whence comest thou? whither goest thou?

In the first year of the Licentiate in Biblicum we study the Book of Judges in its original language Hebrew. One of the common dialogues among the characters when they meet is: 'where do you come from? where do you go?' These expressions are very precise in Hebrew. I thought these expressions to be normal exchange of greetings. But later I learnt these expressions are more than mere exchange of greetings. They are loaded with a deeper meaning.

'Where do you come from' means one's past. It means one's origin. It means one's rootedness. 'Where do you go to' means one's future. It means one's destination. It means one's openness. If these two questions are clear one's journey of life will be clear. 

The Israel often forgot these two questions. They forgot where they came from and how they were miraculously chosen as a nation and redeemed by the house of slavery by the Lord. So they retreated and began to serve other gods, the so-called Baals and their counterparts. They also forgot where they were heading to - the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey. They were distracted by the foreign cult and culture. 

Therefore the Lord had to remind them constantly with these two questions. 

In the fiction The Alice in Wonderland by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson there is a beautiful scene. One evening Alice takes a long walk. As she walks she arrives at a juncture of four roads. Frustrated and anxious she stops there. Lo, there comes a cat. The cat asks, 'Hey Alice! what are you doing here?' Alice replies, 'I don't know which road to take. Look there are four roads!' The cat asks again, 'where do you want to go?' To which Alice says, 'I don't know'. 'Then you may take any road. It will not make any difference!', says and walks off the cat.