EXODUS CHAPTER 16 ~ 20

EXODUS 16

1 They journeyed from Elim, and all
Israel's folk en masse at the call
Came to the Wilderness of Sin,
Which is between Elim, between
Sinai, on the fifteenth day of
The second month from the above
After they had left Egypt's land.
2 The folk of Israel, the whole band,
Complained against both Moses and
Aaron in the wilderness. 3 And
The children of Israel said
To them, "Oh, that we had been dead
All slaughtered by the hand of YHWH
In Egypt's land, when we were true
And sat beside the pots of meat
And ate bread to the full for treat!
For you have brought us out into
This wilderness to kill en masse
With hunger without drink or grass."
4 Then said YHWH to Moses, “Behold,
I’ll rain you down bread from the sky,
And the folk shall go out when told
And gather a certain rate by
Each day, that I may test them, if
They’ll walk in my law, or be stiff.
5 And it shall be on the sixth day
They shall prepare what’s in their sway,
And it shall be twice as much then
As when they gather the day’s yen.

Although I disdain Israel for complaint,
I too know how to pretend to be saint.
I too each day despise the great salvation
That You provide, by my bold consternation
That desert life sometimes feels hot or cold,
And think that since You saved, You should have told
Me that a trial of stinger might appear,
Or other form of blight or pain or fear.
But You, Beloved, gave me the wrong impression,
That ecstasy should never know cessation,
The beauty of the Sabbath rest You gave
Belied the fact that I'm still daily slave
To duties of the Sunday-Monday roll,
And I forget fleshpots were not the goal.

6 And said Moses and Aaron to
All the children of Israel, "True
At evening you shall know that YHWH
Has brought you out of Egypt's land.
7 "And at morn you shall understand
And see the glory done of YHWH,
For He hears your complaints against
YHWH, but what are we, that against
Us you address complaint?" 8 Also
Moses said "When YHWH is not slow
To give you meat to eat at eve,
And in the morning bread receive
To the full, for YHWH hears the plaints
You make against Him and His saints.
And what are we? All your complaint’s
Not against us but against YHWH."
9 Then Moses spoke to Aaron, "Do
Say to all gathered Israel's folk,
'Come near before YHWH, for He woke
To hear the complaints that you spoke.'"
10 Now it happened, as Aaron spoke
To all the gathered Israel's folk,
That they looked toward the wilderness,
And indeed, in the cloud to bless
Appeared YHWH's glory I confess.

Indeed You gave a hint, Beloved, in what
You said, but it is human just to shut
The ear to what we hear and then pretend
You said the opposite of what You send.
You did not say it would be glory when
The quail came down at eve to feed the men,
But that they would know by the power and act
That Your bringing them from Egypt was fact.
The glory comes only when manna falls
And covers earth and even the tent walls.
Preserve me, my Beloved, from my complaint
That might make hearing ears deaf in the saint.
Let me hear only what you say and live
To eat alone the manna that You give.

11 And YHWH spoke to Moses, and said
12 "I've heard complaints from Israel's folk.
Speak to them, saying 'You'll be fed
At twilight meat, and at the stroke
Of morning you'll be filled with bread.
And you shall know that I am YHWH
Your Ælohim whate'er you do.'"

The Hebrew melody lies with pathos upon
The words "complaints of Israel's folk." I swan
But human views fail to take in what You
Experience in the things we humans do.
Beloved, how like an arrow in the heart
Of God is the ingratitude on part
Of humans who find complaint in Your start
To lead through hungry desert paths up to
The promised ecstasies of derring-do.
Here I repent, Beloved, that I lack joy
When the way's rough and I fail to employ
The faith that sees Your presence closer still
In desert silences than in the thrill
Of knowing sweet expressions of Your will.

13 So it was quails came up at eve
And covered the camp sans reprieve,
And in the morning the dew lay
All around the camp every way.
14 And when the dew lifted, there on
The surface of the wilderness,
Was a small round thing after dawn,
As fine as frost as one might guess
Upon the ground. 15 So when the folk
Of Israel saw it, then they spoke
To one another, "What is it?"
For they did not know it was fit.
And Moses said to them, "This is
The bread which YHWH has given of His
For you to eat. 16 "This is the thing
Which YHWH's commanded, 'Let each bring
His gathered portion for the need
Of each, what he can eat indeed,
Of bread, one omer for each one
Until the people's number's done,
As many as are in each tent.'"
17 Then Israel did so and went
To gather, some more, and some less.
18 So when they measured what they guess
By omers, he who gathered much
Had nothing left over as such,
And he who gathered little had
No lack at all to make him sad.
And every man had gathered what
He needed to fill up his gut.

If I had been there in the wilderness
To gather up the manna, I can guess
I would have been among those who took less.
The stuff was small and down upon the ground
And had to be picked on one's knees or found
By bending over, crick in back and neck,
To scrape the almost microscopic stuff
Into the basket till one had a peck.
Such work is not for lazy men and duff.
I'd leave the field before I had enough.
So do I now with prayer, so do I still
With recitation of the lovely Word,
I take a morsel and trust You are stirred
To multiply the hope and make my fill.

19 And Moses said "Let no one leave
Any of it till morning cleave."
20 Notwithstanding they did not heed
Moses, but some left part indeed
Until the morning, and it bred
Worms and stank. And Moses was led
To wrath against them. 21 And they picked
It every morning, to be strict
According to every man's need.
And when the sun at last got hot,
The manna melted and was not.

And yet, Beloved, it surely is wise thing
To provide for the future and not sing
Away the day with only fruit enough
For the one daily meal and no more stuff.
Who saved the manna were wise and who thought
They'd trust You for tomorrow, they were not.
You've seen the northern hunter's family die
Because when ice came they'd no stores set by.
I in a land of wealth may seem to be
Among those of relative poverty,
But I too have a cupboard where the fare
Upon occasion spoils for lack of wear.
Let me in my wealth still, Beloved, trust You,
And when the cupboard's bare, still give Your due.

22 And so it was, on the sixth day,
That they gathered twice in their way
As much bread, two omers for each.
And all the rulers come to teach
The congregation came and told
Moses. 23 Then he said to them bold,
"This is what YHWH has said 'Tomorrow
Is a Sabbath rest without sorrow,
A holy Sabbath to YHWH. Bake
What you will bake today, and boil
What you will boil and for your sake,
Lay up for yourselves not to spoil
All that remains until tomorrow.'"

The sixth day from beginning saw the blessing
You once pronounced on man and beast still guessing
What they should eat and who should eat and how.
That double blessing blesses even now
And on each sixth day that returns to show
That You alone provide the meal to go.
A double portion of the manna or
A prayer in congregation at the fore,
All show You are the best of all providers
Among farmers, canners, inside-, outsiders.
On the sixth day You still give nourishment
To body and to soul and thus prevent
Excuses that arise on Sabbath day
To trample it in search of manna's way.

24 So they laid it up till the morning,
As Moses told them without scorning,
And it did not stink as before,
Nor were worms in it anymore.

Food blessed on the sixth day when Sabbath comes
Is goodness multiplied in all its sums.
The very food I eat pretends to show
The difference in days when blessings go.
What stinks and breeds worms every other day
Becomes a sweet cake by Your blessing way.
What You make sweet on sixth day's morn and eve
On Sabbath day's a gift that I receive.
On Sunday You make stench and wormy food
For those unfaithful to Your word and brood.
On Friday you bless man and beast and bread,
On Saturday they're still provided, fed.
Beloved, let me return to You each day
Without complaint take what You give away.

25 Then Moses said "Eat that today,
For today is YHWH's Sabbath day,
Today you'll not find it abroad.
26 "Six days you'll gather from the sod,
But on the seventh day, the Sabbath,
There will be none for him who grabbeth."

As I throughout the worried week
Seek solace in Thy care,
Let me in everything I seek
Find Your grace everywhere.
Throughout the week the manna came
But kept for just a day.
The sixth day knew a double claim,
Sabbath without decay.
Although my plots may end in spoil
And not security,
Fruit of my toil born of the soil
Is manna sent from Thee.
This Sabbath let Your child sojourn
In prayer before Your throne
That I may learn that what I earn
Is grace and grace alone.

27 Now it happened that some went out
Upon the seventh day for doubt
To gather it, but they found none.
28 And YHWH said to Moses, "I'm done.
How long do you refuse to keep
My laws and My commandments deep?
29 "See! For YHWH's given you the Sabbath,
Therefore He gives you bread that stabbeth
Two days instead of one upon
The sixth day. Let each man at dawn
Remain in place, let none go out
Of his place on the seventh day."
30 And so the people went about
To rest upon the seventh day.
31 And the house of Israel named it
Manna. And it was like white fit
Coriander seed, and its taste
Was like honey wafers or paste.

Once I ate coriander seed to know
How manna must have tasted long ago.
Yet I've long since forgotten that sweet taste
And so my research ended in a waste.
Let me go no more in search of new food
To nourish my soul in the solitude
Of Sabbath day, instead let me contrive
To rest in Your provision and alive.
I see the Sunday rush to pagan din
And frantic pleasure search and other sin.
I see the flight to wealth on Sabbath day
Without a thought of what You had to say.
Beloved, I wait with day-old bread in crust
Upon the Sabbath day and find its lust.

32 Then Moses said "This is the thing
Which YHWH's commanded in the ring,
'Fill an omer with it, to keep
Throughout your generations' sweep,
That they may see the bread with which
I fed you in the desert stitch,
When I brought you out of the land
Of Egypt with a mighty hand.'"
33 And Moses said to Aaron, "Take
A pot and put an omer's sake
Of manna in it, lay it up
Before YHWH, to be kept in cup
Throughout your generations’ wake."
34 As YHWH commanded Moses, so
Aaron laid it up in the glow
Before the testimony kept.
35 Israel's folk forty years adept
Ate manna, till they came into
A land inhabited anew,
They ate manna until they came
To the border of Canaan's claim.
36 An omer's one-tenth of an ephah
To say the measurement in briefer.

So Aaron put an omer's worth in store
Of manna that might stink and breed worms more.
What did not last a day in circumstance,
And only two with Friday's whirl and dance,
Remained untainted throughout generations
And may be somewhere still among the nations
Or at Axum, who knows, set safe beneath
The cherubim and what their wings bequeath.
The manna that I take anew each day
Runs risk of spoiling sometime on the way.
And so I bring it still steaming and sweet
To stay in the light of the safe retreat
Of tables of the covenant that make
What otherwise would spoil truth for my sake.

EXODUS 17

1 Then all the congregation of
Israel's folk set out from above
On their journey going from Sin
The desert, by command between
Of YHWH, and camped in Rephidim,
Where water was not, it would seem,
For the people to drink. 2 Therefore
The people contended before
Moses, and said "Give us to drink
Water." Said Moses to them, "Think
Why do you contend with me? Why
Do you tempt YHWH, why do you cry?"
3 And the people thirsted there for
Water, and complained what is more
Against Moses, and said "Why did
You bring us from Egypt, to rid
The world of us and our children
And our livestock with thirst again?"
4 So Moses cried out to YHWH, saying
"What shall I do with this folk's playing?
They are almost ready to stone me!"
5 And YHWH said to Moses, "Now own Me,
Go on before the people, and
Take with you some, by My command,
Of Israel's elders. Also take
In your hand your rod by whose sake
You struck the river, and now go.
6 "Indeed, I will stand without show
Before you there upon the rock
In Horeb, and you'll strike the rock,
And water will come out of it,
That the people may drink it fit."
And Moses did so in the sight
Of Israel's elders on the right.
7 So he called the name of the place
Massah and Meribah, to trace
The contention of Israel's folk,
Because they tempted YHWH, and spoke,
"Is YHWH among us here or not?"
They could not see Him whom they sought.

Beloved, I stand here in a desert place
To hear no voice, and to discern no face
Divine above the barren track and stone.
I'm in the wilderness, and all alone.
By neither faith nor sight I know that You
Unseen, unheard stand by the rock and dew
Fresh in the morning sun before the heat
Of traffic and noonday come to defeat.
By neither faith nor sight I know Your being
Is firmer than my thought and act and seeing.
I rather than You exist by Your act
Of faith and word, fleeting and inexact.
If You can have faith in my shadow here,
Then I can reaffirm where You appear.

8 Came Amalek and so he fought
With Israel in Rephidim.
9 Moses told Joshua to part,
"Choose us some good men as you deem
And go out, fight with Amalek.
Tomorrow I'll stand on the neck
Of yon hill with Ælohim's rod
In my hand, only trust in God."
10 Joshua did as Moses said
To him, and fought as he was led
With Amalek. And Moses, and
Aaron, and Hur went by command
Up to the top of the hill. 11 And
So it was, when Moses held up
His hand, that Israel won the cup,
Prevailed, and when he let his hand
Down, Amalek then took the stand.
12 But Moses' hands were heavy, so
They took a stone and put it low
Beneath him, and he sat on it.
And Aaron and Hur, who were fit,
Supported his hands, on each side,
And his hands were steady and tried
Until the going down of sun.
13 With Amalek Joshua won
And killed his people with the mouth
Of the sword yonder in the south.

You are about to say on Sinai that
No killing is allowed where You are at.
And yet You are the One to win the day
With Amalek and Joshua in the fray.
If I may not kill others, then it seems
To take part in war is a thing for dreams
And not my divine-portioned act to do.
Of course killing's a thing all right for You
Who have created and by rights You may
Destroy what You Yourself have made to be.
Perhaps You may give command specially
To kill in Your place and at Your own game.
I fear, however, that the ones who claim
Are oft mistaken to kill in Your name.

14 And said YHWH to Moses, "Write this
Memorial in the book and
Recount it without cowardice,
In Joshua's hearing remand,
That I'll blot out and utterly
Remembrance of Amalek's tree
From under heaven." 15 And so built
Moses an altar without gilt
And called its name, YHWH-Is-My-Banner,
16 For he said "Because in His manner
YHWH's sworn, YHWH will have disputations
With Amalek for generations."

Granted that Amelek came out to fight
And thus created his own rankling plight,
But does that mean for many generations
There is no hope the children's congregations
May not do right and so have peace with You?
Or do You mean that doing right and true
Cuts no ice if the fathers were not nice?
I guess rebellion is a family vice
That's handed down from mother to her sons,
And justifies extinction of such ones.
Beloved, "and for my children, too" prayed he
Who became father to all nations free,
While You gave answer that the moral code
Was all that mattered as the human load.

WEEK 17 EXODUS 18

1 And Jethro, priest of Midian,
Moses' father-in-law, the man,
Heard of all that Ælohim did
For Moses and for Israel's bid,
His people that YHWH had brought out
Of Egypt, Israel with a shout.
2 Moses' father-in-law Jethro,
Took Zipporah, Moses' wife so,
After he'd sent her back, 3 with her
Two sons, of whom the name of one
Was Gershom, for "I've been stranger"
He said "under a foreign sun."
4 And the name of the other was
Eliezer, for "Ælohim does
Deliver me from Pharaoh's sword,
Who was also my father's Lord,"
5 Moses' father-in-law Jethro,
Came with his sons and wife in tow
To Moses in the wilderness,
Where he encamped at the access
Of the mountain of Ælohim.
6 Now he'd said to Moses, "My scheme
Is that I, Jethro, your wife's father,
Am coming to you with wife, rather
With her two sons in her esteem."

Egypt was not place good enough, it seems,
As long as it stayed under Pharaoh's dreams,
For Moses' own wife and children to stay,
And so he sent the three out of harm's way.
I guess the other leader's, Aaron's, sons
And daughters had no visa in their runs,
And could not leave the battle zone to play.
The better part of bravery is not
To introduce some slavery unsought
To one's dependents when the battle's hot.
The reasoned duty of each one who knows
That You, Beloved, are One is to keep toes
As warm as possible and not frost-bitten.
That's why a man has feelings for the fitting.

7 Moses went out to meet the father
Of his wife and bowed without bother
And kissed him, and they asked each other
Of their Islam, or how the brother
Did, then they both went in the tent.
8 Moses told his wife's father bent
What YHWH did to Pharaoh and to
The Egyptians for Israel's due,
And all the hardship that had come
Upon them on the way, and YHWH
Had saved them from what they'd gone through.
9 Jethro rejoiced for all the good
Which YHWH did where Israel stood,
Whom He delivered from the hand
Of the Egyptians and their land.
10 And Jethro said "Blessèd be YHWH,
Who has delivered all of you
From the Egyptians hand and out
Of Pharaoh's hand in turn about,
Delivered the people from under
The hand of the Egyptians's thunder.
11 "Now I know that YHWH's greater than
All the gods invented by man,
For in the very thing in which
They behaved proudly, for a switch
He was above them." 12 Then Jethro,
Moses' wife's father took below
A burnt offering and sacrifices
To Ælohim for His devices.
And Aaron came with all the old
Ones of Israel to eat bread cold
With Moses' wife's father before
Ælohim whom they all adore.

Jethro was heathen I suppose to those
Today who find all belief must repose
On human sacrifice, although he took
Offerings to Ælohim before the book
Of legislation had been written. Now,
It seems to me his faith was just a bough
Of that planted by Abraham before
And spread as far as Ethiopian shore,
Perhaps seeds blown there by the feisty wind,
Or floating on the Red Sea scaled and finned.
At least his genes go back to Abram's stealth
In taking Keturah and her bride-wealth.
Beloved, the desert's filled with those Your own
And lonely thus no servant stands alone.

Jethro rejoiced for all the good You did
To Israel in Egypt where they hid.
He did not thank you for the evil act
That fell on them, nor for the rod exact
Taskmasters used to scar the people's backs.
I guess his faith was not faith of the axe
As some today who find Your finger where
Oppression cracks and suffering seethes the air.
Some thank for good and bad and some rejoice
Alone to hear, Beloved, Your still small voice
In justice and in mercy always given,
And never partisan to evil driven.
Beloved, I thank You for the things You do,
And in the evil I am silence, true.

13 On the next day it happened that
The people stood where Moses sat
To judge the people all day long
From morn to eve without a song.
14 When Moses' wife's father saw all
He did for the folk at their call,
He said "What thing is this that you
Are doing for the people's due?
Why do you sit alone, and all
The folk stand before you and call
From morning until evenfall?"
15 Moses told his wife's father, "Since
The people come, I do not wince,
But they inquire of Ælohim.
16 "When they've a question, then they seem
To come to me, I judge between
One and another at the scene,
And show statutes of Ælohim
And His laws, all that I have seen."

The role wife's father takes seems mighty blessed
That he can question prophets at their best.
At least Jethro thinks he can tell a tale
To make the prophet hit another nail.
He asks him why he is accessible
To one and all who never will get full.
The hangers-on reveal the case of each
Usurper that arises now to preach.
Will Jethro make suggestion Moses follow
That scheme of things and in the same pride wallow?
Reality is every human claim
Is limited in strength and time, no shame.
Accessibility is not the thing
That validates what You and prophets sing.

17 Moses' wife's father said to him,
"The thing you do's not good, but dim.
18 "Both you and these people with you
Will surely wear yourselves out too.
For this thing is too much for you,
You by yourself cannot do it.
19 "Listen now to my voice that's fit,
I shall give you some good advice,
Ælohim will bless your device:
Stand before Ælohim to bring
For the people every hard thing.
20 "And you shall teach them the statutes
And laws, and show beyond disputes
The way in which they ought to walk
And the thing they must do and talk.
21 "Moreover you shall select from
All the people able men, some
As fear Ælohim, truthful men,
Hating covetousness, and then
Place such over them to be rulers
Of thousands, hundreds, but not foolers,
Rulers of fifty, and of ten.
22 "Let them judge the folk at all times.
Then it will be that greater crimes
They shall bring to you, but the small
Matters they themselves shall recall.
So it will be easier for you,
For they'll bear the burden with you.
23 "If you do this thing, Ælohim
Commands you to, then you will seem
Able to endure, and all these
Will also find their place in peace
Or in Islam as the wise sees."
24 So Moses heeded the voice of
His wife's father whom he did love
In all that he had said above.
25 And Moses chose able men out
Of all Israel, and gave them clout
Over the people: rulers of
Thousands, rulers of hundreds too,
Rulers of fifties to be true,
Rulers of tens. 26 And so they sat
To judge the people where they're at
At all times, the hard cases they
Brought to Moses, what he would say,
But they judged every small case for
Themselves. 27 Then Moses let therefore
His wife's father depart the strand,
And he went into his own land.

Note well, Beloved, how my tribe has refused
To follow in Your plot and been confused.
You set Your leader, guide duly appointed
To teach the laws and statutes as anointed,
And rulers over groups to try the cases
To see who's in the right or wrong in races.
The rulers do not establish what's right,
But rather who hit first when two men fight.
Law and order are different things I see,
You are the one appointing law to be,
While Your prophet sets officer for order,
Who is not divine guide but only boarder
In Your house. Now, Beloved, I set aside
Usurpers who rule in their wrong and pride.

EXODUS 19

1 In the third month after the folk
Of Israel had left Egypt's yoke,
On the same day, they came into
Sinai's desert. 2 For they in due
Course had departed Rephidim,
Come to the Sinai desert's rim,
And camped there in the wilderness.
So Israel camped east of the hill.
3 And went Moses, a man to bless,
Up to Ælohim, not for ill,
And YHWH called to him from the hill
Saying "Thus you shall say unto
The house of Jacob what to do,
And tell the folk of Israel,
4 'You've seen what I did, and seen well,
To the Egyptians, how I carried
You on eagles' wings, how I married
You to Myself. 5 'Now therefore, if
You will indeed obey My voice
And keep My pact not in a tiff
Then you shall be My special choice
Treasure above all people, for
All earth is Mine. 6 'And what is more,
You'll be to Me a kingdom of
Priests and holy nation I love.'
These are the words which you shall speak
To Israel's folk to be unique."

How language concepts change in time, I think,
To opposites from what they were, and sink
From beauties to atrocities and yet
The people strive to win the selfsame bet!
The donkey in the Bible once was best
Of all its creatures from the east to west.
The eagle appeared in the sacred Script
As loving wings coming out of Egypt.
From tender care of its young in new flight
The figure turns to savagery and spite.
Beloved, I flee to You and to the source
Of love and beauty, and make my divorce
From steel institutions of a day
Between a sky of iron and earth of clay.

7 Came Moses and called for the old
Men and women of the folk, told
Before them all these things which YHWH
Commanded him that they should do.
8 Then answered all the folk together
And said "All that YHWH's spoken blether
We'll do." So Moses brought the answer
Of the folk to YHWH in advancer.

Let me not glibly, my Beloved, give answer
To Your call from the tender winging dancer
That whirls me out of slave to sot and sane.
The desert's desert in the sun and rain.
Though I am old and wise as Yiddish mama,
And know the sky better than desert farmer,
Let me not strike a stroke to say I'll do
What I've not yet heard from Your word and You.
Beloved, let me wait till Your silent word
Outsounds the trumpetings of baseless herd,
Before I make a solemn promise wept
Because in faith I had no promise kept.
Let me obey Your known will now, today,
And let the morrow take its single way.

9 And said YHWH to Moses, "Indeed,
I come to you by thick cloud's steed,
That the people may hear when I
Speak with you, believe you for aye."
Moses told the words of the people
To YHWH. 10 YHWH said without a steeple
To Moses, "To the people go
And consecrate them for the show
Today, tomorrow, let them wash
Their clothes, 11 "be ready and not josh
For the third day. For on the third
Day YHWH will come down with His word
Upon Mount Sinai in the sight
Of all the people to their fright.
12 "You shall set bounds and all around
For the people, saying 'Be bound,
Take heed to yourselves that you do
Not go up, the mountain's taboo,
Touch not its base. The one to touch
The mount shall die for doing such.
13 'Not a hand shall touch him, but he
Shall surely be stoned or shot much,
If man or beast, he'll not go free.'
When the trumpet sounds long, they shall
Come near the mountain at the call."

Beloved, the one to touch the ark was struck
Down dead, by magic power or by bad luck
Or by Your hand of majesty and dread.
That man of course was not by manna fed.
You gave no order then to kill the bloke
Who disobeyed in good-intentioned stroke,
But killed the lad Yourself for his blasphemy.
Was it that in Sir Moses' time the squeamy
Were not in evidence? I live a time
When few there be who hate the horrid crime
Of taking life, at least when that life be
Defined as of a different faith and tree.
Death surely stays the bounds of life today
Just as it did when Moses' rules held sway.

14 So Moses went down from the mount
To the people, all he could count
He sanctified, and they washed their
Clothes. 15 And he told the people fair,
"Be ready for the third day, do
Not come near wives or barley-broo."
16 Then it happened on the third day,
In the morning, they heard the bray
Of thunderings and lightnings flash,
A thick cloud on the mountain sash,
And the sound of the trumpet loud,
So in the camp trembled the crowd.
17 And Moses brought the people out
Of camp to meet Ælohim stout,
And they stood at the mountain's foot.
18 Now Mount Sinai for leaf and root
Was full of smoke, because YHWH came
Down on it in fire and in flame.
Its smoke ascended like the smoke
Of a furnace, and at the stroke
The whole mountain quaked greatly. 19 And
When the blast of the trumpet grand
Sounded long and louder became,
Moses spoke, Ælohim by name
Answered him. 20 And then down YHWH came
Upon Mount Sinai, on the top
Of the mountain. YHWH did not stop
Calling Moses up to the top
Of the mountain, Moses went up.

I should have known, Beloved, You're a musician
As well as Lord, Creator, and physician.
I only might have guessed Your favoured share
Of instruments was chosen with more care.
I guess a trumpet is a good choice too,
Although a harp or lyre might better do
For those convention binds in thought and tongue.
Now days a guitar might be better strung.
I wonder what concerto You chose then
In Your performance to the sons of men.
I've heard the Mendelssohn for violin
Done on the trumpet, which, if not a sin,
Weds Christian sound to Jewish father's pride.
I wonder if that pair was on Your side.

21 And YHWH said to Moses, "Go down
And warn the people, lest with frown
They break through to gaze at YHWH, and
Many of them die at My hand.
22 "Also let the priests who come near
YHWH consecrate themselves in fear,
Lest YHWH break out against them." 23 But
Moses told YHWH, "The folk are shut
From coming up to Mount Sinai,
For You warned us that we should die,
Saying 'Set bounds around the mount
And consecrate it root and fount.'"
24 Then YHWH said unto him, "Away!
Get down and then come up to stay,
You and Aaron with you, but do
Not let priests and people break through
To come up to YHWH, lest He break
Out against them, make no mistake."
25 So Moses went down to the folk
And told them what the Lord God spoke.

I laugh to think that Moses saw a duty
To tell You what You had forgotten, Beauty.
At that You show Your temper to the man
And send him off to come as best he can.
Perhaps Moses did not intend to say
That You'd forgotten the bounds and belay.
Perhaps at eighty years he felt the trip
Back down to camp was not worth slide and slip,
Since they'd been once warned to keep distance right.
At eighty-odd an old man shows no spite
At hesitating to hike Sinai's slope
Both down and back just for a second warning.
Beloved, I think Moses was never scorning,
But walked on tired feet and with a hope.

EXODUS 20

1 Then Ælohim spoke all these things
2 I am YHWH Ælohim whose wings
Brought you from Egypt and slavery.
3 You shall have no gods except Me.
4 No graven image shall you make,
Nor heavenly likeness shall you take,
Nor from the earth beneath nor from
The waters under earth in sum.
5 Before them you shall not prostrate,
Nor shall you worship them in state.
For I YHWH am your Ælohim,
A jealous husband it may seem
Who limits evil on the score
Of generations to not more
Than three or four, what parents do
Affecting children's children too,
By the hate that they bear to Me.
6 But multiplying wonderfully
To thousands of their generations
Effects of any cultivations
Of good they might do who love Me
And keep My statutes faithfully.
7 Do not lift up the name of YHWH
Your Ælohim in vain, for who
Does so shall surely not receive
Acquittal from YHWH and reprieve.
8 Remember now the Sabbath day
To keep it holy every way.
9 Six days work and do all your tasks,
10 But seventh day's a rest that asks
YHWH your Ælohim to keep well,
Do no work in it, buy or sell.
In it you shall not work nor labour,
You, son nor daughter, nor the neighbour
Man nor the maid in your employ.
Let even animals take joy,
And every visitor that's strayed
Your gates. 11 For in six days YHWH made
The pair of skies and earth and stayed
To make the sea and what's in it.
Then He lighted on seventh day
To take comfort in it as fit,
And kneeling blessed the Sabbath day,
So did YHWH sanctifying it.
12 Give honour to your mom and dad,
So that your life may not be sad,
But long upon the ground YHWH's given,
And Ælohim for you to live in.
13 You shall not kill. 14 And you shall not
Commit adultery. 15 Do not
Steal. 16 Do not bear against your neighbour
False witness. 17 Do not covet neighbour
Of his house, do not covet his
Wife, nor his male worker, nor his
Female worker, oxen, nor his
Donkey nor anything which is
Your neighbour's property or labour.

The Lord God spoke these words to say
How we should walk the narrow way.
"I am the Lord your God who brought
You out from bondage" and then taught
The holy name YHWH Ælohim–
Supreme Reality to beam
Light on the truth that God is one.
If any man or mother's son
Try to divide the human race,
He disfigures the divine face.
Nothing at all in all creation,
Which is God's image of elation,
Can give the model whereby He
May be carved in His symmetry.
Let me not grasp an image here
As though the waverings that appear
Were worthy of worship and fear.
The workings of theology
Are fornicate idolatry,
Since any concept I confess
Can only be the outer dress.
Let me not bow to what is known
Nor err about what has been shown.
God's jealousy arouses wrath,
And yet He limits on the path
The natural effects of wrong
And multiplies in grateful song
Each act of goodness that men do
A thousand times beyond the true.
His mercy needs no sacrifice
Beyond the love that will suffice
Obeying His commandments' voice:
His name uplifted to make choice
Repenting every act mistaken
And restituting what was taken
Ends in the declaration that
A man's not guilty where he sat.
Let me lift up on Sabbath day
That holy name by which I pray
And set aside my daily tasks
To do what His commandment asks.
It refers to more than a day,
But to the golden, blessèd way
That all the great must treat the small:
Father to son and at her call
Mother to daughter and the boss
To worker, who has rights not loss,
The landsman to the refugee
Cast up a stranger on his lea,
And every human being to
The animal and nature's crew.
The ethics of the Sabbath cast
A limit on the right to last
Of every strong upon the least:
Sabbath divides man from the beast
Denying in a world of care
Survival of fittest to bear,
Instead the duty of each one
To recognize a limit done
On power and rights not to be won
But inborn for servant and son.
The Sabbath takes away the need
Of labour union, nature's creed
By limiting both power and greed.
The arbitrary time it comes
Undermines every despot's sums.
In all the divine law I see
Only one law to make men free,
A positive act to be done
To lengthen life beneath the sun.
The only thing a man can do
That remains on earth right and true
Is honour to his mom and dad.
Every other monument's sad
Attempt at doing well, but clad
In idol clothing of the cad.
Let me not take another's life
Nor enter in the door of strife,
Competing in vain pursuit of
Empty status and honour's love.
The one I strike in striking him
Is also my own self, thought grim,
And every self is but the glow
Of one true Self where God will show.
Therefore adultery's a crime
And stealing is to share the rhyme
Of that delusion that makes some
Superior for wealth and gum.
Let me bear no false witness to
Another's act that is not true,
But in my speech and what I do
Recognize God's face in the crew.
The symbol and the chains of power
Invested in contracts an hour
Or in houses or in the wealth
Of workers human or in stealth
Bestial to create and transport
Goods for profit from store to fort,
Let me not covet. Let me go
Naked upon the earth to show
Dependence on Lord God alone,
To howl aloft and chew the bone,
To find gold and diamonds are strewn
In plenty to whom hark the moon,
And in my simple fakir way
I chase my tail instead to pray,
And cast aside all that is vain,
Says dervish Thomas McElwain.

The prophets speak in ecstasy
Of what they hear prophetically,
And critics rave and rage when Art
Reels on the stage in glittering part.
The markets for both fashion and
The best in classics can't withstand
The run on wares, the prices take
A leap toward heaven for heaven's sake.
Yet all the world stood still for once
And all the merchants stopped their stunts
While men and women duly heard
The great pronouncements of Your word.
For one time You Yourself came down
And spoke commandments to the town.

No man or woman ever heard You speak
The word that brought forth light, changed night to day,
The word that touched with breath and place the way
Toward sea and earth and life on that first week.
No ear heard when You spoke the stars and moon
Above the flight of wing and creeping thing,
And only Eve and Adam heard You sing
First Sabbath blessing. Noah heard You soon
And Abraham and prophets one by one,
You spoke the words to anxious crowds and waiting
And trembling at the thunder, vacillating
In pregnant silence till Your word was done.
On one occasion only You spoke free
So all might hear and know eternally.

You spoke these words. No others came
So all could hear them just the same.
You passed by prophets and their sons,
You left off dreams and vision-puns
And stood where all could see and hear
The sight of flashing lightning, fear
The break of thunder and go down
On trembling knees before Your crown.
You came down once, but never after
Broke in upon our grief or laughter,
That one trip and one speech unique
Occurred one time on Sinai's peak.
Since then mankind before Your face
Tried to forget Your law and grace.

O my Beloved! Let me not have another!
Like You, Belovèd, I too have no brother.
If You are God alone, there is no thing
That can compare with You, there is no king
But is beneath Your sovereignty, no man
Can take Your glory, honour, no man can.
The blessed Messiah also bows to You
In worship, and so do the prophets too.
The whole world is a temple, every face
Returns to You in every time and place.
Of all who breathe none can resist Your call.
You are Creator and the Lord of all.
Let no one take Your place within my heart.
One without equal, You're the better part.

The great I AM speaks to the crowd as though
One soul alone were listening to the voice,
And one soul only had to make the choice
To follow You or let Your ten words go.
And every person stands from day to day
Alone beneath the mountain, silent, grim,
Where echoes of Your voice along the rim
Make blueberries quiver, maples turn away,
And fleeing slaves forget where they've come from.
For every man was once a slave awhile,
And every woman's tasted of the Nile,
Who wait and hope a thunder cloud will come.
Today at last we're free to stand and hear
What words of Yours may never disappear.

Let me make nothing to remind me of
The God You are, Your sovereignty and love.
To make an image carved in stone or mind
Means that I think You're nowhere I can find,
And so I need this thing or that to know
You in Your absence, since You do not show.
But surely I do not hear when You speak
Because I'm not Your audience to seek,
I am instead the words upon Your tongue,
And not the climber on the ladder's rung.
The listener hears the story, not the one
About whom story's told and things are done.
I see You not, not since You are too far,
But since You keep me close to where you are.

They used to make gods' images in stone,
When stone turned dust they weren't left alone.
They had intelligence enough to make
New images that time would never shake.
So we inherit images of hate,
Theological concepts that translate
Unknowable infinities of God
In well-said statements, polished to a nod.
These paper puppet gods go out, do battle,
And lead their followers like bleating cattle.
But You immoveable in silent state
Reign over sect and every sect's god's fate.
Religion will pass on with empire dreams.
The Day of Judgement will replace what seems.

Beloved, You are defined in human terms
In this one sermon that You preached to worms.
You speak to humankind, call Yourself I,
YaHuwa, Allah, and bring by and by
All people from their bondage, You alone
Are God. You cannot be expressed in stone
Or image made, You fly in jealous rages
If anyone bows down to other sages.
You intervene to limit evil actions.
You multiply the good combining factions.
To those who love You and obey Your will
You are the Merciful, and judge all still.
Sovereign of time, Creator of all space,
You ask obedience before Your face.

O my Beloved, let me not bow to those
In acquiescence to the false they chose
Instead of Your command and blessèd will.
If all turn back, make me obedient still.
Though my prayer fail in morning, noon and night,
Keep me from idol worship, show the right.
I feel the burden of Your raging ire
For those who worship men, what they inspire.
In desperation jealously You see
The world bow to a pagan Trinity.
Take here my offered love to You alone,
Though it be weak and laid on flesh and bone.
You weep and groan for the unfaithful wife.
Let me be faithful long as I have life.

I thank You, my Beloved, that You set bounds
On how much time a wicked act resounds.
Effects of evil might go on and on,
But You have set the limits, You have drawn
A boundary in generations three
Or four at most. You ask no litany
Of blood for grace. Your grace is free to those
Who love You best and whose obeying grows
From love of mercy and acknowledging
That there is none but You, eternal King.
Confession, penitence and restitution
Are of all things the most precious ablution.
You stretch the good and what it does in time
A thousand generations past its prime.

I raise Your name, Beloved, this day and speak
To You in hope You will defend the weak,
To You in praise that my self may be filled
With Self alone from twelve roses distilled,
To You in penance that Your word stands lame
At times as I go out to play the game,
To You in sacrifice, self disappearing
In Self alone, Beloved, in Your uprearing.
Thus my petition in Your name resounds
Through corridors of soul, above the bounds
The temple of the universe aligns.
I watch the morning sky for Your brief signs
The world's awake and tune my soul to set
Where evening makes Your names a singing yet.

Pause to remember, this I do each week,
And fill Your name with all the things I seek,
Setting aside a moment for my prayer
That its perfume may linger in the air
Of days and nights that follow one of rest.
What moment of the artist is the best?
It is not when the brush is set to white,
Nor when the first smudge turns the canvas bright.
It is not in the planning nor the pain
Of getting wrong and making right again.
The holy moment comes when all is done
And canvas is uplifted to the sun
And pause is made for judgement and to ask
If this is not success, a finished task.

The right to rest belongs to everyone,
The worker and the beast beneath the sun,
The child and daughter, all have graven rights
That cannot, must not disappear from sights.
But no one has the right of obligating
Another on this day to task or waiting.
The list of those subordinates is clear
In offspring, beast, employee without fear.
The fact no wife is in the list means not
That she has no rights in the rest for thought,
But merely that she is no underling
And equal in all things to priest and king.
The Sabbath's not mere time to take a break.
It is the sign of many things at stake.

Who breathe participate in that great act
Creation is, Beloved, and that's a fact.
Forgotten, though, the soul works to arrive
At God's state, mighty, active and alive.
To breathe is not enough, man wants to make
The world anew, created for his sake.
Illusion forces such to plan and do,
Forgetting You are I and I am You.
The building topples and the engine fails
And still I need Your breath to fill my sails.
If I cannot create a world in time
At least I can create its pantomime,
Presume, if prisoner of space, to change
At last the day You chose to fill my range.

The faithful and religious said
The law could not be kept, instead
We had to wait for grace and mercy
To settle up the controversy,
Or else that heaven or hell broke in
To change us and the state of sin.
I disagreed and asked them which
Commandment was too hard to stitch,
And what it was we couldn't do
Of Your plain word You told us to
On any and on every day.
They're right, it's true what people say.
The Sabbath may it still amaze,
Can just be kept on Saturdays.

Competing with the God of all creation
I make up one frenetic, rushing nation
In order to produce and satisfy
The instinct to create before I die.
Repentance is to turn around and see
That reproduction's all it's said to be:
But backward looking is the way to go
Toward the future in the greatest show.
To honour parents is the finest rule
Of divine guidance in this sacred school.
All goals achieve their ends in this one act
Where blessings of all kinds are tightly packed.
Simplicity marks best this dervish order
From heart and centre to the furthest border.

"There is no god but I" brings on the need
To kill all others in one divine deed.
For if the other is not I then he
Is some false god from heathen trinity
And must at all costs bear the brunt and curse
And die at least or suffer something worse.
The only way to stay the killing hand
Is know that every one within the land
Is also I and conscious of that thing
That starts before the rainbow and the ring.
Deny there is no I but God and know
Denial is to kill the heart and glow.
"There is no I but God" fulfils this law
Alone and without praise and without awe.

For every act the soul finds motive in
A combination of the three for sin.
And this unholy trinity is made
Of greed, lust, cruelty, a spade's a spade.
There is no other motive in the heart
But that made up of these in measured part.
Beloved, You are alone God and no other
Can share the divine throne, not even mother.
So greed and cruelty must fall away
And lust alone must always hold the sway.
The divine unity is found in lust
Among the creatures formed and breathed in dust.
But lust has only one face as its goal.
Commit adultery, destroy the soul.

The gate of earth is where all creatures sit,
And so the highest vision has not wit
To live without the fruit and nut and grain.
All fervour must resign as void and vain
Unless the mouth is filled with bread as well
As with the divine names, the truth to tell.
Who takes more on his plate than he can eat
Reveals himself a robber and a cheat.
The ground brings forth enough and food to spare,
But those religious souls would give us air
Who think that wealth unshared is worthy of
The Church's approbation and her love.
Air does not feed the hungry. Those who steal
The product of the earth must share the meal.

Some spoke for law and some for grace
And some for welfare, some for space.
I wondered why some said the law
Was different from grace, aha,
Unless there was a point therein
They wanted to enjoy as sin.
So far as I could see the two,
Both law and grace were of one hue.
To me the day of rest is not
A duty but a grace unsought.
If law seems no grace when you steal,
Then turn around, see how you feel,
If law's not grace when someone comes,
Breaks in your house and steals your sums.

Beloved, I bear this witness of my neighbour,
Who shares my street, and lives by his own labour,
That I that lives in me lives so in him
And in all humankind, both right and dim.
There is no I but God and that I lives
In everyone whose consciousness but gives
Acknowledgement to life and its existence.
And yet that I with rush and churning pistons
Can foil its faith, extinguish in the dark,
Or sound the Name, returning to the park.
When all is done on earth and in creation,
And all return to their own place and station,
You shall not be, Beloved, at all diminished,
Though darkness should take all when all is finished.

To seek the source of power that belongs
To others is to compound heaven's wrongs.
The property, alliance through the spouse,
Employees working out and in the house,
The trucks that move, the ploughs that pare the earth,
All these are vehicles of power and worth.
To covet them is to deny the Self
That reigns in self, crown left upon the shelf.
To covet’s to deny what is one's own,
And there is for each one his gift alone.
But as for wealth, again there's gold to spare
And everyone may eat of gold his share.
Who knows but ox and donkey are enough
To plough and take the road when things get rough.

What You said once for all to hear
Can never, never disappear.
It stays beside me in my toil
Of pen in ink or spike in soil.
It is a silent witness of
My wanton hate and craven love.
It fills with bright unseen perfume
Obedience's white costume.
It speaks in menace or in praise
Of every human's passing days.
It speaks in silence, biding time,
Eternal, glorious paradigm,
Until the Day of Judgement when
It raises up or cuts down men.

I searched for gods in knowledge, found their limit,
And touched gods with delight in art and right.
I drank deep draughts of god in what I might
Take for my own with price, and saw time dim it.
I revelled in the gods of house and kin
And hid their images beneath my seat:
They failed me in both warfare and retreat,
And so I sought the mystic god within.
My shattered soul rejoiced in purple void
And praised the quiet god of emptiness
Beyond the forms of gold and shadow-guess
Until the stroke of grace broke overjoyed.
I found my own in leaving off the search,
For You were not in stable, state or church.

Some doubt that You spoke to that crowd one day.
"Why doesn't He speak now?" such people say.
It may be there's a difference in the crowd
That now expects for You to speak out loud.
Those ancient people worshipped golden calves,
But what they did they never did by halves.
When lightning lightened and the thunder thundered
They stood and listened to Your words and wondered.
We're better far than worshippers of gold
In asking nowadays that we be told
The scientific reasons for the sound,
The speed of light and why the world goes round.
The crash of thunder deafens us to what
Is in Your lyrics and to what is not.

Two prophets' names are hidden in the text
Of Decalogue to favour the perplexed.
Once Adam rides the melody and then
Twice Ahmed is the one desired by men.
I covet not the neighbour's wife nor house,
Nor his store of corn guarded by the mouse,
But yet I covet by Muhammad's name,
Which means 'the coveted' to find my aim
In that Criterion and without shame
That he in the Qur'an came to proclaim.
I covet, my Beloved, the holy fire
That burns away vested human desire
And in the prophet's footsteps follow on
To find the Decalogue's red and rose dawn.

The Sacred Books of all faiths and all lands
Have this in common: each one makes demands
On consciences of fearful people, each
Lays open purple splendours beyond reach.
Commandments show us what we are, not what
We should or must do. Images begot
Upon the soul turn into Grecian vases,
Or into blackened, silhouetted faces,
Depending on the eye that might behold it.
Some rage against the law and You that told it.
Some grasp and hold the beauty of Your vision.
Commandments draw the soul's lines with precision,
The law remains for those who hate and love it.
I've only more and more new things to covet.

Let me remember, Lord, Your day,
The sanctified, the blest,
On all my days, in every way,
In work and play and rest.
Let me remember, Lord, Your name,
The holy and the true,
Beyond the names that vie in fame
And shadow what I do.
Let me remember, Lord, Your law,
The merciful and right,
And stand each day with You in awe
And walk within its light.
Let me remember, Lord, Your grace,
The infinite to spare,
That I may joy before Your face
Though weak in act and prayer.
Let me know, Lord, in this my place,
In this blest moment's gift,
Your day, Your name, Your law, Your grace
Uphold me and uplift.

18 Now all the people saw the thunder,
The lightning flashing made them wonder,
The sound of trumpet, mountain smoking
They saw and trembled, and no joking
Stood far off, 19 and they said to Moses,
"Just you speak with us, since YHWH chose us,
We shall hear you, but let not speak
Ælohim, lest we die, we're weak."
20 And Moses told the people, "Do
Not fear, for Ælohim tests you,
And that His fear may be with you,
So that you may not sin." 21 So then
The people stood far off, but Moses
Drew near the darkness thick that closes
Where Ælohim was and not men.

Why don't You, Lord, speak to us face to face
As You did years ago to Israel's race?
You spoke so loud to them, the thunder pealing
Could not drown out Your voice and its revealing.
You made such clamour on Mount Sinai's top
That no one in the camp had to eavesdrop.
But now, no matter how hard one may listen
When mountain peaks in sun and granite glisten
You do not make a peep or even show
A slight displeasure for how things here go.
You came down once and made the world a stage
Where You dictated maybe half a page,
And then, good actor, knew to call the curtain.
You had no more to say, that's one thing certain.

They want excitement in the church and meeting
And something more than just good light and seating.
The celebration of rock music there
Will keep the crowd as well as anywhere,
But then one's got to follow in the fashion
Of what in music is considered smashing.
Religion falls behind in entertainment
When big names fail to offer their attainment.
No one can listen to a preacher talk
In platitudes forever, but the shock
Of You Yourself come down to say a word
Would set things humming. Coming is absurd,
Though, since scarce anybody ever does here
The things God asked the first time when He was here.

22 Then YHWH said to Moses, "Thus you
Shall say to Israel's folk to do:
'You've seen I've talked with you from heaven.
23 'You shall not make you any leaven,
Or anything to be with Me,
Not gods of silver nor of gold
Shall you make of the things you see
For yourselves claiming to be bold.
24 'An altar of the earth you shall
Make for Me, where you prostrate all
Burnt offerings made in sacrifice,
Though penitence alone suffice,
Peace offerings of your ox and sheep.
And every place where I may keep
My name I shall come there to you
And bless you for the things you do.
25 'And if you make that place of stone,
You shall not make it hewn with bone
Or metal tool, which would profane it.
26 'Nor shall you walk by steps to stain it
When you go to My altar bare
No nakedness upon it there.'

I make prostration on an unhewn stone
Cast down, though I pray just to You alone.
That stone is not an idol as the weak
And ignorant suppose, but there I seek
To find an altar, place of slaughter, where
I offer up myself naked and bare.
I follow law and statute in that I
Lift neither tool nor nakedness, but try
To take my steps across the carpeting
And lay my prayer beside the carolling
Of cherubim and seraphim. I know
There is no need for altar or for show,
The place I put my brow can be as well
The hand by which I offer You the cell.



AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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