In the
time of Moses, Egypt
was a dictatorship ruled by an absolute ruler: The Pharaoh.
Over the course of time, before the time of Moses, many tribes had been
drawn to Egypt. It was a thriving Kingdom. Like the
Egyptians themselves, many of those who came to settle in Egypt became
slaves. Slave or not, all were subject to the
Pharaoh. It was the Pharaoh who made the laws.
According to the story of Exodus, a story which is celebrated at this
time of the year as Passover, God instructed Moses to aid Him in a
series of terrorist attacks and acts of collective punishment against
the powerless people of Egypt. Some may object that these
acts of God were not acts of terrorism, but they would be wrong in
their objections.
What is terrorism? If we dispense with the definitions
created by governments and political ideologies that use the word
“terrorism” as an instrument and stick to its
essential definition, we have: “terrorism – the
systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion.”
Let us consider the acts of God in relation to the people of Egypt.
In the story of Exodus, God sent his terrorist cell leader, Moses, to
makes various demands upon the Pharaoh. The central demand
was that the Pharaoh let the people of Moses free. Now this
is not an unreasonable demand. Holding humans in bondage is a
crime against humanity and the Pharaoh was no humanist.
However, it is the work of Pharaohs to enslave their fellow
man. Indeed, the Pharaoh, in addition to the people of Moses,
enslaved many other tribes, including his fellow Egyptians.
It is not the goal of Moses that makes his campaign a campaign of
terror. Freeing his people is a good goal. It is
his means that makes his campaign a campaign of terror.
When God sends Moses on this mission of terror, he tells Moses:
“When
thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders
before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his
heart, that he shall not let the people go. (Exodus, Chapter 4,
21)” These
“wonders” that God refers to are acts of collective
punishment, including famine and biological warfare.
Collective punishment is a crime against humanity. Moreover,
God, in His omniscience, not only knows that the Pharaoh will not meet
the demands, but prevents the Pharaoh from meeting the
demands. He prevents the Pharaoh from responding positively
by “hardening his heart,” thus guaranteeing that
even more dramatic steps will be taken to bring about
results. Famine and biological attacks are sure to provoke
terror amongst the people of Egypt. That God plans upon
inflicting these systematically conclusively demonstrates that God is
intent upon achieving His goals through “the systematic use
of terror, as a means of coercion.”
The people of Egypt have no say in whether or not the Pharaoh lets the
people of Moses go. God knows this. God's plan is
to terrorize the people of Egypt to the point where they are no longer
governable and thus to make the Pharaoh's situation untenable, this
untenableness being the the coercive force that will allow God to
achieve his goal. Of course, the omnipotent God could just
teleport the people of Moses away from the Egyptians. This
would be a gentile means, worthy of a God, to achieve this just
goal. God, being a terrorist, rejects this options and
insists upon using terrorism. He calls these acts
“wonders” in the same way that Donald Rumsfeld,
more than three thousand years later, will refer to the bombing of Iraq
as “shock and awe.”
As explained above, the people of Egypt are innocent. They
have no control over the Pharaoh, short of insurrection. The
most innocent of the innocent, however, are the children of
Egypt. Despite their innocence, it is the children of Egypt
for whom God reserves the most cruel and terrifying punishment.
According to the Book of Exodus, when the Pharaoh, on consequence of
having his heart hardened by God himself, said:
“At
midnight I will enter into Egypt: And every firstborn in the land of
the Egyptians shall die, from the firstborn of Pharao who sitteth on
his throne, even to the firstborn of the handmaid that is at the mill,
and all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great
cry in all the land of Egypt, such as neither hath been before, nor
shall be hereafter. (Exodus: Chapter 11, 4-6).”
As if being a terrorist is not enough for God, God clarifies that the
difference between how he treats the people of Moses and the people of
Egypt is one of race:
“But
with all the children of Israel there shall not a dog make the least
noise, from man even to beast; that you may know how wonderful a
difference the Lord maketh between the Egyptians and Israel. (Exodus:
Chapter 11, 7).” Thus
God makes it clear that he is not merely a terrorist, but he is a
racist terrorist.
God then makes the people of Moses accessories to His crime by
instructing them to leave a secret code about the exterior of their
dwellings by which God will know to not murder the first born within:
“And
I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and will kill every
firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast: and against all the
gods of Egypt I will execute judgments; I am the Lord. And
the blood shall be unto you for a sign in the houses where you shall
be; and I shall see the blood, and shall pass over you; and the plague
shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I shall strike the land of
Egypt. (Exodus: 12, 12)”
God, the terrorist, then instructs the people of Moses to celebrate
this act of mass murder and terrorism as a memorial for all time:
“And this day shall be for a memorial to you; and you shall
keep it a feast to the Lord in your generations, with an everlasting
observance.”
And so now, during this time of “Passover”, we
celebrate God's act of terrorism. Happy Passover, and shame
on us for celebrating it!