Lent Day Twenty Nine

First: from the conclusion to chapter one of Zornberg: "The Particulars of Rapture"

page 79 "God chooses to reveal Himself to Moses, because he has 'gone to the trouble to see'. As against Rabbi Jonathan's spatial reading (['he took three steps'... ] three steps constitutes the movement into a different space), Rabbi Simeon condenses Moses' movement to a 'twist of the neck.' Subtle, minimalistic, Moses' gesture realigns his own being, puts it into intimate relation with that which has approached him. Such a gesture involves 'trouble,' a deviation from the obvious. For Rabbi Simeon, it is his capacity to 'twist his neck,' to turn his face in wonder and questioning, that brings him the voice of God.

The neck in torsion—an image for desire, a counterimage to the stiff-necked intransigence of those who set themselves against the new. Within Moses himself, within his people, within the Egyptians, even within the representations of God in the narratives of redemption, the tensions of Exodus will seek resolution, the momentary equilibrium that again and again is to be lost and reclaimed."

In chapter 2 (Vaera) of "The Particulars of Rapture", Zornberg writes about Moses' unwillingness/inability to speak; Pharaoh's unwillingness/inability to listen, and the consequent resistance to redemption by the Israelites. God is resisted by all the players in this narrative at this point.
Since Chapter 2 takes us to the end of Exodus 9; there is more to come...
I should also note that I am partly following the readings for Evening Prayer which will get us to the end of Exodus chapter 9 by Thursday this week. (Day 33)