Moses and the Cedar Pollen

Before my eyes one day some years ago, a cedar tree in my yard exploded in a sudden, enormous cloud of white smoke. Startled, I thought the power line running through the tree had somehow caught the tree on fire. The cloud of smoke drifted away from the tree, though, and there was no flame and no more smoke. Looking at the cloud then, I realized it was not white but yellow. Pollen. The cedar tree had burst its pollen free to float and propagate.

At church Sunday I was the Celebrant for the Eucharist at both services. Hoarse voice and constant throat clearing --no other cold symptoms -- why? As Linda and I were leaving after the ten-thirty service we noticed that her red car was covered with yellow pollen. Ah ha!

Years ago I served with a priest, Father Glenn, who was constantly tormented by allergies, not only pollen but even salt air. He and Nancy retired to Chehallis, Washington (photo), where the pollen count is low. Unlike our area where this morning’s pollen count is very high.

Only in the past few years has the cedar and pine pollen affected me so. Must be a factor of old age, eh?

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In The Book of Common Prayer, the Daily Office Lectionary is a marvelous resource for daily Bible readings and personal devotions. Folks who follow the Daily Office Lectionary know that this Week of Epiphany 8, Year One, (BCP p. 950) it is plowing through early chapters of Deuteronomy, 2nd Corinthians, and continuing through the Sermon in the Mount in Matthew’s gospel.

Deuteronomy is the fifth and final book of the Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses, the Torah. Greek, Deuteronomy means “second law.” Tradition considers it the book of the law discovered in the Jerusalem temple by King Josiah after the Jews returned from the Babylonian exile, and that it prompted the post-exilic renewal of the covenant between God and Israel. Deuteronomy consists of three long speeches of Moses, and at the end, Deuteronomy 34, Moses goes up Mount Nebo, up to Pisgah, a very high scenic overlook opposite Jericho. The Lord shows him the Promised Land and there Moses dies on the mountain overlooking the Promised Land that was the destination of the forty-year exodus journey in the wilderness. The Lord did not allow Moses to enter the Promised Land.

Why did The Lord not allow his faithful servant Moses to enter the Promised Land? At Numbers 20 (cf. Dt 4:21) the Israelites complained bitterly because they had no water to drink in the wilderness. The Lord told Moses to take his staff and command a rock to yield water. Moses struck the rock twice with his staff and abundant water gushed forth. Whereupon the storyteller reports that The Lord told Moses “Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” This happened at Meribah, and Moses made two mistakes that day. Instead of commanding the rock, he struck it with his staff. And he failed to give God the glory for the miracle.

If the harsh punishment versus the seeming triviality of Moses' offense puzzles you, learn something about etiology this morning. Etiology is an explanation that is derived when something begs explanation as to its origins, its reasons for being, and a look back into the record yields an explanation that will do. To those recording the story long years later, there had to be some explanation why -- after Moses had been so faithful in responding to God's call at Exodus chapter 3, and after Moses had been so steady and strong in leading God's miserable excuse for a "people" out of Egypt through forty long years of wretched hardship in the wilderness -- theologically there must be an explanation for why God did not allow his faithful servant Moses to enter the Promised Land. So, we review Moses' history with God searching for some occasion where Moses angered God. And, ah ha! There it is! It had to be because of Moses' mistakes at Meribah! Moses struck the rock instead of commanding it; and Moses neglected to praise God and give God the credit for the miracle of the water from the rock, leaving the Israelites to believe that Moses had done it himself. Note that this story at Numbers 20:12 is different from Deuteronomy 4:21, where Moses says that because the people made God so angry, God would not allow Moses to enter the Promised Land.

The storytellers’ accounts leave me somewhat skeptical. Moses at Meribah was so busy dealing with the whining, complaining Israelites that there’s no wonder he messed up! And anyway, I'm giving God credit for chesed, lovingkindness. God was not a harsh disciplinarian with Moses, God loved Moses dearly, just as he had loved Abraham. My view isn’t theological, but it’s practical. Two possibilities occur to me this morning:

Moses was 120 years old when he climbed Mount Nebo and Pisgah to be with The Lord. Moses simply ran out of time. When he climbed that mountain, his angina came on so severely that Moses had a heart attack and died.

Or up on Mount Nebo there were cedar trees in full pollen: Moses died of an asthma attack.

I can identify with either possibility.

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