Did you bring along your tambourine?

 

What do you know about living in hope? Hope is an interesting word. We throw it around quite casually. “I hope they have brownies to go with my coffee”, “I hope so and so will be there”, “I hope it doesn’t rain” etc.

But there was a time and a place when hope had to be held onto with both hands and a whole lot of faith.

Maybe you will have to cast your mind back to your Sunday School days or maybe you’ve read it recently but think with me of the Exodus of the Israelites. Think with me of the time when God’s people were finally released from their slavery and given freedom from the Egyptians who treated them cruelly and oppressed them for so many years.

We all know the story. We remember the 10 plagues God sent and the way God used Moses to speak to Pharoah, asking him to let the people go and then the death of the firstborn son which broke Pharaoh’s heart and caused him to finally give in and hand the people over to leave the land of Egypt and make their way to the promised land.

We remember what the Israelites took with them on their leaving. They took their unleavened dough (Exodus 12:34), they took jewels that they were given by the Egyptians (Exodus 12:35) and they took herds and flocks, cattle galore (Exodus 12:38). We are told they didn’t have time to prepare any food to take as they were thrust out of Egypt abruptly after the death of the Pharaohs son. In the middle of the night, he told them to “get up and go!”. (Exodus 12:31) So, no time to pack a lunch or a snack box.

So many people, so little provisions of what we might think necessary. And yet, off they went.

But is there a little detail that you might have missed in the story that I myself have missed for many years?

Skip on down with me to Exodus chapter 15. Approximately 31 days after leaving Egypt we come to the miraculous parting of the Red Sea. Pharaoh has a change of heart and decides to pursue the Israelites. And with him and his army hot on their tail, they come up against an impassable obstacle. A sea of water.

The Egyptian army bearing down on them, their dust visible over the sands of the desert, and a sea of water in front of them. What is to become of them? And right here, God makes a way where there was no way.

The miracle of the Red Sea passing is a favourite Sunday School story, and we have all used our imagination and wondered whether as they walked through, they ran their fingers along the wall of water, watching the fish looking out at them in wander. We see them shaking the dry sand out of their sandals as they climb up onto the other side only to see Pharaohs army storming after them.

But God was not finished with his miracle making. Pharaoh’s army comes a cropper in the middle of the pathway. Chariot wheels bogged to the eyeballs and looking up they see Moses with his rod stretched out over the sea and then all is finished. The waters returned to their place, swallowing the army and taking the pursuers down to their watery graves.

Now, back to chapter 15. Moses begins to sing a song. The children of Israel join in. It is a song of victory. It is a song of praise.

Exodus 15:1 KJV - Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

It’s quite the song. A ballad of sorts telling the story of their delivery. And then as we come down to verse 20, we see Miriam, the sister of Aaron and Moses. Miriam takes a timbrel in her hand and all the women after her, take timbrels (tambourines) in their hands and begin to sing and dance and play and beat on their instruments.

The timbrels in this culture were made of animal skin stretched over a wooden frame with metal discs or jingles that hung from the frame creating a more complex auditory experience.

These timbrels, or tambourines as we more commonly call them, are frequently mentioned in the Bible in the context of worship and celebration. And here in this passage is the first mention of them. They were closely associated with joy, dance and an expression of praise and worship to God.

So, what is the detail you might have missed?

The tambourine. The detail you may have missed is why in the world did the women bring their tambourines with them in the Exodus?

Why would they pack an instrument when they weren’t even sure they’d survive the night?

I mentioned before what they brought with them. Unleavened bread. Animals. Jewels. But musical instruments? What? Why? It makes no sense.

We often discuss what we would grab if we had to get out of our house in a hurry and although we all vary in what we would take, I’m not sure how many would grab their percussion instrument that could easily be replaced.

Think again about what a tambourine symbolized. They were used in worship. And in celebration.

Now, when the Israelites were leaving Egypt, they were fleeing an oppressive place, in the middle of the night, unable to pack a suitcase or an esky. With only the clothes on their backs, but somehow, the women managed to slip in a tambourine or two.

Did they believe something the others did not? Is it possible that they had hope?

The word hope in the Hebrew is tocheleth. It is not a passive hope. It is a word that means expectation. It has the idea of an expectation that looks forward. An active hope. This particular translation is used six times in the Bible. Here are a couple of examples.

Psalm 39:7 KJV - And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.

Proverbs 10:28 KJV - The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.

There is a Jewish tradition that says that the reason the women brought their tambourines along with them is that they expected God to come through. Before they saw the miracle of the Red Sea, they expected he would perform it.

Before they knew if they would make their escape from the Egyptians, they were expecting God to do something miraculous.

So, while they were still in the ‘battle’ they were preparing their victory song. They were planning their praise before the miracle.

I love this thought because it shows me what true expectation is. It means that I can have expectant hope even when I don’t see the victory. Even when the miracle has not arrived. Even when things look bleak. Even while the storm clouds are still overhead. I can be preparing my song of praise. I can even sing my song of praise while the storm rages.

I can bring along my tambourine in readiness for the miracle.

I can live in hope. I can trust and keep trusting. I can trust knowing that God will come through. Time and time again. Just like he’s always done.

Our expectation affects our vision. It affects what we see. It affects how we see. It affects our perspective.

Did these women look at their circumstances, see the concern on the faces of those around them and wonder if they would make it through? Did they worry that their freedom would be short lived? Or was there a glimmer of hope lying inside them that caused them to bring along their instruments of praise and worship in anticipation of a celebration ahead?

Let’s bring it a little closer to home.

Do you live like these women did? Do you live with their kind of hope?

I know that all too often I don’t. I wait and see what happens. Then my trust builds. Then I thank God and then I celebrate.

The tambourine comes out of the bottom of the bag once the storm is over.

But that’s no way to live. We ought to be trusting in the Lord. We ought to be planning our victory song long before we see God move.

We ought to be expecting something, even before we see it!

So, keep your tambourines handy,

 victory is coming!