Institutional Amnesia and the Justification of Dominance
Genesis exists because of Exodus.
We might not observe this readily as our minds are captured by the chronology of the Bible as “the books” have been arranged. But, with a bit of reflection you may arrive at the same conclusion. Genesis exists because of Exodus.
The redemptive work of God forming a people as His own reveals Him as Creator and the One who has ultimate claim on the lives of men and women created in His image.
As I read the first five books of the Bible, the gift of the Torah, is God’s gift after His redemptive work displayed through the exodus of Israel from Egypt. The work of the Exodus pre-dates the revelation of the Torah but not the work of God.
Even as the Church we must not forget that the substance of our faith resides in the redemptive work of God through Jesus Christ in a body, from this people, on a cross, and in a grave, to form a people from the nations as His own. He endured the cross “for the joy set before Him.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Exodus begins with power and its institution nurturing amnesia.
“Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.” Exodus 1:6
This new king, a pharaoh, systematically begins to dismantle the worth and the place in society held by the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Just as Joseph meant nothing to him, the people of Israel, would mean nothing to him unless they served as cheap labour, for his projects, and for the projection of his dominance. He needed them around so he could show his greatness. The Pharaoh needed Egypt to forget that these Israelites were persons. In fact, Egypt would have to forget that the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob and Joseph, had organized their own rescue from famine. Indeed they tried to forget, but they could not, so their contempt turned to dread.
The pursuit of amnesia is meant to excuse Egypt’s shameful treatment of bodies. This historical amnesia is framed by the pursuit of national security. Egypt might be embarrassed someday to discover that the Israelites had joined with an enemy of Egypt in order to take autonomous action for their own lives. Shame, even the threat of shame, holds in it not only the loss of honour and respect but also the loss of economic security. Pharaoh would not be the first man or the last to exercise language and a “divine edict” in order to justify, not just justify, actually blind others to his quest for greatness.
“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”
11So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13and worked them ruthlessly. 14They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly. Exodus 1:9-14
Exodus gives birth to Genesis.
The glorious revelation of God as Creator, personally involved with His Creation, is rescued from a sea of forgetfulness. To read Genesis from this side of the Nile is to bask in the light of revelation: every child of ‘Adam and Eve, is of immense and equal worth. To read Exodus with the light of Genesis is to see what extraordinary lengths God will go to free His Creation from death’s domination and its fake promises of life animated by structures that seem so real and so necessary in the ordering of things… and persons.
Institutions that want people to forget are often led by persons who need everyone to forget their connection to a redemptive past. Why? I believe its because they are plagued by the threat of shame and perhaps anxious about the economic insecurities accompanied by remembering and honouring the redemptive work fully.