PERSEVERANCE
As Juneteenth becomes a national holiday Americans have the opportunity each year to celebrate those courageous citizens who put their lives on the line for freedom, and to follow their lead. My culture also celebrates freedom from slavery each year at Passover. Fighting for freedom is intrinsic to the Jewish culture. During Passover we remember the struggle of our ancestors who freed us from slavery thousands of years ago. We also remember those who are not yet free and stand in solidarity with them. We know the fight is not over and have enlisted for the long run. As long as there are humans who oppress others for their own gain the struggle will continue. When we are in the midst of the struggle it can feel like it will never end. In Zen we say beings are numberless I vow to free them, another endless task. In Zen we train to continue even when we see no end. Here, in this biblical story, we meet the value of perseverance during the long, dry trek through an ancient desert.
Moses led the Israelites safely out of Egypt past the waters of the red sea. They joyfully celebrated their freedom but soon discovered that there was a long, hard road ahead of them. The land on the other side of the red sea was not very wide. On one side was the sea and on the other side were great mountains of rock. The ground between the sea and the mountain was flat sand and gravel. The travelers thought back longingly to the lush shores of the Nile. All day long the sun beat down with blistering heat. There were no trees to offer shade.
Mile after mile the people travelled without finding any water. When at last they came to a pool in the sands, the water tasted so bad they could not drink it. They demanded of Moses, “What shall we drink?” Moses prayed to God to show him what to do. Soon afterwards he found some shrubs in the sand and put these into the pool. Their leaves changed the taste of the water so that it became fit to drink.
After that Moses led the people to a place called Elim. There they found twelve springs of water with seventy palm trees growing nearby. To the people who had been dragging their feet through the hot desert, Elim seemed like heaven. They made camp there. But they could not stay at the oasis for long because they had used up all the food they brought with them on the trip and needed to find more. That night there was a heavy dew. In the morning the hungry travelers awoke to the sight of small white patches that looked like frost. Moses said, “This is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.” The Israelites called it manna. It was a kind of gum that fell from the desert bushes, which had to be picked up before the sun rose. If not, it melted and disappeared.
The Israelites continued on the next day. Moses led them toward the high, bare, grim mountains. As the people walked on they got so thirsty that their tongues were dry. “We need water Moses! We are so thirsty! Did we come all this way just to die of thirst?”
Moses traveled these mountains before and had learned many of its ways. So he led the people to a great cliff on a mountain called Horeb. He struck the cliff with his staff and water began to flow. For a while this satisfied the Israelites. But they were even more pleased when Moses brought them to another oasis. This new oasis was the greenest spot they had seen in that bleak and barren land. Row after row of palms swayed in the wind and springs bubbled up and overflowed making a murmuring sound. This was the Pearl of Sinai.
The Israelites wanted to pitch their tents and remain in that cool, lush oasis. But there was a problem. Because it was the most desirable oasis in the desert, the desert tribes constantly fought over this piece of land. The people had not been at the oasis for long before a band of Amalekites appeared. They rode in on camels and carried spears in their attempt to banish the Israelites from the oasis. Moses stood on a hill and held up a staff. He prayed to God. As he prayed his second in command, Joshua, drove off the Amalekites.
But the Israelites knew they couldn’t stay at the oasis for long. Other tribes, stronger tribes, were bound to come and challenge them for the land. The country Moses wanted to bring the Israelites to was far off on the other side of the mountain. They travelled on, over ravines and mountainous cliffs. There were rumbling volcanoes and trembling earthquakes. Moses remembered this land from the first time he fled Egypt. This is where he heard God tell him that there was something great he was to do in the future.
While the people set up camp in the valley Moses climbed up the highest peak-Mount Sinai. The people watched him disappear. Hours went by without a sight of him. Up there, all alone, Moses reflected and prayed. How could he lead these people? What guidelines would help them live peaceably together? God responded to Moses by giving him the Ten Commandments. As instructed by God, Moses taught the Israelites these Ten Commandments and how they can live together amicably. Moses had the challenge of leading people who missed their old home, were hungry for familiar foods and tired of going thirsty. When they were in Egypt they longed to be free. Now that they were free they longed for the comforts of Egypt. “We remember the cucumbers, the melons and the fish from the Nile. Here there is nothing but blistering sand and emptiness.”
When Moses heard the complaining he felt sad, but would not allow himself to become discouraged. He took refuge in prayer, even when he was not sure whether or not he could manage. “I am not sure I can take care of all these people alone. It is too much for me.” But prayer renewed his strength. Bit by bit the Israelites were getting closer to the land Moses believed God meant for them to settle. It was the land of their ancestor Abraham, the Promised Land.
Near to its border, Moses now had to plan as to how they should enter. He asked Joshua, Caleb and ten other young men to go quietly into the land and bring back news. After 40 days the scouts returned and gave their report to Moses. They said the land was good. Compared to the desert they had been travelling in it seemed like paradise. There were fields of grain and olive trees, fig trees and grape vines. Some of the scouts said the people living on this land were strong and warlike, that they would never allow the Israelites enter. But Joshua and Caleb disagreed. They advised entering the land.
The majority of Israelites did not believe Joshua and Caleb. They were afraid to enter the land. Once again they rued the day they left Egypt, and even talked about choosing a leader to return them to their old home. But they could not find any leader so their grumblings just hung in the air. Witnessing their fear and lack of fortitude Moses did not see how these people could enter the Promised Land. There was no use trying to lead them now. He reasoned that he would have to wait until some of the older ones, the ones who had been slaves and wanted to return to Egypt, died off and the younger, braver men grew up.
Many years went by as the older generation died off and the new one took its place. Moses now had a new group of followers, ones that had grown up in the wilderness. He sent a message to Sihon, the chief of the Amorites saying, “Let us pass through your land. We will not disturb your fields and vineyards, we will not drink from your wells. We will travel along the high roads until we have passed your borders.” The Amorites did not trust Moses. They rode into the Israelite camp to attack them but the younger followers of Moses were no cowards. They beat off Sihon and his Amorites.
The Israelites were now ready to enter the Promised Land. But Moses was not to go with them. He was an old man by now. He went up to the top of Mount Nebo, four thousand feet above the waters of the Dead Sea. Looking across the Jordan River he could see the walled city of Jericho. He could see the streams that were fed by the water that flowed from the hills above. He saw mile after beautiful mile of the Promised Land that his people would enter. There, on the mountaintop, he died. It is written that he was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, but no one knows where his grave is to this day.
The story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt is the story of the struggles and challenges faced by each one of us on our path to freedom, both personal freedom and societal freedom. It’s easy to become complacent, even in our suffering. Sometimes it takes an extremely painful situation to force us to act. Once we have acted bravely and broken the chains of slavery; left the abusive marriage, the wrong job, friends who were not acting in our best interests, we feel a temporary euphoria. We are free! But there is an emptiness that sets in where the slavery once distracted us from our own personal desert. We may even start to miss the destructive situation we left behind. At least we knew how to make a life within those confines. Sure, we were in pain, but we weren’t lost or thirsty for our old addictions. We knew the terrain and how to traverse it. The leaving we thought would lead to ease and a good life seems to have only led to more questions and new, unfamiliar tensions. It isn’t until the old parts of us die, the parts that feel they need slavery to survive, that we can enter the Promised Land. This is the journey to awakening taken by each one of us, not once in our lives but over and over again.
The same goes for the awakening of a country. The old men are grumbling. The slogan, make America great again, evokes a nostalgia for a time when white males ruled America without much opposition from women or from other races. The sloganeers imagine a time when women were in the kitchen, their sexuality controlled by their fathers and husbands, and white men ruled over everything from business to country. It was a time of Jim Crow laws, a time when minorities worked for a pittance and “knew their place”. The neo-conservatives miss the imagined good old days and fear losing control as the country becomes more diverse and more global. They know they are becoming out numbered. This battle is not only taking place in America but in countries all around the world. A retro vision like “make America great again” is ultimately a losing battle. Progress does not move backwards for very long. But the old men and Ayn Rand women have amassed a great deal of power and fortune and are fighting like hell to stay in control. Like the black decomposed dinosaur remains they are extracting from the earth, they too are going extinct, and they aren’t going down without a fight.
We can learn a lot from the story of Moses and the Israelites about how to face the racism, populism and the dark forces of fear, addiction and ego. Moses was not deterred by the grumbling of the Israelites, nor did he try to force them to evolve. He kept them safe while waiting for the right moment to move the tribe into the Promised Land. In our world of instant gratification it’s good to remember the forty years of patience and perseverance Moses endured. He could have given up many times as those around him no longer had faith in the outcome. But he kept putting one foot in front of the other, trusting his vision. Leadership requires inward seeing and being in the present moment regardless of appearances. Sometimes things feel hopeless as the old guard roar in with their power and demons of fear. We go on with the work we know we are called to do.
What deserts have you traveled through, not knowing if you would ever see the Promised Land? We move out of slavery, out of an unhealthy situation, and wander in a sort of limbo not knowing where, when or if we will find the cooling waters of life. Vision is of no aid here. The darkness is too thick. Sometimes the only thing bidding us take our next step is sheer perseverance.
As we witness systemic racism and sexism, ethnic cleansing and authoritarianism, it’s clear that the work to achieve freedom is far from over. It is likely that, like Moses, we may not live long enough to see the fruits of our efforts to right the ship. So here are some final words from the Roman soldier Sertorius to take into battle as we create and protect affordable health care for all, abolish systemic racism, demand respect for all life styles, cultures and religions, and protect the land, the planet and all living things.
“You see, fellow soldiers, that perseverance is more prevailing than violence and that many things which cannot be overcome when they are together yield themselves up when taken little by little.”