Social location is vital to understanding how people come to their interpretations, and appropriations, of the Bible and its stories.
One of the most popular biblical stories people have historically personalized has been the story of the exodus.
Early Settlers and the Promised Land
America's earliest European settlers understood America as the promised land they were entering after fleeing Egypt.
Since, in this telling of the story, they were the new nation of Israel, they were given divine license to commit the genocide of the native peoples, the new Canaanites, that were already living here. The land was theirs for the taking because God had given it to them in advance. Of course, the native peoples already living here, had they had the language of the biblical stories, probably would have identified the European settlers as Babylon or Assyria and themselves as Israel. Social location matters.
The Exodus Story and African Slaves
African slaves also often appropriated the exodus story as their own.
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Escaping along the underground railroad from the American South to the North or Canada was akin to crossing through the Red Sea. Harriet Tubman became "Black Moses" and southern plantations the mud pits of Egypt.
Harriet Tubman and The Underground Railroad (1964) | Ruby Dee
In Exodus, the oppressed Israelites are not only the poor-they are slaves, like those living under the white power structure of 1831 Virginia.
Given those distinctions, however, I still think it’s instructive-particularly in this racially charged moment in the United States-to see the people of Israel and the slaves of the American South as brothers and sisters under oppression. And in turn to see the Gospel as a message not of comfort and placation, but as one of spiritual liberation.
African Americans naturally identified themselves with the Sons of Israel who had been slaves in Egypt and were liberated eventually through the just and merciful hand of God. African Americans also related to the physical Holy Land. Some such as David Dorr visited the land and wrote their recollections even before the abolition of slavery.
America as Egypt: A Different Perspective
Interestingly, we always assume, because of our social location, that people think of America as the new promised land instead of the new Egypt.
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We assume that immigrants to this country are coming here because they view it as the promised land full of "milk and honey." Many immigrants just do not see it this way. Let us remember, briefly, the story of the nation of Israel coming to Egypt. They were living in the promised land, but it had become barren and there was no food to eat. Israel sent his sons to Egypt to get food to bring back for the rest of the family. Eventually the famine in the promised land, and around the world, became so bad that they had to move to Egypt to survive because remittances were no longer sufficient. It was not their desire to leave home for Egypt. It was something they had to do to survive. The goal was not to live forever in Egypt, but to survive until the promised land began flowing with its riches and blessings again. That is the way many immigrants understand their sojourn to America.
The promised land, their homeland or village, is experiencing a dry spell. To survive they must go to the nearby superpower where resources are plentiful, but they are sending money home to those struggling. And if it ever gets better, they will go back to their promised land. In this telling of the story America is not the promised land flowing with milk and honey, but Egypt, the only place around with enough food to share with them.
If America is Egypt, who are we? We are the Egyptians. That should cause us to take a step back and examine the way we are treating those who visit our land looking to live. Are we acting the way the Egyptians did? Are we, in our public policies, expecting them to make bricks without straw? Are we keeping them in a state of subjection because we are afraid their population will grow to the point they will outnumber us and take us over? Are we treating our immigrants the way the ancient Egyptians treated theirs? If so, will God act the same ways as in the past? Is God on the side of the poor immigrant simply trying to live or the Egyptian exploiting their labor? Social location matters. America can act as both the promised land and as Egypt. Which one are we?
The Holy Land and American Identity
American attitudes toward the Holy Land have been an interesting and important dimension of American religious history. Since the beginnings of the Puritan settlement in New England well into the twentieth century, Americans had often viewed their country as the new Zion, and understood themselves to be the Sons of Israel who have entered into a covenant with God, and settled Canaan. The Puritans have set about to establish “a city built upon a hill,” a Zion to serve as an example to the entire world. This Puritan self identification with biblical Israel was explored in a number of memorable works, most notably by Perry Miller in Errand into the Wilderness. H. Richard Niebuhr in another classical work The Kingdom of God in America explored the impact of the Puritan religious beliefs on America as a nation, which for long periods in its national life understood itself to have a special mission and purpose in the world.
America, however, also developed strong interest in the actual earthly Zion, in Palestine, motivated by among other things the strong impression the Old Testament had on the American people.
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In exploring the Puritans and their attitudes toward Zion, Greenberg points to a little known chapter in the history of America’s self identification with Zion: the identification of the American Indians with the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. In addition to reflecting the sentiment that America possessed characteristics of the Holy Land, Greenberg points out, it connected the original Americans genealogically to the ancient people of Israel, and drew America into Holy Land eschatology.
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