Contemplative Bible Reading

Exodus 15:11 (New Living Translation)

“Who is like you among the gods, O Lord—
glorious in holiness,
awesome in splendor,
performing great wonders?

Set the scene: the people have just walked out of Egypt with lots of goodies. The charioteers—the elite of the Egyptian army—was destroyed in the Red Sea. Time to sing and dance and celebrate.

The people compare the creator, YHWH (Jehovah), to “the gods.” Recall that these people had lived in Egypt for 20 generations. The Egyptians had lots of gods. The people had learned all about all of them.

Hence, comparing YHWH to other gods was expected. Not good, but expected.

Today, we say things like, “I would rather be with God than have all the money in the world (or something else).”

Sounds good, right? Really? Comparing God to paper we use to exchange for goods? Really?

Lots of gods.