Toen Israel uit Egypte trok = When Israel Made Her Way From Egypt, 1967 - 2021

During the Amsterdam Great Vigil liturgy, at the telling of the story of Exodus 15, someone with a guitar stepped up to the microphone and, like a troubadour, started to sing Psalm 114. Gradually, the assembly was caught up in this, and in two sections (I & II), they sang the psalm antiphonally like the waves of the sea, crashing apart from side to side. The last line was sung in canon, many, many times. Psalm 114 is the second of the Egyptian Hallel psalms (113-118), sung at the great annual festival commemorating Israel's deliverance from Egyptian slavery. It is an unusual form of a hymn, being an antiphonal declaration of God's saving deeds which demonstrated great power. It is a pre-Exilic song, perhaps originally from the ‘pagan’ Gilgal sanctuary (Joshua 3-5) and later transferred to Jerusalem. In addition to being sung on the eighth day of Passover, it may well have been sung during the autumnal Enthronement Festival in the late Fall and even during the earlier Festival of Covenant. The psalm recalls Israel's dramatic rescue from Egypt, election as God's people, and delivery to the Promised Land. God had proved to be faithful in word and deed. Those who had witnessed such saving power passed on their memories to subsequent generations. In this way Israel kept alive both the memory and the reality of God-in-their-midst. The memories embedded in this psalm form the basis for Israel's trust in God. The entire nation, from priests to commoner, had been warned to never forget God's promises. Through song in the Temple they kept alive their hope and trust in that faithful God. God commanded Israel to proclaim that belief to the whole world, ultimately to non-Jews, so that all may come together in one final act of reconciliation. This is the song of a covenant people who are recalling a God who is faithful to the promises made on their behalf. Exodus 12:14 is the divine imperative, Keep this day in remembrance of me. All who trust in God can likewise depend on God remembering them. Such remembrance keeps Covenant alive, in which we also bond with one other. This covenant is not a static law written on blocks of stone, but in the words of Jeremiah written into hearts of flesh and blood (Jeremiah 31:31-34), forming a mutual bond of trust and dependence. In the light Israel's experience of Exodus, questions began to arise about the origins of their encounter with God prior to their time of liberation. A 'history' began to emerge, which led to the writing of the Creation stories as the root of Covenant. It was when God first intervened in Israel's history, initiated that first covenant with 'Adam' and later with Abram, foundational for all subsequent encounters before and after the Exodus. – Tony Barr