the holistic murmur: to grumble with grumbling tummies

On the changing use of the word "protest"

Geoffrey Nunberg gives a short overview of the historical use of the word protest - emphasizing that in recent years the word has lost the preposition that properly should be accompanying it. "I protested against you" became something like "I protested my mistreatment". What is of interest to me in the usage of the word in this way is the ambiguity that seems present in the identification of whom the protest is against. I'd argue that "Protesting against the government" isn't quite the same as "protesting the government". By this latter usage I could mean that I'm protesting against you for what the government does.

On coming back to the heart of protest, because it is all about you, all about you G-d

So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, "In the evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?" Moses also said, "You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD." - Exodus 16:6-8

// Moses and Aaron do not feel that they are worthy of being the subject of protest - of Israel's grumbling. If the Lord's people grumble, it ought not to be against them, mere men, but rather against the Lord. It is because they grumble that their Lord will reveal his glory. They will see, because they grumble against him.

What’s more is that the grumbling is physical as much as it is ideologically. Their Lord freed them from Egypt, but they grumble because they feel captive in that freedom. And their stomachs grumble as they grumble. However, their Lord will answer their grumbling, showing them that leaving Egyptwas his will. He will answer their grumbling, giving them food. Only Aaron and Mosesbesoughtd them to recognize that their grumbling is against their Lord and not mere men.

"How dare they grumble against God?" someone might ask. "Does that not rob him of his glory?"
But grumbling against God is evidently affirmed here. They were right in their grumbling (wrong in their disobedience that followed). Moses even affirms it. He says it is better they grumble against their God than man. Aaron and Moses appear to consider it degrading of their Lord's honour that they as mere men be the victim of Israel's grumbling - a grumbling that is the product of those who have reconciled themselves with their need for food in their desire for life. Thus, they grumble against their Lord as their stomachs grumble against him. There grumbling against God is motivated by a desire for life. There appears to be nothing wrong here with that.

In this context, Romans 13:1-7 becomes interesting and may have a different hue of light shed upon it in lieu of the previous passage.

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong.

The usual mantra that I've been exposed to by those who identify 60's rebellism in today's pop culture, conclude that the system will only be replaced by another system. The rebel will only birth a new system by their rebellion against the system. Whether it is the Glorious Revolution of England or the French Revolution, there's a sense that rebels usually end up establishing a new system that is only as tyrannical if not more than the one before. While I'm interested in identifying the exceptions to that rule, it would seem in this passage that for a system to exist it must necessarily require God's blessing.

That "rulers hold no terror for those who do right" appears compatible with the passage from Exodus where Aaron and Moses say "Who are we, that you should grumble against us?" Their institution as leaders, would be futile and a disgrace to their God for the Israelites to challenge. If you feel (or more strongly know) you are in the right and blameless in God's sight, the message appears to be - take the protest to God not man.