Sh'mot: Why No One Can Ruin the Ending

Spoiler alert! This week, we are beginning the Book of Exodus and therefore also the story of THE Exodus (from Egypt). Yet even though 
we're only at the very beginning, 
and it's going to take weeks to find out whether Moses successfully convinces Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, I can tell you right now: Moses wins. Sorry if I ruined the ending for you, especially if you were planning to go see the new Hollywood film, "Exodus: Gods and Kings" (which was conveniently released right around the time that we started reading the Book of Exodus). I know what a nail-biter it would have been, if I hadn't just given away the exciting finish...

The funny thing is, I'm not the only one who read ahead. God did too. And in our parashah, still at the very, very start of the epic story, God spoils the ending for Moses as well. In chapter 3, verses 19-20, God 
tells Moses: "Yet I know that the king of Egypt will let you go only because of a greater might. So I will stretch out My hand and smite Egypt with various wonders which I will work upon them; after that he shall let you go." What amazes me about this is that before Moses ever approaches Pharaoh with those first immortal words, "Let my people go!", God already reveals to Moses that Pharaoh WON'T listen to him. It's going to take A LOT more convincing (and plagues) to crack this nut. I wonder how Moses might have felt then at the outset of the enterprise, knowing it would be a long, long haul.

Sometimes when I discuss this section with congregants, say in our Wednesday morning Bible class, people express frustration at what they're reading: "Why go through this whole song-and-dance? Why doesn't God just cut to the chase and start with the TENTH plague so we can get this over with already!?!" 

It's a fair question. Why send Moses in to speak to Pharaoh, when God is telling him from the start that it won't work? OR, at the very least, why tell Moses how it's going to end at this early stage? What does it accomplish to, in effect, ruin the exciting conclusion for him, as I did (though not really) for you? I want to suggest two responses. First, it's about faith in God. The reason for revealing the climax to Moses is to show God's total omnipotence. It demonstrates to Moses that not only will God win the fight with Pharaoh, and not only can God work fantastical wonders to accomplish this goal, but the entire sequence of events is already known to God from the outset. In other words, God isn't the protagonist to Pharaoh's antagonist, like two opponents in a chess match; God invented the game.  

The second lesson I take from God "spoiling" the ending is that the Torah is not about outcomes, it's about processes. The Exodus itself - I mean the WHOLE thing, the entire 40-year period - is about the time in the desert, not just the destination. God tells Moses that this is not 

going to be a simple, one-time conversation with Pharaoh; all the stages between this moment and the eventual release are all valuable. The same is true for us today; it's not about the solutions or the resolutions we come to, it's about the travels we embark on and the phases we go through along the way. It's also a reminder not to worry about spoilers. If you are only looking to get to the end, whether it's a book, a movie, or a stage in life, then maybe you're in it for the wrong reasons. Try to refocus and see the value in the odyssey itself. Nothing is really pointless or devoid of value. Sometimes we just have to look harder and mine our experiences for meaning; but there is always some reason why we are where we are. God is the only one who REALLY knows how it ends, but that's ok. You and I should just hang out here, right in the middle of the journey itself.

Photos in this blog post:
1. CC image of courtesy of Donperfectodewiki on Wikimedia Commons
2. CC image of Benjamin West's painting, "Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh" courtesy of Captain Phoebus on Wikimedia Commons
3. CC image courtesy of LGD12345 on Wikimedia Commons
4. CC image courtesy of Ewikist on en.wikipedia