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May Yahweh bless you
and keep you.
May Yahweh let his face shine on you
and be gracious to you.
May Yahweh uncover his face toward you
and bring you peace. (Numbers 6 :24-25)
So Yahweh directed the prophet Moses to bless his people
in the thirteenth century, BCE.
The blessing continues …
HAPPY NEW YEAR
2022
O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel,
who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush
and gave him the law on Sinai:
Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.
The second O Antiphon, December 18, 2021, addresses the longed-for Messiah as Adonai, influenced by Isaiah11: 4-5; 33:22.
The ancient Hebrew word Adonai means Lord or Master: it speaks to His absolute sovereignty over all life, first recorded in the Old Testament book of Genesis. At that time, the Israelites experienced the harshness, the complexity of life. Early on, they learned that their survival depended upon Another, a monotheistic God, unlike the pantheon of gods worshiped by their neighbors. Through the wisdom of the first patriarch Abraham came an inchoate calling, culminating centuries later within the covenanted relationship, finalized by the prophet Moses.
It is to this prophet’s reliance upon the power of God that we turn. Like the others, he experienced Adonai’s call in the burning bush, together with the corresponding mandate of freeing the Israelites from Pharaoh’s oppression—An impossible task Moses acceded to only after pointed dialogue. The outstretched arm played a significant role in this freedom.
Because the Red Sea thwarted the Israelites’ flight from hundreds of Pharaoh’s chariots armed to kill, Adonai instructed Moses to raise his arm, causing the waters to part into dry ground for them to cross. When everyone was freed, Moses was instructed to lower his arm, causing the rushing waters to drown horses, chariots, and drivers.
Like the Israelites, we falter before obvious good; we need help, beyond our imagination. Thus the outstretched arm from the Moses story still works. The imperatives, Come and redeem signify willingness to change. On our own, such is impossible.
It’s happening again—splotches of scarlet shrubs adding zest to November’s lethargy, slowly morphing into winter’s stillness. But do stop at the next burning bush or spindle tree that you pass. Note the reddest purple fruit beneath finely toothed leaves, no longer green, upon branches flaring with corky wings. After a few days, note the red mantle encircling the bush.
Such a burning bush recalls the ancient story of Moses as narrated in the Hebrew book of Exodus. It was an ordinary day when Moses set out with the sheep of his father-in law, Jethro, and headed toward the wilderness near Mount Horeb—an ordinary day that would stun Moses to the core. In the distance, he noted a living shrub enlivened by flames. Terrified, he moved closer. From the heart of the bush resounded the words: “Moses! Moses!…Take of your shoes. Come no nearer, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your father Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses covered his face, afraid to look at God.
More words followed from the burning bush: the revelation of God’s name empowering Moses to free the oppressed Israelites from Egypt’s Pharaoh, and the strategies necessary for this daunting task. With Moses’s reluctant acceptance, the living shrub became ordinary again, but he was changed. And we know the rest of the story.
As you move into your next ordinary day, be on the lookout for a “burning bush.” It could change your life!
Be not as the British Pre-Raphaelite Christina Rossetti described at the end of one of her poems, “the dull-witted eating blackberries seated around a burning bush.
Heart Whisperings 