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St Francis Magazine Vol 8, No 2 | April 2012 LORD among us/in our midst or not?” (cf. Ps. 95) Another way of rendering this verse which highlights the fact that it was a direct questioning even of the existence of Him who called Himself “I AM” or “He who is” might be: “Is Yahweh existent in our midst or is he nonexistent?” 125 Put simply, they asked “Is the LORD really with us?” 126 The Psalmist recalls this same mutinous questioning with the words, “Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?” (78:20) and comments that at the root of such a question was the fact that “they did not believe in God and did not trust in his saving power” (v. 22). That He was with them is unmistakable for we read in retrospect about the wilderness sojourn that “These forty years the LORD your God has been with you” (Deut 2:7, cf Deut 20:4; 23:14). Even the new Hebrew Christians need to be reminded with words direct from Deuteronomy that “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you” (Heb 13:5 cf. Deut 31:6). Whereas many of the children of Israel and some of the recipients of the book of Hebrews were convinced that YHWH had brought them into their liminal state only to make their life difficult, the truth was otherwise. YHWH’s plans for good for his people are unmistakable with the words of Deut 8:16 as One “who fed you in the desert with manna 127 , unknown to your ancestors; all the while humbling and testing you in order to do 125 Noel D. Osborn and Howard Hatton, A Handbook on Exodus.[UBS Handbook Series; Helps for Translators] (New York : United Bible Societies, 1999), S. 416 126 Thomas B. Dozeman, Exodus. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 2009). p. 46 says that this question is “the central theme to the second part of Exodus” 127 Manna is itself a sign of ambiguity and thus liminality. The word manna literally means ‘what is it?’ in Hebrew. This quality of not being able to identify something is an important aspect of the ‘in-‐between’ phase, like with children dressed in Halloween costumes, or baptismal candidates dressed in androgynous robes that conceal their gender. 258
St Francis Magazine Vol 8, No 2 | April 2012 you good in the end.” 128 This same theme of preparation for greater blessings via the road of suffering can be found in Deut 30:5, the life of Job (Job 42:16) and the message to the Hebrews (cf. Romans 8:18). They are reminded to “recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings” (10:32) and urged to press on and not to “throw away your confidence, which has a great reward” (10:35). They needed to recognize that what was needed in this pilgrim march was “endurance” and just like their Hebrew ancestors they might “receive what is promised” (10:36). History, however, demonstrates that for all of YHWH’s promises, they preferred to find avoidance mechanisms for the liminal state. 7.2 Avoidance of liminality “Are you one of his followers?” asked the servant girl to Peter. “Never.” Why would one want to be seen to be associated with One who said that “his kingdom is not of this world” who hearkened from Galilee, who was now pushed to the periphery of Jewish society now that he was condemned to die the humiliating death of crucifixion reserved for political rebels and murderers. Not a chance would he want to be identified with this Jesus. The question was asked to the old covenant Hebrews. “Why live in this liminal state where we have to depend on YHWH for everything. Let’s take matters into our own hands. Let’s select our own leader, let’s push our own way into the promised land, or if that doesn’t work let’s return to Egypt. Let’s call into question the ability of our leaders and our Leader by making comparisons to where we used to be. “ 128 The Complete Jewish Bible. Examples of a “good” destination, i.e. Canaan or the Lord doing “good” to Israel are peppered throughout the book of Deuteronomy. Examples are: “houses full of good things”; “good land beyond the Jordan”; “the good land which the Lord gives you”; “that goodly hill country”; “as the Lord took delight in doing good and multiplying you.” 259
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