Exodus 4: In Writing

There is

a breath that moves

between 

exhaled inhaled

stirring the air

coiling danger

World is an unexpected meeting

with nothing cast down

nothing forgotten

where what you throw

returns to chase you

all the things we refuse to carry

Send me forth

living messenger

speaking words to the wind

the heaviness of the mouth

the closed lips of being

ppen to breath you in

Exodus: Chapter 4

To send forth
put words in someone's mouth
can you be another's mouth?


Complex identities
strange meetings

learning to listen

[For full chapter, click here
The chapter seamlessly continues the battle by the bush. Now Moses emerges not only as the one who "turns to see" but also as the one who fights. The same Moses who did not hesitate to smite the Egyptian and to reprimand the two Hebrews, now openly contradicts God: "they will not believe me, they will listen to me." The linkage between sight and sound that dominated the previous chapter, develops to a connection between faith and listening.
And the central leiword: sending forth. How does one act in another's stead? Moses is to act for God; Aaron is to act for Moses. A merging of identities, and for the first time in the Bible,the primal  threat of "sending forth the hand" (shelihut yad) is used in a positive sense. There is a way to extend identity without grasping what is not meant for you.
Edenic themes abound: Sending forth the hand; the serpent, and the words shared between Aaron and Moses' mouths--an echo of the creation of Man, where God "breathes in" life, and Man begins to speak)

Exodus 3: In Writing

To see and be seen

fire-flicker in the wild

pulsing to the silent beat of the heart

Take of your shoes

Stand naked on holiness

Can one call-called

And be unconsumed?

        ***

Eternity in change

burning but uneaten

blazing but still

seen in disguise

I will be

as I was

my name

in generation

turn to see

and see you looking

cover your face

for fear of sight

through water and flame

I am here

 the pressure bearing down

What is a name

to be what will be

the force that bears you

the eternity in your ear

I am your past

the names you've spoken

the words you know

the inner silence

the carrying hand

the arching arm

I am

what always was

what makes you here

Exodus: Chapter 3

To be seen
to be heard
to be known

What is in a name?

Entering history
the future is here

burning, but not consumed














[for full chapter, click here
This chapter continues with the leitwords of seeing and being seen, and the thematic emphasis on naming.
Moses is first saved by being seen by his mother and Pharaoh's daughter. His first act as an adult is to go out "and see" his brothers' suffering. Here, at this definitive moment, an angel "shows himself" (va-yera) to Moses, and Moses "turns aside to see" (ve-ereh). When God "sees" that "he has turned aside to see (lirot)", he calls to Moses by name. The encounter by the burning bush is a mutual, intimate gaze, with all the danger that implies: "and Moses covered his face, for he was afraid to gaze." Moses can be defined as the one who turns aside to look, by that extra awareness and care.
As in the introductory paragraph, gaze turns to listening,and  listening turns to knowledge, an intertwined related trio: "And God  saw...and God knew" "and God heard...and God saw...and God knew" "I have seen...and have heard their screams...for I know..."
In the intimate mutual gaze, the quest for freedom turns into a need to give the redeeming God (who until now speaks as the impersonal power, elokim) a name. : "I will be with you" turns into "I will be what I will be," which becomes " I will be" and finally turns into the personal Name of God, placed within the context of history: "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob." This local relationship turns into "this is my name forever, and my memory for every generation." God is the God if covenant, defined by the relationship to humanity.]