D is for Dust-Up in the Desert

         (If you’re waiting for April to officially begin the April A to Z Blog Challenge, don’t mind me!  I’m just getting a head start.  You can read my Theme Reveal Post here, and when April comes I’ll direct you to the correct letter every day.)

        My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Beyond Pomegranate & Thorns, my immanent collection of short stories, poems, and art inspired by fairy tales and myths.  When I talk about myths, however, I’m actually including not just classical Greek mythology but also the Bible.  For today’s post I’m going to repeat the point I made yesterday, that in the context of folklore the word “myth” doesn’t mean “false or erroneous stories, the opposite of truth.”  Rather, it means “sacred stories that convey profound truths to the people who tell them.”  If you weren’t here for the letter C, you can read a bit more about my thoughts on including Bible stories among the traditional tales I’m reimagining in my prior post Giving the Bible a Kick.

        I wanted to be sure to include all that background and caveat again because today’s story is inspired by the Exodus story of the Plagues of Egypt - and treats it in a way that could be construed as disrespectful!  (You can brush up on the story here.)  This is a story that has had profound spiritual depth for many people, especially oppressed people.  It’s one of the Bible’s most beloved stories - but it also raises a lot of difficult questions.  As a child it was one of my favorite Bible stories because it reads like a fairy tale with its cruel king, Cinderella people, magic spells, and thrilling escape.  But the piece that I’m jumping off from for my own story is that this myth dates back to the  stratum of the Bible written by people who did believe in the existence of multiple gods competing for the loyalty and worship of the people.  I’ve reimagined this ancient story, therefore, as a sort of boxing match between the god of the ancient Israelites and the god of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs.  Here’s how it begins…

        We’ve got a great crowd today on the banks of the Nile for what’s sure to be an epic Celestial Smackdown.  The entire population of Egypt is in attendance, not that they have any choice, being the field of battle, so let’s not keep them in suspense as to their fate.  In the red corner is defending champion Amun-Ra, the Hidden One, Lord of the Silent, represented on the material plane by an elite team of Chief Priests and Magicians!  And in the blue corner is the challenger Yahweh, new on the scene but already making waves despite the reluctance of his Prophets Moses and Aaron!  You know, Reggie, Amun-Ra is at the top of his game, so Yahweh can’t afford to pull any punches if he wants to prove his omnipotence. 

        And that’s the bell, and Yahweh comes out first, leading with a challenge that cannot be ignored.  Performing the first miracle, he’s turning his prophet’s staff into a serpent.  But the Egyptian priests can give as good as they get, and all their rods are turning into serpents, too.  There are snakes all over the floor here in the Egyptian Pharaoh’s palace…

        Why I have written this story?  Not merely to be flippant, I assure you.  Nor is it my intention to be disrespectful or to offend anyone.  Rather, I used this reimagining to explore the nature of divine power as depicted in this Bible story… and to hint just slightly at the possibility of change over time in human understanding of the Divine, and human relationship with the Divine.

        And that brings me to a larger point about this whole project.  Some of the pieces in my book Beyond Pomegranate & Thorns are certainly “just for fun,” and I hope that all of the pieces in it are enjoyable! - but at the same time, all these stories that I’m riffing on have stuck around and been revisited and retold and adapted to different times and places precisely because they do prompt us to wrestle with bigger, deeper issues.  So whatever your religious background, these stories are there to help us grapple with moral, ethical, spiritual truths.

        The moral of the plagues of Egypt is that parting a sea is an epic flex - although it may have serious environmental impact.

        Also, do not keep hardening your heart!  I don’t care who you are, if you’re oppressing people, let them go!

        This ancient story has inspired an incredible range of music, including 

spirituals (ex. “Go Down Moses” ca. 1850)

hymns and Passover songs (ex. Dayenu ca. 900)

operas (from Rossini 1818 to Schoenberg c. 1932)

oratorio (from Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” 1739 to Itkin’s “Exodus” 2008)

Disney’s musical “Prince of Egypt” (1998)

thrash metal (Metallica’s “Creeping Death” 1984)

… not to mention songs that allude to the story more generally, including reggae “Exodus” by Bob Marley (1977).  How many of these pieces have you heard?  Got any others you know?

[Pictures: Assorted illustrations: collagraph star, various rubber block print frogs, wood block print Grasshopper, by AEGNydam (Images from Beyond Pomegranate & Thorns and NydamPrints.com).]