The Most Important Verse in the Bible.

When I was in seminary I recall learning in Old Testament class — probably from Dr. Bernard Anderson — that the oldest verse in the Bible, the verse that everything else likely sprang from, the seed of the whole Judeo-Christian tradition, the most lucid, potent, and fruitful memory that has forever characterized our faith, is Exodus 15:21.  Here it is:

And Miriam sang to them:

‘Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;

horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.’

Here we hear the voice of Miriam, Moses’ sister, singing in triumph after the miraculous deliverance of the people at the Red Sea.  It is the song of the band of liberated slaves at the moment when their freedom was guaranteed by the destruction of Pharaoh’s pursuing army.  It may be argued that the whole Bible is a commentary on that verse.  

What this means is that the entire Biblical story and tradition is essentially and originally about liberation, a movement from death and darkness to life and light.  It is written from the perspective of downtrodden people who have experienced a miraculous emancipation at God’s hand.  The Bible is at its core the story of a group of freed slaves; the whole Bible comes from this experience.

The Bible, in other words, is only correctly understood from this perspective.  It is about the movement from bondage to freedom.  It is good news to the poor, the sick, the disinherited, the disenfranchised, the outcast, the excluded, the oppressed, and the destitute, and can only be interpreted from their perspective.  It is about hope to the hopeless, and gratitude for God’s miraculous deliverance.

It is also about the destruction of evil.  Pharaoh’s army represents all oppressive and unjust and violent systems that perpetrate inequity, exploitation, bigotry, and tyranny.  The liberation of the people necessarily involves the defeat of a dominating inhuman power.  

The Lord Jesus recognizes this as well.  He deliberately chooses Passover, the holiday that remembers the Exodus liberation event, as the time for his own death and resurrection.  In many parts of Christianity, what we call Easter is referred to as Pascha, Passover, making the connection explicit.  It is when we remember the Lord’s passion and resurrection that we read the Exodus stories again.  

  

Exodus 15:21 is also the song of a woman.  Christians know that at the most important and seminal places in Scripture, it is the women who first get it.  And they seem mainly to be named Mary: Jesus’ mother sings the hymn called the Magnificat, expressing her faith in the One she will bear, witnessing to the Incarnation in explicit political and economic terms.  Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus in advance for his burial, anticipating his giving his life for the life of the world on the cross, the primary witness to his passion.  Mary Magdalene is the first to meet and proclaim the risen Jesus, becoming the Apostle to the Apostles.  

It is the song of an Israelite, a member of a minority group which had been relegated to slavery and oppressed on the basis of race.  As they were originally migrants from Canaan, this aspect of being foreigners in Egypt also comes into play here.

What Exodus 15:21 shows us is that the Bible is essentially geared towards the interests of marginalized, excluded, suffering, and victimized people.  And it cannot be authentically pressed into service in the interests of rulers and privileged, wealthy people.  It cannot be used to legitimate the power of the powerful, or to oppress the weak, poor, or sick.  To use the Bible to advocate for or defend imperialism, colonialism, slavery, racism, the subjugation of women, economic or ecological injustice, the exclusion of refugees and migrants, or any kind of social pecking order is go contradict not only it’s heart at Exodus 15:21, but the entire flavor and tenor of the rest of it, culminating with the ministry of Jesus Christ.  Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection constitute the final fulfillment of Exodus 15:21, and of the entire Hebrew Scriptures.  

The church needs periodically, regularly, and frequently to place itself at the edge of the sea with Miriam, and at the empty tomb with Mary Magdalene, and realize again the deliverance to which it is called to bear witness.  The powers that would hold us in crippling and lethal bondage have been vanquished.  The new life has come!

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