Yahweh’s development can be showcased through events and interactions. The first mention of Yahweh within the readings was Exodus 2:24 when Yahweh “suddenly” remembers his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He then takes notice of the Israelites in pain. Considering he has not noticed the people until now, a reader can assume that Yahweh has been busy elsewhere, or simply forgot about the Israelites. However, later on in the Bible, the Israelites are considered by Yahweh to be “his people” and most of his actions are focused on directing the Israelites in one way or another. Yahweh’s newfound care for the Israelites is one fragment of his development as a biblical character. While Yahweh’s interactions with the enslaved Israelites is important, Yahweh’s exchanges with Moses more so help readers understand Yahweh’s complexities. Yahweh first comes to Moses in Exodus 3.2 when he appears in the burning bush. His persona is powerful and authoritative. He does not portray any human qualities until Exodus 4, when Moses claims he cannot speak to the Israelites for Yahweh. Yahweh suddenly loses his calm demeanor, and becomes slightly angry with Moses. This is the first instance in which Yahweh has human qualities or emotions. Shortly after this …show more content…
In Exodus, Yahweh demonstartes his anger countless times. He becomes angry at Moses, at the Egyptians, and at the Israelites. However, Yahweh does not simply show anger, he shows wrath. Yahweh shows a need for vengeance often. He takes revenge on the Egyptians for enslaving the Israelites. He threatens to take revenge on the Israelites in Jeremiah 2:19 when he says they will be punished for their unfaithfulness. Yahweh admits his wrath when he is threatening the Israelites in Jeremiah 7:20. Yahweh’s anger is well documented; however, a reader can pinpoint an important emotional pivot away from anger in
The Israelites were delivered from Egypt. He has hardened
God is sinless, loving, forgiving and full of wisdom. God’s love is shown throughout the Old and New Testaments. Many times throughout the Old
How could a loving God command the killing of the Canaanites? In order to be able to answer this question there are certain causes that need to be considered and that are very important to take into consideration. Let’s look at the situation from God’s point of view in the matter of the destruction of the Canaanite race. Most of my evidence will be found within the Bible and historical record.
God’s people found themselves in captivity in Egypt after the death of Joseph and the Pharaoh that had knowledge of the good done by children of Israel (Ex. 1:8-14). God saw the oppression of His people and sent Moses and Aaron to deliver His people from slavery (Ex. 3:10, 4:14-16).
After centuries of oral storytelling, thirty percent of the world’s population now adopts a benevolent god that blesses those who follow him. In these followers’ eyes, this god of Christianity, YHWH, has shown himself graceful and powerful through His miraculous works throughout the Bible and everyday life. While these traits are prominent, parts of the Old Testament shine a negative light on YHWH that may depict him as a temperamental creator that continually seeks justice at any cost, including the destruction of His own creations. The Old Testament develops a character of YHWH that is sometimes parallel but other times contradictory to the “real God” of the Christian belief.
Throughout the Bible God can be represented in a number of different ways. In some chapters of the Bible God can be found to be a compassionate, loving God, who would do anything for his people. To contradict this, in other chapters of the Bible God can be found trying to instill fear into people so that they believe in him, or do what he wants of them. In both instances it shows how different God can be seen and why believers can have doubts about how God really is.
There are many ways that show that we can separate religion from morality in order to show that they are distinct. Morality shows the choices we make deciding right from wrong which ends with one or more parties receiving benefits. Religion is the belief in a being that is supernatural or present in the environment. The followers of that typical religious ideal may choose to follow under that being's guidance or stem off from the primary goal and change what is recommended for that. I can see that the followers of the different types of religions in the world follow their respective beings because they are symbols of authority to them, which means that they should be obedient to that being. Holding power and knowledge over the world and our
In the Book of Exodus the relationship between god and man was similar to relation between a master and servant or in other words a king and a subject respectively. God says “you shall speak all that I command you”(Exodus,7:2), it is very clear through this vision that Moses had that God wanted to have dominion and control over peo...
In Judaism, God is seen as having a contractual relationship with the Jewish people where they must obey his holy laws in return for their status of the chosen people. God rewards or punishes Jewish people based on whether they obey or disobey his will. In parts of the Old Testament, however, God does show mercy or forgiveness, and in later interpretations God’s laws such as the Ten Commandments are followed
...f the divine world but the kings were in charge of vocalizing god’s wishes on earth. The most famous of these law codes was Hammurabi’s law code. The Hebrews tried to establish order by using Yahweh’s Ten Commandments and the Torah. Mesopotamian deities were hard to please and easily angered. The Mesopotamians constantly felt they were letting their gods down and usually didn’t even know the reason behind it. Hebrews had a much more forgiving god. Through texts like “The Book of Job”, it is apparent that Yahweh was a tough god but always forgiving and fair in the end. He had few demands of his people and all of them were ethical and easy to adhere to. As long as his devotees followed Yahweh’s laws, they were all capable of receiving his blessings. Through it all, it seemed that God and religion was at the center of every aspect of life in the ancient civilization.
...Temple (this action is also noted in 2nd Chronicles). In Nehemiah, Artaxerxes allows the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls. These actions are attributed to God’s favor and reveal that God is still faithful to his people. The promises made to Abraham are still in effect, along with the Mosaic and Davidic covenants. Although the people disobeyed God and were punished, God continues to exhibit his love for Israel. From an overview of the writings of the Old Testament, the theme of God’s faithfulness is displayed.
As I mentioned before in the first paragraph, there is no other role than being the creator of this world for God. God has no power over us to dictate our decisions in life or the ability to punish us for doing the wrong thing. As creatures made from nature, our morality has helped us decide what is wrong and right. We have conducted ourselves by this sense of morality so that we could be independent with our lives. We have chosen what to do with those who have done bad things and as well as how to reward ourselves when we make the right choice. The holy books are like propaganda from a tyrant who wants everyone to believe that there is only one way to live and that is his way. If the laws of the holy books are broken, then anyone who breaks them gets punished. He is known to have an invisible hand that pushes people to believe that it is a necessity to follow his Ten Commandments. However, I don’t believe that he even has that power. If we break a leg, lose a job, or get sick, then those outcomes have a rational reason. As well as when good things happen, for example, when we get a good grade, a promotion, or when two people get married. All these outcomes are from the decisions that we take. There has never been a day when God has actually visibly rewarded me or punished me. It all has to do with what we view as what is good and bad for us. Natural law and Deism go along with my beliefs and world view.
...id and Job, both of these things are not applied. In this manner, the stories very often violate the same commandments meant to bring not only justice, but also morality, and other such virtues to a society and its people. Further, it is often God himself, in whose image man was created, who violates his own commandments, and due to this, can man be expected to adhere to the same commandments broken by God if he has been created in God's image? God is explicitly unjust, vengeful, and jealous, particularly in the story of Job. If God is to be an example for the ideal being, then how is it that his nature can express the same things he denounces in his guide, The Bible? All of these questions ultimately lead into one main question, which is in regards to whether or not a people who are led by an unjust God truly have the capability of developing a "just society".
The book of Exodus is seen as, the “Second Book of Moses”, as well as the second book in the Pentateuch . The Pentateuch is the first five books of the Old Testament, and is also known as the Torah, or “Law” in Hebrew, which is just one section that makes up the whole Hebrew Bible or Tanak. The Torah consists of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and is the beginning sections of the Bible. The other two sections are known as Nevi’im, “Prophets”, and Ketuvim, “Writings”. Upon analysis of the book of Exodus, it is expressively important to consider the historical aspects, literary issues, and theological themes that make up such a book.
The belief that morality requires God remains a widely held moral maxim. In particular, it serves as the basic assumption of the Christian fundamentalist's social theory. Fundamentalists claim that all of society's troubles - everything from AIDS to out-of-wedlock pregnancies - are the result of a breakdown in morality and that this breakdown is due to a decline in the belief of God. This paper will look at different examples of how a god could be a bad thing and show that humans can create rules and morals all on their own. It will also touch upon the fact that doing good for the wrong reasons can also be a bad thing for the person.