There are many similarities between Bob Marley’s songs and the Biblical book of Exodus. Bob Marley’s songs “Exodus” and “Africa Unite” connect his tribulations and dissatisfaction with his life with the Biblical book of Exodus while his seemingly aloneness and his tribulations throughout his life seem to connect with Moses. The Biblical book of Exodus begins more than 400 years after Joseph; his brothers and the pharaoh he once served have all died. Egypt is under a new leadership that is threatened by Jacobs’s descendants. The new leaders embark on a crusade to subjugate the Israelites, forcing them into slavery and eventually declaring that all Hebrew boys must be killed at birth in the Nile River. However, there was one Hebrew mother that refused to obey this law. Instead of killing her son in the Nile, she set him afloat on the river in a papyrus basket (2:1-3). The Pharaoh’s daughter found the abandoned child and raised him as her own. She named him Moses (2:10). Moses was aware of his Hebrew roots, and one day he killed an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite worker. Terrified, Moses fled to Midian where he met a priest named Jethro. Moses married his daughter and began a new life as a shepherd. God was still concerned with the suffering Israelites and appeared to Moses as a burning bush (3:2). God spoke to Moses and told him of this plan to return the Israelites to Canaan, which God describes as “a land flowing with milk and honey” and sent Moses to accomplish this task (3:8).
Moses and his newly appointed brother, Aaron, returned to Egypt where Moses organized the Israelites and confronted the Pharaoh, demanding the release of the Hebrew people. Moses performed a miracle by turning his staff into a snake. However, the ph...
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...e in the sense that some people feel that they have found another Moses in Marcus Garvey. Marley states “to see the unification of all Africans” and “cause the children wanna come home, Africa unite.” These two phrases seem to refer to the people that moved out of Babylon in the book of Exodus.
Marley uses many comparisons to the biblical book of Exodus as well as come phrases that refer to Rastafarianism. He seems to have a mixed culture that refers to not only Christianity, but, mysticism and Black Nationalism as well. There seems to be connections through out his music that do point to the biblical book of Exodus. Decoding these messages, however, seems to be very difficult. This is because Marley does not base his songs on one specific religion or culture. I think this gives Marley an edge in the music industry because this way, his music appeals to more people.
When God first approaches Moses in the form of a burning bush, God says “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering. Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land,” (Exodus 3:7). Moses however, questioned God’s judgement, saying, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11). Moses continues to question God throughout the rest of the chapter, but eventually begins his journey to rescue his
Moses' journey begins in Egypt. This is a land where the Pharaoh has ultimate control and power over the people. Campbell refers to this greedy, egocentric, possessive leader as the tyrant. At this time, Egypt is noticing a huge increase in the number of Hebrew slaves (Exodus 1:9). In order to maintain possession of the land, Pharaoh must stifle the future threat that the increasing population of Israelites represent. To do this he orders the first born son of every Hebrew to be thrown into the Nile. However, baby Moses floats to the Pharaoh's daughter and Moses is raised as an Egyptian prince. He grows up different than any other Hebrew. He learns how to become soldier for his Pharaoh, but something is always troubling him. One day Moses sees an Egyptian striking a Hebrew slave and Moses intervenes and kills the Egyptian (Exodus 2:12). The next day he sees two Hebrews struggling, and tries to intervene, but he discovers that his murder of yesterday is known. This conflict symbolizes what Campbell says is the "call t...
The Ten Commandments is a movie about the book of Exodus and Moses. The movie began with the first order to kill all Hebrews under the age of two. Here Moses is cast off into the Nile and the story begins. It ends with the end of Moses’s life and Joshua taking over. The movie, for the most part, stayed true to the book of Exodus, but some details and major plotlines were different.
This movement began when Marcus Garvey taught that Africans are the real Israelites, but have been banished to Jamaica as well as other parts of the world as an eternal punishment. Marcus Garvey also led a “Back to Africa” movement and supported black pride. Garvey is said to be a second John the Baptist and prophesied, “Look to Africa, for there a King shall be crowned,” in 1927.
Exodus is a CD released by Bob Marley and the Wailers in 1977. This was the first album written in London after Bob Marley and his wife Rita were almost murdered in Jamaica. This is one of my favorite albums because Bob Marley is extremely relaxing to listen to with his complex rhythms. His music incorporates collaborations of multiple types of music like reggae, blues, pop, soul, and more. “One Love” by Bob Marley debuted on this album and became one of his most well known songs. The lyrics from this song inspired me and many others. Time magazine named Exodus the best album of the 20th century. More than half of this album was charged with religious politics. It was filled with moral messages for not
This section of exodus focuses on Moses, an Israelite who was raised as an Egyptian, who has fled from Egypt after the Pharaoh tried to kill him for killing an Egyptian man. By Exodus 3:1 Moses is married to Zipporah daughter of Jethro who gives him a job working as a shepherd. While tending to his animals Moses arrives at Horeb also known as Mount Sinai or the Mountain of God. Here Moses has his first theophany with God in the form of a burning bush. During this passage God talks to Moses telling him what he needs to do: go to Egypt and convince the Pharaoh to let the Egyptians go by performing a series of miracles. What god is asking Moses to do is intimidating. At this time the Pharaoh was the ruler of Egypt who had a powerful army and the Israelite’s weren’t going to be easy to convince that God sent him. Despite the “signs” Moses is reluctant to take the role beca...
Bob Marley was a promoter of peace and believed in the union of all people. He used his music as a channel to get his opinions and thoughts out into the world. “Me only have one ambition, y’know. I really have only one thing I really like to see happen. I like to see mankind live together-black, white, Chinese, everyone-that’s all.”
No doubt, “One of the most important and charismatic champions of human freedoms in the 1970s, Marley emerged from humble beginnings and an early life of austere poverty in Jamaica to bring reggae music to international popularity” (King 4). Marley suffered from a very tough childhood, as the country he was born and raised in was in political and economic torment at the time, and suffered from the harsh rule of Great Britain. Marley’s mixed ancestry embodied his homelands tormented colonial past. Until 1962, the country of Jamaica had been ruled by Great Britain, whose original founders had driven the Spanish from the island in 1655 (Dolan 19-20). Marley grew up in these harsh conditions, but he managed to get through them. “Marley possessed qualities that seemed to help him through the harsh conditions. Very small, and generally soft-spoken, he managed to exude an aura that deterred people from m...
Whereas, Wheatley who shares her “actual” experience of being kidnapped from her native lane. Although these two artists have similar view points, they interpret different concepts that separate the two. While listening to Redemption , Marley mentioned "But my hand was made strong, by the hand of the almighty, we forward in this generation, triumphantly" from those few quotes Marley obviously believes that through all the pain and agony of slaves, his generation will be able to create a difference. Next, “Old pirates, yes they rob I, sold I to the merchant ships” refers to the slave traders who robbed the Africans by selling them into slavery, So him using “I” is referring to the whole African nation. Marley also talks about the importance of escaping mental emancipation . Break through the mind set that we as African Americans are worthless and understand our power as a nation and the difference we could
Before relationships begin to develop, each of the protagonists are in different positions. Moses is born a Hebrew, but growing up he is considered an Egyptian. When Moses flees to Midian and saves the
The effects of racial issues on human nature and thought are highly debated and viewed quite sensitively by many. Often, people even find their feelings and observations difficult to discuss with regard to the subject matter. With this in mind, it needs to be stated that Bob Marley was not a bigot in any way. In reality, Marley was a “missionary for a form of personal and collective identity he called “Rasta” a word that both signified a history of racial oppression, and pointed to a definition of community beyond the language of race” (Stephens 149). It should also be stated that Marley was a member of the early movement of Rastas who were rooted in Garvey’s Black Nationalism, and in an ancient tradition of “Africanized” Christianity known as Ethiopianism (Stephens 149). Early Rastas adopted the ideals of Kenyan anti-colonial rebels, their call to action being: “Death to the white oppressor” (Stephens 149).
Even though Moses, was raised as an Egyptian, he knew that he was truly Hebrew. After seeing an Egyptian taskmaster cruelly beating a Hebrew, Moses became so furious that he murdered the Egyptian. Fearing that the Pharaoh would find out what he had done, Moses fled to the wilderness, “the eternal safe retreat of outcasts from ancient society and of those in revolt against authority.” Moses found himself in the Sinai Desert amongst other ...
Marley was a highly political lyricist, in 1979 penning a song titled Zimbabwe calling for Zimbabwe’s liberation from England. The next year he played in Zimbabwe in celebration of their independence. (biography.com, 2014)
Bob Marley was born in Nine Miles, St. Ann, Jamaica. As a youngster he moved to Trench-town with his mother where his music career was born. Growing up, Marley grew close to other children his age who shared his interest in music and spreading the knowledge of unity. Reggae music has always contained a positive message and promotes this message to people everywhere. Through love and understanding, reggae music breaks down barriers and invites peace and unity as a way of life. This ideal was also encouraged through the religious practice of Rastafari, rooted in Africa. The people who follow this religion make it a way of life. They speak out against poverty, oppression, and inequality. Marley spoke for peace in the world through many different mediums, one of which was the unique presentation of his message. Marley?s dominant appearance in the media and spread of his music had a very large influence on the views of political figures.
King, Stephen; Jensen, Richard,(1995) Bob Marley's "Redemption Song": The rhetoric of reggae and Rastafari Journal of Popular Culture 29.3