28 The Israelites went and did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.<!– 29 –>

The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.³⁰Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his officials and all the Egyptians; and there was a loud cry in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.³¹Then he summoned Moses and Aaron in the night, and said, ‘Rise up, go away from my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord, as you said.³²Take your flocks and your herds, as you said, and be gone. And bring a blessing on me too!’<!– 33 –>

The Exodus: From Rameses to Succoth

33 The Egyptians urged the people to hasten their departure from the land, for they said, ‘We shall all be dead.’³⁴So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading-bowls wrapped up in their cloaks on their shoulders.³⁵The Israelites had done as Moses told them; they had asked the Egyptians for jewellery of silver and gold, and for clothing,³⁶and the Lord had given the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. And so they plundered the Egyptians.

37 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children.³⁸A mixed crowd also went up with them, and livestock in great numbers, both flocks and herds.³⁹They baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt; it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

"Taking away our slaves" -burials after Sharpeville Massacre

I’ve indicated in my last blog that a God whose deliverance of one people involves the murders of another is maybe not the God we need. However, if we take the story as celebrating the escape of slaves from slavery, we can well understand the fierce bitterness and lack of interest in Egyptian welfare. When a whole people are complicit in enslaving foreigners in their midst, they can’t have too many just complaints about the consequences, whatever they are. The plea from some apologists for a “nuanced” account of Apartheid for example, as if there could be some nice way of treating people as your slaves, is spurious. On the other hand, any carelessness about justice on the part of those who have won their freedom can lead to exactly the kind of injustice perpetrated by Israel on the original populations of Canaan in Joshua’s time, and on the original populations of Palestine since 1948. Perhaps they are evident even in the new South Africa.

A striking element in the story is Pharaoh’s request for Moses to bring him back a blessing from God. (Moses’ official purpose is for Israel to meet its God in the desert). The storyteller gives the hardhearted ruler an moment of needy humanity. Perhaps Pharaoh would come to see that the removal of a slave population from his society was itself a blessing; that only by this deprivation could his people enjoy the blessings of a just national life. There are those whose nations (USA, UK, France)once enslaved other populations, who still refuse to see the end of such injustice as a blessing and maintain hatred of their former victims. Justice is always a blessing, especially to those who have perverted it.

Mark 16:9-20

The Shorter Ending of Mark

[[And all that had been commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter. And afterwards Jesus himself sent out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.^* ]]

The Longer Ending of Mark

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

9 [[Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.¹⁰She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping.¹¹But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.<!– 12 –>

Jesus Appears to Two Disciples

12 After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country.¹³And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.<!– 14 –>

Jesus Commissions the Disciples

14 Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.^*15And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news^* to the whole creation.¹⁶The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned.¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;¹⁸they will pick up snakes in their hands,^* and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.’<!– 19 –>

The Ascension of Jesus

19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.²⁰And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.^*]]

bullies anticipate the final judgment

These are the additions to Mark’s Gospel of which I spoke in Bible Blog 706. All scholars are agreed that they are not by Mark but added early in the history of the Church using material from the other gospels and perhaps from ancient sources we no longer possess. As such they are of value to the church, and of course, they are officially part of the Holy Scripture as defined by the Church. I want to say that any benefit I might gain from studying them is undone by verse 16, “The one who believes and is baptised will be saved, the one who does not believe will be condemned.” If this means what it says, it’s just another sad example of how God’s goodness can be used to threaten and denigrate people who do not believe the humanly contructed message which is preached to them. I’m sure there is a real refusal of God’s goodness which puts people in danger of hell, but it shouldn’t be confused with inability to believe the message of the church. All attempts to bind God to the theology of his/her devotees are mere bullies’ charters, whichever religion uses them; and all attempts to anticpate the final judgment of God on anyone should be resisted.