. I wonder did He realise that this wasn’t a herd but thousands of individual souls, all loved and desired by the God He followed. I wonder also if in learning that the Lord understood the fragility of the Hebrews faith and courage, he too began to realise how the Lord looked upon and understood him.
What’s happening with the Israelites?
The name Sukkot or Succoth means booths, we don’t read that the Lord provided shelters here, the name may have come from Jacob building ‘booths’ for his animals here after his reunion with his brother Esau. He builds a house for himself and booths for his animals. Would the Hebrews have passed that very place? Would they have recalled the story of their ancestor and his permanent house and the temporary shelters built for his animals. I like to think that they would have passed it and been reassured that if the Lord provided for Jacob, and even for his animals, then surely he would be providing shelter for them.
At this point in the journey the Hebrews were more akin to the animals than the fullness of humanity intended for them at creation. All the base instincts would have been to the fore, did they squabble, did each of them feel tempted to look after themselves before their neighbour? People living in slavery have been totally dehumanised and treated as objects of another person’s will. They may have found it hard to trust anyone and to form healthy relationships, even with those trying to help. Independent thought gets reserved for saving your skin and avoided if you are trying to keep your head down. Fear shuts a person down, fear and submission strip people of their humanity. When every day seems the same even memories get buried in an act of self protection.
What do we learn about God?
Here we have a God who knows his people intimately enough to foresee the pitfalls they will need saving from. There’s a subtle wisdom that they are being led by external circumstances and forces, God knows it will be sometime before they can hear Him speaking to their hearts. It will take this very journey before the intimate connection he desires with them is possible. We see through every page of their story the patience He has to get them to that place interiorly and I think He does the same with us.
I wonder how often we may feel that we are on a pointless journey. The Lord could click those mighty fingers and I could already be perfected, that this longer route is unnecessary. We can learn from this, as in all of this journey, when the journey home seems a little indirect at best, we can think there’s an error on the map or (lets be honest here) an error on the one giving directions. God doesn’t make errors, we know it really, but that little nagging voice can pick up a megaphone when we can’t see the whole picture.
There is one other aspect of Gods nature to see here, His wisdom in our limitations, how He knows us better than we know ourselves. There are many things I think I can handle in a day that He knows is beyond me or beyond where my level of faith can carry me. Its pride that thinks I know better.
What can we learn from the journey to Succoth?
There was an elderly gentleman in our parish that once gave his amazing testimony to our RCIA group, it was a tale of how so many things had aligned for him to walk into the Catholic Church some years before. He finished, with a catch in his voice that betrayed the depth of emotion “It has always stunned me the mountains the Lord will move to bring just one soul home” He was that one soul, I was that one soul. He will provide exactly what we need to get us home. Perhaps just as with the Hebrews, the Lord will mobilise an army to set one person free, today that could be you.
There is a saying that the Lord will never send more than we can handle, there are times I’ve doubted that to be true, but I see here that the other routes, the ones that looked more efficient or easier may well have been more than I was able to cope with….if I did just trust in His wisdom.
Significance for the Spiritual Journey
The root of the name Succoth refers yes, to the booths for animals, but but also to hedges or means of surrounding, it also has roots in the word interwoven. I am taken back to the hedge used to hide by our first parents Adam and Eve. The Lord also, as they leave the garden covers their nakedness, to an onlooker they would have appeared as animals clothed in the skins. Sadly they are no longer naked and unashamed before him.
Perhaps the Hebrews re-join the story at this point, the relationship with their God and Our Creator broken. A distance filled with mistrust and obscurity from their side but with the clear plan for salvation in the mind of God.
For our spiritual journey, here, we are still very much in those first mansions, the purgative stage. covered yes, but clothed as an animal, hiding from God and at the mercy of all our base instincts. The Lord is leading though, and will steer us from the biggest threats to our continuing journey. The strength of a community around us helps, maybe others in the same place, with the same doubts and fragilities helps us remain anonymous, what we do and who we are, is lost in the movement of the herd. Moses, some steps ahead, is on the path to find his true identity, the Israelites have yet to discover this desire written in their DNA, perhaps the stop at Sukkoth for us is to see the Lord reaching out to others, a first inkling that those not gathered were missed that they mattered enough for everyone to be moved to a place to reach them. I wonder did the question arise in their hearts…would He do the same for me? I think this is the stirrings of the first steps to relational faith.
